THE RETRIEVERS. 



259 



muzzle square, the underjaw strong with an 

 absence of lippiness or throatiness. 



3. Eyes. — Dark as possible, with a very intelli- 

 gent, mild expression. 



4. Neck. — Long and clean. 



5. Ears. — Small, well set on, and carried close 

 to the head. 



6. Shoulders. — Oblique, running well into the 

 back, with plenty of depth of chest. 



7. Body. — Short and square, and well ribbed up. 



8. Stern. — Short and straight, and carried gaily, 

 but not curled over the back. 



9. Forelegs. — Straight, pasterns strong, feet 

 small and round. 



10. Quarters. — -Strong ; stifles well bent. 



11. Coat. — Dense black or liver, of fine quality 

 and texture. Flat, not wavy. 



12. Weight. — From 65 lb. to 80 lb. for dogs ; 

 bitches rather less. 



As a rule the Retriever should be chosen 

 for the intelligent look of his face, and 

 particular attention should be paid to the 

 shape of his head and to his eyes. His 

 frame is important, of course, but in the 

 Retriever the mental qualities are of more 

 significance than bodily points. 



There has been a tendency in recent years 

 among Retriever breeders to fall into the 

 common error of exaggerating a particular 

 point, and of breeding dogs with a head far 

 too fine and narrow — it is what has been 



aptly called the alligator head— lacking in 

 brain capacity and power of jaw. A perfect 

 head should be long and clean, but ne ther 

 weak nor snipy. The eye should be placed 

 just halfway between the occiput and the 

 tip of the nose. 



It is pleasing to add that to this beautiful 

 breed the phrase " handsome is as handsome 

 does " applies in full measure. Not only is 

 the average Retriever of a companionable 

 disposition, with delightful intelligence that 

 is always responsive, but he is a good and 

 faithful guard and a courageous protector 

 of person and property. It has already 

 been said that the majority of the best- 

 looking Retrievers are also good working 

 dogs, and it may here be added that many 

 of the most successful working dogs are 

 sired by prizewinners in the show ring. At 

 the late Retriever trials at St. Neots 

 the open stake was won by Mr. Reginald 

 Cooke's Ch. Grouse of Riverside, a son of 

 Mr. Allen Shuter's Ch. Horton Rector. Ch. 

 Royal River and Ch. Shotover were also 

 successful runners at the Kennel Club 

 trials at Horsted who helped to prove that 

 the show dog need not necessarily be de- 

 ficient in the capacity to excel as a worker. 



II— THE CURLY-COATED RETRIEVER. 



BY L. P. C. ASTLEY. 



The curly-coated Retriever is commonly 

 believed to be of earlier origin than his 

 flat-coated relative, and he is of less pure 

 descent. He probably owes ancestral tribute 

 to the Poodle, and the writer has had 

 ocular proof that a mongrel bred for experi- 

 ment for retrieving purposes from a black 

 Poodle dog and a weedy Labrador bitch 

 resembled a poor show specimen of the 

 curly Retriever. Such a cross may con- 

 ceivably have been resorted to by the early 

 Retriever breeders, and there was little to 

 lose from a merely sporting point of view 

 from this alien introduction, for the Poodle 

 is well known to be by nature, if not by 



systematic training, an excellent water dog, 

 capable of being taught anything that the 

 canine mind can comprehend. During the 

 early years of the nineteenth century the 

 Poodle was fairly plentiful in Eng and, and 

 we had no other curly-coated dog of similar 

 size and type apart from the Irish water 

 Spaniel, who may himself lay claim to 

 Poodle relationship ; while as to the Re- 

 triever, either curly- or flat-coated, he can 

 in no sense be assigned to any country out- 

 side of Great Britain. The presumption is 

 strong that the " gentleman from France " 

 was largely instrumental in the manufacture 

 of the variety, but whatever the origin of 



