380 Modern Dogs. 



THE FLAT OR WAVY COATED BLACK 

 RETRIEVER. 



This handsome and kindly dog, so say its 

 admirers, is to be the dog of the future. Whether 

 this will prove the case or not only that future can 

 decide, but, taking a line from the progress it has 

 made in public esteem during the past dozen years 

 or so, it is a prognostication likely enough to prove 

 correct. Here we have a creature made for use; 

 handsome, kindly in disposition, obedient, easy to 

 rear, breeding true to type, and well answ r ering the 

 purpose for which it is intended, so there can be little 

 fear of retrogression on its part. Though the curly- 

 coated dog had obtained the advantage at the start, 

 he is coming in but a very bad second. The causes 

 of this have already been alluded to. 



The flat or wavy coated retriever is now pretty 

 well distributed throughout the British Isles, and 

 few shooting parties leave home unaccompanied by 

 a well trained specimen or two, which are, however, 

 actually more useful in turnips and on comparatively 

 open ground, than they are in thick covert and 

 tangled brushwood. Their coats are fine, and 

 certainly not made for the purpose of resisting 

 thorns and briers, and, so far as the experience of 



