416 Modern Dogs. 



hold as much water as a blanket, and a dog with an 

 abundance of feather of this woolly texture of hair 

 is simply a nuisance. If you walk across a farm -yard 

 with such a specimen he is not fit to look at, and if 

 by chance you come across a bramble or piece of 

 hedge clipping, and you do not notice it for a minute 

 or so, a stop has to be made of two or three minutes 

 to relieve the poor brute. I have seen a dog with 

 this woolly class of coat and feathering rendered 

 almost useless on a proper wildfowling day from the 

 snow and ice freezing and hanging in balls or lumps 

 as big as walnuts from the feathering, and to such 

 an extent as to render the dog, before half the day 

 was over, useless. I do not think this woolly open 

 coat and feather is taken sufficient notice of by some 

 of our judges ; I believe it on the increase, and it is 

 unquestionably the wrong class of coat for such a 

 dog. I know we saw such coats years ago, but not 

 so frequently as now. 



" I have said before, and I repeat, that this 

 variety of spaniels has never been, and never 

 will be, a popular sporting dog with Englishmen. 

 The breed has been encouraged by classes being 

 provided at almost all the principal exhibitions from 

 their very commencement, still the Irish water spaniel 

 has not made headway, and to-day is declining 

 in both numbers and typical specimens when com- 



