78 THE ART OF TEAINIXG ANIMALS. 



another bevy, as the terrier attempted to pass him, tne pointer 

 seized him, and placing his fore paws on him, held him fast, 

 growling to keep him quiet, and maintaining his point until the 

 sportsmen came up. 



WATER DOGS. 



The Newfoundland is unquestionably the water dog par ex- 

 cellence, and probably the- best individuals of the variety are 

 the celebrated dogs used for duck shooting on the margin of 

 Chesapeake Bay and commonly called the Chesapeake Bay 

 Water Dog. These animals being derived from ancestors of 

 pure breed, and the constant training from generation to gener- 

 ation having caused th.e transmission of their excellent quali- 

 ties in increased measure to each successive generation, are 

 probably unrivalled by any other in their particular forte. 

 Owmg to thoughtless and injudicious mixing of breeds a true 

 Newfoundland is rarely seen. Although the purer the breed 

 the better water dog he will be, yet many flogs of mixed breeds 

 possessing considerable Newfoundland blood, make excellent 

 dogs for ordinary aquatic sporting. 



On breeding the water dog little need be said, for, like Dog- 

 berry's reading and writing, his education " comes by nature." 

 In his infancy he may be taught to bring a glove and lay it down 

 at your feet as he should do ; and, by practice, the compre- 

 hension and fulfillment of his various duties will soon follow. He 

 will be found, with judicious encouragement and exercise of 

 authority, more docile than a child. They have been known at 

 four months old to fetch a duck, but lest the constitution be 

 impaired, they should not be put too early at hard service. 



" Canton," a celebrated Newfoundland, owned by Dr. 

 Stewart, of Sparrow's Point — a great sportsman in his day — 

 was noted for a number of remarkable feats in securing " canvas 

 backs " on the Chesapeake. She surpassed her species gener- 

 ally in unrivalled devotion to the water, and to the sport of 

 ducking, as carried on by the doctor's colored man, Varnell, 

 with his murderous swivel gun. Her patience and endurance 

 were almost incredible. She was the heroine of many desperate 

 encounters with wounded swans, often pursumg them for miles, 

 and many were her exploits among rotten and floating ice, in 

 pursuit of wounded ducks, sometimes, in fogs and darkness. 

 On one occasion she brought out twenty-two or twenty-three 

 ducks, all killed or wounded by Varnell at a single shot. A 

 good deal of tim.ewas lost in pursuing these wounded ducks^ and 

 at the close of this pursuit, it being then dark, Varnell give up 

 the slut as lost, so many hours had she been engaged in bring- 



