DOGS, AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 35T 



should be of compact build, and exceedingly strong and 

 courageous. To use a pointer during the cold season 

 is cruel, for nature did not intend him for this work; 

 his place is in the stubble-field in the summer's sun. 

 To use a setter at such times, is to test his courage and 

 endurance. They will do the work, and will stand 

 hour after hour retrieving without flinching, and no 

 dog can do the work quicker or better. 



But my idea of a duck dog is either a Chesapeake 

 retriever, or an Irish water-spaniel. They are made for 

 cold water, and take to it as naturally as a duck. 

 Either breed are excellent and natural retrievers. But 

 it requires education to make them perfect. Their 

 color is liver or runs from a light to a dark-brown. They 

 are unlike in looks, and the diversity of tastes in indi- 

 viduals ought to be satisfied here. The Chesapeake 

 is smooth in coat, at times a trifle wavy ; the hair thick* 

 close, but oily, similar to an otter. The Irish water- 

 spaniel is covered with kinky curls, a bushy top-knot 

 on his head, and rather a rat tail. Of the two I de- 

 cidedly prefer the Chesapeake. When one buys a duck 

 dog untrained, no matter what his pedigree is, he must 

 not expect too much of him. Buy one trained, or take 

 one in puppyhood and bring him up as he should be, 

 and he will be an ornament to his race. The peculiar 

 traits are merely inherited ; they must be developed and 

 controlled by the human mind, and unless you are a 

 monument of patience, don't attempt to train one. In 

 the Western States, the dog used mostly for duck-shoot- 

 ing, is a cross between a spaniel and setter, the object 

 being to combine the love for water found in the span- 

 iel, and the speed and scenting powers of the setter. 

 When one of these dogs is trained, there is no dog on 



