248 TRAINING THE HUNTING DOG 



No sane man would think of driving his horse 

 on the road if he were racing for a championship. 

 Most men can talk sensibly in respect to the distinc- 

 tions between a race horse and a cart horse, yet a 

 large percentage of them would probably lose their 

 good judgments when considering the differences 

 between a field dog and a field trial dog, though the 

 difference between them might be merely a matter 

 of handling. Indeed, a clog might be both a field 

 trial dog and a field dog, and not infrequently he is 

 such. Few men can handle a race horse or field trial 

 dog; not every man can handle the ordinary horse or 

 dog, and some men cannot handle any kind of dog, 

 for which they hold the dog blamable. 



It is true that fast dogs have bolted at field trials, 

 and it also is true that race horses have run away 

 on the tracks when racing, but it would be erroneous 

 to assume that such acts are considered standards of 

 merit. And yet a dog of high-class natural quali- 

 ties may commit a flagrant error and win ^ race, not 

 by virtue of having committed such error, but by vir- 

 tue of being a better performer than his competitors, 

 error and all considered. On the other hand, a dog 

 may commit an error of such magnitude that it dis- 



