422 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



other eminent authors, and therefore must have benefited, in arriving at his judgment, by the 

 views which they expressed. It will be observed, however, that he is careful in alluding, in 

 the quotation which we give, to the Water Dog, not Water Spaniel ; as the writer, John Scott, 

 in the "Sportsman's Repository" in 1820, gives an illustration of what he terms the Water 

 Dog, which he refers to in the following words : 



" The annexed plate presents the truest possible representation of the original Water 

 Dog of the opposite continent being long since adopted in this country, in some of the maritime 

 districts still preserved in a state of purity, but the breed more generally intermixed with the 

 Water Spaniel and the Newfoundland Dog. The size of this variety is between the Spaniel 

 and the Pointer. The original and prevailing colour on the Continent is black, with crisp 

 curly hair, black nose, white face, long black ears, the head and ears covered with black curly 



hair, the feet and lower parts of the legs white Without the softness of the Spaniel, 



this breed, however, retains a great share of his native and peculiar properties, having equal 

 sagacity of nose, superior activity, and power and aptitude to learn those manoeuvres and tricks 

 which render the dog either useful or amusing to man 



"There is this favourable peculiarity in the sporting dog, it should seem the natural 

 associate of man, that with some few exceptions he takes an equal interest in the diversions 

 of his master. This quality is most conspicuous in the Water Dog, which burns with inex- 

 tinguishable ardour in the pursuit, and which merely for the gratification of swimming after 

 and bringing to shore a bird that he is neither destined nor desires to taste, will risk his 

 life in the most dangerous abysses, or carry himself by repetitions of labour and fatigue to 



the very verge of existence There is one restraint which it is difficult to impose 



upon the Water Dog yet sometimes it is a necessary one it is to prevent him fiom that rapid 

 start in the direction of the game the instant of the report of the gun, which he has watched with 

 the most tremulous anxiety. They may be indulged generally, but the dog should be also taught 

 to hold back whenever the gunner finds it expedient." 



The above extract might apply almost equally to any breed of dog which is used for 

 retrieving game, but is chiefly valuable for the flat contradiction which it gives to the opinions 

 subsequently pronounced by McCarthy. It certainly does not allude directly to the Irish 

 Water Spaniel, which was then unknown as he now exists, as the breed which crossed with 

 the Newfoundland to produce the Water Dog, and it can hardly be surmised that the Irish 

 Water Spaniel was the breed to which he refers as the Water Dog, for the description which 

 he gives differs so totally from the Irish Water Spaniel. It may, however, be reasonably 

 argued that both breeds the Curly-coated Retriever and the Irish Water Spaniel are 

 descendants of this Water Dog of John Scott, or that they are both descended from a breed 

 which sprung from that original source ; and this much we are disposed to concede, though 

 remaining firm in our first opinion that the Irish Water Spaniel is very largely concerned in 

 the production of the modern Curly-coated Retriever. 



There is, however, another theory which many persons entertain in connection with the 

 Curly-coated Retriever, and that is to the effect that Poodle blood is largely present in his 

 veins. The latter dog is almost universally used in certain districts of the Continent by 

 sportsmen in the field, and efforts are being made in many quarters to introduce the Poodle 

 more generally into sporting circles in this country. The foreign dog alluded to above in 

 lohn Scott's remark upon the Water-dog was no doubt concerned in the production of the 



