102 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



But this view is not likely to last longer than the mechanical 

 part of shooting remains a difficulty. It is little likely to do so 

 for long, with so many shooting schools, where clay birds can be 

 sent over the gun in streams at all angles and all speeds. 

 Here the management of two, three, or four guns can be learnt, 

 ambition can be served, and after that a decline in keenness will 

 generally set in. One of the greatest and best shooters of the 

 seventies and eighties, one who carried most weight in the 

 Badminton book, seems to have almost given up, and it may 

 fairly be assumed that when the mechanical part of shooting is 

 once gained to perfection, it leaves no room for further 

 ambition. 



But this is far from being true of shooting over dogs. There 

 is so much more to learn than the mere mechanical part of 

 shooting. Whether one breeds dogs, breaks them, works them, 

 or has them worked by others, they are a constant source of 

 anticipation, and anticipation in sport is of far greater interest 

 than realisation. 



Possibly one does no good to the interest of anticipation by 

 attempting to assist sportsmen to the choice or breaking of 

 better dogs. Those the author began with were his ideals until 

 he knew of better, and a super-ideal would be useless were it 

 not impossible. But when a poor team of dogs may lead to 

 the abandonment of canine assistance in shooting, it is another 

 matter, and everybody who knows the pleasure given by dogs 

 should strive to improve the race. 



For the last forty years there have been held public field 

 trials on game for pointers and setters. Whether these events 

 have been worked off upon paired partridges in the spring, or 

 contested by finding young broods of grouse just before the 

 opening of the season, they have given breeders and sportsmen 

 the chance of breeding by selection for pace, nose, quartering, 

 and breaking. Unfortunately, they have left out stamina. 

 There have been what were at the time called " stamina trials," 

 but as they were sometimes won by slow dogs they did not 

 merit the high-sounding title, and for real stamina trials one 

 has to eo to America. 



