POINTERS AND SETTERS 105 



a shooting team for Scotland. That is to say, the most 

 brilliant 20 minutes worker was useless then, and is so now. 



It is not often that absolute proof of the value of any 

 individual points in the dog is obtained. But here was one, 

 proving that shoulders have little effect upon speed, but are 

 all-important for staying. When Mr. A. E. Butter's Faskally 

 Bragg was winning Champion honours on the bench and in 

 the field too, we had the exhibition of a heavy-shouldered 

 dog winning at the shows, where true formation for staying 

 was unknown, and also in the field trials, where it was never 

 tried. Nose, speed, and beauty of attitude in pointing and 

 backing placed this dog at the top, but had there been real 

 stamina trials he would never have been heard of. Once the 

 writer saw him on a freshly-turned sandy plough, where he 

 was hunted against Mr. A. T. Williams' very small pointer, 

 Rose of Gerwn. The latter went 100 yards for every 20 that 

 Bragg tumbled over. Yet here was your show Champion 

 beaten to a standstill, on the question of external form alone, 

 by an ugly-headed little pointer that could not have won a 

 prize at a show in a class by herself. Yet for heart and courage, 

 for pace, and probably for stamina, there have been few to equal 

 her in the last decade. 



The dog-show setters are most beautiful creatures, but the 

 points on which they win here and in America are not the 

 points that a sportsman requires. "Feather" goes a long way 

 towards victory, but in America they shear their setters before 

 the shooting season opens. The reason for this is that the 

 burrs there are not only a nuisance, as they sometimes are here, 

 but a total prevention of sport. Any coat that collects them 

 brings the dog to a standstill in a few minutes. They are 

 much smaller, but the spikes are sharper and stronger than 

 those of the English plant. 



Slack loin is only a drawback at the shows, but it stops a 

 dog in work. A long, refined head is a beauty at the shows, 

 but it holds no brains that amount to anything. But worse 

 than all this is the fact that the hunting instinct has lapsed in 

 the show breeds. To be induced to range they must be excited. 



