i8o THE COMPLETE SHOT 



dead wing of the only bird down and go on hunting, as if his 

 master only wanted his services for the lively runner. As the 

 judges did not see this performance, Don had the discredit of 

 having his eye wiped on very easy birds twice. Probably if 

 they had known all about it, there would have been no other 

 course open to them ; for, after all, the " higher education " must 

 stop short at teaching the neglect of retrieving to the 

 retriever. 



It is a great but not uncommon mistake to confuse bustle 

 and excitement with courage and love of hunting. No dog 

 should have less excitement or more courage than the 

 retriever. Excitement is so easily recognised that little need 

 be said of it, except that it is probably a near relative of nerves, 

 and a retriever should appear to have no nerves and no 

 excitement. He should be able to stand still, to lie still, or to 

 sit still, in the presence of any quantity of wounded or dead 

 ground game or winged birds. The standing still is the most 

 difficult of the three. At the same time, the more interest a 

 retriever takes in all that is going on the better he is sure to be, 

 provided he is not excitable. Probably no dog takes more 

 interest than a pointer, standing like a statue and dropping as 

 the game rises. He may be excited as he does this, but the 

 majority are not, and a retriever should be no more so. The 

 pointer watches the game go away, but as he does so he sinks 

 to the earth, and the retriever may be just as interested without 

 jumping about or jerking his head in all directions in turn. A 

 good retriever appears to be thinking, and when a dog is 

 noticed to take his gaze off the bird he has been watching at 

 every new arrival, or new fall, of game, he usually has not 

 much stability. He is sure to turn out flighty, and that is a 

 very bad quality the outcome of excitement. The determina- 

 tion to hunt can exist without any excitement, can grow on 

 what it feeds on, and does not require the assistance of blood 

 to increase it. This is a very important thing to know, because 

 an old idea was that setters and pointers must be allowed to 

 chase game to give them a love of hunting. Some of them 

 may require it ; others will increase their love of hunting every 



