82 ALL ABOUT DOGS 



five years, he says: — " My standard is as follows: 

 Pleasing temper I always look to first, never breed from 

 a bad tempered sporting dog, every sportsman knows 

 what a nuisance they are. A long body, short legs, 

 with plenty of bone and feather, a perfectly smooth, 

 satin-like coat, with no inclination to wave, or curl, 

 moderately long. Ears, covered with long, silky hair, 

 not ringlets, well set, low down, and hung close to the 

 cheeks, small, or narrow, where they spring from the 

 head, and large and lobe shaped, at the base, well fur- 

 nished with hair on the inside leather. A long head, 

 not ' snipey,' or heavy, like the Clumber; dark, pleas- 

 ing eye, a yellow eye indicates bad temper, and should 

 be avoided. Level mouth, not * pig-jawed/ or under 

 hung, but I prefer the former fault to the latter, which 

 prevails, I am sorry to see, in some of our present show 

 dogs. Breeders should avoid them as stock dogs. A 

 long neck, slightly arched, well clothed with muscle. 

 Strong across the loins. Ribs well sprung, and barrel- 

 shaped. Belly, well clothed with long hair and not 

 tucked up, like the Greyhound, a common fault. Broad 

 chest, well clothed with muscle and feather. Feet, 

 round and cat-like, with a plentiful supply of hair be- 

 tween the toes. Many have argued with me, that 

 mating black with liver colour, would throw the black 

 puppies rusty, or bad black, but, being a pigeon breeder 

 for many years, and knowing that by mating duns and 

 blacks, you procure a better black than by breeding two 

 blacks together, I thought if this held good with Pig- 

 eons, why should it not do with dogs? I therefore 

 mated my Spaniels, as before described, the result is, 



