CHAPTER XXXV 



DOG STORIES 



There are still some sportsmen who will agree with me, 

 that shooting over well-broken dogs is the most enjoyable 

 form of the sport. In a letter of the late Mr John Tharp 

 Phillipson, a very fine shot, he says : ' I can take out a brace 

 and a half of my white setters, which I break myself, with 

 a retriever; they find, and I kill — not a dog moves till 

 ordered. I tell one to fetch the bird, and the others remain 

 down. The advantage of the white setters over the dark- 

 coloured dogs is that you rarely lose them : you can see 

 the white at any distance." 



George Osbaldeston had a brace of pointers, Mark and 

 Flirt, for which he refused ^200 — a big price in those days. 

 They were so good that the squire offered to back him- 

 self and the brace of dogs for ;^io,ooo against any man 

 and brace of dogs in the kingdom. He used to tell a story 

 of Mark's staunchness: — "One day he made a point. I 

 watched him for ten minutes or more, and could see a fly 

 on his nose, but though his foot was up and near the fly 

 he never offered to brush it off. On walking up and 

 flushing the game, I found the fly had stung the dog, 

 leaving a lump of congealed blood on his nose." 



Not content with orthodox shooting-dogs, " the Squire " 

 trained a bull-dog to retrieve so well that his only fault 

 was that, from the shortness of his legs, he used to tread 

 the pheasants' tails out as he carried them in his mouth. 

 Sir John Sebright trained a pig to point, and a Newfound- 

 land to play cards. But Sir John's pig had a rival; for 

 Mr Toomer, a New Forest gamekeeper, had a pig which 

 would not only beat for game, but stand and back as 

 staunchly as the best-bred pointer dog. 



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