DOG-BREAKING. 369 



willing to allow that the pointer is improved in 

 any quality that renders him valuable to the 

 sportsman, by a cross with the hound or any other 

 sort of dog ; though we cannot deny that the setter 

 is materially improved in appearance by a cross 

 with the Newfoundland, but what it gains in ap- 

 pearance, it loses in other respects. 



Breeding mongrels, especially crossing with 

 hounds, has given the gamekeepers and dog-break- 

 ers an infinity of trouble which might have been 

 avoided by keeping the blood pure. The best 

 pointer is the offspring of a pointer-bitch by a 

 pointer-dog ; such an one is nearly broken by na- 

 ture. The Spanish pointer seldom requires the 

 whip ; the hound pointer has never enough of it. 

 One of the main sources of the sportsman's pleasure 

 is to see the dogs point well. 



Dogs should be constantly shot over during the 

 season by a successful shot, and exercised during 

 the shooting recess by some person who under- 

 stands well the management of them, otherwise 

 they will fall off in value the half-bred ones will 

 become unmanageable, and even the thorough-bred 

 ones will acquire disorderly habits. 



We look upon the setter to be an inferior kind 

 of pointer, perhaps originally a cross between the 

 pointer and the spaniel or some such dog as the 

 Newfoundland, for it has some qualities in com- 

 mon with each. The pointer has the finer nose, 

 and is more staunch than the setter ; his action is 

 much finer. Pointers are averse to water ; setters 

 delight in it. The setter will face briars and gorse 



