136 INSTINCT OF DOGS. 



their more active life and hunting propensities, may often 

 pass unnoticed, even by their masters, though every time 

 they are in the field displaying as much tact as the most 

 cautious retriever. Their sagacity is never thought of; 

 and the only praise they get is, that they are " excellent 

 dogs ; " which means that they find plenty of game. 



There is another reason why sporting-dogs appear 

 more deficient in sense than some others, and that is their 

 mode of life. Confined always in the kennel, unless when 

 seeking game, all their powers are employed to this end. 

 There are, however, abundant proofs that, when made 

 companions, and suffered to occupy a place upon the 

 hearth-rug, they are capable of the same attachment, and 

 would equal in sagacity the much-lauded dogs of St Ber- 

 nard.* Indeed, the usual mode of imprisoning sporting- 

 dogs is so great a disadvantage, that I have seen some, 

 with excellent noses and every requisite for the moors, 

 grow sulky, and refuse to hunt with their usual freeness, 

 unless left in a great measure to themselves. This, I know, 

 arose partly from a want of proper management, and 

 not keeping the medium between encouraging kindness 

 and merited correction; for too much lenity is nearly as 

 injurious to a dog as over-severity : sulkiness will often be 

 the effect in the one case, shyness in the other. Still, if 

 the dog were allowed to be the companion of his master, 



* May we not be allowed to suppose the dog in Helvellyn, whose 

 attachment to its dead master was thought a fit subject for their muse 

 by two great poets of the day, was of the sporting kind ? at all. events 

 it was " not of mountain-breed / / " 



