178 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



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 Bernard. 1 Indeed, the usual 

 mode of imprisoning sporting-dogs is so great a disadvantage, 

 that I have seen some, with excellent noses and every requi- 

 site 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 from not keeping the medium between encouraging kind- 

 ness 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, he would 

 acquire both sense and tact in half the time, and would not 

 give half the trouble either by shyness or sulkiness ; whereas 

 it will generally be found that a kennel-dog is long past his 

 best before he excels in that sagacity on the moor which so 

 greatly assists him in finding game. Even the veriest village 

 cur, when kindly treated and permitted to bask at the " ingle- 

 nook," will learn all sorts of tricks, many of them requiring 

 as much reflection as the most intricate duties of the shep- 

 herd's dog. I had a little cocker, reared in a cottage, that 

 of its own accord, when only seven months old, brought in 

 the post-bag, thrown down by the mail in passing. The 

 person who looked after the post having been detained for 

 a short time, was astonished to see the bag safely deposited 

 in the house ; and, upon watching next day, saw the little 



1 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 " / / 



