THE SPORTING DOG 



CHAPTER I 



AMERICAN VARIATIONS 



America is not England. After a century and 

 a quarter of firecracking Fourths the statement 

 is a political superfluity, but no study of sporting 

 dogs can reach clear going except across the dead 

 body of the contention that America is an ex- 

 tension of British jurisdiction and infallibility. 



That settled, the next step is to thank Great 

 Britain for every one of our dogs of sporting 

 breed. In our actual sports we use setters and 

 pointers, foxhounds and beagles, greyhounds and 

 two breeds of water retrievers. Crosses and mon- 

 grels need not be counted. These regular breeds 

 are all British. 



In technical classification the sporting division 

 includes all the hounds, the Clumber, cocker and 

 field spaniels, with the fox terriers and the rest of 

 the sporting terrier list. Some writers add col- 

 lies. In our country, however, none of these 

 other breeds — ignoring dog-fights and ratting — 



