Choosing a Shooting Dog 169 



In the field, also, be careful not to attach too 

 much importance to slight faults which appear at 

 a first trial. Be sure that the dog is of the right 

 stuff and then go ahead. Remember that most 

 of what a dog knows he learns from experience. 

 A young dog with no experience is likely to have 

 many faults which disappear rapidly with work on 

 game. You cannot compare the work of a dog 

 which has seldom or never been afield with that 

 of a veteran which has long been accustomed to 

 game. An experienced eye will tell quickly 

 whether a man or dog is a born fool or rascal, 

 but the amateur cannot afford to judge hastily. 



Some of the errors which make the worst im- 

 pression and which sportsmen condemn most 

 severely are those which are easily cured. There 

 are authorities who say that false pointing is an 

 inherent weakness of either nose or intelligence. 

 I am surprised that any man who has owned 

 dogs should make such a statement. One kind 

 of false pointing may be an incurable disease or 

 weakness, but the ordinary kind usually disap- 

 pears with experience. Most of the immediate 

 descendants of Count Noble had a strong ten- 

 dency to false point, but in few cases was it per- 

 sistent. Cincinnatus was an example. One man 

 who attended field trials at that time condemned 

 him severely and told me that the dog would as 

 soon point a drove of pigs as a bevy of birds. I 



