Choosing a Shooting Dog 175 



one, provided the color suits him. The fat pup 

 will not necessarily be the largest one, but is tol- 

 erably sure to be the vigorous and aggressive one. 

 Only tolerably sure, however, because the runt is 

 sometimes the crackajack. 



In the matter of size, I emphatically recommend 

 the medium. Neither very large dogs nor very 

 small ones usually carry the best qualities of the 

 breed. The normal is, nine times out of ten, the 

 right. I do not so much refer to the disadvan- 

 tages of size per se, as to the fact that anything 

 which tends abnormally one way or the other is 

 likely to be deficient in the essential qualities. 



In the matter of male or female, my own judg- 

 ment is positive, though there will be many to 

 disagree. The female field dog usually shows 

 best in the early stages. She is quicker and han- 

 dier, and has enough vixenish fire in her bird 

 work to present at least the appearance of earnest 

 effort. On the other hand, I say without hesita- 

 tion that I never saw a bitch which developed first- 

 class head-work, and few of them train on. To be 

 sure, some have won the highest championships, 

 but I do not believe that they did it with their 

 heads. I have seen a number of high-class 

 bitches, but I never saw one exhibit those feats of 

 intelli2:ence which I have seen a number of times 

 in the setter Doc Hick, and more than once in 

 the pointer King Cyrano, as well as in other dogs. 



