248 The Sporting Dog 



Wiseacres often say that breeders should wait 

 until animals are fully matured before breeding ; 

 yet the pointer, Dot's Pearl, had six winners in 

 two litters, all produced before she was two years 

 old. My own experience is that the very first 

 litter is the best and is all the better if produced 

 from the first season. 



Perhaps the safest advice to the young breeder 

 is to recommend the rule of Lord Falmouth in 

 breeding race-horses. His idea was to use very 

 few mares, but to have none except such as had 

 won a classic stake. Then he bred these mares 

 to the best winners of classic stakes. In other 

 words, he selected the best winners he could get 

 and bred them to the best winners he could find. 

 Such a course will be disappointing, but in the 

 long run it must necessarily keep a man as near 

 the front as any rule would carry him. For ex- 

 ample, if he had followed the rule in pointers, he 

 would probably have a continuous line of breed- 

 ing from Trinket's Bang, King of Kent, Duke of 

 Hessen, Rip Rap, and Jingo. In setters, his 

 line would be ' from Gladstone, Count Noble, 

 Roderigo, Count Gladstone IV, Antonio, and 

 Tony Boy. Of course, he might have been led 

 off by breeding to such dogs as Wun Lung, 

 Topsy's Rod, and Rowdy Rod, all of which were 

 brilliant dogs but inferior as producers. Still, on 

 the whole he would have been successful. 



