258 The Sporting Dog 



class was first adopted by the American Kennel 

 Club, the championship followed a certain number 

 of wins, all shows being on the same footing. 

 Later was devised the present system of grading 

 the shows according to the number of entries, 

 and crediting the candidate for a championship 

 with a certain number of points according to the 

 number of entries. An attempt was recently 

 made to grade the shows according to the amount 

 of money offered in prizes, but many exhibitors 

 disapproved and the project was for the time 

 postponed. 



Field trials followed quickly the importation of 

 English winning pointers and setters. The chief 

 interest developed in the central West, though 

 the New York and other Eastern people also early 

 began their field trial competition. At first the 

 entries were a miscellaneous lot, which would 

 excite amusement if they appeared before latter- 

 day judges. Irish, Gordon, crossbred, and native 

 English setters, most of them merely pet shooting 

 dogs, appeared together. At the beginning the 

 system was to judge according to the number of 

 points. Five points was made the standard, and 

 the dogs which made five points were taken into 

 the second series. That rule soon reduced itself 

 to absurdity, since a very cheap dog of fairly good 

 nose could, with a bit of luck or alert handling, 

 get his five points, while a high-class dog would 



