138 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



J. Shorthose, G. Potter and S. Smale, who may be considered 

 the oldest Setter judges, and who have owned dogs whose 

 prowess in the field has brought them high reputation. Mr. 

 B. J. Warwick has within recent years owned probably more 

 winners at field trials than any other owner, one of his being 

 Compton Bounce. Captain Heywood Lonsdale has on several 

 occasions proved the Ightfield strain to be staunch and true, 

 as witness the doughty deeds of Duke of that ilk, and the 

 splendid success he achieved at recent grouse trials in Scot- 

 land with his Ightfield Rob Roy, Mack, and Dot, the first- 

 named winning the all-aged stake, and the others being first 

 and third in the puppy stake. Mr. Herbert Mitchell has been 

 another good patron of the trials, and has won many important 

 stakes. Mr. A. T. Williams has also owned a few noted trial 

 winners, and from Scotland comes Mr. Isaac Sharpe, whose 

 Gordon Setter, Stylish Ranger, has effectually put a stop to 

 the silly argument that all this breed are old men's dogs. 



Many of the older field trial men hold tenaciously to the 

 opinion that the modern exhibition Setter is useless for high- 

 class work, and contend that if field-trial winners are to be 

 produced they must be bred from noted working strains. 

 Doubtless this prejudice in favour of working dogs has been 

 engendered by the circumstance that many owners of cele- 

 brated bench winners care nothing about their dogs being 

 trained, in some cases generation after generation having been 

 bred simply for show purposes. Under such conditions it 

 is not to be wondered at that the capacity for fine scenting 

 properties and the natural aptitude for quickly picking up a 

 knowledge of their proper duties in the field is impaired. 

 But there is no reason why a good show dog should not also 

 be a good worker, and the recent edict of the Kennel Club 

 which rules that no gun dog shall be entitled to championship 

 honours until it has gained a certificate of merit in field trials 

 will doubtless tend towards a general improvement in the 

 working qualities of the breeds whose providence is in the 

 finding and retrieving of game. 



