142 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



lake. Lessons in retrieving ought to be a part of his daily 

 routine. Equally necessary is it to break him in to the know- 

 ledge that sheep and lambs are not game to be chased, and 

 that rabbits and hares are to be discriminated from feathered 

 game. 



Gun-shyness is often supposed to be hereditary ; but it is 

 not so. Any puppy can be cured of gun-shyness in half a 

 dozen short lessons. Sir Henry Smith's advice is to get your 

 puppy accustomed to the sound and sight of a gun being fired, 

 first at a distance and gradually nearer and nearer, until he 

 knows that no harm will come to him. Companionship and 

 sympathy between dog and master is the beginning and end 

 of the whole business, and there is a moral obligation between 

 them which ought never to be strained. 



Both as a worker and as a show dog the flat-coated Retriever 

 has reached something very near to the ideal standard of 

 perfection which has been consistently bred up to. Careful 

 selection and systematic breeding, backed up by enthusiasm, 

 have resulted in the production of a dog combining useful 

 working qualities with the highest degree of beauty. 



A very prominent admirer and breeder was the late Mr. S. E. 

 Shirley, the President of the Kennel Club, who owned many 

 Retrievers superlative both as workers and as show dogs, 

 and who probably did more for the breed than any other man 

 of his generation. 



Mr. Shirley's work was carried on by Mr. Harding Cox, 

 who devoted much time and energy to the production of good 

 Retrievers, many of which were of Mr. Shirley's strain. Mr. 

 Cox's dogs deservedly achieved considerable fame for their 

 levelness of type, and the improvement in heads so noticeable 

 at the present time is to be ascribed to his breeding for this 

 point. Mr. L. Allen Shuter, the owner of Ch. Darenth and 

 other excellent Retrievers of his own breeding, claims also a 

 large share of credit for the part he has played in the general 

 improvement of the breed. Mr. C. A. Phillips, too, owned 

 admirable specimens, and the name of the late Lieut.-Colonel 



