144 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



shape of his head and to his eyes. His frame is important, o 

 course, but in the Retriever the mental qualities are of mor 

 significance than bodily points. 



There has been a tendency in recent years among Retrieve 

 breeders to fall into the common error of exaggerating a par 

 ticular point, and of breeding dogs with a head far too fine an< 

 narrow it is what has been aptly called the alligator head- 

 lacking in brain capacity and power of jaw. A perfect hea< 

 should be long and clean, but neither weak nor snipy. Th 

 eye should be placed just halfway between the occiput an< 

 the tip of the nose. 



It is pleasing to add that to this beautiful breed the phras 

 " handsome is as handsome does " applies in full measure 

 Not only is the average Retriever of a companionable disposi 

 tion, with delightful intelligence that is always responsive 

 but he is a good and faithful guard and a courageous protecto 

 of person and property. It has already been said that th 

 majority of the best-looking Retrievers are also good workin] 

 dogs, and it may here be added that many of the most success 

 ful working dogs are sired by prize-winners in the show ring. 



THE CURLY-COATED RETRIEVER 



The curly-coated Retriever is commonly believed to b 

 of earlier origin than his flat-coated relative, and he is of les 

 pure descent. He probably owes ancestral tribute to th 

 Poodle. Such a cross may conceivably have been resortec 

 to by the early Retriever breeders, and there was little t< 

 lose from a merely sporting point of view from this aliei 

 introduction, for the Poodle is well known to be by nature 

 if not by systematic training, an excellent water dog, capabl 

 of being taught anything that the canine mind can compre 

 hend. During the early years of the nineteenth centuri 

 the Poodle was fairly plentiful in England, and we had n< 

 other curly-coated dog of similar size and type apart from thi 

 Irish Water Spaniel, who may himself lay claim to Poodl< 

 relationship ; while as to the Retriever, either curly o 



