502 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



Princess Nadine is an equally good repre- 

 sentative of the opposite sex. 



The Griffon Boulet has many of the same 

 characteristics as the Korthals Griffon, the 

 chief difference being that his coat is much 

 longer and not so hard in texture. He is at 

 present the favourite purely native Spaniel 

 in France, and there were several admirable 

 specimens shown at the Tuileries Gardens 

 in May, 1907. A decidedly rugged, coarse- 



GRIFFON BOULET CH. MIKADO DE MARCO. 



BRED BY M. E. BOULET, ELBEUF. 



looking dog, he is evidently meant for work 

 rather than for ornament, yet his expression 

 is friendly and intelligent, in spite of his 

 wild and ungroomed aspect, with his broad, 

 round head, square muzzle, heavy mous- 

 taches, and strong, overhanging eyebrows. 

 The iris of his eye seems always to be yellow 

 and the nose always brown. The ears are 

 set on low and hang slightly folded, well 

 covered with wavy hair. The shoulders 

 project somewhat instead of sloping. The 

 loins are slightly arched and end in a straight 

 stern nicely carried, and not too shortly 

 docked. The coat is fairly long and semi- 

 silky, without being glossy, flat rather 

 than wavy, and never curly. Its colour is 

 that of a dead chestnut leaf or a dark coffee 

 brown, with or without white ; never black 

 or yellow. For dogs, the height is given at 

 21 to 22| inches, for bitches a little less. 



The weight averages 56 Ib. Undoubtedly 

 the most famous Griffon Boulet of recent 

 times is Ch. Mikado de Marco, the property 

 of M. Dumontier, of Neubourg, Eure. 

 This most typical dog is of aristocratic 

 descent, as he has no fewer than twenty-nine 

 champions in his pedigree, all of them, 

 like himself, bred by M. Emanuel Boulet. 



The Barbet is yet another ancient breed 

 of French Spaniel, the dog par excellence 

 for waterfowl. Beyond 

 all others he is at home 

 on the marshes, and 

 even in the most severe 

 weather he will swim 

 amid the broken ice 

 after a winged mallard 

 or a wounded heron. 

 For the wildfowler he 

 is a most valuable 

 companion, and prob- 

 ably no other Spaniel 

 can bear the same 

 hardships with equal 

 indifference. A perfect 

 swimmer, he retrieves 

 dead or crippled game 

 to perfection, and in 

 intelligence he is hardly 

 inferior to the Poodle. 

 With his compact build, 

 his round, short head, and long woolly and 

 much corded coat, the Barbet appears to be 

 identical with the old English water dog 

 depicted in Reinagle's drawing on p. 274 

 of this book. 



Somewhat allied to the Barbet in general 

 appearance and the nature of his work 

 is the important gun-dog known in Italy 

 as the Spinone- In colour he is grey 

 and roan, and although he has often been 

 mistaken for the Bracco, he may be 

 recognised by his less oval head as well 

 as by his shorter and less supple ear. The 

 coat is wire-haired, excepting the legs, 

 where the hair is quite short. He is also 

 smoother and shorter in the head and muzzle. 

 The eyebrows are long and straight, and the 

 lip has bristling moustaches. As in the case 

 of the Bracco, dewclaws on the hind legs 

 are a sign of purity of race. The Spinone is 



