72 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



opposite the ring and to scrutinise carefully every 

 animal in it. If in addition he can get a friend with 

 more knowledge than himself to point out the good and 

 the bad points, he will find that his few hours have not 

 been misspent, and have their own reward in the future, 

 when he comes to select a puppy from a litter to train 

 himself. He will then appreciate what a heavy-loaded 

 shoulder, slack loins, or bad feet mean in a hard day's 

 work. This is by no means learnt in a day, though 

 some persons have an instinctive eye for the points 

 of an animal, and are, like the poet, born, not made. 

 Still, the average gamekeeper is an intelligent man, 

 and given the interest and the fact that this knowledge 

 is going to be useful to him in his profession, he will 

 soon be able to select an animal whose outward ap- 

 pearance at least fits him for the purpose required. 



Selection of Dog 



Without going into unnecessary details, perhaps a 

 few of the salient points which occur to the writer may 

 be of service in choosing a sporting dog, whether 

 pointer, setter, or retriever. Suppose you have the 

 choice of a litter of puppies old enough to train, and 

 therefore of an age to enable one to judge what the 

 future animal will develop into ask the owner to let 

 them all run free in a paddock, and carefully watch 

 their movements. Assuming that the puppies are all 

 in good health, not only do you learn very quickly 

 which is the best mover, but you note also the disposi- 



