THE DOG 85 



animal has a slight advantage, we do not think that this 

 is of great importance, and fancy is allowed to determine 

 the preference. For similar reasons a decision is made 

 between the curly and the heavy-coated retrievers, and 

 between the various breeds of spaniel. 



Of much greater importance is to satisfy oneself that 

 the particular animal springs from a good kind, and that 

 from his structure is fitted for the work required. There 

 is no reason why a dog should not both be good-look- 

 ing and a good worker. Many of our best dogs on 

 the bench are capital workers, and it is pure ignorance 

 on the part of those who hold that the whole of our 

 exhibition dogs are useless for sporting purposes. 



Assistance can begot from Books. The great body 

 of our gamekeepers are intelligent men, and thoroughly 

 capable of understanding what is written on this subject, 

 and they have scope in the numerous and inexpensive 

 books published on dogs and their training. Unfortu- 

 nately, the majority are content to follow in the foot- 

 steps of the "head" with whom they served their 

 apprenticeship, who, however capable he was in con- 

 ducting a grouse drive or rearing pheasants, had 

 neglected this branch of his trade. This is not as it 

 should be, and we would again impress on every keeper 

 who takes a pride in his work the necessity and the 

 advantages of being "a good man with dogs." We 

 would advise him to study works such as Dog Break- 

 ing, by General Hutchison, or Training of Retrievers, 

 by Colonel Henry Smith, and not merely to rest 



