RETRIEVING. 4^3 



RETRIEVING. 



One of the most important items that demand the considera- 

 tion of those who raise and break dogs to shoot over is that they 

 are properly taught to retrieve. There is nothing more vexatious 

 while shooting than when, having made a good clear shot, you dis- 

 cover your bird has fallen across a stream, a deep muddy ditch, 

 or in some dense briery covert from whence if your dog does not 

 retrieve it, you are obliged to turn your back upon, and leave it, 

 and this must frequently happen with those who shoot over dogs 

 not broken to this accomplishment. Who would not rather miss 

 a half dozen shots than leave a dead bird ? For this reason, if 

 none other, invariably make it a point to have your dogs thor- 

 oughly broken in the art of retrieving. 



A few years since, the idea was generally entertained at home, 

 as it is now abroad, that a pointer or setter broken to ret\ieve 

 could not be well controlled, and that through the holding of 

 birds in the mouth, immediate injury resulted, by blunting their 

 powers of scent. This doctrine is not only erroneous, but abso- 

 lutely silly, and to-day, many of the best sportsmen of Great 

 Britain and Ireland have abandoned the views which have been so 

 widely disseminated and thoroughly inculcated, and are having 

 their young dogs broken to retrieve. A friend in Scotland writes ; 

 " Having tried your Yankee plan, I am delighted with it. I find 

 the setter when perfectly broken, is as good a retriever as any in 

 the world. He is by far the most useful dog, and I now consider 

 that for him to be a retriever is a sine qua non. What we have so 

 long seen to admire in the big heavy looking dog we call, a re- 

 triever, I do not know. I am satisfied that any pointer and setter, 

 who po"fesesses industry, perseverance, courage and activity, is par- 

 ticularly suited for retrieving purposes ; in fact if he is good for 

 anything, he may be taught to retrieve not only without detriment 

 to any of his good qualities, but to their positive advantage. We 

 have not tried the Irish breed yet, but are having a puppy broken. 

 We fear for him because he is too impulsive. He is Irish all ovei 

 and if he had a coat, he would always be wanting some one tc 

 tread on the tail of it. When game is in view he is positively 



