DOGS, AND THEIM vaAUACTEBISTICS. 3S7 



should fee of coixipact build, and €x«i©ediB|jlys.troQg,and 

 Gouiageous. To use a pointer during tihe cold .season 

 is cruel, for nature -did not intend Mm for tihis work; 

 bis place is in the stubble-field in the summer's sun. 

 To use a se^tter at soieh times, is to test his courage and 

 endurance. They will .do the work,, and will stsuid 

 hour after hour retrieving withoujt flinching, and no. 

 dog can do the work quicker or better. 



But my idea of a duck dog is either a Chesapeabe 

 retriever, or an Irish water-spaniel. They are made foar 

 cold water, and take to it as naturally as a duck. 

 Either breed are excellent and natural iretrievers. But 

 it requires education to make them perfect. Then- 

 color is liver or runs from a light to a dark-brown. They 

 are unlike in looks, and the diversity of tastes in indi- 

 viduals ought to be satisfied here. The Ohesapeake 

 is smooth in coat, at times a trifle wavy ; the hair thick,, 

 close, but oily, similar to an otter. The Irish jvater- 

 sjpaniel is covered with kinky curls, a bushy top-knot 

 on his head, and rather a rat tail. Of the two I de- 

 cidedly prefer the Chesapeake. When one buys a duck 

 dog untrained, no matter what his pedigree is, he mast 

 not .expect too much of him. Buy one trained, or take 

 one in puppyhood and bring him up as he should be, 

 and he will be an ornament to his race- The peculiar 

 traits are merely inherited ; they must be developed and 

 controlled by the human mind, and unless you are a 

 monument of patience, don't attempt to train one. In 

 the Western States, the dog used mostly for duck-shoot- 

 ing, is a cross between a spaniel and setter, .the object 

 being to combine the love for water found in the span- 

 iel, and the speed and scenting powers of the setter. 

 When one of ithese dogs is trained, tikkere is no dog on 



