66 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
the outcome of breeding, such as ‘“‘nose,” are called into 
requisition. 
Besides the retriever, certain breeds of spaniel (viz. the 
English water spaniel, Irish water spaniel, and Clumber spaniel) 
make very good wildfowl dogs if carefully selected from 
working strains and well broken. They lack, however, the 
strength of the retriever for rough sea work, but in working 
reeds and rushes, hut-shooting away from rough and open sea- 
coasts, spaniels, especially those of the larger breeds, can 
make themselves more conveniently useful than the large 
retriever. Referring to other breeds of shooting dogs, such 
as the pointer and setter, we can scarcely hope to persuade 
gunners that these are suitable breeds for wildfowling, nor 
would we wish to do so, since it would, in the generality of 
cases, be misleading. As an instance, however, of what a 
well-bred retrieving dog of any breed may be encouraged to 
do, I refer to a pointer I once possessed. I do not wish to 
state that for wildfowling generally the pointer in question 
could equal the best retrievers I have owned, but as an instance 
of his abilities as a wise retrieving animal, I cite one October 
night. On that occasion I bagged sixteen curlew within an 
hour, all of which my pointer ‘‘ Jack” retrieved from the tide 
as well as any dog could have done, and with a sagacity which 
is only noticed in well-bred and highly trained animals. The 
pointer, strange to say, is not, as a rule, a good water dog, 
which, of course, makes my dog’s performance all the more 
remarkable. 
BREAKING WILDFOWL DOGS 
Now that we have so pointedly indicated the importance 
attached to the wildfowl dog being bred from a strain of work- 
ing animals, we have next to consider the selection of a puppy. 
No better advice can be tendered than to select a strong, 
healthy, and intelligent-looking pup. He should be taken in 
