88 | ' RECREATION 
A lively, hard-working spaniel will not leave 
a corner unvisited, and often, when experienced 
and well-broken, will try to flush the bird so as 
to give a shot. I had one good mongrel, a cross 
between a water-spaniel and a field-spaniel, 
that would always work a narrow belt, so that 
the birds came out on my side. Any man who 
has had a really clever dog will believe this, but 
the tyro may find it hard to credit such a state- 
ment. Well, I can only give my word that old 
Kaiser did this so regularly that it could hardly 
have been a mere chance. 
Later, my lucky star took me to the prairies 
of the Northwest. Here a field-spaniel would 
have been of very little use. For the actual 
shooting the pointer proved fully equal to the 
setter; in fact, I preferred the short-coated dog, 
holding him to be just a little bit the more 
intelligent. But the setter had advantages in 
coat that made him on the whole the more 
useful animal. There was plenty of water, up 
there by the Saskatchewan, while the rude winds 
of autumn and the occasional snow flurries 
were against the satin-coated pointer, whose 
pluck alone made him keep on going when his 
master needed a heavy sweater and stout 
mackinaw jacket to keep the field. It is pitiful 
to see a delicate pointer in really cold weather. 
He sits with tucked-up flanks, hardly resting on 
the frozen ground, blinking and shivering, 
though brave and eager even in the jaws of a 
young blizzard. The merciful man is surely 
merciful to his dog, and it is hardly the part of 
mercy to condemn a thin-coated pointer to a 
life in a region where for half the year he will 
have to suffer much from cold. 
The setter is, therefore, in my opinion, the 
better dog for the Northwestern tier of States, 
and for the Canadian Provinces of the North- 
west. Only he will be handicapped in any dry 
‘district, and you will have to carry water, when 
with a pointer you could have just managed to 
get along without so doing. On the other hand, 
in the South or in the lands that lie nearer the 
equator than the Southern States of the Union, 
you will be wise to use the pointer. In fact, a 
setter must be shaved or clipped in many of the 
Southern States to be of any use whatever. In 
no case will he stand heat as well as the pointer. 
It has been found that, in the East Indies, the 
pointer stands the hot weather much better than 
most breeds, while the setter soon succumbs to 
some form of liver disease. 
So we find that no one breed of dog will be 
available for all-around shooting in every part 
of the continent, and even in any one region 
there is usually sufficient variety of ground to 
make a varied kennel of more use than one con- 
fined to a single breed. 
As to whether a setter or a pointer should be 
wide-ranging or a potterer—though no one will 
acknowledge a liking for such a dog—leads to a 
difference of opinion, whenever half a dozen 
gunners are discussing the question. I find, 
however, that fully three-quarters of the men 
who are doing the actual shooting, who own 
but one dog, and are just ordinary, everyday 
sportsmen, prefer a potterer for ruffed grouse 
and woodcock shooting in the thick brush of the 
Eastern States and Provinces. I must confess, 
even though it should draw down on my head 
the scorn of the field-trials man, that I agree 
with them. Of course, if you have one of the 
paragons we so often hear of and hardly ever 
see—a dog that, in addition to a turn of speed 
and a fine carriage, is blessed with an exquisite 
nose—he may find more birds, and yet not flush 
two out of three beyond range. But the general 
run of dogs cannot do this, and I have noticed 
that the best bags are mostly made by the 
owners of animals that would be quite out of the 
money in any trial held upon quail or chicken. 
In the West a bold-ranging dog is a valuable 
asset. You can see him a mile off, and as the 
packs of grouse are too often scattered, you will 
have far more fun with such a companion than 
with a slower, closer-ranging dog. 
In conclusion, I would urge upon the younger 
generation of sportsmen, whose lines are cast 
in the Eastern States, to pay more attention to 
the spaniel. This is, in shooting at least, the 
day of small things. The big bags of the past 
may no longer be made; in fact, we have no 
right to try to make them, for with the increase 
of population, game is none too plentiful, while 
of gunners there are many. And for shooting in 
small woodlands, and on game that has learned 
to lie close, the spaniel is the dog for fun. More- 
over, his training is a simple matter, and a youth 
is more likely to turn out a spaniel that will do 
him credit in the field than he is to coach a setter 
puppy into even a half-broken dog. Ifa spaniel 
will keep to heel, until hied on, never hunt more 
than thirty yards from the gun; drop to hand, 
wing and shot, and retrieve tenderly from land 
or water, he is highly educated. These things 
are not difficult to teach, as the pupil can be 
hunted within checkcord distance, and is natur- 
ally apt. No spaniel is, however, to be depended 
upon until he has had at least two long, hard 
seasons in the field; preferably under the same 
master. Few things are more exasperatingly 
self-willed than a young, irrepressible spaniel 
puppy, when first introduced to the gun. He is 
in the seventh heaven of delight, and for all he 
cares for voice or whistle, might be as deaf as 
the proverbial adder. But patience will achieve 
much. Generally it is the puppy that threat- 
ened to break his master’s heart that eventually 
_ gladdens it. 

