FIELD DOGS AND SHOW DOGS. 



BY REGINALD F. MAYHEW. 



.1 never hear discussions as to the ideal oi 

 a good field dog, how he should range, how 

 he should not, etc., but the story of the 

 chameleon and the wrangling on its true color 

 recurs to me. Because a man has been asso- 

 ciated with shooting over a particular coun- 

 try, he seems unable to give any credit to the 

 sport provided in another of a totally differ- 

 ent topographical character. His first taste 

 of a real day's sport with a brace of pointers 

 or setters is his first love. He may after- 

 wards have better sport, with better dogs in 

 a country of another character, but his re- 

 miniscent mood will always hark back to the 

 earlier days. 



Whether or not a day's partridge or grouse 

 shooting in North or South Carolina, is a 

 "classic" compared with a day in the more 

 northern parts of the country, I most decid- 

 edly decline to answer. The one means cov- 

 ering miles, the other, by comparison, yards. 

 To do the one properly you are mounted, 

 while it is "shank's pony" for the other. For 

 the one, is required what is called a "free" 

 ranging dog; for the other a close ranger. 



I have seen field trials in the South as 

 well as the North, and have come to the 

 conclusion that the adherent to the "free" 

 ranging style makes- less allowance for the 

 charge when he comes North, than the fa- 

 natic for "close" ranging makes when he in- 

 vades the Southern States. This, in spite of 

 the fact that the conditions are as much akin 

 as a sheep dog's work, herding flocks in Aus- 

 tralia, and in Scotland or Wales or the South- 

 downs in England. 



Conditions in the South are such as com- 

 pared with the North, as well as Europe, 

 that bevies are not only a far greater dis- 

 tance apart, but when flushed the birds scat- 

 ter much more indiscriminately. As a result 

 handlers have gone on the motto of the fa- 

 mous turfman and horse owner, expressed by 

 the late D. D. Withers to breed for: "Speed! 

 more speed ! and then more speed." The 

 question of how Mr. Withers and his theory 

 would have resulted was nipped in the bud 

 by nature taking it's course. Where the ad- 

 vocates of "speed" in the pointer or setter 

 will eventually be landed is yet being deter- 

 mined on by Nature. At all events speed is 

 effacing control, tractability, and balance of 



mind, and field trial" judges are unconscious- 

 ly crediting speed and omitting the other ne- 

 cessary qualities. 



It is not for me, nor am I attempting to 

 even insinuate how a dog should be broken. A 

 sign of how man, however, will ride a hobby 

 to the limit, was shown some few years since 

 when Mr. Heywood Lonsdale of England, a 

 well-known owner of field trial dogs sent a 

 string here. When those used to our Southern 

 conditions of shooting saw them, they were 

 dubbed "potterers," "market man's dogs," 

 etc. Although not wide rangers in the sense 

 accepted in the South, they managed to find 

 birds and win prizes. Among other things 

 they showed they were absolutely under con- 

 trol, had reliable noses, never took chances 

 or "bluffed" on a point, and were thorough 

 in their work in scattered birds. Further- 

 more, after they had come to a point, their 



lettie j, 



Dr. IV. N. Fowler, owner 



handler instead of walking in and flushing 

 the bird himself, sent them in and directly 

 the bird flushed the dogs down charged. 

 The native dog had never been taught such a 

 thing, with the result that instead of back- 

 ing as he should, he rushed wildly in, and 

 raised Cain generally. The upshot was the 

 handlers protested vigorously. The further 

 difference in the breaking of Mr. Lonsdale's 

 and our home dogs was that his would per- 

 sist in leaving no stone unturned to find a 

 single bird, whereas the American would 

 work for it more perfunctorily, as much as 



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