84 8 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Apkh,;21, 1894. 



POINTS AND FLUSHES. 



[By a Staff Coi-respondent.] 



It may be possible that tbe affairs of field trials are a 

 wearisome theme to many readers, the more so since an 

 agreement on anything is seldom reached and discussion 

 seems to multiply differences of opinion. But only by dis- 

 cussion can progress be made, be the same regularly rapid or 

 slow, or only a little at long intervals. In my opinion, the 

 men, whose ability is conceded and whose experience is 

 measured by numerous events in many years, should be 

 conceded a knowledge of the sub- 

 ject in respect to which men of 

 small experience or theories evolved 

 from heresay, have but opinions. Such 

 men always write something sound 

 and comprehensive, aDd of such is a 

 letter recently received from Capt. C. 

 E. McMurdo, from which I take the 

 liberty of quoting some most pertinent 

 matter on field trial interests. He says: 



"General interest in field trials is cer- 

 tainly falling off, and one of the chief 

 reasons is no doubt as you say, due 'to 

 the bringing to the front so often of dogs 

 which were not field dogs except by 

 the grace of an empty name. ' This will 

 continue so long as judges allow them- 

 selves to be misled by flash dogs, ones 

 with great speed and range perhaps, 

 but lacking in bird sense and quality. 

 A really high-class dog is always high- 

 class, and if he fails to show his qual- 

 ities, it is due to want of opportunity. 



"It is very unfortunate that some of 

 our most competent judges have ceased 

 to help us, Mr. A. Merriman in particu- 

 lar. Mr. S. T. Hammond would have 

 made a first-rate judge. I remember 

 years ago he pointed out in his report 

 the difference between a high- class and 

 a common dog, giving as an example 

 the work of two young pointers, both 

 of which were about equal in pace and 

 range. They were put down in a long 

 and rather narrow stubble, with the 

 wind blowing direct in their teeth. 

 The high-class dog took in about half 

 the width of the stubble and the whole 

 length in his first cast of about 600yds., 

 and on the return cast, coming down 

 wind, wheeled around, making a sort 

 of loop every 50yds., till he got within 

 some 100yds. of the starting point. 

 The common dog had struck the scent 

 of the covey soon after the start but 

 had not succeeded in locating it in the 

 time that the high-class one had taken 

 to beat out the whole field. 



"We know how some of the flash 

 kind will go at a killing pace with a 

 great show of quality in throwing their 

 heads up, but which never locate their 

 game in good shape, except when the scent reaches them 

 just m the one way that suits their style of hunting. These 

 are the woret kind of frauds, for they 80 much resemble the 

 really high- class dog that it takes an expert to detect the 

 difference. Palpably low- class dogs occasionally get to the 

 front because they have bird sense, and succeed in doing a 

 good deal of effective work in their own common way. I 

 think that judges should more often avail themselves of the 

 power so wisely given them m the club rules of testing one 

 dog at a time. Of course a han,ji er hates to take up his do „ 

 just at the moment when he thinks he would have an oppor- 

 tunity of showing how superior 

 his dog is to that of his com- 

 petitors, but that should not 

 for a moment deter them from 

 doing so. Every dog should 

 be worked till the judges have 

 satisfied themselves as to his 

 quality, and no longer. 



"I believe that the most in- 

 teresting feature of field trials 

 is the breeding of puppies, and 

 that the Derby ought to be a 

 stake tor puppies only, and not 

 for dogs that are old enough to 

 know nearly as much as they 

 ever will, that thorough break- 

 ing should not be required, 

 but that steady pointing and 

 backing, together with a rea- 

 sonable amount of obedience 

 to orders, should be considered 

 enough. This would put ama- 

 teurs on a more even footing 

 with professionals. It is the 

 breeders who are the greatest 

 supporters of field trials, and 

 they should never be discour- 

 aged by seeing their high-class 

 puppies placed behind lower- 

 class ones, simply because the 

 latter may chance to find more 

 birds or behave better. 



"In regard to the All-Age 

 Stakes, I think that all dogs 

 in them should be thoroughly 

 broken, and that their handlers 

 should not be allowed to inter- 

 fere with them in any way 

 when they are making game. 

 Their doing so is liable to 

 hinder the judge from seeing 

 what their natural qualities 

 really are." 



Nothing could be more posi- 

 tively expressed in favor of 

 abolishing the time limit than 

 one sentence in the foregoing, 

 namely, "Every dog should be 

 worked till the judges have 

 satisfied themselves as to his 

 quality, and no longer." It is 



a peculiar phase of a competition where a man is allotted a 

 certain minimum time in which to run his dog, whether the 

 latter has any merit or not. It, too, denotes the absence of 

 that quality of true gameness, moral and physical, when a 

 competitor insists on having to himself something or 

 other outside of the direct line of the competition. 

 It, too, denotes a weakness on the part of clubs in conceding 

 something unnecessary and not competitive in the competi- 

 tion for the sake of an entry fee. The demand for a time 

 limit is confined to a few, and has not a competitive origin. 

 Some trainers do not like to have a worthless dog beaten or 

 ordered up in ten or fifteen minutes, as it brings the dog's 

 inefficiency too distinctly into notice, which is not desirable 

 for business reasons. When a time limit of thirty or forty 

 minutes is enforced, the heats then average a more uniform 

 length one with another, and thus it does not seem that a 

 poor dog is so poor as he really is. The usage furthermore 

 helps such owners as love the sport for the revenue it brings, 

 inasmuch as the judges are tied up in cutting out the dogs 

 on the real merits in respect; to time, and thus we have the 



peculiar competitor who can say, "You can lick me, but you 

 can't do it real bad, for if I don't get anything else I get 

 thirty minutes for $30." 



The remarks on the age of puppies are worthy of consider- 

 ation. When late winter trials were established, they gave 

 an additional three or four months to the age of puppies, an 

 age already exceedingly liberal. They now permit an age 

 limit of over two years, an age when a dog is matured physi- 

 cally and quite well mentally. He is not a puppy in any 

 sense at that age. Of course it helps to swell the entries 

 when the age limit is so great, but, in the matter of getting 



cious. When an owner enters his bitch in a competition, he 

 does so with a full knowledge of the possibility of his bitch 

 coming in season at the time of competing. So far as rules 

 and usages go, there is no hardship inherent in them. The 

 hardship, if any, comes to the owner from entirely extrane- 

 ous circumstances, the same as if his dog suddenly became 

 lame, or was injured or sick. 



It is further held by some whom it seems should know 

 better, that the modern field trial dog is so keen a hunter 

 that when at work he will take no notice of a bitch in sea- 

 son. He loves work above all things else. He is so bred 

 that he bounds away joyously over hill 

 and dale in an ecstacy of working de- 

 light. His neck is clothed with thunder. 

 He skims across the earth's surface 

 with head erect and tail lashing furi- 

 ously. What, to him, this modern- 

 bred hunter, are porterhouse steaks, 

 warm sunny corners in which to bask, 

 or companionship? He is bred to work, 

 work, work. A great science is this 

 science of breeding high-bred dogs to 

 work. 



But there are dogs, possibly of coarse 

 natures, which eat betimes, sleep be- 

 times, work betimes, and in a general 

 way follow out the laws of their being, 

 betimes. The most powerful instinct 

 in dog is sexual. He will battle with 

 the males of his own sex for possession 

 of the female. He will dig under board 

 fences, or gnaw a hole through oak 

 boards with his teeth to effect the same 

 purpose. Defeated in his purpose, he 

 grieves and frets and will not be com- 

 forted. 



It certainly is a hardship to an owner 

 to be forced to run his dog with a bitch 

 in season, if the dog from the circum- 

 stances will not hunt. A much better 

 way would be to leave the matter to 

 the discretion of the judges. 



B. Waters. 



909 Security Building, Chicago. 



ENGLISH SETTER "FLYING JIB." 

 Now owned by H. I. Babbage, Newark, N. J. Formerly owned by F. W. Samuels, Indianapolis, Ind. 



entries, the clubs have been somewhat over eager, caused 

 primarily by giving larger prizes than their revenue or 

 support warranted. I note a cut in the prizes offered this 

 year, which I think is a departure for the better, for it will 

 have a tendency to reduce the intensely mercenary aspect of 

 the competition. 



The act of the U. S. F. T. Club, in making five prizes of the 

 purses in the different stakes, is a wise and just move. Here- 

 tofore the bulk of the money has been "scooped" by one or 

 two handlers. Now there is a chance for dogs of merit to get 

 a chance at the money. Often in a stake there are four or 



CRARSTONE KENNELS TAKE TO WATER. 



five dogs which are nearly equal in merit after the first and 

 second prize winners, and to select one from them often 

 required some fine and perhaps trivial reasons. It is now a 

 fairer arrangement of the money. If some one handler comes 

 in and "scoops" the whole purse from first to fifth, I have no 

 doubt but what the club can so arrange the purse and condi- 

 tions that he cannot do it again. 



It seems as if nearly every phase of field trial practice has 

 gone from one extreme to the other in some part of its 

 history. The latest subject to excite interest is in respect to 

 bitches in season. For many years, all rules have a clause 

 as follows: "Dogs afflicted with any contagious diseases, or 

 bitches in season, or unduly attracting the attention of the 

 competing dog, will not be permitted on the grounds." The 

 U. S. F. T. eliminated that part of the clause referring to 

 bitches, on the ground that it was a hardship to an owner to 

 be prevented from running his bitch, since he had paid his 

 entry fee the same as the owner who entered and ran his 

 dog. So, too, did the man whose dog may be suffering from 

 a contagious or infectious disease. The reasoning is falla- 



Field Trials and Our Dog's in 

 America. 



The International Field Trials, held 

 at Chatham, Out., were originated by 

 Mr. Brailsford, manager of one of, if 

 not the finest kennel of sporting dogs 

 in England, belonging to Mr. Hey wood- 

 Lonsdale, of Ightfield, Salop, England, 

 and it was by his advice that Mr. W. B. 

 Wells, assisted by a number of other 

 sportsmen from London and elsewhere, 

 have brought these trials to such per- 

 fection that they have become both 

 popular and recognized throughout 

 the continent. 



In 1890 the Ightfield Kennel dogs 

 swept all before them, but since, so 

 great has been the improvement in our dogs, that those sent 

 out to compete last year, found their match, although 

 Ightfield Musa, Mr. Brailsford says, "is one of the very best 

 pointers I ever walked behind." This speaks volumes, for 

 although the breed of most of our American dogs came 

 originally from the British Isles, it shows that the breeding 

 has been carefully sustained , and with less material to work 

 on, the proficiency in work has in no way deteriorated. 

 Field trials all over the continent of America point clearly 

 to this. Few better dogs could be found anywhere than 

 those owned by Mr. W. B. Wells, of Chatham, Ontario, and 

 by Mr. I. Eame, of the same 

 place. Also some fine workers 

 are invariably entered from 

 Michigan and Manitoba, whose 

 owners spare neither time nor 

 expense in seeing that they are 

 equally as good in the field as 

 they are in appearance. 



The State game laws of the 

 United States and the Provin- 

 cial game laws of Canada, as 

 they are at present, have been 

 great factors in the increased 

 proficiency in the work of our 

 sporting dogs, as now almost 

 anywhere quail can be found 

 either in greater or smaller 

 numbers, although, of course, 

 it is necessary for the better 

 working of the dogs, and the 

 time being generally limited 

 that the trials be held where 

 the game is most numerous 

 and the country practicable 

 and accessible. 



Of late years sporting dogs 

 have been greatly on the in- 

 crease, and many fine looking 

 animals can be seen in almost 

 any town, but at the same 

 time a great number of these 

 are good to look at and noth- 

 ing more, in fact they are worse 

 than useless; these belong, as 

 a rule, to persons who know 

 little or nothing about the 

 training and management of 

 dogs, but let them roam about 

 at their own sweet will, an- 

 noying every one, and picking 

 up all kinds of bad vices. No 

 thorough sportsman allows 

 his dogs out except under pro- 

 per control. Where birds are 

 scarce it is reasonable to ex- 

 pect that a dog's work would 

 not be up to the mark, but. 

 surely where a well-bred sport- 

 ing dog is kept, it is worth 

 while to give him some tuition,, 

 and were field trials held more 

 frequently on this continent there would be fewer useless 

 canines roaming at large and the breeds would be greatly 

 improved. 



There is a great diversity of opinion as to which breed is 

 best suited for general field purposes in America— pointers 

 or setters. Many say the former, giving as a reason that 

 they can stand the heat better, want less water, burrs do not 

 collect on their coat, and when once well broken do not. 

 require much work to keep them proficient. Then others 

 say the latter, as they can stand cold and damp better. But 

 be it as it may, taking the field trials altogether, both breeds 

 are fairly balanced as regards work, so that it would seem 

 that the nature of the country and its climate must decide 

 which is the best breed of dog to shoot over. 



Our dog shows in America have certainly done wonders 

 toward improving the breed of our dogs, but it is a pity that 

 in regard to sporting dogs that the number of events won at 

 the different field trials should not be brought to bear toward 

 winning prizes at dog shows, of course according to the 

 age of the animal and the estimation in which the particular 



