Junk 30, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



661 



"Moss-Back Robber" Rule and "High Class" Dogs. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



For the past six or eight years I have seen the necessity of 

 a change in all field trial "rules, tha,t -will allow bitches in 

 season to run in these trials, and was one of the committee 

 which changed the rules in the TJ. S. Club. 



This new rule did not fully agree with my views on the 

 subject, but I was sure a step in that direction was for tbe 

 best, and if you cannot always get exactly wbat you want, 

 then I am for tbe next thing to it, and voted for the change 

 as it now is, believing at the time that by the next meeting 

 of the U. S. Club they would fully agree with me on the 

 subject. The owners of bitches in season should have a show 

 for their money, but beyond a doubt the rules should protect 

 all dogs and give thenTan equal chance. In case a dog's at- 

 tention is drawn from his work byrunniag with a bitch in sea- 

 son, the judges should have power to protect him and at once 

 order them to be run in some other manner, and I am sure 

 that no one will suffer in this way by the change of the rules 

 in the TJ. S, Club. The management and judges 1 do not 

 believe would allow any injustice of this kind to injure the 

 chances of a good dog even if they have not got the proper 

 rule to cover it. The best dog should always have every 

 opportunity to prove his superiority over his inferior competi- 

 tor, and it should win, let it be a bitch in season, a high class 

 stud dog, a pointer or a cross-bred mongrel. High class, 

 natural qualities are what we need, and they should be fully 

 tested. Fewer rules and better judges will more fully 

 demonstrate who has the best dogs. I have always worked 

 hard to do away with so many rules, All clubs have had too 

 many, but some of tbe most important clubs have seen their 

 folly and have cut them down considerably. I have always 

 argued that if judges were not competent that all the rules 

 that could be printed will not make them so. If they are not 

 honest, the more rules they have the more rascality they will 

 work in and try to cover their rascality by arguing that they 

 are judging strictly according to rules; but I am glad to say 

 that these are the exception. 



The following is about what I was in favor of in regard to 

 this rule: 



"Bitches in season will be allowed to compete in all stakes, 

 but in case they are unduly attracting the attention of their 

 competitors the judges shall at once order them up and run 

 them alone or change the order of running so as to give 

 every dog and bitch in the stake a thorough test without 

 injuring the chances of any dog by the change." 



With the above rule no one could have any grounds to 

 protest or say their stud dog's reputation should not be at 

 stake by running with bitches in season. Among high class 

 dogs I will assert that it will not be necessary for tbe judges 

 to make one change in a hundred, but even if it was the one 

 hundredth time that dog should be protected, and I see no 

 reason why every club in the country should not make the 

 change. It surely cannot injure the club's entry, for the 

 above rule covers every point that might injure any dog. and 

 beyond a doubt bitches in season should be allowed to fully 

 demonstrate what they are capable of. 



After an owner has paid, say, .$75 for a pup, $150 to have it 

 broken and $30 entrance money to start in a stake, which 

 makes in all $255 actual expense, in addition to the extra ex- 

 penses of coming perhaps a thousand miles with a view of 

 seeing the dog start and eventually win, it is not justice to 

 have a little rule, that cannot benefit field dogs in any way, 

 exclude such bitch from running and perhaps discourage 

 her owner, who might be a beginner, and make him quit 

 field trials forever with disgust. I£ all clubs will only give 

 the above rule one year's trial I will guarantee they will 

 never change back to the old rule; they may change it for 

 something better, which I think they will, as times are im- 

 proving rapidly every day, and so are all field trial rules and 

 field trial dogs. 



Field trials have many drawbacks and many mistakes are 

 made, but still they are gradually improving bird dogs, re- 

 gardless of the many chronic kickers who stay at home and 

 know more about what is going on and the unjust decisions 

 that are made, and how Mr. Avent and others handle their 

 dogs to win. It makes men who make a lifetime study of 

 dogs and that are in the field with high class field trial dogs 

 from one year's end to another, laugh to hear many of the 

 stay-at-home writers' arguments. If they will only follow 

 the trials one season and see all the work done, and what a 

 difficult task all judges have, they would know more and 

 write less about a high class field trial dog not being a first 

 class snooting dog. 



The better field trial dog he is the better shooting dog he 

 can be made. 



If many of such writers will only come to my home after 

 the field trial season is over I will fully convince them that 

 such field trial cracks as Count Gladstone, Topsey Rod, 

 Chevalier, Orlando, Tate and others are the greatest shoot- 

 ing dogs that they ever pulled a trigger over, and it will not 

 take a field full of them to give a man all the shooting he 

 wants. You only need one of such high class dogs to shoot 

 over, and if nece-sary they will work from sun to sun, and 

 from week end to week end. The four-hour races have fully 

 demonstrated that the very highest class field trial dogs are 

 the dogs with enough heart in them to stay day in and day 

 out. Look back at the late Four-Hour Stake of the Eastern 

 Field Trials. At the last cast of the puppy Topsey Rod he 

 started fast in ice and frost, the whole earth was like needles 

 of ice from one to three inches high and the grass was white 

 with frost, but he never let up from start to finish. On his 

 last cast, even after the judges had ordered him up, he 

 made a wide cast in an open clover field and could have gone 

 a mile in it but he saw a likely looking place for birds in a 

 cornfield, across a running creek, and looked to me for per- 

 mission to go there. Though at a long distance from me I 

 gave him the permission to go and the judges said, "Have 

 mercy on the little fellow and don't send him over that 

 creek to get wet in that cold water — the time is up." But 

 Topsey Rod plunged in the ice cold water and swam over 

 and hunted every inch of the field out before I could stop 

 him, and he hardly made a mistake on his game throughout 

 the race. Count Gladstone also stood up and was sick at 

 the time, but made sixteen good points in the last thirty 

 minutes and won first easily, with Topsey Rod second. Old 

 Chance always finished faster than any dog who ran in the 

 four-hour stake in his day. Orlando won the stake in great 

 shape and Rowdy Rod also downed his competitors and 

 walked away with the $1,000. I also won with Antonio in 

 the same stake. All of the above are Roderigo's get, except- 

 ing Count Gladstone, and he is half brother to Roderigo. 

 Old Roderigo himself would hunt from sun to sun. I have 

 shot over the great old dog Gladstone all day long at a time. 

 Have seen Count Noble work a day at a time and Gath could 

 also stay from sun to sun. 



The above eleven dogs are in my opinion the eleven best 

 field trial dogs that have ever been shown in America. There 

 are but few others that nearly approach them for field trial 

 dogs, and beyond a doubt every one of them are and were 

 strictly first-class shooting dogs when put in training for an 

 all-day's hunt. Any of the chronic kickers on field trial dogs 

 could take two of these dogs that 1 have mentioned and put 

 them in proper condition and they could start in for a shoot 

 and let it last from year to year until the dogs died from old 

 age, and they would do high class work for good shooting 

 every time they are taken out. You could hunt one in the 

 morning, the other in the evening, or one one day and the 

 other next day, and they would never quit if kept in proper 

 condition. Such sport and pleasure as -uch a brace would 

 give and such a bag of game that could be killed over such a 

 brace, will never be had by your stay-at-homes and "chronic 

 kickers" on field trial dogs, for they will never see enough of 



such high class dogs to really know and appreciate what a 

 first-class shooting dog is. 



In my mind, the very best and highest class field trial dogs 

 are the very best dogs to make a big bag over, especially if 

 birds are scarce enough to require a good dog to find them. 

 The only trouble is, they require a man with experience and 

 judgment and enough "get up" in him to handle them. No 

 old "grandmother" should want a first-class dog to shoot 

 over. I have noticed that whenever I have a friend to visit 

 me that has had great experience at field trials, he always 

 wants to shoot over my field trial cracks. Why is this? It 

 is because they go in the field knowing that they are out 

 with something that will hunt every inch of the country and 

 find the birds if they can be found. But take what many 

 term my plug shooting dogs; they have to help the plugs 

 hunt, and often fail to find enough birds for a respectable 

 day's sport. The "don't-know" sportsman will argue that 

 those plugs of mine will point. That's all true enough; they 

 will point if you can get them to potter around to where 

 there is something to point. The high-class field trial dog 

 will also point just as well as the pottererand hold his points 

 just as long— that is, if properly broken— and will make fewer 

 mistakes for the opportunities. Such a dog as Count Glad- 

 stone, of course, would flush more birds than a plug with the 

 same nose, for this reason: Count would find at least five 

 times the number of birds and cover at least ten times the 

 amount of ground; hence his chances for mistakes are many 

 more than my ordinary plugs. The stay-at-home kind can 

 rest assured that I have many of their favorite, plugs, and I 

 expect I see more work of that kind than they do, and that 

 is the reason why I am so fully convinced that the old idea 

 of a high-class field trial dog not being a first-class shooting 

 dog is all rot. 



When I was quite a boy I bad a lot of these plug shooting 

 dogs, and I could and did kill from 40 to 60 birds a day over 

 the lot with from three to four in the field at a time, and 

 hunted regular all the season: in fact, I was a game slaugh- 

 terer and prided myself in beating every friend whom I shot 

 with. I thought, like your stay-at-home kind, that my dogs 

 could easily down old Gladstone, but when I met Mr. Bryson 

 at Grand Junction with old Gladstone, that was the first 

 English setter that I ever saw in the field. We hunted him 

 nearly all day, and I was honest enough to say at once that I 

 had never before seen anything like a first-class shooting 

 dog. I honestly believe that I could have taken old Gladstone 

 and easily killed from 50 to 75 birds a day over him alone. 

 He could easily have found eight out of ten coveys in the 

 field with what I then considered four first-class dogs; in 

 fact, the four dogs I had could hardly have got a point with 

 him. I was so carried away with his wonderful performance 

 that I could hardly sleep for thinking about how it could be 

 possible for a dog* to have the speed, range, style, nose and 

 staying qualities that he had. At once I fully made up my 

 mind that I would never give up until 1 had and could breed 

 dogs his equal. If some of the many "chronic kickers" will 

 only come and see, they will be convinced like I was. I had 

 to see before I could believe, although I had heard all about 

 Gladstone. 



They are certainly welcome to their opinions, for the more 

 that believe in those kind — the plugs — the easier it is for me 

 to win. J. M. AVENT. 



Hickort Valley, Tenn., June 10. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am not in favor of revoking the old rule forbidding 

 bitches in season to compete at field trials. I differ with the 

 opinion of those that have been advocating the running of 

 bitches in season with dogs. I have had twenty-five years' 

 experience with pointers and setters. I have owned, bred 

 and handled hundreds in my lifetime and we have at the 



present time thirty-five in our kennels and my- cxporitmoe i« 



that a dog will not do high class work when he is working 

 with a bitch in season. He pays no attention to his work, 

 for his mind always is on the bitch; but I am in favor of 

 a bitch having a run for the money. I think if all the field 

 trials would establish the following rules there would not 

 be a chance for objection: When a bitch is in this condition 

 let her run with one of her own sex, and should there be no 

 bitch in the stake let the owner provide one to run with her, 

 for under the "spotting system" the judges could easily tell 

 if she was good enough to get in the money; and if she was 

 of equal merit with a dog for first place the dog should have 

 the preference. Owners of bitches in season should be com- 

 pelled to notify the secretary of said bitch's condition, and 

 he to notify all owners and handlers when dogs are going to 

 compete with her. I have seen dogs that would get so ex- 

 cited that they would not work for two or three hours or as 

 long as the bitch was around. We expect to start two 

 bitches in the International field trials and should be per- 

 fectly willing to start them under the above rules . should 

 they be in season. H. Milkins AND S. Hallam. 



Leamington, Ont.. June 14. 



The English Setter— Sires and Dams. 



BY P. H. BRYSON. 

 Winning and non-winning producing dams will first be 

 considered. Of the producing winning dams we find, Peep 

 o' Day, the dam of Gath; Sue, the dam of Gladstone's Boy, 

 Lillian, etc.; Bohemian Girl, the dam of Paul Bo; Florence 

 Gladstone, the dam of Whyte B.; Lillian, the dam of Toledo 

 Blade, Joey B., etc.; Daisy F., the dam of Daisy Hope and 

 Daisy Hunter. 



Of the non-winning dams we find Petrel, the dam of Glad- 

 stone; Twin Maude, the dam of Roderigo; Ranee, the dam 

 of Gloster; Bo-Peep, the dam of Antonio, Orlando, etc. ; Fate 

 Gladstone, the dam of Paxtang; Girly Gladstone, the dam of 

 Rod's Sue, etc.; Juno A., the dam of Rowdy Rod; Ruby's 

 Girl II., the dam of Count Gladstone IV.; Ruby D., the dam 

 of Laura and Miss Ruby; Lotta, the dam of OllieS.; Belle 

 Belton, the dam of King Noble; Belle of Hatchie, the dam of 

 Bob Gates, Lady O, etc.; Topsy Avent, the dam of Topsy 

 Rod, and Georgia Belle, the dam of Gleam's Sport, Gleam's 

 Pink, etc. Many other producing dams could be named 

 that never won in a field trial. 



From my knowledge of the non-winning producing dams 

 named, many would not be placed in a field trial in ordinary 

 company. It will be seen the preponderance of producing 

 dams were non-winners at field trials, still they produced 

 winners whose blood breeds on. The successful sires on the 

 other hand are winners at field trials, those not winning 

 being the exception. 



The question is often asked, "Does the sire or the dam con- 

 trol the progeny?" In some cases the dam does to somesires, 

 to others not. If we could get sires that would always con- 

 trol the progeny, that would not throw back, successful 

 breeding would be reduced to almost a certainty. This 

 throwing back is the stumbling block successful breeders 

 have to contend with. We may know the characteristics of 

 sire and dam, that when mated often throw back several 

 genei-ations and produce something unlike neither. You 

 often see liver and white puppies, when neither sires nor 

 dams had any liver color for several generations. This is 

 throwing back. In throwing back, the characteristics of 

 previous sires and dams appear more frequently than the 

 liver color, accounting for what Ave are sometimes at a loss 

 to understand, "why the puppies of noted sires and dams are 

 sometimes so different from either." Gladstone is the only 

 noted sire I know of that never threw a liver and white, 

 though he sired one or more lemon and white in almost 

 every litter— his dam Petrel being lemon and white. Accord- 

 ing to my observation, the liver and white and lemon and 

 white of same litter are more apt to live than the black, 

 white and tans. 



The question suggests itself, "Is the same blood that is 

 prepotent enough to produce liver and white and lemon and 

 white more vigorous blood than the blood of the black, white 

 and tans?" 



As a rule, you had better stick to families that you know 

 how they have bred for several generations, than 6reed to a 

 phenomenal specimen that has as many different bloods as 

 sires and dams. It is like throwing dice for a winner, to ex- 

 pect much from such breeding. You may meet with success 

 the first cross, but when you commence breeding their pro- 

 duce you do not get satisfactory results; they commence 

 throwing back. In crossing the setter and pointer, the first 

 cross gives better results than you get afterward; they com- 

 mence throwing back after the first cross. Wun Lung was a 

 phenomenal dog. We have not heard of any of his puppies 

 that are promising, though we understand that he was bred 

 to good blood. He is one of many I could cite where the com- 

 bining of many different bloods does not breed on. 



You need not expect every time you breed you will pro- 

 duce a Gladstone or a Roderigo. The percentage of grand 

 dogs is greater than the percentage of superior horses or 

 great men, but all horses are not superior, nor all men 

 great. It is important to have pure blood in both sires and 

 dams for many generations to guard against throwing back 

 to inferior blood. Inferior blood is more difficult than 

 liver and white to cross out, and it rarely remains dormant. 

 The proper mating of sire and dam in disposition, size, 

 nervous force, bird finding and many other qualities is im- 

 portant as well as blood lines. The breeders of to-day have 

 confronting them a difficulty that those breeding a few years 

 ago did not have to contend with, complicating the already 

 difficult problem of breeding a winner. On the other hand, 

 the breeders of to-day can profit by the successes and failures 

 of the past. They can see what blood or combination of 

 blood produced winners and breeds on and what does not. 

 The producing blood, Gladstone, Count Noble and Druid- 

 Ruby, has already one or more crosses of this same blood in 

 many of them, necessitating the careful mating of sires and 

 dams that was not so necessary a few years ago, before this 

 blood had been crossed on itself to the extent we find it in 

 many cases to-day. 



Some of the greatest winning blood has been bred almost 

 to a standstill as far as producing winners, largely from poor 

 mating, that ought to be producing blood. Unless great 

 care is taken in mating, we will breed our English setters to 

 the level of the Laveracks-of to-day. Of late years the 

 Laveracks have not proved the successes of years ago. They 

 are mated simply because they are Laveracks without due 

 regard as to whether they are suited to each other in size, 

 disposition, intelligence and many other necessary qualities 

 where inbreeding is resorted to. 



Nervous force is an essential quality in a field trial dog, to 

 impart snap, willingness and ability to do quickly what he 

 can do. For the short heats of half an hour and often less at 

 field trials, necessitating "hustling" from the jump — you 

 have to combine intelligence in order to train him, so he will 

 handle game well and be handled also, and not lose his head 

 at critical moments from undue excitement. 



While nervous force is necessary, some dogs have too much 

 of it. Antevolo is one with too much nervous force. She 

 will run a first heat in a trial that is difficult to beat; when 

 she becomes nervous from the excitement of the crowd, etc. 

 she is liable to lose her head in subsequent heats, and not do 

 the uniform high class work in the trials that she does in 

 private. Cincinnatus was another, so was Fred W., so was 

 Betty S. The strong nervous force is not so essential in a 

 shooting dog as in a field trial dog, because you have all day 

 to find your game, and it does not make a material differ- 

 ence if it does take a trifle longer time in doing it. This is 

 the essential difference between many field trial dogs and 

 the shootintr does of vears ae-n 



The craze for extreme quickness (snap) and rauge de- 

 manded of field trial dogs is such that no living or dead dog 

 could have maintained it in an all day's hunt, thus neces- 

 sitating the breeding of dogs of very much nervous force, to 

 the extent that there are many with more nervous force 

 than can be gotten under control. Many dogs thus bred are 

 unfit for shooting dogs and even the expert handler cannot 

 successfully handle them in the trials. 



If bred in right lines, they should be both field trial and 

 shooting dogs. Dogs of extreme snap and range that are 

 deficient as bird finders are in my opinion rated too high by 

 the average field trial judge. This class of dogs are catchy 

 to spectators and catch the eye of many field trial judges, 

 sometimes to the detriment of other qualities that ought to 

 rank high in a bird dog, many assuming that those qualities 

 are the only qualities that a high class dog ought to nave, of 

 having these qualities they lose sight of equally meritorious 

 qualities lacking in some dogs of this class. 



The extreme range often without judgment that is the 

 craze of to-day, I contend, is not necessary for bird finding. 

 No dog can have too much speed for me, if he will find and 

 handle game. I have seen too many with too much range 

 without judgment. I will illustrate this point by incidents 

 happening at the last Southern trial. 



Amethyst was the fastest dog that ran in the Derby, if not 

 in the Southern trials. She had more speed and range than 

 Bessie Shoupe, still the latter found all the game and did all 

 the point work when they met. 



Gleam's Pink did all the point work on game when he met 

 Blue Ridge Mark. Mark had the most range at the start. 

 Antevolo found all the bevies and did the most point work 

 when she met Kent Elgin, Kent having the most range. 

 Count Gladstone IV. did not find as many bevies in the 

 series of three heats he ran as Tremont did in the series of 

 three heats he ran, Count missing many bevies known to be 

 on the ground he was hunted over, but Tremont found all 

 the bevies known to be on the ground he was hunted over, 

 Count Gladstone IV. having the most range (hunting over 

 the same ground several times each dog ran over, demon- 

 strated the number of bevies on same). 



We ought to breed to sires and dams that will transmit 

 bird-finding, with other good qualities. I have heard many 

 say of a dog "he is a bird-finder, but not a high-class dog." 

 Some dogs that range out of sight their owners call high 

 class, though not bird-finders, while others are game-finders, 

 though not called high class and do not have to range out of 

 sight to do it. 



We have reached the maximum necessary in speed, range 

 and nervous force; let us find sires and dams that combine, 

 oird-finding with these and other essential qualities in a 

 bird dog. 



Memt-his, Tenn,, May 8. 



Illusion or Shadow. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I wish to call your attention to the peculiar effect pro- 

 duced in the photograph of Gleam's Sport in June 16 issue. 

 If you will hold the paper off about 16iu. and look at the dog 

 you will see that the top line of the baseboard of the fence iu 

 the background is sharply defined right through the dog, 

 crossing his chest and to his hips below the hip joint. 



It must be an illusion, of course, as I do not see how any 

 shadow could be deeper there, than above, as the shadows 

 giving shape to the chest should be rather triangular in 

 shape, extending higher up under the forearm, as a faint 

 outline can be traced in the same photo. I suppose the light 

 was behind the camera and should therefore fall on the side 

 of the dog equally, subject to the laws of lights and shades 

 that give shapes and forms. The effect striking me as 

 peculiar is why I mention it. W. W. Titus. 



Wavbrly, Mitss., June 16. 



[Some of our "amateurs" can perhaps explain this seeming 

 illusion.] 



