JUNE, 1920 FOREST AND STREAM 299 
FIELD TRIAL AND SHOOTING DOGS 
/ 
IN RECENT YEARS MANY HIGH CLASS, HOME TRAINED SHOOTING DOGS HAVE MADE 
GREAT |FIELD TRIAL RECORDS AND HAVE WON HIGH HONORS ON THE BENCH 
By RODNEY RANDOM 
A NUMBER of years ago at one of 
the All American Club’s trials in 
North Dakota, a new man turned up 
named Frank Fellows. A big powerful 
man with a soft voice — a lazy sort of 
drawl and an easy-going manner that 
made friends on sight. Mr. Fellows 
talked dog pretty steadily but never in an 
assertive way. He had with him as good 
a looking pointer as field trials have ever 
seen and yet in several respects he was 
different from the general run of dogs 
that were in the trials. A trifle more 
compact, a little better muscled and a bit 
wider in skull and shorter in head than 
the average run of dogs we had been run- 
ning. His neck was clean, shoulders 
beautifully placed and his back and loin 
and general running gear, everything that 
a dog should be. His name was Frank’s 
Den. He was beautifully trained and how 
he could handle the elusive prairie 
chicken! The wise old cock birds that 
had faced all the vicissitudes of life on 
the big plains had nothing in their reper- 
toire to uncork that Frank’s Den didn’t 
know by heart, forwards and backwards, 
and from both ends to the middle. When 
Frank’s Den went up to those trials he 
was just a plain shooting dog; the favor- 
ite shooting dog of Frank Fellows, and 
when he left he was a field trial winner 
that was henceforth to be known from 
coast to coast, and his owner, who, up to 
this time, had simply been one of those 
sportsmen who liked the best there is go- 
ing in dogs and guns and everything else, 
was a full-fledged field trial man. 
The oldest question in the field trial 
game, the first question that comes up 
whenever the every day sportsman and 
the field trial man meet, is usually, “What 
is the difference between a field trial dog 
and a shooting dog?” Now, Mr. Fellows 
is not what you would 
call a regular dog man. 
Out in Springfield, Mo., 
where he lives, he is 
the President of the 
Springfield Wagon Co. 
He was raised on a 
farm and owns one 
now, and in his time he 
has bred and exhibited 
cattle and pigs and 
chickens with success, 
and his horses were fa- 
miliar to western pat- 
rons of the turf.. He 
has studied the breeding of animals be- 
cause it interests him. It is not record- 
ed that he has ever made any pretense 
to being a writer, nevertheless he can 
write, and has recently published a little 
brochure on hunting and field trial dogs. 
This little book has interested us, and if 
you are interested in bird dogs we be- 
lieve it will interest you. Anyhow, we ad- 
vise you to write him for a copy. They 
are free and they are well worth while. 
Meanwhile, here is what Mr. Fellows has 
to say about the relation of bench, show 
and field trial dogs to shooting dogs: 
(( A LL breeding operations of pure 
bred animals must be governed 
by a standard. A standard can 
only be built upon merit. Merit can only 
be found by test, and the test must be 
made to stand up in competition. And 
so the shows and trials to the bird dog 
breeder stand for just those things that 
live stock shows, milking contests, races, 
etc., stand for in the breeding of horses, 
cattle and other pure bred live stock; so 
that bringing into competition we test 
their quality for a standard. 
A pedigree would be of little value in 
an animal unless there was some gener- 
ally known merit back of it, and the merit 
can be made known to the public only 
through wide-open competition. 
The principal foundation for judgment 
at either shows or trials is based upon 
common sense. The dog at the show must 
be judged upon his near resemblance 
to the type of his breed as per a proven 
and satisfactory standard of conforma- 
tion. For instance, a hunting dog of the 
scenting variety must have a properly 
constructed head with, a good long square 
muzzle and dropping flews, such as have 
the bloodhound, beagles, pointers and set- 
A string of bench and field trial winners 
ters. On the other hand, the typical eye 
hunter has a keen, sharp pointed head 
and nose, such as the whippet, greyhound, 
etc. A tendency to compromise the two 
brings the result that you have neither 
one thing or the other. As the forms and 
shapes were the making of the Creator, 
surely there is a reason. So this is my 
explanation why I am a ‘head’ crank. 
Coming back to the course, we will 
devote the rest of this article strictly to 
the bird dog. In the conformation of the 
typical bird dog, the essential elements of 
running gear construction are to be close- 
ly considered. The feet of good propor- 
tioned size, well padded, and toes lo- 
gether, good boned legs, set squarely 
under him, and a clean straight shoulder 
that he may travel with the least fric- 
tion. A body with well sprung ribs, giv- 
ing plenty of lung room, etc. 
All these things are for strength and 
endurance. 
A well set neck, a keen tapering tail, 
and a fine coat of hair are the things that 
bring the subject to perfection. 
So in summing up the dog from the 
bench we pick out many of these essen- 
tial elements that help make him an ideal 
field trial dog, or a shooting dog. 
A dog must have the natural qualities 
referred to, as bench conformation, in or- 
der to have the properly constructed head, 
to contain the necessary organs that pro- 
vide him with scenting qualities in pro- 
portion to his speed. 
Besides the natural qualities of con- 
formation, there are other natural quali- 
ties desired that cannot be judged upon 
the bench — those of nervous energy and 
bird sense, as demonstrated in a dog’s 
style and animation in pointing game, 
their instinct to be good enduring rust- 
lers, to stay out in front of their hand- 
lers, to seek the likely 
places that are the 
usual harbors of game 
birds, to pass the bar- 
ren places, and not 
work over the same ter- 
ritory twice. 
A T the trials we 
have the test of 
endurance, range 
and speed, bird sense, 
which is termed in judg- 
( CONTINUED ON 
PAGE 348 ) 
