THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
them at work, would be expecting to see them flush birds. Their wonderful 
nose, however, steered them safely through all such dangers, and when 
once they struck a scent nothing but force would induce them to leave it 
so long as the birds remained. 
On the knowledge of this Laverack acted, for when questioned by an 
inquirer, to whom he had stated that he never broke his dogs to whistle, 
as to how he managed to call them up at the end of the day to take them 
home, he replied that he “ waited until they were standing on a point, 
and he then went up and put the lead on and led them away,” a proceeding 
which tells more for the staunchness of the dog than for the fair dealing 
of the man. There is no doubt that this way of Laverack’s, of never having 
them broken, or, as he used to say, ” no word, whip, nor whistle,” during 
so many years, had its effect on the character of his breed, for it cannot 
be gainsaid that a decided headstrong disposition, a tendency to, as 
they say in America, “ bolting,” was ingrained in them, and no doubt 
gave them the bad name they got in many quarters. As a proof of that 
it may be noted that the only pure Laverack’s that have ever successfully 
competed at field trials have been Sir Richard Garth’s Daisy, and Mr 
Purcell Llewellin’s Countess and Nellie, all sisters, considering that after 
Mr Laverack had come south, and showed his dogs, they came into many 
hands, who would have entered them at public trials if they had been fit 
for it. Having said this much as to their weak points, it is their due to say 
that they possessed most valuable properties, properties which have 
been of incalculable benefit to the modern setter. They raised the head 
carriage. Here and there setters occasionally had been seen with a good 
carriage, but till they had been well leavened with Laverack blood a high j 
ranger was an unusual sight. They improved the nose. In those days [ 
the setters of the country did not err on the side of a too sensitive nose, j 
and this the Laverack corrected. Staunchness, even to a fault, belonged | 
to the pure article, and an indomitable love of sport, for sport’s sake, | 
whereas many of the ordinary breeds worked slack without the gun, and || 
blood. The Laverack would work just as keenly without the stimulus of j 
the killing of game. Taking all the above points into account it is easy 
to see what an epoch in history the introduction of such dogs was, and 
what an influence they had on the setters of succeeding generations. i 
Few men excited more controversy, or wrath and animosity, from the 
vested interests which his dogs upset. His story as to the descent of 
his dogs from two specimens met with much incredulity, and for years f 
232 
