March, 1918 
191 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
THE HANDLER OF RINGING BELLS 
(continued from page i 63 ) 
to them by sportsmen in every state in the 
Union. All during the summer reports had 
come back about how different youngsters 
were progressing in their training and more 
than one handler, primed with confidence, 
had assured his employer that nothing could 
heat their entry. It was a cinch from every 
angle. The day came for the trials; the 
entry was one of the largest that had ever 
been run at a prairie trial and men who 
had followed bird dogs for a quarter of a 
:entury agreed that a better bunch of 
.-oungsters had never been brought to¬ 
gether, just as they all agreed when the 
judging was over that the three best dogs 
vere these pointers that Armstrong ran. 
Never before in the history of field trials 
lad one man won first, second, and third 
dace at a field trial with three pointers. It 
s a long way from these field trials in the 
irairie to the United States trials in Ten- 
lessee, and few dogs have ever gone the 
oute, but these dogs went all the way, won 
rial after trial and captured the champion- 
hip, it being the first time in its long his- 
ory that it had ever been won by a dog 
f any breed of Derby age. This year, 
espite the fact that all sports have suf- 
ered more or less by the war, the All 
American trials were of the largest in their 
istory. Again were these dogs successful. 
Y common consent the American Field 
Futurity is recognized as the Derby 
classic of the field trial world. It is run 
n quail, all of the conditions governing the 
; ake are conducted most carefully and the 
-ty cream of the bird dog blood of thecoun- 
y annually compete for its splendid purse 
id the coveted honors. It was won this 
:ar by Ringing Bells, the dog that Arm- 
rong had won with on the prairies, and 
nong the dogs he defeated was Unospeck, 
mdled by John Gude, who has been a most 
ccessful developer of Futurites ever since 
e stake was founded. This remarkable 
tch on January 7 won the United States 
srby at Grand Junction, Tennessee, and 
e following week Comanche Rap, one of 
st year’s winning trio, won the rich Na- 
mal All Age at Letohatchin, Alabama, de- 
ding such seasoned campaigners as the 
iter Champion Candy Kid and De Soto 
ank. After two seasons of such suc- 
ssful campaigning the question naturally 
ses; Is it a new strain of pointer blood 
wherein do they differ from other point- 
1? The answer is: They are of the same 
h od as thousands of other pointers owned 
sportsmen and used as shooting dogs in 
:ry state in the Union. It is the blood 
t half a century of pointer breeders, men 
j- Arkwright, Price, and Salter across the 
s, and McMurdo Buckell, Seitner, Wise, 
1 Fishel and a little host of others in this 
intry have faced criticism and worked 
idfastly to produce by intelligent mating 
I continuous development. The blood is 
hand for all, a common heritage for 
uerican sportsmen; therefore interest 
Jers in the man who trained and han- 
1 them. 
obert Armstrong comes from a straight 
|i family of pointer breeders and han- 
; 's. His father, Edward Armstrong, 
the greatest game keeper and bird dog 
dler that Britain has ever known; he 
won the first field trial that is recognized in 
the traditions and records of the sport, 
hour of his sons came to this country, Jack, 
W ill, Ned and Bob. Jack was in the em¬ 
ploy of the Goulds and was murdered by 
a poacher he had prosecuted. Will, a lieu¬ 
tenant in the U. S. forces, died on the Mex¬ 
ican border. Ned is a steward of the Clar¬ 
ence Mackay properties and Bob has writ¬ 
ten a page or two of field trial history 
worthy of the traditions of his family. 
W hat is his system of training and where¬ 
in does it differ from other trainers, is the 
next question. Of that we are not pre¬ 
pared to say, but we have spent many days 
with him afield; we have seen him handle 
many dogs and know his methods. Kind¬ 
ness and patience are his watchwords. 
W hen Bob Armstrong commences to han¬ 
dle young puppies he allows them to chase 
birds as much as they like, for in his opin¬ 
ion the more they do so the greater their 
determination to hunt for and find them. 
The most successful dogs that he has owned 
have been broken in in this way and it is 
his experience that puppies who are too 
much schooled and are not allowed a period 
of reckless puppvhood do not develop suf¬ 
ficient dash or range wide enough for field 
trials and in the end become potters. As 
soon as puppies begin to show signs of 
pointing, and he gives them daily oppor¬ 
tunity to do so, he makes much of them and 
many of them give up themselves the 
habit of chasing, and are easily made steady 
at point. The check cord is used only on 
rare occasions. 
Two things upon which he is insistent, 
however, is that all of his field trial pros¬ 
pects, as well as his shooting dogs, must be 
the descendants of parents that have been 
trained and regularly shot over, and it is 
noticeable that he spends as much of his 
time with his youngsters as possible and 
takes them out with him on daily walks. 
The early lesson, such as drop to word or to 
hand, keeping to heel, etc., are a matter of 
daily practice. A perfectly raw puppy can 
easily be taught to drop in a few lessons 
without the use of a whip, check cord, 
spike collars or the other contrivances that 
breakers use. All that is necessary to do 
is to simply place the puppy down on his 
belly with his feet in front of him. This is 
done as gently as possible at the same time 
the word “drop” being repeated slowly. If 
the puppy attempts to rise, he is gently 
forced down until he remains there quietly. 
After he will do so without pressure from 
the hand back away from him a short dis¬ 
tance. If he gets up to follow you take him 
back and put him down again. By this 
same method and by raising the hand when 
the word “drop” is given the puppy will 
soon learn to drop to hand. 
_ Li teaching the puppy to stay at heel, a 
light cord is attached to his collar and he is 
led about. If he attempts to run ahead a 
few taps over the nose with a light switch 
will make him fall back to the proper posi¬ 
tion. This is about all the yard training 
that Armstrong gives his dogs, but it is im¬ 
portant work for it is at this time he in¬ 
stills confidence in his youngsters and gets 
close to their affections. 
Young bird dogs can be taught to point 
in the Spring, but there are objections to 
DENT S CONDITION PILLS 
If your dog is sick, 
all run-down, thin and unthrifty, if his 
coat is harsh and staring, his eyes mat¬ 
terated, bowels disturbed, urine high 
colored and frequently passed—if you 
feel badly every time you look at him 
—eating grass won’t kelp him. 
DENT’S CONDITION PILLS 
will. They are a time-tried formula, 
that will pretty nearly make a dead 
dog eat. As a tonic for dogs that are 
all out of sorts and those that are 
recovering from distemper or are 
affected with mange, eczema, or some 
debilitating disease, there is nothing 
to equal them. PRICE, PER BOX. 
50 CENTS. 
If your dog is sick and you do not 
know how to treat him, write to us 
and you will be given an expert’s 
opinion without charge. Pedigree 
blanks are free for postage—4 cents a 
dozen. Dent’s Doggy Hints, a 32- 
page booklet, will be mailed for a two- 
cent stamp. The Amateur Dog Book, 
a practical treatise on the treatment, 
care and training of dogs, 160 pages 
fully illustrated, will be mailed for" 10 
cents. 
THE DENT MEDICINE CO. 
NEWBURGH, N. Y.; TORONTO. CAN. 
Pointers 
and 
Setters 
GEO. W. LOVELL 
MIDDLEBORO, MASS 
Telephone, 29-M 
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