Peggy promptly chased it out of that 
part of the country. I tried to whistle 
her back but it was no use. She came 
back when she decided that to try to 
catch that hen was folly. After that 
one attempt to handle her, I let her go 
her own sweet way, and it was not such 
a bad way either, as she gave us some 
good shooting. Peggy was soon on 
point again and as Percy walked in 
to flush the bird, she drew on for five or 
six rods and stiffened again. Her 
points were not very stylish, but they 
meant birds ahead; and as this one 
flushed, Percy knocked him down. He 
was only winged and ran away 
as only a pheasant or a turkey 
can run. Peggy is a small 
dog and this bird gave her a 
merry chase. She finally 
caught and shook the life out 
of him, but would not retrieve. 
Peggy was out and going good 
when we returned to the house 
about twelve o’clock for lunch. 
After lunch we started out 
with both dogs. Skip had 
rested several hours and Peggy 
about one, so they both went 
out with good speed and range. 
Peggy put up two cocks while 
trying to out-run her big brace 
mate, but as both were down 
wind from her, she could not be 
blamed too much. Birds were 
not any too numerous, but 
there were enough so that the 
dogs gave us a thrill every now 
and then as they pointed and a 
hen was flushed and we had 
shot a cock once in a while. 
Jim said the little bitch had 
the better nose and I promptly 
disagreed with him. So we 
had a regular field trial the 
rest of the afternoon. There 
was no comparison between 
the two dogs as far as training 
went, so the judging was on 
nose alone. As both ranged 
quite independent of the other, 
we did not call the other in to 
back when one was on point. 
A couple of times Skip was 
close to Peggy however and 
backed fairly well. 
Each dog made several finds during 
the rest of the day and the score was 
about equal. Peggy really had the 
long range nose, but quite often would 
false point, while Skip always had his 
birds right in front of him. There was 
one piece of work by both dogs that 
stood out above the rest. Peggy came 
to a stanch point, while Skip was about 
two hundred yards to the right. While 
she was pointing Skip went up to her, 
crossed over to her left, going just 
ing. Here is where Jim gave me the 
ha, ha, and walked in to flush the bird. 
As he stepped in front of Peggy she 
broke her point, drew ahead for a 
couple of yards, then cast off to the 
right as if she had not scented a bird 
at all. I thought it very strange that 
Skip had not honored the point or at 
least have showed some signs of game 
when he ran in front of Peggy, so kept 
my eye on him. He continued to the 
left of Peggy, as she stood pointing - , 
foi about one hundred feet, then swung 
out ahead for about two hundred feet 
and pointed. As I walked 
in to flush, up went two 
pheasants and we consid¬ 
ered Skip the winner. As 
1 figured it out, Peggy 
must have gotten wind of 
the birds for just a sec¬ 
ond and pointed. As Skip 
went by her he must not 
have gotten the scent or 
else the wind had shifted 
and he picked the scent 
out of the air after he 
had gotten way by to the 
left. 
Each of the party had 
THE FINISHED SPORTSMAN'S DOG MUST BF A rnnn tjit' 
you E will havf I°r R D0G by the F0RCE SYSTEM AND 
Y0U WILL HAVE A RETRIEVER YOU CAN DEPEND UPON 
few' feet in front of her, yet paying no 
attention to the fact that she was point- 
Page .55/ 
scored one or more birds and w - e were 
all happy. My dogs are always in 
pretty good condition and they finished 
the afternoon tired but strong. Too 
much importance cannot be attached to 
condition. Bird dogs cannot be ex¬ 
pected to do good work in the field 
unless they are physically fit. 
In sizing up either a setter or pointer, 
bird sense and keenness of scenting 
powers properly come first. Stanch¬ 
ness on point and steadiness to the 
gun are merely matters of training. 
Ever since field trials came into 
fashion retrieving has been neglected. 
Field trial rules do not call for it and 
most professional field trial trainers 
urge against it on the grounds that it 
makes a dog unsteady. With these 
conclusions I do not agree. To my 
mind no dog is a finished shooting dog 
unless he is a good retriever. Some 
dogs are natural retrievers and do very 
good work afield, but if they do not 
feel in the right mood, often refuse and 
no amount of persuasion will make 
them fetch. 
The writer has a little setter bitch 
that is retrieving nicely now of her own 
free will, yet who can tell when she may 
decide that she doesn’t feel like doing - 
so. When she was a puppie she would 
fetch a ball or stick when thrown out. 
The practice was not kept up and she 
outgrew her playful stage of life and 
refused to fetch. The first bird killed 
over her points was a big cock pheas¬ 
ant and as he was only winged he ran 
away at a lively pace. The dog chased 
and caught him. She picked up the 
bird, took a couple of steps with him in 
her mouth then dropped him. There 
was no command that she understood, 
such as “Fetch” or “Bring It In” so 
it was of little use to try to get her to 
bi ing it in. The next few birds brought 
down were unable to run away, and 
she did not even pick them up. Then 
another bird was only winged and 
ran away. This bird fell about ten 
feet from a woven wire fence. The 
dog followed and after consid¬ 
erable trouble getting through 
the fence trailed the bird 
across a field for several hun¬ 
dred feet, caught it and 
proudly brought it in. She 
has retrieved all birds killed 
over her since, and may con- 
| tinue to do so, but on the other 
hand she may refuse on the 
very next bird and there is no 
command that she understands 
by which she can be made to 
do so. 
A big pointer had been 
hunted for nearly two years 
and never retrieved a feather. 
During the second season a 
pheasant was knocked down 
and fell in the river. The bird immedi¬ 
ately swam to the middle of the stream 
and might have gotten clear across if it 
hadn’t been for the fact that another 
batch of number seven and one-half 
chilled was spread over him. During 
this performance the big pointer was 
tearing up and down the shore. 
He wanted to go and get the bird, yet 
he hesitated to plung into the cold 
water. Persuasion and coaxing on the 
part of his owner was of no avail. The 
dog still showed a desire to retrieve the 
( Continued\ on page 599) 
