Sporting dog

“ No sporting dogs will flush woodcocks till inured to the scent and trained to the sport, which they then pursue with vehemence and transport; but then they will not touch their bones, but turn from them with abhorrence, even when they are hungry. ”

“ The sportsman's Spaniel—which is not commonly the show-bench animal—is of hardy constitution, taking the water in the coldest of weather, doing his [68] eight or ten hours' work in a day, and roughing it in the matter of food and kennelling.
The progeny of the working dog are not any more trouble to rear than those of a rough-and-tumble Terrier.
The "soft" constitution of so many black and Sussex Spaniels is due to that foolish system (in breeding) having been carried beyond all sense of reason.
All are water-loving dogs, and, when properly trained, retrieve their game tenderly. ”

“ There can be no question that the chief delight of wild dogs, as with modern hounds and sporting dogs, is in the chase and its accompanying excitement and consequences. One of the most thrilling moments to the human hunter (and doubtless to the canine) , and one big with that most poignant of all delights, anticipation of pleasurable excitement combined with muscular activity, is when the presence of game is first detected. ”

“ Walking along the galleries, which are very spacious, you can look over and see all the dogs below and the people as well.
The entries this year are exactly thirty-three in advance of 1872. Take it altogether, it is the best entry, as to numbers and quality, they have ever had. The total entries in the sporting classes were 557; viz.:—10 bloodhounds, 23 deerhounds, 19 greyhounds, 4 otterhounds, 11 harriers, 8 beagles, 127 fox-terriers, 85 pointers, 87 setters, 78 retrievers, 82 spaniels, 15 Dachshunds, and 5 in the extra class for any foreign breed of sporting dogs. ”

“ There is another reason why sporting-dogs appear more deficient in sense than some others, and that is their mode of life. Confined always in the kennel unless when seeking game, all their powers are employed to this end. There are, however, abundant proofs that, when made companions, and suffered to occupy a place upon the hearth-rug, they are capable of the same attachment, and would equal in sagacity the much-lauded dogs of St Bernard. ”

“ If any dog would, by the withdrawal of his antagonist before running, be left untried, the Judge may order him to run with any dog similarly circumstanced in that round, or with the dog that has the bye. The dog that has drawn a bye, if not called for previously by the Judges, shall run as one of the first pair in the next round. ”

“ To train the dog to do this, two men should start at one time, both being armed with sticks. Instruct the two to keep together, and when they are well on the run slip the dog and follow him as before directed. When the animal gets close the men must separate, and he will confine his attentions to one; immediately the man he first attacks is down, despatch the dog after the second, who should be making good pace away, while his companion stands perfectly still. ”

“ Repeat the dose at intervals, and the dog will soon take to watching attentively, expecting every sound to announce the appearance of an antagonist.
"Never permit a night-dog to chase game or rabbits; if he is allowed to do this the movements made by them at night will monopolise his attention, and the watchers will never be sure whether he is pricking up his ears at a rabbit rustling in the dead leaves or at the approach of poachers; when released for a chase or scrimmage he will be [349] likely to direct his attention towards the less noble game. ”

“ At first, the dog will plainly manifest that he prefers to stay and worry the one he has succeeded in defeating rather than seek for fresh glories, but persevere with him until he does renew the chase without the least hesitation. You will succeed better in this if the second man is not allowed to get too far away, and it will be advisable for him to wave his stick and otherwise try to attract attention and invite attack. When the dog recognises what is required of him, increase the distance between first and second man, or let each run in an opposite direction. ”

“ The propensities of 'pointing,' 'retrieving,' etc., in sporting dogs, which seem partly, at any rate, to be due to training, but which in well-bred stock are all but innate. It is in these breeds considered bad for a litter of young if its sire or dam have not been trained in the field. ”

“ It is pretty to watch a good retriever following a wounded bird over ground alive with unwounded game, yet never turning aside from the one trail. A dog could hardly distinguish one partridge from another—probably it is by the scent of blood that the one line can be followed so accurately. Sportsmen do not always give the dogs fair chances; they throw them cheese at lunch-time, or perhaps allow bagged game or themselves to taint the wind, so foiling other trails. In one case a sportsman blamed a new retriever for not finding a bird which was actually lying beneath his own boots. ”

“ It is almost impossible, therefore, not to have the greatest attachment and affection for them, especially as few dogs evince so much sagacity, sincerity, patience, fidelity, and gratitude. From the time they are thrown off in the field, as a proof of the pleasure they feel in being employed, the tail is in perpetual motion, upon the increased vibration of which the experienced sportsman well knows when he is getting nearer to the game. As the dog approaches it, the more energetic he becomes. ”

“ Although despised by the upland sportsman, who regards the use of the dog as essential to the pure exercise of his art; and by the pot-hunter, because they do not generally bring high prices in market;—to the genuine lover of nature and the gun they furnish splendid sport, requiring, if not as high a degree of skill as may be needed to cut down a quail in the dense coverts, at least as many fine qualities in the sportsman, and as thorough a knowledge of their habits as any other bird. ”

“ If one has to allow dogs to “run in” and chase game, to 201get up their keenness for hunting, it is a misfortune, and the task of breaking will become all the harder. In a good breed this encouragement will not be required. It is always hard to create opposites simultaneously, and to make a dog both bold and obedient.
The principal requirement in the hunting spaniel is nose, quickness, never going out of gun-shot, instant obedience, and bustling up game in a hurry without chasing it when it is up, dropping to shot, and retrieving dead and wounded game when told. ”

“ Entering on Game It is said to be a good way to show a retriever heaps of game running about while he is at heel. No doubt this is true, but not before he has learnt to retrieve running game. To make a retriever steady before he wants to be wild is easy enough; but it is not teaching self-control, and is educating the dog to ignore game just as he should sheep. Consequently, it is best, as soon as the young dog is perfectly hand broken, at six or eight months old, to give him some line hunting after living game. ”

“ Gentlemen there go out, some four, five, or six in a line, with only one or two retrievers, and a man to each to pick up the killed game. The sportsmen never stop to load, for each has generally a man by his side with a spare gun ready charged. If a bird is winged, or a hare wounded, the dogs go in at once to fetch it. Were the sportsmen to divide into distinct parties, each party taking one or two steady, close-ranging dogs, what much more true sport and pleasure they would have!—and kill, too, quite as much game. ”

“ His sixty couple of hounds are all drafts from the best English packs, and his hunters all come from the shires. The whole equipment would do credit to any country, and the sport he has shown has never been equalled. An all-round sportsman, his racing colours have often been to the front on French turf, whilst he is a finished whip, a capital shot, and the captain of the golf club.
The hounds are divided into three packs—the “ladies,” the dog pack, and a mixed pack. All three packs have shown great sport; but for drive, quickness and looks the bitches are unsurpassed. ”

“ The gentleman won his bet handsomely, though they found snipe, woodcock, grouse, hare, and something else,—as well as Colonel C——n now remembers,—a duck. It was soon evident to the spectators, that the attitude of the clever animal—short-eared, with a considerable cross of the bull-dog—varied according to the nature of the game she came across. To an English ear shooting on a bog does not sound very attractive,—but though the walking is generally difficult, the sport is often interesting, from the variety of game the sportsman frequently meets with. ”

“ With twenty dogs in a team, no two of them are in a straight line from the driver. When unhitched for the night they pile upon the first blanket that is thrown upon the snow, and there they stay. When you crawl into your sleeping bag, and pull a robe over it, the dog will get under the robe. Unless you are careful he will be inside of the bag in the morning. The animal's endurance is phenomenal, and they are capable of strong affection. They are great fighters. ”

“ Should the dog be well trained to the sport, he will set off at full speed on getting the scent and in silence until he sees the birds, when he instantly barks, and, running among them, forces the whole flock to take to the trees in different directions. ”

“ The standing still is the most difficult of the three. At the same time, the more interest a retriever takes in all that is going on the better he is sure to be, provided he is not excitable. Probably no dog takes more interest than a pointer, standing like a statue and dropping as the game rises. He may be excited as he does this, but the majority are not, and a retriever should be no more so. The pointer watches the game go away, but as he does so he sinks to the earth, and the retriever may be just as interested without jumping about or jerking his head in all directions in turn. ”

“ When shooting, the sportsman prefers spaniels, particularly certain “strains” of black and brown cockers—untiring little workers with a keen, true power of scent—which for many years have been common in the neighbourhood; and the farmer's sheep-dog is unfitted for any sport except rabbiting. Here and there, among the poaching fraternity, may be found a mongrel fondly imagined by its owner to be a terrier—a good rabbit “marker,” and wonderfully quick in killing rats, but no more suited than the sportman's spaniel for “lying up” with a badger. ”

“ I hope that he will not see a hare before you have shot a few birds over him. The first that springs up near him will test the perfection to which he has attained in his initiatory lessons. Lose not a moment. It is most essential to restrain instantaneously the naturally strong impulse of the dog to run after four-footed game. ”

“ And if on a boisterous day he chose to shoot down wind (as snipe fly against it) , why should he not call his companion in to “heel,” and afterwards employ him when re-hunting the same ground up wind? An experienced old dog, would rarely, however, when beating down wind, pass by many birds without noticing them.
399. We often hear of sportsmen shooting against each other for considerable sums in our best partridge-counties, where the game is so abundant that they consider it most advisable to employ no dog, save one or two retrievers. ”

“ Of the two, the point of the shorter-haired animal is far the more marked when on game, and the training once received by him is always retained, and on each returning season he enters the field to be depended upon, while the setter oftener has to be partially rebroken each year; and if not owned by a sportsman who shoots continually, becomes headstrong and unreliable.
"For the person whose business will not allow him to take his gun in hand but two or three times in the autumn," says an authority, "we advise by all [Pg 50] means that his dog should be the pointer ”

“ The sportsman in the tree, watching the animated [Pg 360] movements of the cabbage leaf, immediately fires, when the dog, whose sagacity is quite equal to that of his master, plunges into the water, and if the fish is either dead or severely wounded, seldom fails to bring the scaly morsel to land; thus as long as the heavens are bright and blue, the water keeps warm on the surface and the larger fish prefer to swim in the sun, the sport continues so long as the climbing and staying powers of the sportsman hold out. ”

“ These Dogs are kept for the business of the chase. They pursue the hare with the greatest eagerness, hardly giving her time to breathe. The most eager sportsmen find it sufficient exercise to keep in with their speed. There is a kind of Dog between this and the large Terrier, which forms a strong, active, and hardy Hound, used in hunting the otter. ”

“ The fact that he has pilfered it from the camp or the sled appears to give it an added zest.
“The husky, however, will go off fishing or hunting for himself if given a chance. In this he shows his wild origin. Just like a wolf or a bear, he will take his place in a stream and seize any fish that may be cast up on the shallows.
“The average speed of a dog team in good condition is ten miles an hour, and, as you know, in the States we call that good ‘reading’ even for a blooded horse. The dogs travel various distances daily, depending on the state of the trail they are following. ”

“ There is an idea that the place to loose off the dogs is where game has congregated, or been driven into good cover, so that points may recur at every 10 yards. This is when the heavy shooting occurs, but it is not when the dog is most indispensable. The latter happens when there is no more than one covey to every 500 acres, and you have to find it before you have any sport. Some people say that under those circumstances they would prefer no sport. ”