Chapter 1
Section 1 of Birds and All Nature, Volume 6, Number 2, September 1899. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Noel Badrian The Pointer Canis Familiaris
Sajax avicularius There is a wide difference of opinion among naturalists as to the stock from which our dogs of the present day came. Hallig says that some have it the wolf, others the jackal or fox,
while not a few claim that the wild dog of India is the source from which sprang all the varieties. He maintains, however, that it cannot be declared with any degree of certainty what the parent stock was. Certain it is that to no one animal can the paternity of these useful races be credited,
as they are so widely different in form, colour and characteristics, and man could never have developed and brought together such vast differences opposite natures and shapes as can be seen in domestic dogs, unless the original species were in possession of the rudiments. Neither could food, climate, nor any contrivance whatever
so completely alter the nature, decrease the powers of scent, render the coat short, long or curly, lengthen or shorten the limbs, unless separate types had furnished the material. Ancient bas-relief and monumental delineations picture the dog as distinct in its characteristics thousands of years ago as at the present day.
And fossil remains have been repeatedly discovered, so little resembling either the wolf, jackal or fox, and so different in type as to be classified with the spaniel, terrier, hound, bulldog, pointer and pug. And as we know these to be made dogs, or in other words hybrids, the species must have been fully as numerous as at the present time.
There are numerous species of wild dogs differing from one another almost as much as our own domestic animals of today. Granting that the spaniel, greyhound and terrier sprang originally from the wolf, as some argue, why not point out first why the male dogs are so dissimilar? And again, why are the wolves of different countries unlike?
And which species of wolf is the true and only one? Without wishing to conflict with the opinions of those so much more learned on the subject than ourselves, we would ask, would it not be much more reasonable to suppose, without positive proof,
that the origin of the domestic dog can be referred to numerous aboriginal species? crossing with the wild varieties, as we know our dogs will frequently do, including the wolf, jackal and the fox. If we like, climate assisting and man-aiding by judicious intermixing and breeding, until the present high standard of this useful animal has been reached.
It is noticeable that we have in America far more well-bred setters than pointers, and greater attention seems to have been paid in the last few years in procuring the former blood than the latter. This arises from the fact that the setter is the greater favourite of the two and justly the choice of the sportsman
when he desires a dog that will unflinchingly stand the rough and tumble nature of our shooting. Of the two, the point of the shorter-haired animal is farther 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 re-broken 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 means that his dog should be the pointer But for the one who takes advantage of the open season for different game from its beginning to its close we recommend the setter as best able to bear continued work
in all descriptions of cover The short hair of the pointer enables him to do work on the prairies while chicken shooting, where water is seldom found, and which he can do without for a long time. But in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, and in countries where the game invariably takes to the briary thickets on being started,
the pointer is at a disadvantage as it refuses to enter them. The pointer originally is a cross of the Spanish dog with the greyhound or foxhound, by which the delicacy of the nerves of the nose to some extent is diminished, and the body rendered more light and elegant. No dog has a higher step, sense of smell, or shows greater intelligence or docility.
The principal reason that he becomes rigid, or points, by the scent of game, is from the extraordinary condition of his nervous system, acquired centuries ago and handed down by his ancestors. According to Halleck, a thoroughly broken pair of high-bred pointers
are so obedient to the voice and gesture of their master and so well trained to act with each other that a wave of the hand will separate them, one going to the right and the other to the left, so that they hunt the entire ground.
crossing each other regularly in front of the sportsman as he walks forward. There is one matter that is generally overlooked in ranging with the pointer. If in early life you have taught him to retrieve, and a case occurs in the field where he has to cross a stream, as the dog returns with the bird, never tell him down charge.
His coat is so thin and his organisation so delicate that he is sure to catch cold. Therefore, by all means, allow him to run around a little. Points for the show bench, as given by the Fancier's Gazette, are Head should be moderately long, narrowing from the skull.
The skull not too prominent above the eyes, as this gives a heavy appearance. Rather deep in the lip, but not any flaw or very slight. Nostrils open with level jaw. eyes moderately bold ears thin set into the head
just where the skull begins to recede at the sides of the head hanging flat on the cheek throwing the ears back so as to show the insides has a bad appearance and too often indicates a cross
neck medium in proportion to head and body rather inclined to be long but not much so thickening from the head to the set in of the shoulders. No looseness of the throat skin.
Shoulders narrow at the meeting of the blade bones with a great amount of muscle long in the blades set slanting with arm of the leg strong and coming away straight and elbow neither out nor in. The legs not great heavy boned
but with a great amount of muscle. Leg pressed straight to the foot Well rounded and symmetrical, with foot well rounded This is the forelegs and feet Chest moderately deep, not over wide
But sufficiently wide and deep to give plenty of breathing room Back level, wide in loins Deeply ribbed and with ribs carried well back Hips wide and full of muscle, not straight in the hock, but moderately bent Stifles full and well developed
The stern nearly straight, going off tapering to the point Set in level with the back, carried straight, not above the level of back Symmetry and general appearance racy And much beauty of form appears to the eye of a real pointer breeder and fancier The weights considered best for different purposes are from 50 pounds to about 65 pounds.
Coat short and glossy, but a deal here depends on condition. Points in judging. Head 25. Neck 10. Shoulders 15.
Legs 10. Feet 10. Loins 10. Stifles 5. Stern 15. Total 100.
Colour and coat. The coat ought to be very short and soft and fine, and the skin thin and flexible. Most people in England prefer the lemon and white to liver and white or black and white.
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