Certain breeds, including the setters and pointers, the spaniels, and the retrievers, have been hunting allies of men through the centuries.
Early forbears of modern bird dogs spread to England and other countries from Spain, and the word "spaniel" is derived from this ancestry. Old English prints of two and more centuries ago picture hunting dogs almost identical with our modern setters, pointers, and spaniels.
Pointers and setters were used to "point" the presence of quail and partridges so that nets might be dropped over the birds. Springer spaniels were trained to flush or "spring" game birds for the hawks in the royal sport of falconry.
Each type of dog has its own particular method of working, its specialty, carefully developed through generations of dogs by generations of trainers and breeders.
Pointers and setters, often known as "bird dogs," work mostly with the nose in the air. They rely on the body scent that drifts to them on the vagrant breeze from a game bird 20 or more yards away.
Watch a fine pointer or setter in action and you will see animal intelligence and training at their acme. Yonder he comes, across that weedy pasture, a big handsome fellow intent on the business in hand. Systematically he quarters the ground, ranging back and forth, but bearing steadily upwind. With delicate nostrils he sifts the tell tale air.
Suddenly he snaps into a perfect point, with his nose pointing true, tail rigid, one fore-paw upraised in mid-step (Plates I and II).
But he does not hold the point. It is only a meadowlark-not fair game. He walks ahead, the lark flies out, and the search continues.
Along the far side of the field he goes - busy, active, eager, questing. Then all of a sudden he becomes a statue, a dog of stone. Hot and strong from the weeds along the fence has been wafted the scent of quail.
Steadily he holds his point, while his master hurries up. The fast-going dog has outdistanced him. The man steps ahead, flushes the covey, and fires. The dog relaxes, but does not flinch or run forward. He is "steady to wing and shot."
Instead of a single dog, sportsmen often use a brace of setters or pointers. Then, if one dog locates a covey, the second dog must immediately "back" the point by coming to a stop and looking or pointing in the same direction. To rush in and usurp his rival's game would be a cardinal sin in bird dogdom. Instead, he shows a wholesome respect for the accomplishment of the other fellow. Good manners and fair play are unforgettable parts of his training and heritage.
It always seems rather remarkable to me how quickly a good field dog learns which creatures are fair game and which ones are protected by the laws and customs of man. To find a seasoned setter pointing a songbird would be unthinkable. Out of all the scents that assail his nostrils he singles those of' the game his master seeks.
Once in Africa I found a dog of mine pointing strange game. A fast little female setter, she had galloped far ahead and had not come back, so I had set out in search of her. At last I found her, frozen in a point at a ringhals, a deadly spitting cobra, coiled for action in the grass a few feet away. The dog was apparently hypnotized.
I fired, and the shot, killing the snake, broke the spell. I shall never forget how…"
These are pages from an actual 1937 magazine.
37A3
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