these
breeds was the best 'tis hard to say, but for America I certainly should
prefer the old, heavy, English Pointer. Too much, I think, has been
sacrificed to lightness, rendering him too fine for long and continued
exertion, too susceptible to cold and wet, too tender skinned to bear
contact with briers and thorns, in fact, far too highly bred. Not that for
a moment I am going to admit that American Pointers are too highly bred;
far from it, for there is hardly one that, if his or her pedigree be
carefully traced up, will not be found to have some admixture of blood
very far from Pointer in its veins. Now this mongrel breeding will not end
well, no matter how an odd cross may succeed, and the plan to be adopted
is never to breed except from the most perfect and best bitches, always
having in view the making of strong, well formed, tractable dogs, bearing
in mind that the bitches take after the dog, and the dog pups after the
dam, that temper, ill condition, and most bad qualities are just as
inherent in some breeds as good qualities are in others. Here, then, to
begin with, you have a difficult problem to solve; for, in addition to the
defects of your own animal, you have to make yourself acquainted with
those of the one you purpose putting to it. Is your dog too
timid--copulate with one of high courage. But don't misunderstand me. In
this there is as much difference between a high couraged and a headstrong
dog as between a well bred dog and a cur. Is your dog faulty in ranging,
may be too high, or may be no ranger at all, mate with the reverse,
selecting your pups according to what has been stated above. If possible,
always avoid crossing colors. It is a bad plan, but cannot always be
avoided, for oftentimes you may see in an animal qualities so good, that
it would be wrong to let him go past you. But, then, in the offspring,
keep to your color.

From this general statement it will be easy to see, that in breeding dogs
there is more science and skill required, more attention to minutiae
necessary, than at first sight appears to be the case. Long and deep study
alone enables a person to tell whether any or what cross may be judicious,
how to recover any fading excellence in his breed, or how best to acquire
that of some one else. We will endeavor to give the experience of some
fifteen years--devoted to this subject--to our readers, merely resting on
our oars, to describe the various breeds of sporting dogs most desir