Elias and James
Bishop, F. C. Lowe, J. Shorthose, G. Potter and S. Smale, who may
be considered the oldest Setter judges, and who have owned dogs whose
prowess in the field has brought them high reputation. Mr. B. J.
Warwick has within recent years owned probably more winners at field
trials than any other owner, one of his being Compton Bounce. Captain
Heywood Lonsdale has on several occasions proved the Ightfield strain
to be staunch and true, as witness the doughty deeds of Duke of that
ilk, and the splendid success he achieved at recent grouse trials
in Scotland with his Ightfield Rob Roy, Mack, and Dot, the first-named
winning the all-aged stake, and the others being first and third in
the puppy stake. Mr. Herbert Mitchell has been another good patron
of the trials, and has won many important stakes. Mr. A. T. Williams
has also owned a few noted trial winners, and from Scotland comes
Mr. Isaac Sharpe, whose Gordon Setter, Stylish Ranger, has effectually
put a stop to the silly argument that all this breed are old men's
dogs.

Many of the older field trial men hold tenaciously to the opinion
that the modern exhibition Setter is useless for high-class work,
and contend that if field-trial winners are to be produced they must
be bred from noted working strains. Doubtless this prejudice in favour
of working dogs has been engendered by the circumstance that many
owners of celebrated bench winners care nothing about their dogs being
trained, in some cases generation after generation having been bred
simply for show purposes. Under such conditions it is not to be
wondered at that the capacity for fine scenting properties and the
natural aptitude for quickly picking up a knowledge of their proper
duties in the field is impaired. But there is no reason why a good
show dog should not also be a good worker, and the recent edict of
the Kennel Club which rules that no gun dog shall be entitled to
championship honours until it has gained a certificate of merit in
field trials will doubtless tend towards a general improvement in
the working qualities of the breeds whose providence is in the
finding and retrieving of game.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE RETRIEVERS

It is obviously useless to shoot game unless you can find it after
it has been wounded or killed, and from the earliest times it has
been the habit of sportsmen to train their dogs to do the work which
they could not always successfully do for themselves. The Pointers