WATER DOGS.
The Newfoundland is unquestionably the water dog par excellence, and probably the best individuals of the variety are the celebrated dogs used for duck shooting on the margin of Chesapeake Bay and commonly called the Chesapeake Bay Water Dog. These animals being derived from ancestors of pure breed, and the constant training from generation to generation having caused the transmission of their excellent qualities in increased measure to each successive generation, are probably unrivalled by any other in their particular forte. Owing to thoughtless and injudicious mixing of breeds a true Newfoundland is rarely seen. Although the purer the breed the better water dog he will be, yet many dogs of mixed breeds possessing considerable Newfoundland blood, make excellent dogs for ordinary aquatic sporting.
On breeding the water dog little need be said, for, like Dogberry’s reading and writing, his education “comes by nature.” In his infancy he may be taught to bring a glove and lay it down at your feet as he should do; and, by practice, the comprehension and fulfillment of his various duties will soon follow. He will be found, with judicious encouragement and exercise of authority, more docile than a child. They have been known at four months old to fetch a duck, but lest the constitution be impaired, they should not be put too early at hard service.
“Canton,” a celebrated Newfoundland, owned by Dr. Stewart, of Sparrow’s Point—a great sportsman in his day—was noted for a number of remarkable feats in securing “canvas backs” on the Chesapeake. She surpassed her species generally in unrivalled devotion to the water, and to the sport of ducking, as carried on by the doctor’s colored man, Varnell, with his murderous swivel gun. Her patience and endurance were almost incredible. She was the heroine of many desperate encounters with wounded swans, often pursuing them for miles, and many were her exploits among rotten and floating ice, in pursuit of wounded ducks, sometimes, in fogs and darkness. On one occasion she brought out twenty-two or twenty-three ducks, all killed or wounded by Varnell at a single shot. A good deal of time was lost in pursuing these wounded ducks, and at the close of this pursuit, it being then dark, Varnell gave up the slut as lost, so many hours had she been engaged in bringing out her game; but after Varnell had sorrowfully turned his face homeward, she overtook him with one or two ducks in her mouth; and the old doctor stated that he remembered Varnell saying that at one time, when she was most fatigued, she climbed on a cake of floating ice, and after resting herself on it, renewed the pursuit of the ducks.
CHAPTER X.
ORDINARY TRICKS PERFORMED BY DOGS.
Every dog who has the good or ill fortune to be a member of civilized society is usually fated to undergo a more or less systematic education “in the way he should go.” This education may be either in the primitive style illustrated by the administration of a vigorous kick accompanying the command “get out,” to teach the dog to leave you, or the more elaborate training which culminates in the production of a canine prodigy. The capacity for education in dogs varies much with different varieties, and even with individuals of the same variety. While some are taught with the greatest difficulty, others display a wonderful aptitude for learning, and acquire a proficiency which is often really surprising. Whether it is proposed to educate the animal as much as his capacity will admit of, or merely to teach him the things necessary for common convenience, the first thing is