CHAPTER VII.

THE CURLY-COATED BLACK RETRIEVER. THE admirers of this variety cannot have failed to notice, as others have done, its gradual decadence as a sporting dog, and that its position is slowly but surely being usurped by the flat or wavy-coated retriever. This, I think, must be taken as another instance of the survival of the fittest. Those who possess the leading strains of "curlies," will, however, not acknowledge this, as they believe their own the best dogs in the world for their purposeharder in constitution, more shapely, and better able to do rough work than their cousins.

Still, there is no getting away from the fact that the curly-coated retriever does not bear a good reputation. He is inclined to be hard-mouthed, i.e., he may bite and injure the game he ought to retrieve tenderly and without ruffling a feather. His temper, too, is decidedly unreliable, especially with strangers, although, no doubt, there are exceptions here as in everything else. We must, however,

look to the curly-coated retrievers as the hardiest of their race, and perhaps the best animals to use as assistants for wild fowl shooting. Were I, however, to be asked to express an opinion as to which variety of the British dog was most unreliable in temper, I should without hesitation say the curlycoated retriever. He is so as he reclines on his bench in the show building; he is so with his companions in his kennels at home; and he remains. so when doing duty with the guns at the "big shoot" in the late autumn, when the leaves are off the trees and the undergrowth of bramble and fern have lost their luxuriance.

He is a faithful and useful dog to follow the keeper who makes a companion of him, for in addition to being very steady and easy to command, he possesses a good nose if the scent be not too stale, and is well able to give variety to his retrieving instincts by killing any vermin that the traps may have caught. One big curly dog a keeper owned up in the north was an adept at finding stoats in an old stone fence. With his assistance, and that of the ferrets and the guns, we killed seven of these mischievous little creatures one afternoon, and there were two or three remaining which the dog's owner said they would get the next day. St. John, in his "Highland Sports," tells

how a retriever of his found and brought out an

otter.

Although there are, in various parts of the country, some few kennels that contain the curlycoated retriever for working purposes, he is as often used for a companion and as a show dog. For a companion, as I have already hinted, he is not the most desirable, but as a show dog he excels. His deep black coat, hard, close crisp curls right on to the top of the brow, but no further should they go, his symmetry, clean ears, nicely shaped tail, and dark piercing eyes, that ought to have a mild. expression, and so convey the impression of great sense and sagacity in their owner, make him particularly attractive on the show bench. Still, to be successful there, he requires a constant attention, and the cases are exceptional where a dog can be brought straight from work and prove successful in the ring.

The earliest classes at shows for the curly-coated retrievers were at Birmingham in 1860, but the competition was by no means keen. The first prize was awarded to a big coarse dog, shown by Mr. W. Brailsford; second honours went to a brown bitch belonging to Lord Alfred Paget, which, so far as looks went, was not worth her entrance fee. Up to 1864 all the varieties were shown together at Curzon

Hall, but, following the example of the Cremorne management, the National exhibition increased the classification, and the two varieties competed separately, as they have done since, excepting, perhaps, where a special cup was concerned, offered for the best retriever in the show, and often enough a curly dog has won this great honour.

Mr. Riley, of

Amongst the best of the race in the early days of the show was Mr. J. D. Gorse's Jet, which "Idstone" is said to have coveted, as that great authority considered him to be the most perfect dog he ever saw; and this strain that Mr. Gorse then had at Radcliffe-on-Trent were, when trained, quite as good in the field as on the bench. Lancashire, who just preceded Mr. Gorse as a successful exhibitor, had two excellent ones in Carlo and Carlo II., and, following them, Dr. Morris, of Rochdale, introduced his dogs True and XL., which, good as they were, never had quite the sagacious, kindly expression Mr. Gorse's two Jets appeared to possess. Still, these Lancashire dogs were, for a time, invincible on the bench, and so closely curled were they that, when a slight fringe did appear over the brow, it seemed quite excusable, because it might just have been crowded out from some other portion of the dog.

Mr. J. H. Salter had some good dogs of the