Bird
Dog History
First
recorded about 1650, in England, the pointer was originally
used to point out hares for greyhounds to track down.
The setters were originally trained to set, or crouch,
in front of game. Up to the time when firearms were beginning
to be popular, setters and spaniels had been used to
find game and to drive birds into nets. As bird shooting
became popular, the setters were trained to point.
Bird
hunting with pointing dogs and hawks was also popular
in the 18th century. The dog would point and the hunter
would quickly unhood the hawk while calling a warning
to the dog. On the hunters command, the dog would then
spring into the middle of the quarry and as they scattered
the hawk was released to strike.
In
the late 18th century the blood of the foxhound was added
to the pointer. Colonel Thornton, who kept both foxhounds
and pointers, mated a pointer bitch with a foxhound and
from this mating produced a dog by the name of "Dash".
Dash was remarkable for his style of ranging on the moors
as well as for his superior method of finding game. He
was equally excellent in partridge shooting and backed
other dogs as steadily as possible. He was used at stud
to a considerable number of bitches but not one puppy
which he sired ever reproduced his fine characteristics.
However, it was through the success of "Dash" in
the field that many breeders in all parts of the country
also decided to use the foxhound cross, but it soon became
evident that these crosses were no good generally and
that far more was lost than gained by the experiment.
The cross had produced courage, power and perseverance,
but also high spirits and keenness for chasing.
It
was eventually found that the best method for producing
the perfect bird dogs was through selective breeding,
not cross-breeding. For the next 100 years, careful breeding
and selection to brought the pointer to perfection with
the added invention of "backing", which is
the co-operation in work of two or more dogs. Among the
pioneering English breeders of Pointers were: Thomas
Webb Edge, George John Legh, J.C. Antrobus, Lord Combermere,
Sir Vincent Corbet, the Earl of Sefton, Thomas Statter,
Lord Derby, Sir Richard Garth, J.W. Whitehouse, R.J.
Lloyd Price, J. Lang, and George Moore. These were not
all, of course, and many others who contributed much
came later.
The
American Field, also known as Field Dog Stud Book, or
FDSB, was established in 1874, the world’s oldest
dog registry. It became the magistracy of field trials
and sporting breeds, the very center of American birddogdom.
When
the Westminster Kennel Club was organized, in the early
seventies, its object was more for the improvement of
the pointer than that of holding shows, and in those
days it maintained elaborate kennels at Babylon, L. I.,
where the breeding and the rearing of the short-haired
gun dog was carried on rather extensively. The first
great Pointer which the Club owned was named "Sensation".
His memory is forever preserved as the Westminster Club
logo. The Clubs influence was an important one in raising
the standard of all dogs in America, and particularly
the breed to which it was especially devoted.
Field
Trials
Even
before the English Kennel Club was founded, the first
dog show in the country was held in Newcastle upon Tyne
in the year of 1859, being exclusively for Pointers and
Setters and run in conjunction with a poultry show.
The
first field trial was in April of 1865, held near Bedford.
For this first field trial the dogs were scored on a
points system; a certain number counting for each qualification
a field dog should possess. After that event a field
trial society was formed and known as the Pointer Club.
This club held its first trial in 1869 and each following
year until it was abandoned in 1895.
The
first formal field trial for pointing dogs in America
was held near Memphis, Tennessee, on October 8, 1874.
At that time the competitors were judged on a number
system, with the best possible score being 100. Nose
was allotted a maximum of 30 points; pace and style,
20; breaking (steadiness), 20; pointing style and staunchness,
15; backing, 10; roading, 5. The winning dog of this
trial scored 88 points.
In
1882 the first Pointer to win an important field trial
was "Don", owned by R. T. Vandevort. Don won
first place ($250 cash) in the Free-For-All stake of
the National American Kennel Club's trials, which were
run on prairie chickens at Fairmont, Minn.
The
Pointer Club of America held its inaugural field trial
at Jamesport, Long Island, NY, November 14, 1900.
The
National Championship For Field Trialing Bird Dogs was
first organized and run near West Point, Mississippi
in 1896. Later, the competition was conducted on field
trial grounds south of Grand Junction, Tennessee; near
Rogers Springs, Tennessee; and finally, the Ames Plantation,
north of Grand Junction and LaGrange, Tennessee. The
National found a permanent home on the Ames Plantation
in 1915 and each running since has been on the "hallowed" field
trial grounds set in place by Hobart Ames, long time
President and Judge of the National Championship.
Running
on some 6,000 acres of Ames Plantation is now conducted
each year beginning on the second or third Monday in
February with a usual entry of about 36 English Pointers
and /or English Setters, winners or placers in 70 qualifying
trials throughout the U.S. and Canada, competing. |
