COUNTRY LIFE
WATCHING a pair of Labradors working in the fringe of a wood, I was impressed with their intelligent behaviour. The hunting instincts of dogs show best when they are in pairs. One moves round a bush, and the other watches and waits; one jumps a hedge, and his partner stays on the other side. The rabbit or hare that finds itself matched by such a combination has little chance—little indeed when the two dogs are backed by a gun. Even when they are not in pairs, Labradors are wonderful game-dogs My brother tells me that, when he was shoot- ing duck recently, one of the birds came down on the water. The dog he sent after it—an old Labrador—was a second too late, for the duck dived. Instead of scrambling forward, the dog stood still and waited. A minute or two passed, and then the duck rose at the place where it
had submerged, and was captured. The old dog had seen such a thing happen before. I was in Anglesey last autumn, and saw a remarkable Labrador that went fishing with its master. When a fish was caught, the dog slipped into the water and brought it ashore in its mouth. So soft was the dog's mouth that the fish was never marked.
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