Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-09-27
GREAT ON POINTS.
Bird Dog Whose Natural Traits Amount
ed to n Mania.


Talking about bird dogs" said the
man with the shifty eye, in the rear
seat Of the trolley car-and nobody
had said word about bird dogs or
any other kind Of dogs~-I had the
most remarkable bird dog that ever
happened, guess, when I was living
out in Santa Barbara, Cal, in '95.
don't s'pose there will ever be the
likes OF that dog on this earth again.
raised him from pup. He was a
pointer from away back. 1t was just
as natural for that dog to flop Oh to
his launches and point at a bird as
it is for us humans to eat things that
don't agree with us.
HE began to point before he had
shed his milk teeth. I took him out
for walk one day when he was only
about two months old, and it took us
about four hours to get over two miles
Of ground, for that dog would sit down
and point at bird about every ten
feet Of our progress. 1t didn't make
any sort Of difference what kind OF
a bird it was that he pointed at. He'd
point at any old kind of bird. II
a little bunch Of English sparrows
would settle down il the middle OF
the street he'd just sit down ard
point at them, and it was all l could
do to get him to come along with me.
He'd point at robin sitting on top
Of a cottonwood tree, and he'd point
at a Brahim rooster clawing up a
flower bed in a front yard. Any old
thing that had feathers on it that
dog of mine would point at. Had
him out one afternoon when bald
headed eagle began to soar around
above Santa Barbara, about three
miles up in the cir, and blamed if
that dog didn't catch sight of the no
bic bird and point at it until had
to bat him with a club to induce him
to come along with me.
lone day I had an aching tooth,
ard I decided to 60 to dentist and
have the miserable molar yanked out
I felt so bad that took that pointer
pup along with me for company ON
ny way to the tentist's office, and
when he got to the door he slipped
into the Office with me. Next thing l
knew that pointer pup of mine was
sitting back on his quarters, APPOINT
ing at a picture Of some ruffled grouse
that the dentist had on the wall of
his reception room.
I'm the course of time pointing got
to be a regular mania OF that dogs,
and 1 couldn't take him out for eXer-
else very often on account of his habit
of tagging behind and point at feath-
cred things. Took him out one
afternoon when he was about a year
old, and a furniture van with a lot Of
pillows piled on top of some beds
came along. One Of the pillows was
broken at the side and lot of feath-
ers escaped. That dog of mine saw
the flying feathers, and blame me if
he didn't sit down and point at that
furniture van. Fact.
"But that wasn't the cutest thing
he ever did. The cutest thing he ever
did was one afternoon when / took
him down to the Santa Barbara beach
for walk on the sand. l hadn't any
sooner got him down to the beach
than he sat down and began to point
out to sea. / couldn't for the life of
Inc make out what he was pointing
at. There wasn't airy bird, not even
seagull, in sight. But he kept right
on squatting there at the verge of the
sea and pointing out over the water,
and If ever a man was puzzled, then
was. At first I calculated that he
might be mistaking the crests Of the
waves for feathers, but no, little re-
Election convinced me that he wasn't
any such a fool dog as to do a thing
like that. Then ! noticed that he
was pointing directly at white ship
that lay out in the harbor l pulled
out my field glasses and took a look
at the ship, and then the mystery was
made clear. The ship he was point
ing at was the United States man.
o'-war Petrel," and then the man with
the shifty eye executed sudden leap
and escaped from the car before his
wrathful listeners could hop on him
and macerate Washington Star