Excerpts on Handling, I

In January of 1948, during the Chattahoochee Open All Age, on one of the courses that held a difficult pocket to get a dog through, George Crangle was handling a Setter that dipped deep into this bad spot. I held back. The rest of the party went on. Pretty soon Crangle came out leading a Pointer. It was Fred Bevan’s dog —that had swung back. Several minutes were lost while Bevan was signaled to ride back for his dog. Then Crangle resumed search for his own. The thing had impressed me deeply. If my “watch eye” went a bit dead, and I didn’t count the minutes any too closely, that’s nobody’s damn business but my own! Anyhow, George came out with his dog and I carried him on under judgment. The thing had excited my admiration. Therefore, it was good handling. Oh, I know! Somebody’s going to read this, smile and say to himself: “George knew he’d have a better chance to find his own dog with that Pointer out of there.” SURE—I know that. So what? Let’s don’t be captious. George Crangle brought out that Pointer to a competing handler who might not have found him. He did it against the time allotted for the return of his Setter. Nor had he any way to know I was viewing it with such sympathetic admiration.

The matter of integrity does not mean that straight sissy stuff is called for—that may be just dumb……