This image comes from article in Country Life magazine from November 27, 1897.
The caption says it all “A Sagacious Dog.” Sagacity had a little bit different meaning in those days, especially when it referred to a retriever, collie, or Newfoundland. Sagacity referred to its eagerness to learn and take direction, which were celebrated attributes in these breeds.
The article’s discussion on the wavy-coated retriever is quite interesting:
Fashion in dogs nowadays changes almost as rapidly as the mode of dress among women. As early as 1859, old “Stonehenge” described the wavy or flat coated retriever as “this fashionable breed,” although, in my part of the country, which is rough and remote, the curly-coated gentleman, originally derived from a cross between the Newfoundland and the Irish water spaniel, was in predominant use long after that, probably because he took the water better and our shooting was, so to speak, amphibious. The wavy-coated retriever is, for the most part, of purer breed, coming directly from the St. John’s or Labrador race, but in many of the dogs of a generation ago, the setter cross was distinctly visible, and there are probably few strains in England or Scotland which are free from the setter blood. Mr. Rawdon Lee, whose authority is considerable, also thinks that the collie has had something to say in the making of the flat or wavy coated retriever. Be that as it may, it seems likely that fresh blood will have to be introduced into the breed before long, for pure Labradors are hardly to be obtained now, and numerous wavy coats that have come under notice of late have shown signs of that intellectual degeneracy which comes of too much inbreeding. One, presented to my brother, was perfectly beautiful and absolutely brainless; another, encountered the other day, was afflicted with canine hysterics, or with something which passed for a remarkably good imitation of them. When this kind of symptom begins to appear, the time has come for the judicious introduction of new blood. Meanwhile, there are plenty of good wavy-coated retrievers, and they have advanced in popularity greatly of late years. Indeed, almost every man who shoots regularly has his own retriever; and when the companionship and the sympathy between man and dog is perfect, the result is a succession of scenes of lively interest. The large-eyed, eager, sagacious dog watches his master’s gun, and clearly notes the birds that fall to it. He knows his duty, he is intensely eager to perforin it, but he will by no means move from heel until he is ordered by word or gesture.
By that time, the St. John’s water dog or “Labrador” was no longer the most common working breed in Newfoundland. The Sheep Protection Act of 1885 had decimated its numbers in Newfoundland, and although there were many imports in the 1880’s and early 1890’s, the dogs just weren’t as easy to procure.
This article also suggests that retrievers were never truly believed to be purebred animals. Even though the dogs were being shown and handled at conformation shows, there was no “specialist club” for retrievers at this time. Harding Cox believed specialist clubs would be the ruination of retrievers, and he was not above crossing his own retrievers with Irish setters to improve them.
One can see that the dog in the photo above is a true retriever. One can see the intelligent and eager expression in its eyes. It’s not a large wavy-coat, but its coat is more profuse than the modern flat-coated retriever.
Such a dog would have been commonplace at any British shoot. and its virtues widely praised in the country and sporting magazines of the day.
A rugged, sagacious little black retriever.
The perfect shooting companion.
The pose of the dog and game is reminiscent of that early Landseer portrait of a retriever with a rabbit….
I’m laughing here because now that you used the adjective “sagacious,” I have been seeing “sagacity” used in a number of old (1800s) books regarding various dogs.
It is not usually used in reference to non-Western dogs in those old texts. If it is, then it says “lacking in sagacity.”
Sagacity referred to the “intelligence” of refined Western breeds that had been selected for biddability and trainability, not necessarily the wiry, streetwise intelligence that many village dogs possess.
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