This section is from the book "The Dog And The Sportsman", by John Stuart Skinner. Also available from Amazon: The Dog And The Sportsman.
More than forty years ago, this curious mode of getting ducks is said to have had its commencement, near Havre de Grace, Maryland.
Tradition says the discovery was made by a sportsman, who, patiently waiting for a body of ducks to feed within gun-shot (as was then the only chance of, getting a shot at them on the water), saw them suddenly raise their heads, and swim directly for the shore, On look-ing for the cause of this strange manoeuvre, he found they were decoyed by a red fox playing on the shore.
An active, sprightly dog is generally selected for this service. They are taught from their infancy to run after small pebbles, and when taken to the shore, the sportsman, from behind his blind, throws stones up and down the shore, after which his dog runs. The continued action of the dog attracts the attention of the ducks, and they run into him. The only art necessary is to keep your dog in constant motion; a red colour is best, and a long bushy tail of great advantage.
There are few dogs which gain celebrity in this capacity; they generally become too fond of the ducks, and either stop to look at them, as they approach the shore, or lay down; in either case, your sport is spoiled.
The canvass-back and red heads are the best to tole, and they appear to be differently operated on. The former comes to the dog with head erect, sitting high on the water; and when near you has, if I may use the expression, a kind of idiotic look in the eye, whereas the latter are more sunk in the water, and appear unconscious of their approach to the shore.
Ducks act very strangely sometimes. I have seen a dog play without effect at one spot, when, by moving a short distance to another blind, the same ducks would run into him as fast as they could swim. At other times I have seen them take no notice of a dog, when they would run immediately in to a red silk handker-chief tied to the end of a ramrod, and kept in constant motion on the outside and in front of your blind..
To show you the value put on dogs, well trained to this sport, it was a custom, formerly, for the dog to get a share of the game equal with each sportsman, and I have often divided equally with the dog. There no doubt may be many amusing anecdotes related of this sport, and the quantity of blood shed in many instances is astonishing.
 
Continue to: