Today, I am focusing on 1926 in the "dual ephemera" from two sources, two years after the AKC Dual Championship title was established by adding the first licensed field trial. This is a Work in Progress” and will grow accordingly to the time I can successfully siphon. If one has assumed that the field venues of the sporting breeds do not believe in form, they would sadly be mistaken, in actual practice/competitions and historically speaking.

It is true that form follows function. Also, it is true this has always been the way of it. Fads may and do, come and go. Who knows what flux of the pattern that the quality of competitive “duality” exists today. Perhaps that depends on the individual engineering the opinion.

 To put this article and book references into focus, the world was a vastly changing place, and on the precipice of genuine civilization in 1926. Barely eight years since WWI, a war that was not done fighting over; the world was continually evolving and revolving into a period when communication changes would institute some of the greatest changes in the world,…. to what we are today, which is another precipice overlooking the cyber age of communications and its effects on the various civilizations.

In 1926 US troops were sent to Nicaraugua. . Warren G Harding is President of the US. Trotsky was ousted from his political position. There was a general strike in the United Kingdom. Germany is admitted to the League of Nations to withdraw in 1933. Chiang Kai Shek becomes leader of China and the Chinese Communist Party is established. .  A free Irish state is established.  In the US cigarette prohibition is launched in fourteen states in the US. In NYC there existed over 100,000 speakeasies., ten times more than the taverns in pre-prohibition. US unemployment is 1.8 percent and a stamp costs two cents.

In 1926 transportation was evolving at a great rate.  The Lufthansa Airlines was established in Germany. Lincoln Elsworth did the first aerial crossing of the Arctic in a dirigible. Ford Trimotor Model 4-AT released and becomes the first successful commercial aircraft. Ford Trimotor will be used by Adm. Byrd to fly over the South Pole in 1929. Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back. The first liquid propellant rocket is launched. A simple invention of anti-freeze allows cars to be used year round.

In 1926, there saw great changes to the world. Communication was at perhaps a greater changing point than transportation. There were 143 million telephones installed. The first telephone calls between New York and London took place. Commercial picture facsimile radio service across the Atlantic was established. Some radios would come with an adjustable volume control. - RCA, General Electric and Westinghouse establish NBC. The first 16mm movie was shot in the US by the Kodak Company. Bell Telephone Labs transmit film by television. Electrical phonograph recording, "Electrola," is introduced in the U.S., a vast improvement over tinny acoustic recording technology. A.A. Michelson used a series of mirrors set up over 25 miles/35 kilometers to measure the speed of light. The Book-of-the-Month Club is founded and begins to sell books at reduced prices by mail and on a subscription basis.

In 1926, the canine Rin Tin Tin was the top box office draw. The Westminster Kennel Club celebrated its fiftieth birthday by moving to Madison Square Gardens, where it remained until the building was closed in 1968. In 1926, it would be 22 years before Westminster Kennel Club became televised. The AMERICAN FIELD magazine, oldest continuing sporting publication, was celebrating fifty years of hard copy production. The Pointer became the first Kennel Club logo and remains to this day, as well as the first dog registered to the American Kennel Club.  The first Pointing Dog AKC Licensed field trial took place two years earlier in 1926, giving rise to the newest of titles, the AKC Dual Champion.

“AF HOCHWALT”

The first “duality” references come from the biography of “ALBERT FREDERICK HOCHWALT” by William F Brown, published 1939. Hochwalt is perhaps the most gloried of sporting field writers. He flourished in times of great bird dog men and greater bird dogs. Many of Hochwalt’s field exploits have been heralded. Few know that Hochwalt was also a renown dog show judge previous to discovering the field competitions that he became famous for writing about. Hochwalt’s bench judging focused on putting up sporting dogs that denoted physical utilities.

(1)           “He did not go in for exaggerated type; he sought clean shoulders, well sprung ribs. Good head properties, with driving power in the rear parts.” Hochwalt grew disenchanted with the bench because of losing attitudes and judging fads. As his interest in the field grew, he never lost the necessity of focusing on the ideal “duality” judging concept. “

(2)            “While practical sportsmen were passing on the dogs, picking winners that could not give a good accounting of themselves in the field, not ill-proportioned, slab-sided, individuals deficient in posterior parts, Hochwalt was inspired to do all in his power to further the “dual” interests.” At the 1917 Westminster Kennel Club, Hochwalt awarded BIP to the famous “Mary Montrose”. Mary was fresh from her own 1917 win at the National Field Championship in Memphis, with her coat tore up from briars and a complete rigorous field trial season. Her muscles were tight as whipcord, but still she won and won big. “

I found where Hochwalt judged Ray Hoagland’s Ch Beau Laverack in Cincinnati Dog Show 1923. (See below for Ray) What a shame that the words of AF Hochwalt and Ray Hoagland were not heeded by Setter and Pointer breeders of the day.

(3)           “The real type should be the kind that fits into the class of work that the animal is expected to do. We may prate of quality and type until the end of doom, but if this imaginary type and quality only produces dogs that are fit to pose on the platform of a show ring and are worthless for real use in the field, then something is wrong. Pointers and Setter classes should not be opened solely for the purpose of bringing our four or five specimens of this extreme type which are absolutely worthless for practical purposes; these classes should be devoted to the kind of dogs that are real field performers out of which practical judges could select types that are a happy medium. Adherence to such principles will bring good entries and the classes for gun dogs will take the place they once occupied in the days when field men presided over a breed’s destiny, for those old time judges never lost sight of the fact that the pointers and setters were created for a higher purpose than to be merely paraded around a sawdust arena.”

“RUMSON HERALDS THE DUAL BIRD DOG” by Arthur Jones

This article was published in THE AMERICAN KENNEL GAZETTE, March 31, 1926 and is titled "Rumson Heralds The Dual Bird Dog" by Arthur Frederick Jones. I have copied what I considered pertinent paragraphs to give you a taste of this delicious vintage article about the duality of a breed that sports for a living just two years into the availability of Dual Champions.

Rumson Farm was owned by Raymond Hoagland, Jr in Red Bank, New Jersey (member of the Field Trial Hall of Fame and was a state of the art facility for then and now in many world areas.  The montra of Rumson farms was “Where order is a habit, not a virtue.” Rumson in its 1926 heyday owned a hundred Pointers and Setters with the principal aim of Rumson to breed dogs that can take their place in any part of the dog’s world.

One must assume that Hoagland fancied the Laverack setter as his Ch Rumson Farm Skyliner and Ch Beau Laverack are very handsome, heavier boned individuals. The pictures of the Rumson Farm Pointers were also very attractive with their conformation. What an incredible display of how form follows function and done beautifully in 1926. Those interested in this particular article may contact me privately.

Below are some quotes from this antiqued article….

(4)            “For years there has been a discussion as to which dog is the real example of the bird dog-the bench show or the field trial brand. To say that either the field trial or the bench show pointer or setter is the truer type of dog is a misconstruction of the true interests of dog fancying. There should be no distinction. If the governing body of our dogdom, the American Kennel Club, recognizes the sporting dog, that dog should be the only type to be found on the bench or afield.

(5)            “When an owner of a hundred and more dogs plays both sides of the game, it is to be regarded as a definite move for the better in the canine world. That is what Mr Hoagland has done. He believes that there is no particular reason why a field trial dog should not correspond to the standard of bench show excellence. Nor is there, except for one reason. The standard for bench show judging says that dogs should be such and suc. Well, it happens that when dogs have been in strict training for work afield, they are often far below the standard as drawn up by the bench show clubs of their bree4d. In other words, their work as bird dogs has caused them to lose some of the points demanded in the show ring.”

(6)            “Possibly it is the standards which are at fault. Possibly the many field trials take too much out of the dogs. Possibly it is a combination of these things but the fact remains that there seems to be no peace between the bench show and the field trial.”

The article goes on to describe in depth the diagram of the Rumson Farm kennels and some of their more notable dogs. Of which, more than one dog mentioned belongs in context reference to many of the famous sporting dog writers of their times, including Hochwalt, William F Brown, Horace Lytle, Nash Buckingham and Dr Bruette, to name a few.

In conclusion, I add, that I will be adding quotes and reviews of books corroborating the historical concept of “duality” and the important of duality to a hunting breed that hunts for a living, sports for a hobby and exemplifies form, function and sport, the whole day long.

References:

(1)            A F HOCHWALT by William F Brown, 1939, Page 139.

(2)            A F HOCHWALT by William F Brown, 1939, Page 140.

(3)            A F HOCHWALT by William F Brown, 1939, Page  148

(4)            RUMSON HERALDS THE DUAL BIRD DOG by Arthur Frederick Jones in THE AMERICAN KENNEL GAZETTE, Page 9, 1926

(5)            RUMSON HERALDS THE DUAL BIRD DOG by Arthur Frederick Jones in THE AMERICAN KENNEL GAZETTE, Page 10, 1926

(6)            RUMSON HERALDS THE DUAL BIRD DOG by Arthur Frederick Jones in THE AMERICAN KENNEL GAZETTE, Page 10, 1926

American Field Trial Hall of Fame

http://americanfield.com/Pages/HOFRev.html

Din Timeline

http://din-timelines.com/1926_events.shtml

National Bird Dog Museum

http://www.birddogfoundation.com/