This section is from the book "Sporting Dogs. Their Points And Management In Health, And Disease", by Frank Townend Barton. Also available from Amazon: Sporting Dogs; Their Points and Management in Health and Disease.
1. Before the Trials a number will be drawn by lot for each competing dog, and the dogs will be tried by batches accordingly during the first round. The handler of the dog must shoot with ammunition supplied by the Committee, and he will not be allowed to carry in his hand anything besides his gun. After all the competing dogs have been tried, the Judges will call up, at their own discretion, any dogs they require further, and try them again. No dog can win a prize which has not been subjected to both tests of " walking up " and " driving".
2. All aged dogs will be expected to retrieve fur as well as feather, if ordered to do so, but no handler must send his dog after any game until bidden by a Judge to do so. The Judges have power to order any handler to set his dog to retrieve game not shot by him personally.
3. The principal points considered by the Judges are sagacity, steadiness, nose, dash, perseverance, obedience, and retrieving. This last should be done quickly, with a tender and dry mouth, and right up to the hand.
4. Any dog not present to be tried in its turn, the Committee reserve the right of disqualifying at the expiration of fifteen minutes.
5. The Judges are empowered to turn out of the Stake the dog of any person who does not obey them or who wilfully interferes with another competitor or his dog, and to withhold a prize when, in their opinion, no merit is shown; and to exclude from competition bitches on heat, or any animals they may consider unfit to compete. The entry fees of all such dogs will be forfeited.
6. Certificates of merit will be awarded with a view to the establishment of Workers' Classes at the Dog Shows, and as a guide to purchasers of dogs which, though not in the list of prize-winners, give promise in their work of being valuable Sporting Dogs.
7. An objection to a dog may be lodged with the Secretary at any time within seven days of a meeting, upon the objector depositing with the Secretary the sum of £2, which shall be forfeited if the Committee deem such objection frivolous. All objections must be made in writing.
8. The Committee have the power, if they think fit, to refuse any entries for the Society's Trials, without assigning any reason for their action.
9. In the event of the weather being considered by the Committee unsuitable for holding the Trials, it shall be in their power to postpone the Meeting from day to day until the Saturday following the first day of the Trials, on which day the Stakes not already decided shall be abandoned and their entry fees returned.
10. The Committee reserve to themselves the right to abandon the Meeting at any time, on returning their entry monies to the competitors, and if, from unforeseen circumstances, they deem it advisable to alter the date of the meeting, after the closing of the entries, this may be done by sending formal notice to all competitors that they may recover their entry fees by exercising the option of cancelling their entries within four days from the date of such notice. All entries, however, about which no such application is made within those four days, will stand good for the Meeting at its altered date.
11. If an advertised Judge be prevented from filling his engagement for either the whole or part of the Meeting, the Committee shall appoint any other person to judge, or shall make any other arrangements that to them seem desirable.
12. Upon any case arising not provided for in the above Rules, the Members of the Committee present shall decide, and their decision shall be final.
 
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