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A gundog's job is to help provide
food. Gundogs do this in three ways.
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Retrieving
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Hunting
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Pointing
Putting food on the table: These natural
behaviours are all directed towards providing food
for the table. Game such as pheasant, duck,
and woodcock, is an excellent source of low
fat, organic, nutritious, food. As are other popular
types of wild meat (such as rabbit and pigeon)
Gundogs are an essential part of providing this
ethically supportable food source. It is a
happy coincidence that working and training these
dogs is great fun.
Retrieving: The purpose of retrieving is for the
dog to bring shot game back to his owner.
Fallen game is often difficult to find and collect.
Dogs are an essential part of this process.
Retrieving instincts tend to be strongest in our
retriever breeds such as the Labrador, Golden
Retriever, and Flatcoated Retriever
Hunting: Before game can be shot, it needs
to be 'flushed' from cover. Pheasants
and rabbits may 'tuck in' tightly under branches and
undergrowth. It takes a keen hunting dog to find
them. Some hunting dogs flush the game that
they find as soon as they find it. The hunter
must be ready with his gun. These dogs are our
lively spaniel breeds including the popular Springer
and Cocker spaniels. Spaniels must hunt close
to their handler so that what they flush is within
range of the gun. Spaniels are dual
purpose dogs as they are also expected to retrieve
shot game.
The
remaining 'hunting' breeds also have a 'pointing'
instinct.
Pointing: The pointing dogs take up a
characteristic position 'on point' when the scent
game close at hand and freeze in this position for a
while. This gives the hunter chance to
get close so pointing dogs can hunt a much wider
'beat' and still help to put food on the table.
The pointing dogs are divided in to the majestic
true pointers & setters, such as Irish Setter,
and the multi-purpose HPRs (hunt, point, retrievers)
such as the Weimaraner and the German Shorthaired
Pointer. HPRs are truly versatile hunting dogs which
both point and retrieve game as well as hunting.
All
gundogs need training and discipline because their
natural instincts need harnessing before they are
capable of teamwork. |
