NOT JUST FOR THE BIRDS

In search of the ideal companion all year round

The Americans don’t generally have gundogs; they have bird dogs. I was doing some research on bird dogs and the first thing I came across was the so-called bird-dog exercise, demonstrated beautifully on Youtube. It’s a floor exercise that strengthens the core — the abdominal muscles, lower back, buttocks and thighs. Get down on all fours, point one arm forward and the diagonal leg backwards and you should vaguely resemble a pointing dog. It’s a form of exercise I might well do, though there’s no chance of me posting pictures of myself online.

I have always aspired to have gundogs in the winter, bird dogs in the summer. The

An exception is Louise Petrie-hay’s Gundogs, Their History, Breeding & Training, which was published by the Sportsman’s Press in 1987. It’s a useful book, as it ranges across all the gundog breeds, but it shows its age with no mention of recent imports, such as Hungarian wirehaired vizslas and German longhaired pointers.

Another wide-ranging book — and one that deserves to be read by anyone with an interest in the future of our gundog breeds — is David Hancock’s Gundogs, Their Past, Their Performance and Their Prospects. First published by Crowood in 2013 and still in print, this is a thought-provoking work written by an author who not only knows his subject, but isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. He has long argued that the interests of working gundogs are not best served by the Kennel Club, commenting that “we have experienced some 150 years of KC rule and seen nothing so far but ever-increasing costs, deteriorating breeds and show-ring bias”. difference is subtle. I’m an unashamed birdwatcher, so my ideal dog is one that will work effectively on a shoot in the winter, but unobtrusively accompany me birdwatching at other times of the year.

Many of the attributes of a good gundog are essential in a bird dog. It’s vital, of course, that the dog doesn’t chase birds, comes straight to heel when requested and never hunts where it’s not meant to. However, a dog that can flush on command is useful to have.

It’s also vital that that the dog will sit quietly when told to do so, such as when I stop to listen to a grasshopper warbler or am scanning the sky looking for a soaring hobby. The perfect bird dog stops when you do and needs no more than a click of the fingers to come quietly to heel. It’s the sort of thing that most labradors will do with a little training, but it doesn’t come as naturally to spaniels.

Emma, my two-year-old sprocker, is an aspiring bird dog and is showing promise.

Sadly, not much has changed since he wrote that.

I have relatively few books on HPRS, but two that do stand out are both by Guy Wallace: The Versatile Gundog, Training HPRS for Gun, Rifle and Hawk, and The Specialist Gundog, Training the Right Breed for Shooting Wild Game.

Entertaining

There is a certain amount of overlap in the two titles, but surprisingly little, while Wallace is an amusing writer with a wealth of personal experience, his writing enlivened by anecdotes. Both titles are rarities in the world of gundog books, as they make an entertaining read.

If you are interested in retriever trialling, then The Best of the Best, A History of the IGL Retriever Championship 19092011 is a fascinating reference book.

Sadly, both authors, Graham Cox and Dr Gareth Davies, are now dead, so there’s little chance of a revised edition ever being published.

However, a bit like Oscar Wilde who could resist everything except temptation, she still finds squirrels irresistible.

Should she suddenly spot a squirrel when she’s meant to be sitting there’s a strong possibility that she will make a dash for it. So far she hasn’t caught one, unlike previous spaniels, most of whom managed to kill a squirrel or two during their careers.

A hefty volume, it cost £60 when it was first published in 2013, but you can now buy it on Amazon for

£25. Among its many appendices is a complete list of qualifiers and awards for the period covered — truly a statistician’s delight.

Remaining on a trialling theme is Judi Seall’s The History of Retrievers. Compiled from the scrapbooks of H Reginald Cooke (1859-1951), this book gives a fascinating insight into the early days of field trials, when there was still great controversy over which breed was best — flatcoat or labrador.

Cooke, a passionate shooting, hunting and fishing man, established the celebrated Riverside Kennels, producing flatcoats that were as successful in the field as they were in the show ring. Published at £25 in 2001, this is one of my few books that has appreciated (modestly) in value.

Many of my books are devoted to training. Two of the best are Lez Graham’s The Pet Gundog and The Advanced Pet Gundog. Don’t be put off by the word ‘pet’: there’s great advice here for any aspiring gundog trainer.

I’m sure that many people find

DVD guides to gundog training useful, but I have a remarkable ability to fall asleep when watching them.

Peter Moxon’s book is the one David would hold on to out of all of his collection

It’s vital that a dog will sit quietly when told