Warning to be heeded

The late David Hancock was a voice of authority on gundogs who was rightly fearful for the future of working breeds, says David Tomlinson

ONE OF MY REGRETS is never having met David Hancock, who died last month at the age of 87. A contributor to Shooting Times over many years, Col Hancock MBE was one of those rare people with a broad interest and tremendous knowledge of all things canine. He wrote with as much authority about gundogs as he did about terriers and sighthounds, or indeed any other sort of dog, though he did prefer those that were bred for a purpose.

He published more than 700 articles, along with numerous books. His most recent works were a terrific quartet on sporting dogs for The Crowood Press: Sporting Terriers (2012), Sighthounds (2012), Gundogs (2013) and Hounds — Hunting by

Scent (2014). All, I’m pleased to note, remain in print today.

Eight years ago, I reviewed Gundogs (subtitled Their Past, Their Performance and Their Prospects) in this column. It’s a book that ranges as widely as a hunting pointer, asking difficult questions and raising topics that many in the gundog world would prefer to ignore.

Hancock believed that it’s not only our minority breeds of gundogs that face a troubled future. So, too, does the Kennel Club (KC). “Owners of sporting dogs have been slow to realise that the Kennel Club itself is slowly but surely going out of fashion. Gundog fanciers need to ensure that our native breeds don’t go out of fashion, too,” he said.

Nearly 40 years ago, he wrote an article for Shooting Times entitled ‘Do we need the Kennel Club?’ He didn’t think we did then and hadn’t changed his mind when he wrote his book.

Gundogs should be read by everyone involved in breeding or competing with sporting dogs, but I suspect that relatively few have ever done so.

Tests

One of the suggestions in Gundogs is that the title of champion should only be awarded to a dog after it has passed tests for temperament, inherited diseases, inbreeding coefficients and morphology.

I commented that if this rule was adhered to with both show and trialling dogs it would do wonders for our gundog breeds. We are nearly a decade on and the idea seems even more valid, but I doubt if it has received even a minute’s discussion at the Kennel Club.

Gundogs is lavishly illustrated, with many historical pictures. What

Few working labradors conform to the breed standard in the opinion of David Hancock (below right)