A dog for all disciplines

I’ve just become the owner of a labrador puppy and, although I do a bit of game and pigeon shooting, my main interest is actually fox shooting and deerstalking. Would a lab be any use if I took her with me?

I had a spaniel that would often accompany me when I went out with the rifle after foxes.

In fairness, I would generally be shooting them at a fair distance from a static position, so having the dog sit beside me was no hardship.

I lost count of how many times I had hit a fox that then made it into cover, which he found almost straight away in most cases. On a couple of occasions, he also alerted me to foxes I’d not seen with a gentle whine and locked-on stare.

There were a couple of occasions, however, where I bumped a fox walking in and the dog’s white coat markings and energetic movements quickly had foxes on their toes.

A labrador, however, would most likely be less springy and, although not the perfect stalking or foxing dog, may well still be trainable to a pretty decent standard if you go about it the right way.

Having once seen a tame fox used to retrieve shot game, I think it’s fair to say anything is possible. MR

Labradors — along with many other breeds — can be trained for deerstalking or foxing