ON THE SPOT

Survey questions put focus on the cost of our gundogs

At the invitation of an email I received from the GWCT, I took part in an online survey on the value of shooting. It came with a warning that completing the survey would take around 45 minutes. I’m pleased to report that I managed it in not much more than 15 minutes, but that might be because

I’m pretty quick at answering questions online and don’t spend too much time thinking about them.

It proved to be a wide-ranging survey. It started with the usual questions about ethnicity (what’s that to do with the value of shooting?), household income and my level of education, before asking me about the social media platforms I use (I don’t). Intriguingly, it also asked whether, in the past five years, I had been subject to any threats or intimidation (by any means), and/or received any damage to property because of my involvement in shooting? I’m pleased to say that the answer to that was no.

Then there was a series of questions that ranged from how often I eat game to the organisations I’m a member of — curiously, the GWCT wasn’t listed. The most detailed questions were about how much I spend on guns, ammunition, syndicate fees and so on. Eventually,

I came to a question on gundogs: If you own one or more working dogs/gundogs for shooting, approximately how much in the UK did you spend in the past 12 months on the following? There followed some 13 topics that gundog owners are likely to spend money on, ranging from vet fees to stud fees and insurance.

Discovering how much you spend on your dog or dogs could, I imagine, be quite sobering, especially if you compete with them or regularly put them into boarding kennels. Eventually, I was able to tick the box that stated I take part in shooting because it allows me to work my dogs, something I strongly agreed with. Finally, I reached the national well-being survey and, among a series of questions, I was asked how often I feel lonely. Thanks partly to my dogs, the answer was never.

How much does your dog cost you each year?