Over many centuries dogs have been bred to create different gundog breeds with each having particular strengths, whether flushing game, picking-up, pointing or sitting on the peg.
If your heart is set on a particular breed and it can fulfil the requirements of your sport, go with your instinct. It is much easier to train a breed of dog that you have a liking for and affinity with, than one you have been persuaded by others to get.
Cocker spaniels were originally bred for hunting woodcock
Flatcoats make excellent shooting dogs, but they also excel in the show ring
British gundog breeds are highly sought-after. There are 38 gundog breeds recognised by the Kennel Club. Dogs from working strains of many of these breeds are in demand worldwide.
The UK has long been known as the “stockyard of the world”, a tag which recognises our skills as breeders of pedigree livestock of all types. Going back centuries, the skills applied to breeding livestock in fields and stackyards inevitably spilled over into the way working dogs were bred.
The earliest keepers would bring their inherent and yet rudimentary understanding of breeding and selection and apply it to the dogs they cared for and whose job was to find game, flush it and hopefully return with it. It is safe to assume that even the earliest spaniels, imported from Spain more than 500 years ago, would have been selected and improved over generations.
The cocker spaniel is one of the world’s most oustanding flushing and retrieving breeds
Emerging supreme from this original bedrock of active flushing dogs was the English springer — and its cousin, the red-coated Welsh springer — and of course the cocker.
For the big sporting estates, there is no doubt that the way in which their gundogs were managed and bred was hugely significant. Dogs had to be functional, they had to work and there had to be plenty of them.
The remarkable video above was filmed on a large estate in Scotland in 1932. It clearly demonstrates just how important gundogs were becoming and why it was deemed necessary to run kennels of this size.
In the UK there was such a passion for gundogs and so much natural ability for clever breeding and selection that new breeds were inevitable. Breeds such as the short-legged, liver-coated Sussex spaniel developed at Rosehill Park near Hastings almost 200 years ago.
There was even an initial cross between the Sussex and the cocker. The result produced the field spaniel, a lovely breed which may now only rarely be seen in the shooting field and has been ignored for too long.
Out with a Clumber
At the end of the 18th century the first Clumber spaniels arrived from France. The dogs were presented to the Duke of Newcastle and took their name from his estate at Clumber Park.
The Labrador retriever, initially imported as a dog to retrieve birds from water, was recognised by the Kennel Club in 1903. This breed’s versatility and trainability was seized upon by UK gundog trainers from the earliest days of its arrival.
The Labrador is still the world’s most popular dog — 150,000 puppies are registered annually with the American Kennel Club — and it is to the UK that devotees worldwide return to secure the very best genetics in terms of working ability.
British-bred Labradors are the gold standard
There has been a continual stream of gundog breeds heading to Britain’s shores over the years, mainly from Europe.
The German short-haired pointer and its wire-haired and long-haired variants as well as the Hungarian vizsla, the Weimaraner, the Italian spinone, the Munsterlander and the Brittany have all gained passionate supporters whose efforts continue to strengthen the UK’s reputation as a leading nation of gundog breeders.
The German wirehaired pointer is one of the many European gundog breeds that have come to our shores.
Q: My 16-year-old son is proving to be something of a natural trainer and has done a great job with my Labrador. He wants a dog of his own for retrieving and is open to other breeds than a Labrador. Which would you recommend?
A: Whilst there are plenty of retrieving gundog breeds to be thinking about, such as flatcoated retrievers and curly coated retrievers, some dogs will be easy to train and others tricker. Some retriever breeds have fallen out of favour because of this and so may not be the ideal first-time gundog for a less experienced trainer to take on.
Your son should do some in-depth research, talk to different breeders and see the various breeds in action. To get the correct raw material to work with, it is important to buy from proven working stock.
German shorthaired pointer
Q: I have recently taken up game shooting and am a member of a small syndicate, shooting every other Saturday in November, December and January. I have never owned a gundog but would like to now. Which breed would be best as a first gundog?
A: If, on the syndicate shoot days, you stand and shoot then your best bet would be a Labrador, the traditional ideal peg dog. Make sure it is well-trained – you can either do the gundog training yourself or send the dog away, depending on the amount of time and cash you have.
If yours is a stand ‘one/walk one’ syndicate you will be needed to do some beating on the walking drives so a springer or a cocker spaniel could be useful as they cover the ground so well. However a trained Labrador can do this type of work too and on balance that is the dog I would recommend for you.
A good springer is one of the most handsome of dogs
Q: I started beating last season and really enjoyed it and intend to do much more. I have noticed a real mixture of dogs in the beating line, from spaniels and Labradors to various different types of HPRs and even terriers. I would like to get a dog but don’t know what to go for.
A: The springer spaniel is the dog for you. They have limitless energy which is vital. While cocker spaniels are great dogs the larger springer is much better equipped to deal with all the challenges the long forays into the woods present.
Labradors are capable of taking their place in the beating line and doing a great job but it isn’t what they are best at.
The Hungarian wirehaired vizsla ia a tough, all-purpose hunting dog
Q: What I enjoy most of all is walked-up shooting, particularly in Scotland. Would a hunt, point and retrieve dog be best for me?
A: The very simple answer to this is yes. The real joy of HPRs is not so much their ability to beat or retrieve but the moment when they actually go on point, which makes for exciting shooting.
Q: Which is the best gundog breed for trialling? I’ve been interested in participating in field trials for some time now, and while friends and family swear by either Labradors or English springer spaniels, I like the look of flat coat retrievers.
A: Flat coat retrievers are not at the forefront of competitions, so, if you are interested in field trials, spaniels and Labradors are a much sounder option.
I have trained a few flat coats over the years and have found them to be late developers in comparison to spaniels and Labradors who, at 15 months, would be almost fully trained to trialling standards. I’d therefore be tempted to say they are the best gundog breeds for trialling from the ones you’re looking at. A flat coat would not mature until around three years of age, and even then they tend not to be the same standard.
Q: I have started shooting and need a gundog for beating, pigeon and roughshooting, ferreting and for wildfowling. I need a dog that will flush and retrieve game and is a confident swimmer. I have always fancied a Labrador or a cocker spaniel. What gundog breed would you recommend? And how do I find a gundog training club to join?
A Labrador out wildfowling
A: You can find a gundog club by visiting The Kennel Club. Not all gundog clubs run training classes but most will be able to put you in touch with a good gundog trainer.
Your sporting interests cover quite a wide range of gundog skills. A good cocker spaniel from working stock will make an excellent beating and roughshooting dog and it will have the ability, if correctly trained, to retrieve all types of quarry including geese.
However if your wildfowling is going to require a much stronger dog, a well-bred Labrador or a Chesapeake would be the obvious choice.
The German wire haired pointer
Q: I have always had Labradors through my driven shooting career. However I notice that cockers are becoming increasingly popular. Should I make a change?
A: You will miss the steady reliability of a Labrador but this will be compensated for by the enthusiasm and sheer intelligence of a good cocker. Plus which they don’t need as much room. So maybe it’s time to give one a try.
Working cocker spaniels have masses of charm
Which gundog breeds are best at picking-up? Labradors or springers?
Shooting Times contributor Jeremy Hunt says: “After a few years, a lot of thought and much experience I’d come out in favour of the Labrador as the best all-rounder on a shoot day.
“In my personal opinion, a Labrador cannot really be matched as a picking-up dog.
“However I don’t think one breed is better or superior to another – it’s more that different handlers suit different breeds.
British-bred Labradors are the gold standard
“The connection between a Labrador and his handler is easier to accomplish than with a spaniel. Busy spaniels have a tendency to be single-minded, which can be an issue for a less experienced picker-up with limited dog training. A Labrador is more often a safer bet.”
However another gundog trainer points out: “If a spaniel is properly trained, with the right amount of time and effort invested in it, it will stay on the peg like any other well-schooled dog. Labradors aren’t angels either – I’ve seen them running amok in the shooting line. It’s the trainer that makes the peg dog, not the dog breed.”
The various gundog breeds
Find out more about the different breeds used in fieldsports below.
History notes that the first of the German HPR breeds, the German shorthaired pointer, was shown in England in 1887, but it wasn’t until after World War II that these elegant, all-purpose dogs appeared in the shooting field in the UK, brought back by British Army officers who had served…
Weimaraner, German shorthaired pointer, German longhaired pointer, German wirehaired pointer, large Munsterlander. The list of German dog breeds that have become established in Britain is a long one, but it could be a lot longer. The small Munsterlander, for example, has been imported many times, but has never become established…
The most striking difference between a Jack Russell terrier and a Parson Russell terrier is their size. Jack Russells are slightly smaller. The breed should measure 10-15″ on their shoulders (withers) whereas a Parson Russell is taller at 12-14″ on the withers. The Parson Russell also generally has a squarer…
The Labrador retriever was first recognised by the Kennel Club as a breed in 1903. It was originally known as the St John’s dog or lesser Newfoundland dog. The breed was in Newfoundland in the 1700s and imported to England in the 1800s. When I was researching its origins, I…
The working dachshund or teckel At one time the term ‘prey drive’ was mainly reserved for terriers and hounds and only occasionally used by the gundog fraternity. However, in the past 30 or so years, with the rising popularity of hunt-point-retrievers we have seen it used more frequently to describe…
Spend a day out in the field on a shoot and the chances are that somebody, somewhere will have a Labrador. But despite being such a popular gundog, some think that Labradors are from Canada originally, rather than being a European breed. It’s said that fishermen in this bleak peninsula…
Rory Major of Bryantscroft Gundogs has probably trained and competed with more breeds of gundog than anyone else in the business. He has trialled everything from retrievers and spaniels to setters and most breeds of hunt, point and retrieve gundog (HPR). He made up the first British wirehaired pointer field…
The Korthals Griffon is known as the Griffon Korthals on the Continent Or the Griffon d’arrêt in France and Quebec In the United States and Canada it’s called the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon It was founded by the Dutch breeder Eduart Karels Korthals in around 1873 He dedicated 20 years to…
So how does the colour of a chocolate Labrador happen? A variety of different Labrador matings, including black to black, can produce a brown, or chocolate Labrador. If you mate two brown Labs together you are most likely to have similarly coloured puppies, although you may also get yellow. However…
For many years the Kennel Club has operated a form of canine apartheid. Only dogs that are pure-bred and registered with the Club are allowed to enter field trials. Working Gundog Certificate open to sprockers You may own the most talented sprocker or springador, but there’s no way that you…
If you want to wind up your cocker spaniel-owning friends, just tell them that their dogs are springers. They may argue otherwise but, technically, it’s true. History of the spaniel All spaniels are springers, as the term was originally used to separate those dogs that set game (setters) from those…
Last season, I admired a handsome black cocker dog I met on a shoot. His owner, unaware that I make a living from writing about gundogs, proceeded to give me a short lecture on cockers. He assured me that it was a far older breed than the springer, which is…
You’ll see plenty of Labradors in the field but not so many golden retrievers. Which is rather illogical because a golden retriever that has been well-trained is definitely the equal of a Labrador. Golden retrievers are handsome, intelligent and easy to handle. So it’s a mystery. A relatively new breed…
In the 1980s I belonged to a shooting syndicate with one simple rule: every member had to own a working gundog. It was a walk-one, stand-one shoot, so it was a practical ruling. There was no suggestion as to what sort of dog it had to be, but every member…
Don't overlook the minor breeds, like Clumber, Welsh springer or Brittany spaniels, although their natural hunting, retrieving and training ability probably won't be as strong as a Cocker or Springer
I first came across the Hungarian wirehaired vizsla (HWV) more than 16 years ago. The vizslas in question belonged to a reader who invited me to see them working. I was impressed and the owner said that his dogs had all the attributes of the familiar Hungarian vizsla, but their…
There’s one thing I’ve learned about springer spaniels in nearly 40 years of owning and working the breed: there’s no dog that loves to hunt more than a springer. And as anyone who has owned or shot over one will confirm, they are born optimists, happy to work a piece…
