Knowing what to do if your gundog has an accident in the field is a skill most handlers should have. But canine first aid knowledge isn’t as widespread as it should be. This is something that could be remedied during a visit to the Field & Country Fair where the…
Gundogs
Spotlight on continental HPR breeds
One of the founding fathers of modern electric blues music was a man known as Muddy Waters. A fellow black musician, bemoaning what he perceived to be the hijacking of their music — mainly by the American middle class — once voiced his concern. Muddy, far simply agreeing, responded: “Black, white;…
Dog tail docking
What can you do quite legally in England which could cost you a fine of up to £5,000 or even six months in jail if you repeated it in Scotland? Celebrate a famous World Cup win? No. Not wear a kilt to a wedding? Wrong again. The answer is docking…
Which gundog breed would suit all of my needs best?
A: First, find a gundog club by visiting The Kennel Club. This will have details of location, area of operation and what the club in question has to offer. Not all gundog clubs run training classes but most will be able to put you in touch with a good gundog trainer. Your…
Pedigree dogs in peril
Previously I looked at the winners and losers in the annual registrations of pedigree dogs. The winners included the Bracco Italiano and the cocker spaniel, plus the Hungarian vizsla and its wirehaired cousin, while the losers included several of our traditional favourites, ranging from the Labrador to the English springer spaniel. There…
An insider’s guide to training gundog puppies
It’s going to be a busy summer at the Twistmount Kennels as I have a few youngsters that are ready to start their more formal training. I have two home-bred young springer spaniels that are showing real potential, a little liver-and-white bitch called Dolly and a black-and-white dog called Logan.…
Can you put a price on well-behaved gundogs?
Whilst writing about British gundogs, an American gundog trainer was extolling the virtues of how “these extraordinary gundogs perform with such style and drive yet remain absolutely calm and under control on extremely long shoots” – meaning some drives involving 200 to 500 birds. It’s interesting how ‘English Labs’ (sorry Scotland…
Microchipping dogs becomes law on 6 April
Breeders will be required to microchip puppies before they are rehomed and anyone who fails to get their dogs chipped could face a fine of up to £500. The process involves injecting a chip the size of a grain of rice under a dog’s skin. This chip contains a code…
Popular gundog breeds – what’s on the rise?
Has the pedigree dog had its day? While it might be much too early to predict its eventual extinction, figures from the Kennel Club (KC) show compelling evidence of its decline. In 2006, a total of 103,773 gundogs were registered with the Club in the UK. Numbers held steady for the next…
Professional gundog trainers and amateur gundog trainers
Field trials are, by any reckoning, a very distinctive sporting activity. Nobody pretends they are not a sport in their own right, but neither would anybody be reluctant to acknowledge they derive their ultimate rationale from another sport, namely game shooting, and thanks for that community’s perennial generosity are anything…
Hip dysplasia in dogs
It’s many years since the dangers of hip dysplasia in dogs were first recognised. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Kennel Club (KC) established their joint Hip Dysplasia Scheme in 1984 in a bid to try to understand the disease better, and to eradicate it from pedigree dogs. The scheme can…
Why is the flatcoated retriever so rarely seen in the field now?
Last month I dined at Holkham’s Victoria hotel in North Norfolk. Holkham has long been one of the premier sporting estates in England, covering 25,000 acres of saltings, marsh and farmland; its gamekeepers still wear their traditional bowler hats. On the back of the Victoria’s menu was a picture of a…
Bitch or dog – what makes the best gundog?
SEX, WHETHER WE like to admit it or not, dominates our lives in many ways, not least when we come to choose our future shooting companion. For more than 30 years I’ve only owned bitches, which you might think indicates a strong preference for females, but really it’s just that, as…
Are dogs really colour-blind?
ONE OF THE extraordinary things about dogs is that they may be able to mark a falling bird 200 yards away, but they will run straight past a dead bird lying in the open without seeing it. It’s a reminder that a dog’s eyesight is very different from our own.…
Bill Meldrum: The Queen’s former headkeeper talks gundogs
Bill Meldrum may have lived down south for more than 50 years but he is a Scottish gamekeeper through and through. In 1958 he won his first open stake and back then 70 per cent of the dogs running in any stake in Scotland were keepers’ dogs. A few landowners…
The dog training hand signals you need to know
Depending on the kind of dog work you intend to do, you may know that it needs to be trained to take hand signals and to be able to be sent back, left or right. If you plan just to go beating with your dog, then you may never need…
How to shoot over your dog
Over the past couple of months we have looked at taking your gundog into the beating line or being part of a picking-up team, but the ultimate for any gundog handler has to be shooting over your dog. It isn’t easy and not for the faint-hearted, but these guidelines should help.…
Why beaters’ dogs have it best
Half a century of observing the British shooting field has led me to the conclusion that on a typical driven shoot, the people who have the most fun are the beaters. The pickers-up enjoy themselves, too, but their job comes with a great deal of responsibility. The Guns all pretend they are…
Meet George Butler the springer specialist
To describe George Butler as the best-known picker-up in Sussex is something of an understatement. George is not only famous throughout the county for his team of English springers — invariably working at least half a dozen at a time — but also for the annual shoot evening that he started on behalf of what was the Game Conservancy and…