Dog Games - Part 1

How Do Shooting Sports Compare to Actual Upland Hunting?

Now here’s a thought. Given my occasional association with trap and skeet shooting sports, I would say my ability to chip a chunk off a clay target averages around 90%. In contrast, and weird coincidence, my shooting percentage on various sporting clay grounds and on wild (field) birds seems to run about the same – around 60 - 70%. (Obviously, dove and forest grouse are not included in that statistic.) I wonder, “How would you rate the effectiveness of gun dog activities such as trials (or tests) if the goal was to develop the ideal (wild) upland bird hunting dog?”

Like the infield in baseball, all trap and skeet ranges have the same configuration with very little variance. The shooters can practice at one location and apply the same approach at all the ranges they visit and a higher shooting average should be expected. In contrast, like golf courses, sporting clay courses vary a great deal and, unless you play the same course exclusively, the shooter must adapt on the fly - pun intended.

Please bear with this one last observation. Due to our younger son’s interests, I was keenly involved in youth football for a time. In our area there were two directions you could go, tackle or flag football. They each continued their grid-iron journey until their paths joined in middle school. At this point of convergence, they would all play full-contact.

Players from the equally well-organized flag football program may have out-numbered their tackle contemporaries by a skosh in the beginning weeks of seventh-grade late summer practice. Yet, despite their numbers and having some very talented players, my guess is about 80 percent of the former flag-football participants didn’t make it to the end of the season. The number dwindling to nothing (or nearly so) by the following season.

Tee-ball to baseball, slow-pitch softball to fast, video games to…well, nothing. The comparisons are almost endless and, after many years of observation, what I have concluded is that “similar” doesn’t mean “same”. Apply that thought where you will. Consider, with all of the best equipment and purest intent, a photograph of a steak doesn’t taste like, and therefore isn’t, a steak.

When it comes to gun dogs, there are several sports or activities and an equal number of reasons for participation. For some, it’s a social event filled with likeminded people and wonderful dogs. It’s a picnic and a reason to watch dogs do what they’ve been bred and trained to do. For others, it’s their livelihood. Breeding fine dogs and winning many championships means they can demand a high price for dogs and advice. The stakes are high and the competition keen.

Ted, (foreground) and Roc were splendid examples of the “real deal”.

I have always trained dogs toward hunting with a very limited background when it comes to field games or tests. For a young dog (or first-time owner), I always ask what the dog owner wants from the dog. Field or forest – pheasants or ruffed grouse? Where and what will they primarily hunt? In my first year of “professionally” training upland gun dogs and their owners, I was surprised to find myself preparing almost as many dogs for field tests as for hunting. This required some research and offered additional opportunities.

Before I begin the basis for my musings, I should confess a slight philosophical prejudice. I have been a very competitive individual all of my life and can relate to physical challenges where a clear winner is determined. Humans, animals, manufacturing or invention, I believe that experience along with competition will improve certain aspects of those that participate. The single inherent problem with competition, from performance enhancing drugs to atomic weaponry, left unchecked, it can go too far. You don’t have to agree, history proves this out.

On the matter of upland pointing dogs and competition, I lean quite heavily toward the sport’s ability to replicate a true hunting experience while developing an ideal (bird) dog. “What’s an ideal upland pointing dog?” you ask. I would think, for most of us, an ideal hunting dog is one that enjoys actively seeking, pointing, and retrieving feathered fowl for its human counterpart - me. Most of all, always and everywhere, a trusted and mindful companion.

A sporting dog in the true sense and tradition.

Do they exist? I’ve had many that came awful close to ideal. Even so, I believe that was the original intent; the pinnacle for all breeds of (pointing) dogs. So, our qualifying factor is an activity’s ability to develop an ideal pointing dog - a dog that meets the requirements of their original design. The question becomes, to what degree do various pointing dog events meet this intent?

For the sake of time, I will concentrate on events and organizations that affect only upland pointing dog breeds. As with just about any subject where one can form an opinion - politics, society, sport, etc. – there are elements to the far reaches of, generally, two sides.

On the one end of the spectrum there are events that I have a difficult time using the term, “competitions”. They are subjective and based on a set of physical characteristics; the outcome tossed to and fro at the whim of whoever is making the judgement. Of course, what I am describing are dog shows.

“…show setters cannot compare to the endurance, athletic prowess, and graceful gate of a true field setter.”

The exaggerated features, stance, and flowing locks of a show English setter (above) has nothing to do with it’s sporting heritage. In contrast, the field English setter (below) has a sleek and athletic build with a balanced stance that most often comes naturally. With training and experience the latter will develop the brains required to outwit wily roosters.

Upland show dogs are categorized in the Sporting Dog group, though they may not be allowed to participate in the activities that put them in that category. These are superficial canid events that have collectively reduced several breeds to physical and mental ruin. For some, all evidence of the breed’s sporting origins has been systematically removed for the sake of appearance. The focus on conformation, ignoring more pragmatic virtues, dog beauty pageants have destroyed several sporting and working breeds. I believe that history is on my side here, as well.

I cannot bear to watch my beloved setters – English, Irish, or Gordon – distorted physically and mentally reduced by this practice. Clunking around a ring, exaggeratedly featured and knuckleheaded; show setters cannot compare to the endurance, athletic prowess, and graceful gate of a true field setter.

One can rightly argue that this is all primarily due to competition. These dogs were bred to win shows where the paramount achievement is physical attributes with basic obedience tossed in. And that proves my point. Competition had, indeed, developed specialization toward its perception of perfection. However, in the matter of Sport-Class show dogs, the goals moved drastically away from the breed’s original intent.

Perhaps you think I’ve been too harsh on this end of the spectrum? Well, it’s just one man’s opinion - based on a stated criteria. You’re certainly welcome to yours.

All remaining major forms of competition and tests that include upland (pointing) dogs involve dog performance as it relates to finding game - in one form or another. I mentioned that I was going to discuss the distant ends of canine competition and I shall. What would you consider as the complete opposite of what was discussed here?

That is what we will discover in the next segment.