Know your gundog breed type

The UK Kennel Club recognises 38 breeds of gundog, how many can you name?

I’m sure labradors and working cocker spaniels were on your list, and no surprise since they are two of the most popular breeds in the UK to have as a pet. Most of these breeds now live a life far from what they were originally bred to do- but what is that work exactly, and how does your awareness and pet gundog training help?

Please note, the blogpost below is not an extensive deepdive into each individual breed, and any breeds not mentioned are still excellent dogs, the purpose of the post is to focus on the dogs I see most commonly in training, however I am always excited to see a less-common breed come along for training!

What does a gundog do?

Gundog- the clue is in the name, gundog breeds assist in the field, whether that is finding game, “flushing” game (i.e. causing it to move), or retrieving the shot game- or, for some breeds, it’s doing all of these things. Knowing which elements your dog was genetically bred to do- often across several centuries- can help you understand how they interact with you and the environment, what motivates them (and what doesn’t), and how you can use this knowledge to build and strengthen your relationship.

Let’s break it down by looking at these four categories:

Retriever (R)

Hunting Retriever (HR)

Hunting Pointing Retriever (HPR)

Pointers and Setters

Retrievers

Again, the clue is in the name! The main job of a retriever is to be “steady” (i.e. not move until asked), staying at their handler’s side (this could be someone shooting, or a person employed to “pick up” the game), until they are asked to locate and retrieve the game. This could be game they have or have not seen land, and they must be able to find this over long distances and changing terrain, using scent in the air and the ground to locate the game.

In some locations they are also expected to retriever over and in water, which is why you will often find Golden Retrievers or labradors making a beeline for water, with the protection of their webbed paws and double waterproof coat!

Popular retrievers in this group include:

Labrador Retriever

Golden Retriever

Flat-coated Retriever

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (AKA Toller)

Can you name any others?

Hunting Retrievers

We move onto the spaniel group- this group has a different job description from their retriever friends, in that they are expected to also hunt and flush game, stopping when they have done so, then retrieving when asked. They also use air and ground scent to find and then pinpoint game (the “quarry”), by working in a “quartering” pattern – that zig-zag that your spaniel does when you try loose-lead walking? Yup, that’s their DNA telling them to quarter! Your spaniel can’t sit still in class whilst the labradors are nice and calm? Yup, again, they are not bred to be expected to sit still as long, so that’s no surprise.

These dogs work a lot closer to their handler, they are not expected to go out in straight lines over huge distances (and the chances of your average spaniel making it 150 yards without being distracted by a good scent are pretty low…!), they are expected to stick within shotgun range of the handler. Where they DO have similarities with retrievers is their job of “marking” fallen game, and being able to be directed to locate game they haven’t seen (just not at such vast distances). They are also expected to be confident in water as well.

Some spaniel types you might have met or seen on my social media:

Cockers and Springers (English and Welsh)

Fun fact- did you know, prior to the 1870s the only requirement for a dog to be classed as a Cocker was that they weighed less than 11kg? Larger dogs- in the same litter- would be classed as Springers! It was only in 1892 that they were recognised as different breeds!

Clumber- the largest of all spaniels, bred to hunt through heavy cover

Sussex – almost disappeared by the 1930s, and still a vulnerable breed

Lagotto Romagnolo- Crufts winner in 2023 and King Charles’ new puppy!

Hunting Pointing Retrievers

We move to our third group, the HPRs, a breed type from Europe, which has influenced their hunting style to suit the different conditions. These dogs are expected to hunt game (quartering a larger area than a spaniel) but, unlike a spaniel, they do not immediately flush the game, instead they “point” at the location and wait to be told to move forward when appropriate. They also need to switch between air and ground scent to do their job, and be able to mark and retrieve shot game, as well as be handled to game they haven’t seen.

Some popular HPR breeds in the UK include

Hungarian Vizslas

Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas

German Shorthaired Pointers

German Wirehaired Pointers

Brittany Spaniel

Large Munsterlander

Weimeraner

Italian Spinone

Korthals Griffon

Pointers and Setters

Less common as pets and working dogs, these old breeds have some specialised skills when it comes to working life. As general rule, they are used mostly to find and “point” or “set” game, but not used to retrieve (hence why the more “versatile” dogs in the HPR and HR categories tend to dominate the scene). This is not to say they can’t retrieve, just as a labrador is perfectly capable of working well in a beating line!

More well-known dogs in this category include

English Pointer

Irish Setter

English Setter

Gordon Setter

One size doesn’t fit all!

With this breed type knowledge, think about the implications for what will motivate your dog, how you’d expect them to move in an outdoor environment, and what the implications for training might be?

A note here! Even within the breed groups, when you start getting breed-specific, you will start to find nuances in the ways different breeds go about the same “job”. For example, I wouldn’t expect a Labrador Retriever and a Flatcoat Retriever to retrieve in the exact same style and manner. I would expect a Cocker Spaniel, Clumber Spaniel and Springer Spaniel to each hunt an area differently, and so on. And even within that, each dog has their own personality, so how one Vizsla hunts will be slightly different from their sibling! The takeaway here is, observe your dog, and work with the dog in front of you.

How does this help?

Understanding what your dog was bred to do is the first step in understanding what motivates them, and why they do the things they do. Understanding your specific dog is the next step! From a Labrador puppy that always has to have something to hold, to the springer that bounces from side to side like Tigger, to the Vizsla that stares for 5 minutes straight at a snail- they are all exhibiting characteristics that we have found desirable and bred strongly into them.

With that in mind, it’s always better to work with these traits rather than try to ignore or suppress them. This is where pet gundog training can really help; even if you never intend to work your dog, giving them those breed-specific outlets helps them “scratch that itch” to do what their DNA is telling them to do.

We have new courses starting all the time, check out the website and get started, your dog will thank you!