Hunting dog

Breeds and capabilities used in hunting

For a list of breeds of each type, see the detailed articles for each category:

Details about the categories

Spaniels definitively fall into two types: ones that seek prey in water and others that seek it on land. Spaniels are the oldest class of gundog in existence, going back at least to the late Renaissance. Flushing spaniels combine hunting, flushing, and retrieving skills. Flushing spaniels that are used in the modern field include the Brittany, the English Springer Spaniel, the slightly smaller Welsh Springer Spaniel, and the field bred American and English Cocker Spaniels. The larger two chiefly are used for retrieveing and flushing game in thick grass or mild underbrush, with the Brittany having working habits closest to later developed pointers. Cocker Spaniels are generally used for thick prickly brush that they can duck, dive and dodge in pursuit of smaller game like rabbits, and Clumbers, Sussex, and Field Spaniels are preferred for their slower, methodical hunting pattern.

The American Water Spaniel, Irish Water Spaniel, Kooikerhondje, and the Boykin Spaniel are noted for their water work and do very well in temperate water, with the last being adapted to subtropical swamps. They fall into the water spaniel category. Many of these breeds vary their game according to the desires of the hunter: American Water Spaniels are known to be able to go after animals as big as a large goose in the water or the much smaller prairie chicken out of the water. Boykin Spaniels have a coat more closely adapted to the warmer temperatures of the American South whereas Irish Water Spaniels are adapted for cool, damp conditions, hence the curly coat and whiplike tail of the latter.

Like spaniels, hounds generally fall into two types: Sighthounds and scenthounds. The scenthounds are the younger of the two classes. Typical examples of the scenthound family include the Beagle, Bloodhound, members of the Coonhound family, and the Grand Bleu de Gascogne. There is great variety in how this group operates, but the one constant is having some of the strongest noses in dogdom: Bloodhounds have been used for hundreds of years to track both man and beast, sometimes on trails that have been sitting on the ground for days. Coonhounds were originally bred in the American South. They are still used to this day to hunt many different kinds of beasts, ranging in size from the squirrel to the American black bear, so accordingly they are bred for great stamina in multiple terrain, on water and land (all are excellent swimmers,) a loud booming bark that can carry for miles, and a short coat that pairs well with a humid subtropical climate. Beagles have been bred since at least the 16th century as rabbit and fox hunters who will relentlessly pursue the scent of prey even when it goes to ground and were originally intended to work in large packs:they have a gregarious temperament. A Grand Bleu de Gascogne is a very large breed of scenthound that is also quite old: it was a common dog for noblemen to use in their hunting parties and also was a pack hunter; many scenthounds in France were kept by wealthy men to trail quarry on private estates.

Sighthounds are different from scenthounds in their methods and adaptations. The long, lean head of the sighthound gives it a greater degree of binocular vision, and the body is usually quite slender with an elongated lower spine, giving a double suspension gallop when it runs. In many cases this class is older than the scenthound group: the greyhound, the Scottish Deerhound, and the Saluki have origins going well back into the Middle Ages and earlier. Their speed, agility and visual acuity are particularly adapted for coursing game in open meadows or steppes, and all of them are adapted for running down prey rather than just sniffing for them until they catch up. They are independent in nature, and are worked singly or in a "brace" of two or three dogs. Sighthounds are generally quiet and placid dogs compared to other hunting breeds, but are capable of explosive speed. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are one of the few hound breeds with both capabilities, and, though they are not the fastest runners, they are notable for having exceptionable endurance.

Setters and pointers hunt over long distances to find game birds like members of the pheasant and quail family, using their noses to find the prey and then sneaking up on them in the brush, showing the hunter exactly where the bird is hiding. Most of this family comes from Europe, and would include the Shorthaired, Wirehaired, Shorthaired German Pointers and Weimaraner from Germany, The Viszla from Hungary, Bracco Italiano from Italy, and field bred Irish Setters, Irish Red and White Setters, English Pointers, English Setters, and Gordon Setters from the British Isles. Many in this group share traits with spaniels in terms of the coat they have: it is easier to pick out bits of nettle from a long coat than a short one and the coat itself offers some protection from damp and thorny conditions.

Water dogs fall into two categories: the retrievers and multi-purpose. Retrievers are excellent swimmers with characteristic webbed feet, and many derive from either Canadian, American, or British stock. Retrievers typically have oily coats that help repel icy water, and are noted for having high intelligence and being very strongly bonded to their masters. The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever is very unusual in the fact that it "tolls"-plays around in the hopes of attracting the attention of waterfowl from above and then letting its master shoot the bird, whence it retrieves it and goes back in the blind. Golden Retrievers are originally from Scotland: their long, flowing double coats make them ideally suited to Scotland's rainy wet climate and their patience on land and in water is the stuff of legend; they shall wait for a bird for hours and will obey their master so long as master rewards him with fond affection. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, very popular in the United States, are bred to jump in water after ducks and geese even when there is a coating of ice over the water-they have deep chests meant to act as a jackknife that will cut through it when they swim. Most famous of all is the Labrador, native to an island in Maritime Canada but popular around the world: the field type Labrador has longer legs and a slimmer frame than the show type that is better known in Britain, but both show signs of being attracted to water from puppyhood.

Other water dogs are multipurpose. Standard Poodles fall into the water dog category because they originally were used by wealthy Germans to hunt ducks; they predate most types of water dogs. Today there are kennels in the United States that have revived the breed for this purpose, with some dogs proving adept hunters at flushing bobwhite quail and common pheasant and achieving very high ranks in competitions, sometimes beating the more popular Labrador Retriever. They are highly intelligent, second only to Border Collies in rank in overall aptitude, and hunters must be very specific in indicating what they want when giving commands: they cannot be trained by conventional means and require very concrete signals to indicate what is desired so they may solve the puzzle themselves. They are excellent swimmers whose coat requires a simple bath after a swim and a simple cut about an inch off the skin rather than the impractical show clips. Portuguese Water Dogs are medium-sized dogs that will retrieve just about anything from the water and have a strong instinct to swim, plus they will guard whatever quarry a hunter keeps: they are one of the only water dogs that were bred to hunt fish.

Terriers were bred to kill, and are one of the few hunting dogs that have worked in urban environments: many terriers of English, Scottish, and Irish extraction were extremely popular for killing vermin. Some weighed only 20 pounds and were easy to keep in small apartments. Unlike many other hunters, this group did not exclusively work in rural areas: rats were rampant in Victorian era London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin, Birmingham, Belfast, and Glasgow, and poisons had marginal effects: the rats bred in the dirty conditions of these cities faster than traps could be laid. It became very profitable for working-class men to have a profession where they trained small dogs to sniff out and kill as many rats as they could as fast as they could. They required dogs that had very fast reflexes, had a high tolerance for pain (rat bites are painful), and a ruthless never say die attitude.

In the practice of fox hunting, terriers are commonly used alongside hounds. These terriers are tasked with extracting the fox from its den if it retreats underground, displaying persistence in holding the prey until called off by their handler. In the United States and Australia, members of the bull and terrier subfamily are employed for hunting feral pigs. They work in conjunction with scenthounds; once the hounds have located a pig, the terriers are deployed to energetically engage with the pig, using their strength and stamina to subdue and distract it until the hunter can dispatch it. They are bred to have great courage and lightning fast reflexes, protecting their master and the other dogs from the razor sharp tusks of an adult boar and the bulldog blood of their ancestors whispers to them to bite down and never let go. Though some use this powerful subfamily for illegal dogfighting, they are noted for having incredible loyalty to their master and will do anything for master's love, and because it is such a powerful combination dogs of this type must be trained with a firm but kind hand that lets the dog know when to apply the brakes. They will reward their master by never backing down easily if they sense the boar is about to charge or hurt their beloved master or other members of the pack, even if injured. The Old English Bulldog itself is believed to be the descendant of the medieval Alaunt, a boarhound, and thus in the Southeastern United States it is very common to see its two descendants, the American Pitbull Terrier, and the American Bulldog, working side by side in Kevlar vests pursuing a furious boar for hours in a swamp.