The Versatile Gundog by Guy Wallace

Accurately named, this book covers all the commoner breeds of HPR used in Britain, for the major uses they are put to - game shooting, deer stalking and hawking or falconry.

Training HPRs for Gun, Rifle and Hawk

This is a required read for those who have had no experience of HPRs, but have trained a spaniel or a retriever for gundog work before. It also has useful chapters on training gundogs for falconry and / or deerstalking.

Mr Wallace has an excellent anecdotal style. On punishment he illustrates the importance of making sure that you only punish a dog when it understands why it is being punished. He does this by recounting a story from a friend in Africa who was housetraining a monkey by smacking it every time it messed on the floor, then throwing it out the window. Once fully trained, the monkey would mess on the floor, smack itself and jump out of the window... somehow the message wasn't getting through!

The contents...

are applied to most of the HPR breeds, including the Weimaraner, Large Munsterlander, Bracco Italiano, Spinone, Brittany, Vizla, GSP, GWP...

Preliminary considerations
Puppies
Homes and Mobile Homes
Management of the Young Dog
Basic Training
Hunting
Wind and Scent
Pointing
Retrieving
Introduction to Gunfire
Battle Conditions
Baptism of Fire
Odds and Sods
Summer Activities
Field Trials
Acquiring Ground
Driven Shooting! (Think I will have to read this chapter again...)
Breeding
HPRs for Falconry
Specialized Training for Deerstalking
Acquiring a Trained Dog