Are the Hunt, Point, Retrieve Breeds the Ultimate Gundogs?

Gundogs come in all shapes and sizes, from the small bustling Spaniel breeds to the graceful Setters and Pointers. Scattered throughout these breeds are the all purpose dogs known as Hunt, Point, Retrieve dogs, or HPRs.

If your shooting consists of driven birds, where the sportsman takes his position in a line of other shooters, and waits for pheasants, grouse or partridge to be driven over him; or if you hunt wildfowl on the shoreline or from duck hides (duck blinds); or wait for pigeon as they come into roost or to decoys, then few dog handlers would argue that you cannot really do better than a working labrador.

The labrador from working gundog stock is able and willing to sit quietly at a peg; and when properly trained are steady to distractions; and very efficient and persistent retrievers. I have never owned one, although my wife did have a half-lab that was very efficient at knocking coffee over me or off the table. If I ever feel that they would suit the shooting I am going to be doing then I would seriously consider a labrador from a working gundog strain.

On the other hand, if you are hunting cover where game is plentiful, whether it is root crops or hedgerows, then a close working Spaniel is probably one of the most exciting animals to work. To see a Spaniel closing in on quarry, whilst staying in gunshot, is more interesting than the shooting!

With that out of the way, I well remember the first water test I attended with the Bristol and West Working Gundog Society. Letting my perfectly trained Springer spaniel, from an impeccable working strain (okay, so I am exaggerating) out of the car I was surprised at the speed with which she took off across the field where we were parking in pursuit of swallows which were skimming the grass. I did attract a few stares, mostly because of the volume I used to try to persuade the bitch back to me. I was even more surprised when later during the procedings the judge explained to me that if the dog entered the water just one more time before I gave her any command, then I would be going in to do the retrieve myself.

So it has never been a surprise to me that Spaniel Trainers never let their dogs work out of gunshot range… once they get that far it is too late to stop the bu99ers!

Where game is scarce, for example on moorland or large fields with with reasonable cover but no concentrations of food, then the pointers would traditionally have been the breeds of choice. The popularity of the HPRs have overshadowed the use of the pure pointing breeds though, and they are not often encountered. So are the Hunt, Point, Retrieve dogs the ultimate gundogs? I have to say not; every breed will have its fans, and who am I to say my dog is better than anyone elses? But for my personal viewpoint, I have had so little stress from training our two HPRs that I would be hard-pushed to choose anything else. The grace and beauty of seeing two German Shorthaired Pointers running independently across moorland; with one snapping onto point, quickly backed by the second; Superb!

In a duck hide or blind they would drive me spare! They whine, just below my hearing; I know they do, I can see them! But taken overall, I would forgive them!