General Information about Sporting Dogs - Gun Dogs
All of the dogs listed below belong to the collection of dogs referred to as Sporting Dogs. Dogs in the Sporting group, which are referred to in England as Gundogs can be divided into three main categories - Retrievers, Pointers and Setters. These dogs were bred primarily to work with people to hunt game birds. Some of these dogs work in water whilst other dogs are more suited to work on land and many of the dogs in the Sporting dog category are comfortable and capable of working in either land or water environments. Sporting dogs (Gundogs) are particularly suited to wood and field activities.Sporting Dogs (Gun Dogs) Breed Information
The Retriever, Pointer and Setter dogs and their main functionalities are as follows:
- The Retriever dog - Retriever dogs find and return killed game to the hunter. Some Retrievers are especially equipped, for instance with a water-repellent coat and webbed feet, for retrieving downed waterfowl.
- The Pointer dog - Pointer dogs stand in front of their quarry, with their nose and body rigidly still , thus directing (or pointing) the hunter to its location.
- The Setter dog - Setter dogs were originally trained to set, or crouch, in front of game preventing the escape of the quarry. The hunter would make the capture with a net.
