Standing test of time

Wise words on gundog training can be found in a host of classic books published many decades ago, as David Tomlinson discovers

- David Tomlinson

HISTORICALLY,

shows and field trials were introduced to improve the looks and performance of working gundogs, but, according to Michael Brander, both have become an end in themselves.

In his book Gundogs: Their Care and Training, he points out that show bench and field trial strains of the same breeds of gundogs frequently bear little relationship to each other. He laments the fact that there are some field trial strains that are not worked to the gun at all, or so selectively that it means next to nothing, while many show strains have long passed the stage when the gun means anything to them.

Few would dispute that Brander is correct in what he says, but what is interesting is that he wrote those words nearly 60 years ago, for this book was first published in 1963. Nothing, it seems, has changed. Whether show springers and working springers, or show labradors and working labradors, have diverged even more in those six decades is debatable, but I expect most of us to feel that they have. Whether it really matters is equally debatable, but it remains as much a subject for discussion now as it was then.

“Sharpe believed in letting a dog use its own instinct”