How the keeper's kennel has evolved

Man’s best friend has always been at our side over the years, but Lindsay Waddell investigates how breeding priorities have changed

- Lindsay Waddell

Our four-legged friends have been with us a long time, and it’s a pretty good guess that they have been used to help us acquire food for longer than we know — and we know they’ve been used for hunting for thousands of years. Like everything else though, the speed of change has accelerated in recent times, and the use we now have for our dogs, or that some of us have at any rate, has also changed.

Cast your eye over the typical painting from the 1800s of the hunter accompanied by his faithful dogs and the bag for the day laid around them. His faithful dogs bear little resemblance to those of today, in size, colour or shape. Indeed, the hunter himself may well have been a servant as it was they who were tasked with supplying the master with his game, unless of course it was a result of a hunt with hounds.

Gradual alterations

Change, though, has not been sudden — anything but. Many of the changes in how we acquired our game, and indeed sport shooting in general, were quite gradual.

Shooting the smaller game species changed when the breechloading shotgun and self-contained cartridge were developed. The days of walking with a dog or two for the odd head of whatever could be shot with a muzzleloader were over, but not the walkingup part of it, as for a time it became even more fashionable.