When it's good to talk

Hounds are expected to speak but whining or barking is frowned upon in gundog circles. David Tomlinson asks whether silence really is golden

- David Tomlinson

DOGS BARK BUT hounds give tongue, a euphemism widely used in the gundog world, too. Hunting with silent (mute) hounds would be very dull, for much of the pleasure of a day’s hunting comes from listening to the pack.

There’s a whole vocabulary to describe the noises they make. Hounds speak to a line but if they are scoring, it’s when the scent is extremely hot and every hound in the pack is speaking to it.

A babbler is a noisy hound, defined in an old hunting book of mine as a hound flinging its tongue without cause, a definition that would also describe many politicians. When a pack is in full cry (a chorus of tongues when all the pack acknowledges a burning scent), the resulting sound might be described by a hunting enthusiast as a crash of hound music.

In total contrast to the hunting world, where hounds are expected to make a noise, gundogs should be seen but never heard. The Kennel Club’s J-regulations, the rules that control trialling, list whining or barking as eliminating faults for all breeds — retrievers, spaniels, pointers and setters and HPRs. The sole exception is the Sussex spaniel, which is permitted to give tongue when on ascent, but at no other time.

“In a lifetime of shooting, I’ve never come across a noisy labrador”