Dogs and myths spun

Jon Snowdon addresses the misapprehension about the role of the stalking dog that many people seem to have

Over the past few months I have had cause to talk to people about dogs that are used for hunting, and many betrayed a misunderstanding of what they do. Most were also of the opinion that they must be vicious.

One would like to think that at least those living in the countryside would understand the working dog. On the whole it is those who do not have any link to the country that demonstrate a lack of understanding, often a prejudice and even fear of the working hunting dog.

It is not the working dogs that we read about attacking people, it is the bored family pet kept in the wrong environment, frustrated because it is unable to exercise or demonstrate the skills that centuries of breeding have produced.

Andrea, the boss, was at her wool spinning group recently. I call it the coven and believe they meet to spin our fate, just as the Norns did with the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree of life in Nordic mythology. In truth, they are a great group of people practising and educating to keep an old and skilled craft alive.

A comment made on a visit was the belief that we have our dogs to hunt and run down quarry and that we enjoy that. It is a misunderstanding that I hear all too often and it seems to be the opinion of many who do not work in the countryside or shoot. It is also part of the negative information, call it spin, which comes out of the anti shooting community. Unfortunately, too many people believe that claptrap.

The hunter’s task