12/03 © Ronald L. Moody (2003)
All rights reserved.
Reprinted here with permission.

A Hunt Gone to the Dogs Becomes a
Wild Journey Indeed

Nobody knows which hunter told the first dog story. Whoever it was probably ended his tale by throwing a well-gnawed mastodon bone into the fire before sacking out in the back of the cave.

That the hunting partnership between human and canine goes back tens of thousands of years is documented in the artifacts of pre-history. That the man/dog hunting team will advance to the future is reaffirmed every time a kid meets a puppy. Some of us silvertip nimrods, who currently could be listed as artifacts, provide a bridge between past and future as we chase wild-eyed young pups over hill and dale on creaky knees with winded gasp.

The literature and oral heritage of the hunt records no stronger, more enduring value than that placed by human nimrods upon their dog companions. The hunter’s world offers many grand pursuits that do not require a dog. I, personally, have a hard time choosing those hunts for my limited days when I could be passing a good time in blind or cover with a four-legged friend whose passion for the hunt feeds my own.

Youth is the best beginning for this human-dog synergy. In this hip-hop, high-tech world our youth call home, a parent still can do well by giving their adolescent daughter or son the duty and opportunity to train a bird dog puppy. I believe it was just such a spirited young English setter who pulled my own son past the dangers of being a modern teenager — this notwithstanding several years when I never knew which of them was causing the greater mischief.

The mission of the hunt gives youth and puppy a common purpose around which the talent of both can develop. A newly growing man or woman can learn virtues such as loyalty, courage and dedication from no better teacher than a fire-eating young canine hunter. The importance of discipline to putting game in the bag quickly becomes obvious to the most video-blurred young mind. A willful hunting dog will teach any human the difference between pet and partner.

I believe, however, the greater rewards of associating with hunting dogs waits at the other end of Nimrod’s Trace.

The frailty of advanced years fades before the new beginning a young puppy offers a gray-haired nimrod. Perhaps the best part of being a mature dog handler is that, after a lifetime of accumulating choice words, you finally possess the vocabulary to adequately describe to your dog how you truly feel about their most recent behavior.

One hunting friend, older by far than myself, once promised me he intended to live an extra five years just to see how his last puppy would turn out - he had agonized over the decision whether to buy another pup because he might not be around to hunt with it. Since chasing that young speed demon didn’t kill my friend outright, I assume the exercise added the prescribed years because both are still going strong.

A bitter final draught comes with every new puppy beginning, however. In the natural passage of time, dog will receive fewer years than man. Man the hunter who hunts with dog will know grief several times during their lifetime as vigorous canine youth too quickly fades to age. No passing of strangers here. Seasons in the field leave both man and dog in mutual trust and knowledge of each other. While you know the truth about your dog’s allegation that pheasants never hide in dense thorn thickets, he knows the truth about your shooting skills. Such things add up to a lot to lose when dog reaches the end of dog years.

Some people handle death of an old canine friend better than others. As always, no one right path exists for all people. I do believe that a human who hunts with a dog and enjoys the bond of that partnership owes a debt to the dog of a painless, dignified passing. How a hunter treats their dog in life and how they honor this debt in death is a strong measure of that person’s character as sportsman and as a person.

I will illuminate one of my personal prejudices when I say that non-hunters who buy dogs of hunting breeds as pets fail this test of character exponentially more often than do people who acquire the dogs to hunt. Perhaps this is because hunting with a dog exposes its true worth in a way that cannot be ignored while non-hunters have no experience beyond the household pet routine. Certainly it’s true that a old dog with obvious hunting experience shows up in animal shelters from time to time, apparently abandoned by a so-called sportsman who flunked the character test. But there are way too many dogs of hunting breeds in the discard shelters to make any conclusion other than too many non-hunting people trashing dogs who are too good for them.

I will ask the retriever lovers, houndsmen, spaniel lovers, etc. to indulge me while I describe my personal favorite vision of a hunting dog. It is an English setter flashing through blackberry and green briar searching for bobwhite. Intense and intelligent, the skilled pro weaves through the cover ignoring ground that quail don’t frequent to focus his effort where game is likely to hide. When quarry is scented the weaving intensifies until heartstop-stilled in electric point - his grand setter tail flagged at full mast.

Your local video store does not carry this vision regardless of how many hunting movies they offer. It comes only to those who strike out on the hunter’s path and trudge the thickets with their dog. Old Ranger is many years gone, and his son is now the 12-year-old creaky patriarch of my pack. I will always remember, however, and it is such remembering that ultimately defines the people, the dogs, the game and the land that make up the hunt.

Imagine the feeling then to see a photo of such a grand dog. Not in a hunting cover but in a steel cage scheduled to be killed because somebody dumped the dog as trash at an animal shelter. For as much good as it would do I think hunting breed dogs should not be trusted to anybody who can’t show a hunting license. Over hundreds of years, hunters have bred dogs of strength and virtue whose qualities can been seen and desired by anybody. This does not mean, however, that anybody should be allowed to own such a dog of strength and virtue. I fully support the breeding associations who scrutinize a human before allowing them to buy a puppy.

I have been shocked to learn how many thousands of Labradors, Setters, Brittany’s, Springers, Pointers and other hunting breeds are dumped and destroyed in animal shelters every year. Unknown to most hunters, there are organizations of people who love these great breeds try to rescue and find homes for as many as possible. More hunters should find a place by their fire for a refugee hunting dog whose luck with humans has been bad.

In my own case I obtained a young refugee Brittany last year who had aristocracy written all over him. This year he is terrorizing the Montana pheasant population (yes, and occasionally traumatizing his owner. But he is not for sale).

Listed below are the websites of several national organizations dedicated to rescuing dogs of prominent hunting breeds.

English Setters: http://www.esaa.com/rescue.html
Golden Retrievers: http://www.goldenretrieversusa.com/rescue.html
Labrador Retrievers: http://www.thelabradorclub.com/rescue/searchrescue.php
German Shorthair: http://www.germanshorthairedpointerrescue.com/
Welsh Spaniels: http://www.barkbytes.com/rescue/wsprsp.htm
Chesapeake Retriever: http://www.cbrrescue.org/
Brittany Spaniel: http://www.nbran.com
Springer Spaniel: http://www.springerrescue.org