A large number of breeds are dogs suitable for hunting. By illustrating these breeds, it is easy to raise an animated contradiction since their appreciation is promoted by different selective intentions: for some the goal is to produce dogs that meet the morphological dictates of the standard, for others that they are ideal in use. This does not exclude that the best, with the ideal construction suggested by the standard, may also be the best in hunting.
Originally carnivorous, the dog is endowed with the instinct of prey and a very refined nose and many, if not all, breeds can be defined as “suitable for hunting”. Some, pressed from ancient selections, have strong and specific hunting skills.
These attitudes have produced a centuries-old symbiosis between dog and hunter, made possible by the qualities of this exceptional product of nature, but also by its flexibility and dedication to man. The versatility of the dog allows the hunter to choose the breed suitable for the type of game to be hunted, for the various natural environments and also for the predisposition and resistance of each enthusiast.
Hunting dogs are distinguished by the different ability to use, imposed by the type of hunting, the nature of the wild and the environment in which they live. Pointing dogs are used to intercept game that can fly, hunting dogs to intercept land game, retriever dogs to track down and bring back the wild, den dogs to find, follow dogs to stalk the wild even of large dimensions. Another reason for differentiation is the way in which they smell: mainly by tele-smell for flying game, and by mega-smell for land game.
Hunting, racing and den dogs, like all breeds, have anatomical shapes that generate the type of movement best suited to the type of hunting practiced. The subjects registered in the square are mainly gallopers, those in the rectangle are trotters. The more narrow and narrow the support quadrilateral with which they stand on the ground, and the greater the distance of the center of gravity from the ground, the more dynamic and fast subjects will be, as are the greyhounds. The reverse solution generates slower and more stable subjects, as are dachshunds. Intermediate solutions generate dynamic varieties of movement. The unstable and agile greyhounds make ample movements at a gallop, the dachshunds, made stable by the low center of gravity, to be dynamic, must frantically move their legs at a trot, while at a gallop they must arch the trunk, like certain caterpillars.
Never, as in hunting dogs, not only the construction, but the spirit of the breed are the matrix of a dynamism that identifies their style.
The typology of hunting dogs
Considering the typological belonging, hunting dogs consist of braccoids, that is subjects with a prismatic head with abundant lips, drooping ears; from the greyhounds, very fast hunting dogs with an elongated cone-shaped head, small ears and carried backwards, with an agile and slender body; from the dachshunds, burrow dogs, with very short legs, often crooked outwards, and a robust body that is related to a head that recalls the original type of belonging (greyhound, wolfhound or braccoid); by lupoids, robust and low subjects, suitable for introfularsi among the brambles and in the burrows. These also include terriers, small or medium-sized, tenacious and dynamic.
Pointing dogs
In the great variety of hunting dogs, we find pointing dogs that, through different attitudes, intercept the prey. Among the pointing dogs, the Italian bracco stands out, which once represented a coveted gift for kings and princes. A good sized dog, with short hair, calm and thoughtful temperament, rather slow but tireless trotter. It has undergone the competition of foreign braccoids (pointer, setter, kurzhaar), once selected for large soils, with a submesomorphic morphology that predisposes them to greater reactivity and dynamism.
Among the pointing dogs there is a very flexible and versatile subject, the small but very useful Breton spaniel who is of Spanish origin. This is why its nature as a spaniel has been translated into epagneul. In him the tendency of the spaniel has evolved, which sought and raised game, to become an effective pointing dog, apparently due to the addition of the blood of the English setter and the Welsh spaniel. Demonstrates good retrieval aptitude by virtue of his ancient spaniel memories. Its success is also linked to the dimensions that make it easily transportable.
A glory of Italian dog lovers is the spinone, an ancient Greco-Roman breed, whose origin is believed to be confused with that of the bracco. Dr. Paolo Brianzi has been an enhancer of this breed. With a ram nose bridge and a languid look, the spinone is equipped with spurs. The size is rather large, the hair hard, thick and long, white or with spots of various sizes. It is a rustic, docile and sensitive dog, a passionate hunter and also an excellent swimmer. It is suitable for many types of hunting.
Similar in rustic appearance, with semi-long and hard hair, we should mention the griffons, tenacious and dedicated to the owner. Their hygroscopic coat suggests a predisposition to hunting in the swamp. For these characteristics, two subjects of French origin must be remembered, famous for their versatility: the Boulet griffon and the korthals griffon. The second takes its name from a Dutch breeder who, with pointing dogs chosen in the North of France, set out to enhance their qualities and standardize their type.
Among the bracchi, many French varieties stand out. Among these we must remember the French hound, once called "Charles X hound", good hunter, they said with a hard tooth, that is, it tended to bite the prey and then feed on it.
It should also be mentioned the vizsla, Hungarian bracco, favorite of Princess Jolanda of Savoy, dog lover and hunter; presented some specimens of this breed, little known at the time, in a distant Turin exhibition. It is an excellent dog suitable for hunting in the puszta, the Hungarian steppe, so much so that the Hungarians boasted it as their sortie creation, combining the speed of the pointer with the dedication of a German hound, probably the Weimaranes.
An excellent pointing hound, of Germanic origin, is the kurzhaar, a subject derived from the ancient steinbracke. The German breeders have created a short-haired breed, versatile, agile, dynamic, energetic and well trainable, suitable for all hunts. With different nature of the hair, there are some varieties of this breed. Another dog of Germanic origin is the Weimaraner, an equally versatile subject and a good hunter.
Among the great pointing dogs there are very popular and widespread English breeds even if with different hunting characteristics: the pointer and the setters.
The pointer was defined as perro de punta because of probable Spanish origin even if similar dogs existed in France. It was thanks to valid English breeders, of which the main one was the Arkwright, who perfected it making it a passionate pointing dog, so much so that it was also available to more hunters as long as they satisfy his hunting desire. Excellent pointing dog, is reluctant to retrieve. With converging craniofacial axes, predisposed to teleolfaction work, dynamic and fast as its image suggests, it is suitable for traveling large spaces.
The three varieties of setters should be considered: English, Irish and Scottish. Although similar in appearance, they have different dynamic and hunting characteristics that can be assumed by carefully analyzing their morphology.
The English setter, or Laverack, is passionate about beauty and affectionate character. Mesocephalus, mesomorphic, with parallel craniofacial axes, has a long and silky hair with black-white, white-orange, white-liver or tricolor color. Its origins are intertwined with those of the springer spaniel, which some consider the parent, others descended from him. He is dedicated to his master, with whom he hunts with love, and is suitable for a sensitive hand that knows how to wait for the development of his skill without forced impositions and constraints. Edward Laverack, in the early 900s, dedicated himself to selecting the breed that still remembers its name today.
The Irish setter, with vaguely submesomorphic traces, selected from the mountains and marshes of Irdanda, is an impetuous, dynamic and high quality still subject, with a fascinating body, with colors ranging from golden brown to mahogany red. He is a very sensitive subject who must be trained with equal sensitivity. He loves a friendly master and becomes, for him, docile and dependent.
The Scottish setter, or gordon, with a vaguely weighted mesomorphic appearance, is of Scottish origin. The name Gordon derives from Duke Alexander IV of Richmond and Gordon who raised this breed in his castle. Its origins are conflicting: those who believe it descended from a cross between the Duke's dogs with a Scottish shepherd, others with the springer spaniel, others from the union of an English setter with an Irish. More massive dog than the other two setters, the English and the Irish, he is methodical, precise in his work, not very dynamic, he loves only one master.