What is a Gundog?

"A Dog is a Man's Best Friend" is a saying which is based on more than affection.
Records show that man had domesticated the Saluki in 329bc but it is almost certain that the relationship between man and Wolf stretches back to the earliest days of man hunting for food. Perhaps the Wolf would circle the camp after a successful hunt in the hope of stealing food, or even the possibility that early man would throw the Wolf a bone from the meal. This may have developed into a beneficial partnership where the Wolf would guard the camp in exchange for a ready meal. Perhaps the reverse was true. It could have been that man recognised that the Wolf was a better hunter,
so he waited until the Wolf had caught and killed its prey before chasing the Wolf away and stealing the catch, perhaps leaving some of the prey for the Wolf in return. We will never know how the relationship between man and dog started but one thing is certain, it has been a partnership unlike any other. More recently, with the invention of firearms and the development of shooting as a sport, man recognised that once the prey had been shot, be it fur or feather, it would fall some distance from the man with the gun. If the prey could not be found then it would be wasted. 
What man needed was to develop the natural ability of the dog, with its excellent sense of smell, to locate the prey and bring it back to the shooter. As the development of firearms improved from the early muzzle loading guns which were slow to reload, to the breech loading shotguns of today, man needed to breed a dog which would hunt the ground to find game which was hiding in the undergrowth and flush it to make it fly to present a sporting target. 
Modern gundogs are not a breed of dog, but are made up of several breeds, each of which has developed 
over many centuries to bring out different characteristics.

Which is the best gundog ?
This is a question which cannot be answered as each breed of dog 
has different characteristics and is suited to a specific task.

The modern gundog breeds can be summarised as follows:

Retrievers.

Labrador Retriever Golden Retriever Flatcoated Retriever Curly-coated Retriever Irish Water Spaniel

A pair of Golden Retrievers.          Photo Janet Grindey.

Spaniels. 

The main use of the Spaniel is to "Quarter" the ground in front of the handler to hunt for any game which may be hiding in the undergrowth. It must not catch the game, but instead must flush the game from its hiding place to enable the gun (the person with the gun is referred to as a gun) to try and shoot the game. The spaniel is also expected to retrieve game. 
The breeds in this category include - 

English Springer Spaniel Cocker Spaniel Welsh Springer Spaniel Field Spaniel Clumber Spaniel

English Springer Spaniel.                                    Photo Guy.

Pointers & Setters.

English Setter Irish Setter Gordon Setter English Pointer

English Pointer, Advie Palladin, pointing grouse on a typical Sutherland moor.

Hunt Point and Retrieve. (HPR) 

These dogs have largely been bred on the continent and as the name suggests, they are able to do all three of the main tasks. 
The breeds in this category include -

Vizsla Weimeraner Munsterlander German Short-haired Pointer German Wire Haired Pointer Brittany Spaniel

German Short Haired Pointer in the classic 'point' pose.

Whichever breed is used, the basic task of the dog is to enable man to collect dead and more importantly, injured game, which has fallen out of sight of the gun and to prevent suffering and waste.

It is for this reason that the Dove Valley Working Gundog Club encourages the proper training and use of dogs for the shooting field and by doing this strengthens the special working relationship between man and dog started by pre-historic man.