Best in field: the sport that makes you go to the dogs

The sport of field trials for hunting dogs, better known as pointers and setters, is somewhat arcane to most South Africans.

Unlike “best in show” contests for beribboned urban pets, these events are held in semiwild areas. Under the heading The Standard of Performance of the Pointing Breeds, the National Field Trial Association (NFTA) says: “There can only be one measure for a good dog and that is how well he serves the gun.” The “gun” here refers to the dog’s handler.

Field trials fall into two categories: one involves the shooting of birds, the other does not.

This is best explained by Trudi Winter, a founder of the formalised sport in the Western Cape. She says: “There are field trials for the British breeds, namely pointers and setters. They hunt and point but are not required to retrieve. They are known as British breeds because they were primarily developed in Britain, originally for the aristocracy, who owned large estates where gamekeepers would keep all kinds of dogs. What are now known as British breeds were developed just for finding the birds and ‘pointing’ at them. Retrievers and spaniels would then come in and retrieve the shot birds.”

The other division of field trials is for “hunt, point, retrieve” breeds, known as HPR breeds to insiders. These continental breeds, says Winter, “were developed from the 1800s onwards, mainly in Europe, for people who wanted one dog that could do it all”.

The NFTA website lists 450 breeds of dogs — alphabetically, from Affenpinscher to Yorkshire terrier — that can theoretically fit into these categories.

For the uninitiated, this is how it works: each dog has to find a wild bird and has to point properly — standing dead still and pointing its nose at the bird. Those paintings one sees of a frozen pointer with one leg raised are not accurate — according to the experts, only young dogs still in training will raise a foreleg.

Winter says: “The dog must hold its point and not interfere with the bird. It waits until the handler and the brace-mate [the other dog; in competitions the dogs are run in randomly drawn pairs called braces] come in, whereupon the birds are flushed and shots are fired.

“In British breed trials it’s a dry shot; no birds are killed. The birds fly away, which in the sport is called a salute. But with HPR dogs, two guns are allocated, and one or both will attempt to shoot the bird. Once a bird is shot down, the dog is sent to retrieve it.”

Judging is based on the dog’s steadiness, from the finding and flushing of the bird to the firing of the shot. This is the same in both trials. The only difference is that in the HPR division the shot bird is retrieved on command.

Winter became interested in the sport 30 years ago, after she began breeding German short-haired pointers in the early 1990s. She still breeds dogs, but trains only her own, which are involved in the HPR form of the sport, for which there are specific field trials. However, German short-haired pointers can also enter the British breed trials, which include both pointers and setters.

“We formed the first club for HPR breeds in the Western Cape in 1997. Three years later we formed the Western Cape Field Trial Club. In 2001 the first British Breed Trials Club was formed. We merged, and thereafter ran the trials under that banner for many years.

“It started off small, then grew a lot, but participation goes through stages. We have fewer competitors in the HPR trials than we used to have, but the British breeds have a very strong following across the country. Typically, there would be 35 to 50 entries in a championship. That’s a lot of dogs to run over 2½ days. In maiden stakes — for dogs that have not won anything before — and competitions for young dogs, you’re looking at 15 to 30 dogs.”

There are clubs around South Africa that hold both HPR and British breed trials. Both breeds can compete in either discipline.

Karl Aadnesgaard, a veterinarian in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and a longtime field trial enthusiast, says the conditions in various provinces differ, and this dictates the type of dogs that are used, as well as the physical exertion required by their handlers.

“In KZN, the terrain is fairly wild, and the dogs can sometimes cover up to 100km to find birds. The humans will generally walk for about 20km.”

The season for field trials is from May to August, because to run the dogs in summer carries a risk of heat exhaustion and snakebite.

The hunting field has levelled since the days when it was the preserve of dukes and princes. Aadnesgaard says: “There are men, women, young people, old people, people from all walks of life. We have teenagers, and we have a man of 89 still competing. We even have participants who have done time in jail. There is so much camaraderie; it’s a sport where you make lifelong friends.”

Winter thinks that the rising numbers of women participants is because women enjoy being outside with their dogs and because they generally do not have to fire a gun.

“Even in British breed trials that use blanks, a person who has never handled a gun, or is not comfortable with a gun, can ask a gun-bearer to do the shooting. In HPR trials there are two designated guns who do all the shooting, not the dog handlers.”

As a spectator sport, field trials require patience. In areas with high cover, for example with dense shrubs, it can sometimes take 10 minutes or more for the handler to find a dog that is silently holding its point. In British breed trials it’s all over once dry shots are fired. In HPR trials, after a bird is shot, timeout is called to allow the dog to retrieve the bird.

“The HPR dogs find the retrieving exciting,” says Winter, “but the gallery probably prefers the constant action of British breed trials.”

Those who participate in field trials are outdoor types who love the relationship between the dogs, the birds, the terrain, and the interactions with others who love the same things.

A bonus is the sighting of wild game. Aadnesgaard says in KZN he has seen falcons swooping down on game birds that have been flushed. Other rare sightings, including aardwolf and civet, have been reported. In the Western Cape, fallow deer, grey rhebok, caracal, porcupines and bat-eared foxes are often seen.

“Something you have to be careful about is that your dog may not chase these things,” says Winter. “They like to try, but then they are eliminated from the trial. So you don’t really want game around when your dog is competing.”

In the Western Cape the birds hunted are mainly Cape francolins and grey-winged partridges, as well as the odd guinea fowl. In the Border region of the Eastern Cape there are three clubs that almost exclusively pursue grey-winged partridges. In KZN there are red-winged and Swainson francolins. In Gauteng and surrounds the prey are mostly Swainson francolins and some Orange River partridges.

The key element, says Winter, is how well the dog is able to find birds for the handler.

“That’s far more important than the person’s ability to shoot or salute a bird. The dog hunts with you, the dog understands that it is teamwork. And the second dog understands that the dog on point is not to be interfered with.”

The bond between dog and human is what this sport is built on. Winter fondly recalls her first dog, Libby, who began to compete at a time when German short-haired pointers were thought to be slow and not up to British breed standard.

“She was up to it, so she was a game-changer, even though she was not as successful as some of my later dogs. The most successful recently was my old dog, Taita, who won the Western Cape British Breed Championships in 2019. All the judges knew him and liked him.

“My current dog, Cocoa, is four. She is the dog of the year for the HPRs, and in three trials she also won an award very dear to our hearts as hunters — the Gun’s Choice. That’s when the designated shooters say: ‘This is the dog I would take with me; the one I would choose.’ So Coco has to be my standout. The only way I can describe her is as incredibly honest and consistent in her manners, as well as being a fantastic dog.”

Winter describes the sport as one “that almost hits you in the gut”.

She says: “Some people get involved because they are hunters and competitors, but I think most people just love watching the dogs. When you see a dog running and then slamming into a point stance, it’s just unbelievable. And when you see a dog making this incredible retrieve, it’s awe-inspiring.

“I think if more people could come along to a trial and watch, their hearts would be captured.”