“One dog in particular winded a dummy (that was placed in a dell hole) from around 40 metres, very impressive” The flatcoat retriever may not be the shooting man’s first choice of dog and although not officially a “minor breed” it is certainly one of the lesser-known retriever breeds. On average there are about 1,300 registrations each year and compared with the Labrador’s 32,000 this does put the dog’s popularity in perspective. Today, many flatcoat retrievers are dual-purpose; not only are these dogs being shown at a high level, they can also be proficient workers in the shooting field. Few are seen competing in field trials but as peg and picking-up dogs, they can make first-class shooting companions.
Due to the increasing popularity of shooting flying birds (and the corresponding…
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Sporting Gun (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2016