For millennia we have been domesticating wild animals, some directly for food, others to perform numerous tasks to help with our daily life.  Cattle, sheep, pigs and goats give us milk and meat whilst horses provide motive power and transport.  From the days when man was a hunter/gatherer, dogs have aided in the hunt and still do today.  There are breeds of hounds to find and chase deer, hares, foxes and mink, now used primarily to follow a trail since the Hunting Act 2004, although it is still legal to use them to flush foxes to guns.

There are numerous breeds used for shooting but the two most popular are Labradors and spaniels.  Before the huge expansion of driven shooting, pointers were widely used for walked up or rough shooting.  Walking through the cover, the dog identifies the quarry, perhaps grouse in heather, and stands stock still, one front paw raised to alert the guns.  This was important in the days of muzzle loaders as it took time to prepare to take a shot.  When the guns are ready, the dog is asked to flush the bird from the cover for the guns to shoot at.

            There are two main tasks for dogs in driven shooting, flushing the birds and retrieving the shot game.  Dogs in the beating line have to be well controlled or they may run ahead flushing the game over the guns in large numbers so that only a small proportion can be shot at.  Spaniels are the most popular choice for this role. 

Once the guns have hit a bird, dogs help to retrieve them with Labradors the preferred choice.  Some guns may have a dog, sitting patiently beside him or her on the peg watching the drive unfold, not moving until its owner asks it to pick up a bird, usually at the end of the drive.  Then, behind the line of guns are the pickers-up, often with several dogs.  Their role is to retrieve any game that has been wounded or that has landed some distance behind the gun line.  Theirs is perhaps the most important role as all quarry must be respected and injured birds must be found and despatched humanely.

            But we should not forget, however loved a pet is, that their original wild instincts can come to the fore on occasion.  A cow may attack a dog to protect her calf, horses may bite or kick, whilst dogs may turn aggressive, indeed some are trained as guard dogs.  Especially around livestock, dogs should be kept on a lead or at least in ‘close control’ which effectively means at heel.  There are times when keeping the dog on a lead can add to the danger, notably when walking through a field of cows and calves.  There have been numerous occasions when dog walkers have been killed or seriously injured when a dog has wound the lead round their legs trying to escape cows attempting to protect their calves.

            There was huge demand for puppies at the start of the Covid lockdown when people were isolating at home.  It was reported that some unscrupulous breeders doubled their prices, perhaps £3,000 for a Labrador puppy.  There have been numerous reports since of poor behaviour by dogs reared during lockdown, although the reasons are unclear.  Perhaps they missed socialising with other puppies during lockdown, did not get enough exercise or even that their owners lacked the skills for training.

            There has been an increase in dogs attacking sheep in recent years which is distressing for the farmer and the dog owner.  For a shepherd to look round his flock only to find ewes and lambs dead or maimed is devastating.  In my years as a farmer with a sheep flock, I never had to face that, although I did have a lorry load of ewes stolen once.  But I can speak from personal experience that it is deeply upsetting to be the owner of a dog that has attacked sheep and killed lambs.  The phone call to the vet asking for the dog to be put down is cruel although, in my case, the vet arranged for the Dogs Trust to take the dog and re-home him.

            There is also damage caused unwittingly to wildlife by dogs, indeed anyone walking in our stunning landscape.  Many of our best loved and most endangered birds are ground nesting, the skylark, lapwing, curlew and grey partridge.  When they are sitting on their eggs or raising their chicks, they are vulnerable to disturbance by dogs and walkers and yet, when the Town and Manor of Hungerford puts up signs on Freeman’s and Hungerford Marsh Sites of Special Scientific Interest asking dogs walkers to keep their dogs on a lead, they were routinely ignored.

            We all enjoy communing with nature and the importance of getting out into the countryside has been recognised all the more since the Covid pandemic.  There are calls to extend the right to roam much more widely, to farmland, woodland and waterside.  But that poses a major threat to wildlife, rare flora as well as fauna.  That is why there is a clause in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to allow the closure of open land to protect biodiversity at certain times such as flowering or nesting.  Wildlife is at greater risk than ever, from development, from intensive farming and from disturbance by the public and their pets.  To enjoy the freedom to enjoy our beautiful countryside, we must also accept the responsibility to minimise the potential damage.