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Unread 06-01-2021, 12:59 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by Bruce Hering View Post
I have heard of close working dogs referred to as "foot dogs", singles dogs" and close working dogs. This does seem to have an attachment to differentiate between close dogs and horseback shooting dogs although todays "shooting dog" classes look more like the All Age classes of 25 years or so ago.

JMHO
This thread just popped up again for me, and I read it with a smile. As Bruce points out, in the South and Mid-West (at least in Southern Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas) you will see field trails often advertised and talked about as "foot trials" to distinguish them from horseback trials. Two distinctly different trials in terms of what is sought after by the participants. Range and speed, along with "style on point" (read as: high head and tail) were the winning combination among the horseback set, while the foot trialers wanted dogs that worked to the front and that pointed (with style), but were within a comfortable range for a person on foot. Except for the Shoot-to-Retrieve crowd, many foot trialers really wanted their dogs to range and run like horseback, All Age dogs.
It often seemed to me that they were horseback trial "wannabes."

There was also a term that was used for a dog that found lots of birds, but did not run out of sight or point with the rigid high tail. Those were called "meat dogs." It was frequently used in reference to any non-English Pointer/Setter. In the trial circles, those dogs were held is disdain, but on the side, guys would ask if they could hunt with their owners.

The eye of the beholder is sometimes fickle, but a dog that loves his business and produces birds for his master is a jewell, and if his looks meet his master's aesthetic sensibility, he's a winner in my book.
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