Synopsis of the Book

The Pet Gundog has been written for all those dog owners, who like me, have a gundog breed sharing their home. Introducing you to the psychology of the dog, common sense behaviour advice is given on how to achieve harmony in your mixed-species pack. Basic training and good manners are covered, after all, who wants to live with a bolshie, bad mannered gundog?

A toe-dipping foray into the world of shooting gives you an insight into what your dog has been bred for. The book then covers how to exploit your gundog's innate behaviour so that walks become a pleasure, your home stays intact and you have a happy, contented and fulfilled pet gundog.

...extract from the book

Man has exploited dogs for years… now they're exploiting us.

Those big brown puppy dog eyes, the expressive forehead and the happy wagging tail; combine that with the media and we have the irresistible Andrex puppy and Lassie coming home; mix it with a large pinch of human nature and we think our dog understands every word we say, treat it like a best friend and confidante and then take it personally and act broken hearted, when, quite literally in some cases, it `bites the hand that feeds it'.

Our attitude towards dogs has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades… something that I personally tie in with the advent of central heated houses and the price of household goods coming down. That may seem like quite a leap but in the old days (and now I sound like my Mam) it was a case of shutting doors to keep the heat in and the cold out; the dog had to ask to be allowed in or out. Sofas and settees cost six months worth of salary and no-one was going to have a smelly wet dog on them - they stayed on the floor. Also back then it was customary for the dogs to be out roaming most of the day so it was tired… and a tired dog is a happy dog or more importantly a dog that's not looking for mischief. Also people tended to get a dog when the wife gave up work to have children and so the dog was the bottom of the list after dealing with household chores, husband and children.

Now furniture is cheap (or at least a lot more affordable), houses are warm, people are putting off having families until much later and having dogs as surrogate children, oh and the laws have changed in relation to dogs roaming free on the streets. All these changes make for an under walked over privileged dog.

We need to get inside our dogs head to understand what it means to be a dog and start treating them like dogs again, only then will we truly fulfil their needs and have the relationship with them that we used to have and, if we were honest with ourselves, crave.