Hunting dog breeds were purposefully selected as human helpers and full participants in the hunt. From birth, they have the ability to find and drive game, scare it away under a hunter's shot and / or bring him already killed prey. There are more than a dozen of these breeds.
The current standards for hunting dog breeds operating in Russia were developed back in 1984. These standards establish the division of all breeds of hunting dogs into groups depending on their specialization, i.e. on how they participate in the hunting process. Thus, dogs are divided into: greyhounds, huskies, hounds, burrows, cops and spaniels.
A characteristic feature of greyhounds and hounds, for example, is that the former hunt by sight, and the latter by smell. Greyhounds include: Tazy, Taigan and all other breeds that have this definition in their name, including the Russian canine, Khortaya, South Russian and Afghan hound. To hounds: beagle and Russian, Russian piebald, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian hounds. Hounds differ from greyhounds in a more massive constitution, they do not run so fast, but they are able to overcome long distances, chasing the animal until it gets tired and exhausted. The job of some hounds is to catch up and kill the animal, others - to drive it and bark to attract the attention of the hunter so that he himself will kill the driven animal.
Pointing dogs have a well-developed upper sense. Smelling the smell of game, these dogs make a certain stance - freezing and raising one of the front paws and tail. Of this group, the most popular are Pointers and Setters: English, Scottish and Irish, as well as German Short-haired and Wire-haired Pointers - Kurzhaar and Drathhaar.
Burrowing rocks are necessary to track down and drive the beast out of the hole under a hunter's shot. As a rule, all such breeds are vociferous and restless. The burrowers include fox terriers, jagd terriers, dachshunds: smooth-haired, wire-haired, long-haired.
A large group of huskies, dogs not only for hunting, but also for sled dogs, includes the Russian-European, West Siberian, Karelian-Finnish, East Siberian and Husky breeds. These are versatile hunters, used both to corral the beast and to bring the killed game.
Spaniels have long been used to hunt waterfowl, which is why they love to swim so much. According to Russian standards, this group includes the Russian hunting spaniel and the English cocker spaniel. Cockers have worked for woodcocks in Old England. Today their unique sniffer qualities are used to find drugs and explosives.
Separately, we can mention the Labrador Retriever, which was originally bred as a gun hunting dog. They were with the hunter, waiting for the shot, after which they sniffed out the killed prey and brought it, laying it at his feet.
