Working to the Gun
Several Irish Terriers, past and present have worked in beating lines, as roughshooting dogs and as pickers-up. This work should not be undertaken lightly though. A dog that is out of control on a shoot can ruin the day for everyone.
Gun-dog training has enormous benefits for your dog, because it is all about having your dog working under control in an exciting and sometimes noisy environment. Your dog will need to stop dead on a whistle, follow hand signals, retrieve and flush out game but resist the urge to kill it!
To train a gundog properly takes several years, but is incredible rewarding. The key is to ‘make haste slowly’. Most purpose-bred gundogs take 2 or 3 years before they are fully mature and able to work effectively and efficiently. There are gundog training clubs, some of which will be suspicious of a terrier and others with a more enlightened view.
Dogs in the beating line must be able to work in a line with beaters and other dogs, crossing left and right, sniffing out game just (only just!) in front of their handlers, who walk forwards in line with the other beaters.
Pickers-up work after the beaters have done their work and the shooting has stopped. They must ‘mark’ (watch out for) where the birds have landed and then go when told to pick them up and give them un-mouthed, to the handler. Sometimes, birds are lost and the dog must work hard to find them.
Another term you may hear is HPR (hunt, point, retrieve) These are dogs that work with the hunter to locate game and indicate by ‘pointing’ when they find it. They only go in to flush it when instructed and then retrieve the shot bird back to the hunter. Many of the Continental gundogs breeds are HPRs. Interestingly, many Irish Terrier owners remark that their dogs will point before flushing.