Part One: Essential skills to stop your dog from going feral in the countryside
It’s a story so many gundog owners know all too well. One moment your dog is happily trotting alongside you, and the next, their nose is glued to the ground, laser-focused as they sprint off following a scent trail.
You’ve worked on recall, you’ve practised focus, and yet their natural hunting drive seems to take over.
It can feel frustrating, leaving you wondering if your gundog will ever truly listen or learn to work with you when it matters most.
The truth is, hunting isn’t just a behaviour for gundogs. It’s part of who they are. It’s what they were bred to do, and rather than trying to fight it, the key is learning to understand and harness it.
By teaching your gundog to hunt with you, not just for themselves, you’ll tap into their instincts in a way that builds trust and teamwork. And instead of a feral beast, you’ll have a more focused, responsive, and happier dog who’s both mentally and physically fulfilled.
It's also vital to remember that irrespective of whether they are a family pet or a working gundog, all dog owners (in England and Wales) should adhere to the Countryside Code, and if your dog isn’t on a lead, they should be kept within sight and under effective control at all times.
As of 18 March 2026, changes to livestock worrying laws in England and Wales (the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953) also mean dog owners now face much stricter consequences if their dog disturbs, chases, worries or attacks livestock. It doesn’t take physical contact for an offence to occur - anything that causes stress is enough and fines can be unlimited.
If you do suddenly come across livestock while your dog is off lead, it is absolutely vital that they are close to you and responsive to your cues so you can get them back on the lead quickly.
In this two-part blog, we’ll dive into the essential role hunting plays in your gundog’s life and how you can work together to channel their instincts in a positive way. From breaking down the hunting chain to understanding how your dog uses scent and exploring breed-specific exercises, you’ll learn practical steps to help your dog become a confident and skilled hunting partner, whether they’re a pet or working gundog.
What exactly is hunting?
Hunting is at the very core of what makes a gundog. It’s not simply a skill they learn, but an instinct that’s been bred into their DNA for generations. Every gundog is born with a natural hunting drive, and understanding this is key to working effectively with your dog.
At the heart of hunting lies your dog’s remarkable sense of smell. Gundogs are equipped to detect both ground and air scents, making them highly effective hunters. Ground scent gives clues about where the game has been (e.g. tracks, feeding spots, or resting areas), while air scent tells your dog where the quarry is right now, carried on the wind.
The act of hunting is made up of a sequence of instinctive behaviours, including hunting, searching, locating, stalking, pausing, pouncing, chasing, capturing, carrying, and consuming.
This natural “hunting chain” flows effortlessly for gundogs, guided entirely by instinct. Recognising how this chain works allows you to understand and shape your dog’s natural drives.
For working gundogs, the hunting chain has been refined over generations of training and selective breeding to align with specific tasks in the field. This refined “working hunting chain” channels instinctive behaviours into purposeful, structured skills. For example, pointers and setters have transformed the “pause” into a steady point, while retrievers have perfected the “carry” stage, mastering the art of retrieving.
The working hunting chain typically looks like this:
· Hunt
· Search
· Locate
· Stalk
· Point (for pointing breeds)
· Flush (followed by a gunshot)
· Retrieve
Why you can’t stop your pet gundog from hunting
If you have a gundog breed as a pet, you’ve likely experienced their hyperfocus when they suddenly catch a scent and become determined to locate the source.
These behaviours, while impressive, can be challenging to manage for pet gundog owners who do not want their dogs to be efficient hunting machines.
While they can be refined through training, these behaviours aren’t learned - they’re instinctive, passed down through centuries of breeding for fieldwork.
Even if you tried to train these behaviours out, as a gundog owner, you also need to understand that, for all our gundogs (regardless of whether you want to work them in the field or have them as a family pet), hunting is also a source of mental stimulation and emotional enrichment.
The act of scenting releases feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin, making the process inherently rewarding for them.
Hunting is, therefore, essential to your dog’s mental and physical well-being. In fact, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 highlights that dogs need the opportunity to engage in their natural behaviours, like hunting.
And suppressing these instincts can lead to frustration, boredom, and even unwanted behaviours like destructive chewing or excessive barking.
The good news for pet gundog owners who don’t want to work their dogs, is that hunting doesn’t have to involve live game or animals.
You can channel your gundog’s natural drive into fun, structured games that mimic the hunting process in a way that is safe, rewarding, and deeply satisfying for your dog.
Instead of viewing your gundog’s hunting instincts as a challenge and something you need to battle against every time you leave the house, see them as an opportunity.
By playing hunting games and working together as a team, you’ll help your gundog see you as a partner in the hunt, creating trust and cooperation that carries over into every aspect of their life and leads to a better relationship between you and your gundog.
If you’ve ever wondered if you should continue your gundog training to a more advanced level, even if you don’t want to work your dog, hopefully you can now see why ongoing training can keep your pet gundog feeling fulfilled and happy.
How to figure out which part of hunting your dog finds rewarding
Every gundog is unique. While they all share an instinctive drive to hunt, the specific part of the hunting process that excites them most can vary widely.
Some dogs are captivated by the search. Others are energised by the chase. For some, the act of retrieving is where they find the greatest reward.
Identifying which part of the hunting chain your dog finds most motivating is essential to harnessing the power of this intrinsically rewarding behaviour for training.
The first step is observation. Watch your dog closely during training and play to see what grabs their attention and drives their energy. Do they seem most focused when sniffing out hidden treats or toys? Are they thrilled by movement but less interested in the retrieval? These observations will give you invaluable insight into your dog’s natural preferences and what excites them most.
It’s important to remember that even within a breed, motivation can vary. For example, some retrievers may find the act of running more rewarding than the retrieve itself, happily darting across fields even after locating their target.
Dogs motivated by scent will work with greater purpose when searching, while those who love movement will respond best to dynamic, action-oriented games.
Every dog’s preferences may evolve over time, too, so staying attentive to their responses is key. By adapting your approach to match their needs, you’ll keep them motivated, and once you’ve identified what excites your dog most, you can start to use scent as an intrinsically rewarding behaviour.
Getting started with very basic hunting concepts
One of the very first hunting skills to teach your gundog is the concept that you are an important part of the hunting process, not something separate or in opposition to it.
When we talk about hunting with your gundog, you are developing four key skills. Your dog needs to learn how to search an area thoroughly, how to identify a specific scent amongst others, how to ignore any competing scents, and finally how to recognise where the quarry has been and where it is now, using both ground and air scent.
Dogs primarily communicate through body language. When hunting together, they are constantly observing one another and responding to subtle changes in movement. If the ‘hunt leader’ shifts direction with purpose, the rest of the group are naturally drawn to follow. This allows the group to move efficiently and remain connected without the need for vocal communication.
This is something we can use to our advantage when we are out with our gundogs in the countryside.
On a walk, rather than moving in straight lines or following the same route each time, you can begin to introduce small, purposeful changes in direction. Turning left or right, adjusting your pace, or showing interest in a particular area all provide information to your dog about where the hunt is taking place.
Over time, your dog will begin to pay closer attention to your movement. Most dogs have a natural tendency to stay connected to the group, and by changing direction and moving with intent, you encourage them to check in and follow without needing constant cues.
If your dog becomes overly focused on a particular scent, it is often more effective to move away with purpose than to remain stationary and attempt to interrupt them.
We will go off in search of something better and upon locating our own more exciting “scent area”, we find that very shortly all the dogs will be with us and checking out what’s been found.
This approach builds on the recall and catch up exercises you may already be using. Instead of calling your dog away from something, you are guiding them towards something else, using your movement to influence their choices.
You can support this further by setting your dog up for success. Starting in low distraction environments allows them to understand that you can hunt too and are quite a successful ‘finder’, before gradually introducing more challenging areas where scent is stronger or more varied.