what is a "peg" dog?

[millie]

Being very new to all of this these comments have been so very useful. I will endeavor next year not to pick up the guns birds. I hope your listening Millie!

[Miff]

One of my pet irritations sometimes happens at one rather posh shoot I pick up at. I normally stand in my picking up position at the gate of the estate road into a field . The guns line out on their pegs in the field. At the end of the drive I am working my dogs along the hedge or into the woods at the far side of the estate road.
The guns want their dogs to pick the majority of the birds , which have of course fallen in the field itself. Some of those guns have a habit of passing me on their way out of the gate to walk 200 yards back to the vehicles. They throw the birds at my feet as they pass me by. They can see that I already have several birds to carry yet they leave me behind to carry back 20-30 birds. They don't even say anything - they just toss the birds at me and my rather hot temper has to be firmly squashed !

Wullie

1. With you all the way on this one Wullie. Also this 'throwing of birds' really gets my goat! Its soooo rude and sooo disrespectful to the game. I was brought up to respect the game that is shot and not chuck it about like a rugby ball. Apart from anything else someone has got to eat it and wont particularly want it if its in a right old mess through being mishandled.

2. Most of our pickers up are too far away from the guns to interfere with them and their dogs. I do think the day is 'theirs' and we are there to ensure that first of all wounded game is collected and dispatched as quickly as possible and then later to move in towards the guns picking wounded and dead birds. Finishing around the guns pegs as some will have picked up birds that fell around them and some wont. I know of one shoot where its chaos during the drive with dogs flying about all over the place and noone knowing what has been picked and what hasnt. It must be very annoying for the guns to say the least. Picking up is not about standing as close as you dare to the guns so that you can walk to the game cart laden with birds!! I've seen this too but it doesnt impress. That is not what picking up is all about.

[liveseyd]

I'm a picker-upper, and I also shoot, so see both sides of this.

As a Gun, it is a joy to have a steady dog sat in front of me at the peg, picking up a few birds at the end of a drive. "Shooting without a dog is like eating chips with no salt". And it is a pain in the *rse when I have paid to do this, when an ignorant picker-upper swarms all over the birds before my gun is back in the sleeve, or worse still has a dog running amok during the drive. A seasoned and polite picker-upper will approach the Gun-with-dog at the start and ask what they would like to do with their dog on the day.

As a picker-upper this is what I do, and I hang back until the Gun walks off with his dog, or beckons me forward when he has done enough.

Each to his own.

[macbud]

I've found the posts all very interesting .I have used my cocker as a peg dog for last three seasons on driven days (always tethered till the drive is over ) .Nothing worse than other guns dogs lifting birds from under my dogs nose which has made her a bit unsteady .I also use her to beat and pick up at different shoots both large and small days .I was always told to speak to any guns with dogs to let them know that I'd only pick wounded birds until drive finished . Suppose my point is that everyone is out to enjoy the day whether shooting ,beating or picking up both human and canine ,some big days can be a bit serious where I think this is forgotten sometimes .

[eastie]

I've found the posts all very interesting .I have used my cocker as a peg dog for last three seasons on driven days (always tethered till the drive is over ) .Nothing worse than other guns dogs lifting birds from under my dogs nose which has made her a bit unsteady .I also use her to beat and pick up at different shoots both large and small days .I was always told to speak to any guns with dogs to let them know that I'd only pick wounded birds until drive finished . Suppose my point is that everyone is out to enjoy the day whether shooting ,beating or picking up both human and canine ,some big days can be a bit serious where I think this is forgotten sometimes .

Other dogs picking birds shouldn't make her unsteady if you train it. Lack of training makes it unsteady...

[kent]

Peg dog?
In the main its a fashion accessory. many however get a lot of pleasure out of them, even the miscreants among them and these people are the financiers that make the day and driven game shooting possible.

[macbud]

Not lack of training just the cocker quick to forget in the heat of the moment .

[macbud]

I shoot with a couple of guys that only use their dogs as "peg dogs" . I wouldn't call them fashion accessories they spend a lot of time training them to do what they want at a shoot day .

[pontbeck]

I both pick up and shoot driven days. I don't take a dog when I'm shooting as all the good retrieves are made by the picking up team , which is only right and correct, leaving those dead around the pegs which I can easily pick myself and the dogs seem bored by them. I don't have a problem with a gun who has a dog, when I'm picking up, as he is paying for the day and I always ask what he wants from his dog and make sure he is happy.
I'm a member of a beat one stand one syndicate and always take my dogs on these days, which I am beginning to enjoy more than the " Let days " as I'm only really happy when I have a dog by my side.

[kent]

I shoot with a couple of guys that only use their dogs as "peg dogs" . I wouldn't call them fashion accessories they spend a lot of time training them to do what they want at a shoot day .

Hey, a £1000 tweed coat is a fashion item but it still keeps you warm. If your indoors with central heating though you don't need to wear it but if you want to all well and good