Gundog Training Forum

its a term I have come across a few times but I cannot find a definition. I guess it sits at a "guns'" peg but what does it do? I am guessing that it retrieves the "guns" hits and/or retrieves "winged" birds?
what is the difference bbetween a "picker up" and a "peg" dog?

Thanks

IMO peg dogs are not really required on driven days where there are plenty of picking up dogs.

In terms of the definition, to me a peg dog is simply a dog that will sit quietly and patiently until sent for a retrieve. This may be from a peg on a driven day or on a walk and stand shoot or whilst duck flighting or shooting pigeon from a hide etc etc.

Hi Heckler,

My understanding of a "peg dog" is this.........A peg dog will normally sit at a guns peg whilst the gun is shooting, not move and remain silent throughout the drive. Usually at the end of the drive the gun will (in order to keep the peg dog steady at the peg), pick the dead birds that have landed around him. He will then move the dog off the peg and send the dog for some but not all of the dead birds that have landed further away from him. The idea off moving the dog off the peg slightly is so the dog never associates a retrieve from the peg and that the dog only goes for the birds that the gun directs it to retrieve.

Normally a peg dog is not sent on a "runner" (a bird that has been hit but not killed and runs) it's up to the pickers up to get those as the gun needs to be concentrating on shooting and not marking where a runner goes. Besides it's one of the quickest ways of ruining a peg dog and lets the picker up ruin theirs! Pickers up usually get the birds that have gone a long way back and sweep up after the drive once the guns with their dogs have finished and moved off . However on big comercial shoots there is not always time to observe these niceties as WGD said.

Thats the theory anyway but in reality things can be a bit different.

Rascal

Spot on Rascal I reckon, except you forgot to mention that at lot of so called " peg dogs " go off on a
self employed basis and when a picker up such as me finds his dog ( who is way behind the line ) has
to come back empty handed it's frustrating.Not the peg dog's fault - it's the owner
There are some that will tether their peg dog whilst they shoot but I have come across many who
do not

Paul

We have had this post before , fairly recently, as I was the person who posted the thread having taken my dog out on a driven day.
IMO there is no need for peg dogs. In reality they pick the dead birds around the pegs , where the good , more difficult retrieves are made by the pickers up.
On a commercial shoot the pickers up do not have time to mark and therefore give instructions to the guns dogs where birds have fallen but need to get as many birds in the bag as possible.
Occasionally I am instructed to leave birds for the guns dogs, almost every time I`m left to clear up,as neither the gun ,or his dog , has any idea where they are.


Bill

I would go a step further Bill and say a peg dog is nothing but a hinderance to a (responsible) gun.

Your dead right William. I wont be taking mine out again on a driven day, when I`m shooting, as she was frustrated at only picking up around the peg and wanted to go further back among the pickers up, where she stands normally.

Bill

I'm sorry guy's I have to say I disagree with you there, a "good" peg dog is not a hindrance to a gun. There is a guy that comes on our shoot and his dogs are a joy to watch. He does know though exactly how many birds he shot and where they fell and if he's pricked one immediately shouts "mark" to give the pickers up the heads up.

IMHO they are two totally different disciplines, where I do think people come unstuck is to try and take a dog that has been used regularly as a picking up dog and expect it to sit at a peg.

I agree with you that some guns have no idea of how many birds they have shot let alone where they landed but that would be the case whether they have a dog or not. Who are we to say if someone has taken the time and trouble to properly train a "peg dog" that there is no place for it on a shoot?

Rascal

unfortunately imho we have to remember who's shoot it is. the guns 'own' the shoot for the day. whilst it may be frustrating to us it is their day of sport/fun and if they have a dog they want to use then no one can question that.

Us pickers up all groan when we see dogs in the gun wagon and often we are right to be wary as some of them are a blessed nuisance. but as rascal has so rightly pointed out some of them are a joy to watch and are well trained.. I prefer it if they leave the runners to us pickers up though !!!

sort of still on the same subject, On one of the last days of the season one of the guns got off the bus with his lady companion attached by one of those extending leads to a large overly heavy Labrador, Anyway the said gun walked off briskly to his peg leaving the lady chatting away to one of the other guns companions... a short while later the dog noticed the gun striding off and decided he wasnt being left behind ..well, off he went at pace until ......You guessed it ..the lead came to an abrupt end... and the woman went through the air and landed face down in the wet muddy stubble field ... she must have gone 5 feet from where she was standing ..It was sleeting and very cold and thats my excuse as to why my eyes were watering so much and the fact that my shoulders were moving up and down was because of the cold ...if only i had had a camcorder handy!!!!