The World’s Most Popular Hunting Dogs

Have you ever wondered which dog breeds are the most popular in hunting activities? This article will briefly present the most popular hunting dogs used by millions of hunters from all corners of the world. Several breeds of hunting dogs are collectively called hound dogs. The reason why these dogs are used for hunting is that they are strong, very fast, top-notch eyesights and a very developed sense of smell. These dogs assist their owners by tracking or chasing the prey being hunted. For this reason, hunting dogs are divided into two types, as follows:

Sight Hounds – intelligent dogs also known as gaze hounds. They are very good runners and have the capability to catch and kill prey like haves, deer, gazelles and others. A very good example of a sight hound is the Whippet dog, which was developed back in the 19th century by mixing the Grey Hound, Italian Grey Hound and the Terrier. These dogs are quite active and playful but quite hardy. They are known to be very good racers and sometimes when they are chasing their pray, they can reach speeds up to 60 km/h. They look quite similar with the Grey Hound – elegant look with a long and slender muzzle, rose shaped ears, a deep chest and a pointed tail.

Scent Hounds – they are not the best runners but they do have the best sense of smell. Some very good examples of scent hounds would be the Blood Hounds and the Basset Hounds. The first ones are quite large and are often used by police and other security personal for tracing the missing persons or escaped prisoners. The Basset Hounds are short-legged dogs that were specially developed for hunting animals like rabbits. Their sense of smell tracing is second only to that of Blood Hound.

The German Short-Haired Pointer is one of the few dog breeds that can work in water and rough terrains alike. This is a very versatile gun dog that can be used as a pointer, upland dog, water dog or a retriever. The dog is capable of chasing & killing even the most large and dangerous animals. The dog can be easily trained but it needs plenty of vigorous activities for its physical fitness. The Poodle is an athletic and agile dog, very popular for its water abilities. Hunters usually use them as water retrievers to fetch waterfowl out of water.

The Feists are small-sized hunting dogs that were developed in the rural Southern USA. Unlike hounds they act silently; they are used to chase small preys. The Lakeland Terrier is a very intelligent hunting dog, quite confident as well as bold that was developed in the Lake District of Cumberland, England. The dog was exclusively created for eliminating foxes, which attacked (and killed) the lambs, raiding farmer’s seep fold.

All in all, these are only just a couple of the most popular hunting dogs in the world. Each one of them was developed for excelling in various hunting activities. Depending on which type of hunting you prefer, the choice is up to you and luckily, the options are quite generous.