Over here, my experience is that working GSPs are always called with a whistle (either nature's whistle via appropriate front teeth, or a physical whistle) - when I said "call" I should have said that.

How can you control your dog over such a distance?? In this country, working GSPs are never allowed to go any distance from their handler. I love to watch them working, controlled with a whistle, they really are magnificent dogs but have a huge prey drive. My Lizzie would have killed anything - a cat, a small dog, anything - to allow her to huntaway out of my sight would have been totally unthinkable!

I find it hard that even in America where they had vast open spaces with no human habitation nearby it can be legal to allow your dog to huntaway over such distances, out of sight and any form of control.

O my good God! Just found the following:-

"The English Foxhound is an athletic hunting dog. The skull is wide and the muzzle is long. The nose is about 4 inches long (10 cm) with wide-open nostrils. The teeth should meet in a scissors bite. The hanging ears are set low, lying flat to the head. Some choose to "round" the ears, which means about 1 1/2 inches are cut off of the end of the ear. The large eyes are brown. "


I never knew that - it is truly disgusting. Whereas that is a totally different procedure to a full ear crop, nonetheless it is cruel, unnecessary and disgusting. I haven't been able to establish whether this is still allowed in the UK as they website I took the above from is quite old.

I am intrigued by the remark about cropping Foxhounds ears. The ears of a scenthound have evolved as large and drooping because when the hound is on track, this shape traps the scent, (like a pair of curtains), and funnels it towards the nose. I have never heard of cropping a hounds ears, and cannot see what purpose it could possibly serve.
Could Nicky Ann please provide a reference for this comment?

You'd be very, very hard pressed to find a vet who would crop ears in the UK today except for medical reasons

Thank God!!

Clearly we are far more civilised in our poor little 3rd world country Chris than peeps in the States!!

Where did you find that Nikki, never heard of anyone cropping and part of the ear of a foxhound, surely it would just defeat the object of the hound .

You really need to research the origins of the breeds you refer to, the GSP is a member of the HPR group , which means it was bred to be efficient in all 3 jobs, hunt , point and retrieve , so comparing it to the foxhound or English pointer is like chalk to cheese, th foxhound is bred to go on the scent of a fox and kill it, the English pointer ( clue in the name) is bred to point out game, not to flush or retrieve,

You don't do yourself any favours when you spout such bullsh*t, engage your brain before you open your mouth, but that might just be to hard a task for you !!!

It's horrible isn't it ... I will look it out

Nextranks.com is the name of the website Jackie. I am just wondering though whether this is an American website. I come from a family who have of hunted for centuries and I've never heard of such a thing in the uk.