In this episode, Craig Koshyk explores two distinct perspectives on pointing dog tails—whether they should be held high or low. What might seem like a minor detail sparks a deeper debate shaped by centuries of breeding, cultural differences, and shifting hunting styles. Craig takes us back in time through research, art, photographic evidence, and written accounts from the early years of pointing dogs. He expands on his own personal experiences, from Europe to the United States, and offers theori...
Jun 01, 2025•41 min•Season 4Ep. 4
In this episode, Craig Koshyk—renowned hunting dog historian and author—takes us on a deep dive into the fascinating world of breed names. From the earliest landraces to today’s officially recognized breeds, Craig unpacks how language, geography, and hunting traditions shaped the names we use for dogs today. Through engaging stories and expert insight, Craig explores everything from the confusion around the word spaniel , to double-nosed pointers in Spain, to the meaning behind terms like braque...
Mar 26, 2025•35 min•Season 4Ep. 3
The episode, hosted by Craig Koshyk , a renowned dog historian, explores how early German immigrants, particularly those who settled in Texas, may have introduced hunting dogs before the popularization of breeds like the German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP). Koshyk, author of Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals and Pointing Dogs, Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds , provides historically accurate insights, suggesting that settlers arriving in the 1830s and 1840s could have brought ance...
Jan 19, 2025•22 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Craig Koshyk, author of Pointing Dogs, Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds , explores the unlikely story of how the Pointer rose to fame over the English Setter in America. At the time, this was something no one in the field trial circuit ever imagined possible, and before long, the Pointer dominated trialing. This is a story of culture, changing times, and America's continued efforts to advance everything they put their hands on....
Oct 13, 2024•24 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Don't adjust your sets - we are back with a brief update on all things HDC! We've been getting lots of questions about the podcast, the magazine, and what other projects we have in the works. Craig and Jennifer are here to answer those questions and let you know what's in the pipeline for Hunting Dog Confidential!
Jun 14, 2024•18 min•Season 3Ep. 33
We’ve been talking about the role of “place” in the history and culture of hunting dog breeds, but not every breed fits neatly within geographical boundaries. There are several breeds in North America who have a foot in two worlds: the parent country (often Germany) as well as North America. We explore breeds such as the Deutsch Drahthaar, Deutsch Langhaar, and Deutsch Kurzhaar which are known by their German language names in order to differentiate from the German Wirehaired Pointer, German Lon...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 32
The end of World War II saw thousands of American servicemen and servicewomen returning home to the United States and Canada, many of whom brought home new dogs they’d met while in occupied Germany. These “new” dogs were unlike the setters and Pointers that dominated the bird dog scene in North America. Defying labels, these dogs could search, point, retrieve, and track. Some of these dogs fit in well with the American field trial culture and found success alongside setters and Pointers. Others,...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 31
Up until the late nineteenth century, the use and breeding of hunting dogs in North America was rather chaotic. Dogs were used in a variety of different ways, whether it was market hunters using Setters to retrieve waterfowl or big game hunters using Pointers to track and hold wounded elk at bay. There was no consistency in the breeding, either, as different types of dogs were often mixed and matched at will. Before long, though, some of the same concepts from the industrial revolution found the...
Feb 09, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 30
We continue the history of hunting dogs as a function of place and time, resuming our discussion about dogs in North America in the colonial era. When Europeans arrived on North American shores—whether it was the Spanish, the French, or the English—we know that they had dogs with them. Early writings and paintings from this era depict a variety of dogs that accompanied the colonists for purposes of protection and hunting. Some of these dogs bear a strong resemblance to old varieties of pointers ...
Dec 30, 2021•54 min•Season 3Ep. 29
This season of Hunting Dog Confidential will explore the history of hunting dogs as a function of place and time. We begin in North America, starting with the earliest evidence of domesticated dogs from about 10,000 years ago. This episode brings us right up to the end of the pre-colonial era in the fifteenth century. We’ll continue our exploration of North American hunting dog history in the next episode. Fossil and DNA evidence suggests that dogs arrived in North America about 5,000 years afte...
Dec 09, 2021•36 min•Season 3Ep. 28
We are back with a new episode providing a sneak peek of season three of the Hunting Dog Confidential Podcast. Craig and Jennifer catch up on what they’ve been up to since the last episode (hint: they’ve been hunting with their dogs) and what’s new in the Hunting Dog Confidential world. As a recap, season one explored the what …what breeds are used as hunting dogs and what were they developed to do. We did a quick survey of all the hunting dog breeds, ranging from pointing dogs to spaniels, retr...
Nov 18, 2021•32 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Anthony Williams is the epitome of versatility when it comes to the bird dog world. Growing up in Queens wasn’t going to dissuade him from his goals of hunting, running bird dogs, and flying a hawk. His initial exposure to birds was raising pigeons in urban New York, followed by his first experiences with falconry in an overgrown junkyard. This eventually led him toward bird dogs, where Anthony developed a love for the versatile breeds and also became a hound trial judge. Now, he has wirehaired ...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 26
This episode is the continuation of the discussion we started last time with German hunter and hunting instructor, Nadja Niesner. Before we get into the conversation, though, we address a listener question regarding the colors of hunting dogs. A simple question of “why do German hunting breeds tend to be darker and English breeds tend to have a white base” sent us down a long rabbit hole about the theories and origins of the variety of colors and patterns that dogs come in. The overarching theme...
Jul 10, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 25
We start this episode with a discussion about versatile dogs or, as they are known in Germany, “useful” or “practical” dogs. In North America they are primarily used for bird hunting, their roots stretch back to a variety of purposes related to hunting and tracking. We discuss a couple of fun examples of the usefulness of hunting dogs, including a Boykin Spaniel who finds and retrieves box turtles in the name of science, as well as a hunting dog that is used to locate invasive Burmese pythons in...
Jun 18, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 24
We start this episode with a discussion about the practice of tail docking. Depending on where you are located, this may be a well-accepted practice or it may be controversial or even banned. We discuss the historical context of docking tails as well as the modern applications for working and hunting dogs. It’s our hope that this will better inform your discussions when this topic comes up in dog circles. Our guest interview this week is with Russell Dodd, an AKC hunt test judge who has owned Ir...
May 15, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 2Ep. 23
We’ve been talking about the development of hunting dogs and how they were shaped by the humans and cultures where they originated. We received an interesting listener question asking us to consider the inverse of this concept: would human development have been any different if we did not have dogs at our side? It’s a fascinating thought experiment to consider what might have been different, which of course leads us down a few trails. Back on the topic of hunting methods, we also addressed some ...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Continuing our discussion of the various methods with which hunters use hunting dogs, we discuss the origins of the term “gun dog” and how bird dogs developed right alongside modern firearms. Both pointing dogs and breech-loading shotguns tended to reach their peak at the same time in the same locations: the mid-nineteenth century in England, but not until the early twentieth century in places like North America. Because of their shared history, it’s no accident that bird dogs and bird guns were...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Kicking off our exploration of the methods of hunting with a dog, we start on the grouse moors of England and Scotland. We welcome our first guest to the show, David Hudson, who is an author, photographer, and pointing dog enthusiast with a rich history in the world of Pointers and Setters in the UK. Before we can get too far, a language lesson is in order. What we call “hunting” in North America is typically referred to as “shooting” in the UK; there, hunting refers to pursuing game with hounds...
Mar 12, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 20
We are back with season two of the Hunting Dog Confidential podcast. In the first season, we answered the question of “what dogs are used as hunting dogs?” We looked at various breeds and types of dogs that are hunted all over the world, both in the modern day as well as throughout history. Now, we turn our attention to the “how.” How are dogs used and what are the various methods of hunting with dogs? Since the beginning of the human-dog partnership, dogs assisted humans in finding game, pursui...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 19
We wrap up our survey of hunting dogs with a look at working terriers. Terriers developed to fill a need where humans needed to get to game in a situation where we were ill-equipped to do so. Just like sight hounds were developed to be faster than us to catch running game, retrievers were developed to swim better than us to get game out of the water, and scenting dogs were developed with better noses than us to find otherwise-camouflaged game… terriers were developed to be able to locate and acc...
Jan 07, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 18
In this episode, we explore two very different types of hunting dogs, both of which defy any attempt to fit neatly within a single category. Dachshunds, also known as Teckels or Dackels, are incredibly versatile hunting dogs that excel at hunting birds or tracking wounded game. Feist, on the other hand, are a category of dogs that represent the varied needs and preferences of squirrel hunters throughout North America. Both dogs are relatively unknown as hunting dogs outside of their circles, but...
Dec 10, 2020•58 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In this episode, we continue our journey through the hounds, moving into the well-known category of scent hounds. These dogs are characterized by their extraordinary ability to follow a scent trail, not only the fresh trail of a wounded animal, but also the “sweat trail” of an animal that may have passed through days earlier. Scent hounds have enjoyed a prominent place in pop culture, with references and well-known examples ranging from Disney cartoons to the iconic song, “Hound Dog.” We dig int...
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 16
In this episode, we take a detour off the path of well-known sighthound breeds and venture into the somewhat murky and mysterious world of lurchers and longdogs. A lurcher is a hybrid dog resulting from the cross of a sighthound with another working breed of dog. Their origins reach back far into history, when purebred sighthounds were highly revered and could only be owned by the wealthy and noble. Commoners secretly took advantage of opportunities to breed their farm dogs to the noble greyhoun...
Nov 12, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode, we look at the group of hounds known as sight hounds or gaze hounds. These dogs are known for using their eyesight to find and track prey, but more importantly, these dogs use their incredible speed to pursue and overtake their quarry. Having been developed almost exclusively for speed, sight hounds even have larger hearts and different blood chemistry from other breeds of dogs. Sight hounds are commonly thought of as originating from the desert regions of the Middle East and th...
Oct 29, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In this episode, we begin a broad survey of hounds, beginning with a linguistic exercise to uncover the meaning of the word “hound.” The general nature of the word perhaps explains the very broad range of hound dogs today. Hounds are separated into categories such as sight hounds, scent hounds, leash hounds, podengos, and pariah dogs. Perhaps the oldest of these categories is the pariah dog, which is thought to have originated at the refuse piles out on the outskirts of early towns and villages....
Oct 15, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode, we travel way back in time to some of the earliest types of dogs that developed alongside humans for the mutual benefit of dog and man. These dogs are classified as spitz dogs, named for their pointy ears and muzzle. While the various breeds are found around the world and used in a variety of working tasks, they all share a few key characteristics: a thick coat, pointy ears, a short muzzle, a tail that curls up and over their back, and an independent character that harkens back ...
Oct 01, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In this episode, we respond to some listener feedback about a couple of more unusual retriever breeds and a strange way of attracting ducks to waiting hunters. First up, we discuss the Murray River Curly-Coated Retriever. A listener from Australia alerted us to this rare landrace which has been used for centuries along the Murray River of South Australia. This dog’s short, strong build and curly, brown coat share many similarities with other breeds developed around the same time. While its exact...
Sep 17, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 11
This episode continues our path through the origins of today’s modern retriever breeds by focusing on the Curly-coated, Flat-coated, and Golden Retrievers. All three of these breeds were developed in England and came to be known by the characteristics of their coat as opposed to a geographic name. The least well-known of these breeds is the Curly-coated Retriever which, despite a reputation for a strong work ethic and agreeable personality, has never enjoyed much popularity in the retriever worl...
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 10
Continuing on our path through the origin stories of the retriever breeds, this episode focuses on two of the most well-known hunting retrievers: the Labrador Retriever and the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Both of these breeds trace their roots back to the St. John’s Water Dog of Newfoundland, but the similarities end there. Wealthy, noble Englishmen were importing the St. John’s Water Dogs from North America and breeding them to suit their style of estate hunting. Two men in particular, the Earl o...
Aug 20, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Our exploration of the history of hunting dogs has led us to North America, where we uncover the earliest origins of the retriever breeds. In this episode, we discuss whether the Labrador Retriever is really a North American breed, or whether it’s a British breed that owes its roots to the back-and-forth trade between England and the new communities on the eastern coast of North America. For the purposes of this discussion, “Retriever” is meant to refer to the breeds that were specifically bred ...
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 8
