Most children go through a ‘why’ phase. It usually comes after the ‘no!’ phase and lasts about as long. Eventually, most kids grow out of it and parents celebrate the fact that junior is no longer asking why about everything, all the time.

But not all kids grow out of the ‘why’ stage. I am one of them.

I’ve spent much of my life asking why. I’m also quite fond of asking who, what, where and how. And for the last 25 years, I’ve applied all those questions to hunting dogs, their histories and cultures. As I found answers, I wrote them down, then published them in a book. As I gather more, I’ll put them in my next book, and the one after that.

So when I was invited to speak at this historic meeting, I thought I would take the same approach to writing the speech as I take when I write about dogs. I’d ask why, where, when and what about NAVHDA, and share some of the answers I came up with.

Let’s start with the easiest one.

Question: Why NAVHDA?
Answer: Because it is necessary.

NAVHDA was created by, and for, hunters at the dawn of the information age. For the last 50 years its members have been gathering information about thousands of dogs and dozens of breeds across North America. And every year they gather more. That information is then archived, shared and used by breeders in their efforts to breed better gundogs. So answering why is actually pretty easy. Because NAVHDA is necessary. So how about asking when?

Question: When did NAVHDA become necessary?
Short Answer: In 1969.
Long Answer: Way, way before that.

Let’s hop in a time machine to see if we can find out exactly when, and maybe even where the idea for an organization dedicated to the improvement of hunting dogs came from.  We’ll set the time dial to ‘late 1800s’, the location dial to ‘somewhere in England’ and press Go.

Woosh!! We arrive at King’s Cross train station in London, England. On the platform, a crowd of fancy people with fancy dogs, are preparing to travel north for the hunting season. Oh look, there’s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They are having a lively chat, and you’d love to hear what they are saying. So you slowly make your way across the platform and lean in to hear them. Hmmm, that’s strange, you can’t understand a word they are saying! It seems that they are speaking…German.

Bizarre as it may seem, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert usually spoke German to each other. But then again, she was half German and he was born and raised in Germany. That’s right, during the golden age of gun dogs in England, when the English Setter and the Pointer were at their apex of development, the ruling family of their native land wasn’t actually English. They were German.

But wait. It gets stranger.

While the Queen and Prince Albert were in London, chatting away in German, a relative of theirs, a Prince named Albrecht was in his homeland — Germany — getting ready to hunt over his own dogs, English Setters and Pointers. That’s right, at the dawn of the gundog age in Germany, just as the GSP was getting started, the most influential gundog breeder in Europe was actually breeding, raising, and hunting over English Setters and Pointers.

Nowadays, Prince Albrecht von Solms is known as the “father of the GSP” and one of the founders of the German testing system. But back then, he owned one of the world’s largest kennels for Pointers and Setters and competed in field trials across Europe and in England, a fact that has conveniently been forgotten.

So thanks to our time machine, we now know that during the golden age of pointing dogs, the Queen of England was German and the biggest kennel for English Setters and Pointers in Europe was in Germany. Oh, and I should probably mention that another relative of theirs, the Tsar of Russia, didn’t have Russian dogs. He had Irish Setters. But let’s add one more twist. Let’s hear from an American hunter travelling from Chicago to Nebraska around the same time to hunt over a breed of dog that never actually existed.

From Forest and Stream, 1886
We bought tickets to Omaha, with a privilege of a rebate if we decided to stop anywhere this side; but after diligent inquiry at every possible point and opportunity we travelled across the States of Illinois and Iowa from east to west, receiving but the one answer, "The birds have been about all shot off."

Now this looks a little sad, that in two States, where but a very few years ago chickens enough could be found almost anywhere to make excellent sport, one should be told that the first month of the shooting season is over, that "the birds have been about all shot off." So we decided to take the train to Nebraska. We arrived at Omaha in the evening, The next morning we took cars and after riding about eighty miles in a northwest direction were landed at the little town of Bancroft on the edge of the Omaha Indian reservation. 

A few moments' conversation with the landlord, a Parker gun behind the desk and two Russian setter dogs under the table, satisfied me that we had made no mistake in our location. "How long do you propose to stay?" asked the landlord. Our answer was: 'Until we get satisfied." The price was named and that settled it. (Full article here)

A Parker gun and a RUSSIAN SETTER? What the heck is that? A breed that never existed. You see, for much of the 1800’s many English and American hunters called any pointing dog that had a wire-haired coat a ‘Russian Setter’ because there was no other name for them at the time. And since Russia was considered a wild, primitive place where men had wooley beards, the name stuck. But there never was a breed of Russian setters, in Russia or anywhere else. So what exactly where those Russian Setters, and where did they come from? 

To find out, we have to go back to Germany. Remember the German Prince with all those English dogs? Well, he also employed Dutch fellow to manage his massive kennels. And one of the projects that man was engaged in was creating his very own breed of wire-haired pointer. His name was Eduard Korthals and not only did he create the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, he and the Prince worked together to create the modern German versatile hunting dog system, the one that inspired NAVHDA. Korthals eventually named his dogs Griffons, but it took a while for the name to catch on. In fact, the first one to be registered by the AKC was registered as a Russian Setter!

So to recap: we have a German woman on the throne of England, the ‘father of the GSP’ kicking butt in English Field trials with Pointers and Setters, a Russian Tsar hunting over Irish Setters, a Dutch man creating a new breed from scratch and an American hunter chasing prairie chickens over a breed that did not exist.

Madness! How will we ever figure this out?

It looks like we will have to make one last stop to finally get the answer to our question of ‘when’.

This time we’ll head to Philadelphia and hear from a man who had recently lost his best hunting dog and was having a hard time finding a good replacement from proven lines. So he wrote to one of the main sporting publications to complain and, more importantly, to make a suggestion.

In a country like ours, abounding with game, it is really to be wondered at, that more effectual means have not been resorted to, by those particularly interested, to breed dogs which might be relied on, so that every sportsman could supply himself with a good pup. Many a sportsman is discouraged from paying proper attention to the training of his dog from the uncertainty involved in the breed; but convince a sportsman that his young dog is from a stock that can be relied on, and he will have every inducement to exert himself to the uttermost, to train his dog for field, and thus in a few years, I believe first-rate dogs would be available.

I would recommend that a society or club of this kind, be formed in each of our cities, for the purpose of breeding first-rate dogs…This club might hold monthly or quarterly meetings, which would be necessary in order to discuss the merits or demerits of their dogs on the ground of which discussion would naturally grow out of experiments made with these pups.

It would be well to enlarge the membership of this society to an unlimited number and encourage such to join it. As another great feature in this society, I would recommend that they meet annually or semi-annually at some appointed place, thereby keeping alive the spirit of emulation, which is always necessary for every undertaking to ensure its continuance and success.  Signed “D”

That letter was written and published in 1829!, nearly 60 years before our visit to England, half a century before Korthals began his efforts in the kennels of the German prince and 60 years before “A” hunted prairie chickens in Nebraska over Russian Setters. So that means that the fundamental idea for an organization dedicated to breeding better gun dogs — an organization like NAVHDA — is nearly 200 years old! And as we can all see here today, that idea is alive and well at this annual meeting at this appointed place.

So now we know the ‘why’ of NAVHDA. And we’ve looked at When. So what about what?

Question: What is NAVHDA?
Short Answer: Dots, connected.
Long answer: When looking for answers to ‘what‘, I applied the same reasoning I always apply to the breeds of dogs I’ve studied. And one of my main conclusions about them is that dog breeds are manifestations of the cultures in which they were developed. So what is the culture of NAVHDA?

I found the answer in the first two words of its name: North American. NAVHDA represents hunters from two countries connected by a land border and a common idea: versatile hunting dogs. The culture of NAVHDA is a culture of connections.

Of course, the essential function of NAVHDA is gathering, storing and sharing information. But all the data points in the world are useless if they aren’t connected. So NAVHDA’s purpose is to collect data points, but NAVHDA’s culture is about connecting those points. And it is not just the empirical bits of information gathered through testing or pedigrees. Through NAVHDA also connects the intangible dots, the dots we create though shared memories, hopes and ambitions.

Officially, NAVHDA’s mission will always be to promote and improve the versatile hunting dog breeds. But I think we can all agree that there is an even greater purpose at play, beyond the testing field, beyond pedigrees, beyond scores and data points. NAVHDA’s mission is to connect the dots of our lives as hunters, breeders and conservationists. Here are some of the most important ones we should all consider, on a personal level and on a chapter level: new hunters, new dog owners, new shooters, new NAVHDA members. All of them were highlighted in the results of a recent survey published by Project Upland. I will mention a couple as I quote from the study below:

The holy grail of hunter recruitment is being able to understand the process and thinking of a first-generation hunter. By capturing that world view, the thinking goes, we can replicate their experience for others.  If we are able to do that, we will grow our ranks in a more efficient and robust manner. For Project Upland, this information has always been important — the mindset of that sacred group inside our subculture. How did they get here? What challenges do they face? And how can we create more “first generation” hunters? The definition of “first-generation” being that neither their mother or father hunted. The important take-aways for us, the NAVHDA family are these:

1. Mentors Matter. The study indicated that 64% identified that they were mentored in the process 67% strongly agreed that it was important to have a mentor. Does your chapter have a mentoring program? Have you ever been a mentor?

2. Barriers to Entry Matter. The results also revealed that 72% of respondents said that “finding a place to hunt” was the most difficult factor in becoming a hunter, and many of us know that that finding a place to hunt, and even just to train is becoming harder.  So what are you doing about that barrier facing new hunters? What is your club doing about it?

Personally, I’ve hosted hunters from all over North America and Europe to my own hunting grounds in Manitoba and have helped nearly a dozen new hunters get off to a good start. But I’m lucky. I live in a province that is basically empty except for the occasional beer-drinking moose and maybe a duck hunter or two up from the states. In the more populated states, finding a place to hunt really is a problem. And sharing hunting spots is a touchy subject. Social media can make ‘hot spotting’ a real problem. But there are ways to share the land, share the resources and to find places to train. And it goes right back to the reason NAVHDA exists. It’s about connections. We must strive to create and maintain connections to landowners and conservation organizations, to forge and strengthen connections with members of our own clubs and between clubs.

Hunters have faced the same issues of access to land and finding good hunting spots for over 100 years. That’s why the Russian setter dude travelled from Chicago to Nebraska, in 1885. And the solution has always been the same. Connections. Reaching out, forging alliances and working together. So do yourself and your club and a newbie a favour. Figure out a way to increase access to hunting spots and training spots. We will all be better off for it.

3. Gundogs Matter. Lastly, we were curious to explore how dogs played a role in the recruitment of first-generation hunters. More than half (54%) said that they shot their first bird over a dog. An astounding 79% said that dogs played a critical role in them becoming a hunter. Further, 36% said they got bird dogs and then became a hunter. And 85% of first-generation hunters in this survey currently own a bird dog.  While we don’t believe in any one “silver bullet” of hunter recruitment, we certainly can see that leveraging the general population’s interest in and passion for dog is one of the most promising entryways for cultivating new hunters.

Where you can find good dogs? Who is in the position to make sure new hunters get good dogs? NAVHDA. It’s all about connections. Here’s one last example, and it’s the most important one of all.

Imagine this: You are at a NAVHDA NA test, the water portion. A young handler, with a young dog, approaches the water’s edge. She teases the pup with the dummy, tosses it in the water, and says fetch! The pup wiggles its butt, runs to the left, runs to the right, crouches down, really wants to go, but just can’t quite muster the courage to dive in.

What you are feeling as you watch that young handler and pup? We’ve all felt it. You may even feel it now. Our inner voices are screaming “c’mon pup, you can do it! C’mon pup!!”. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the inner voices of all the other folks at the water’s edge are screaming too. Because at that moment, we are connected, to that handler, to that dog, and to each other. Our inner voices are like a choir, urging the pup into the water. As it finally jumps in, swims and gets the bumper. There’s a sigh of relief, from everyone.

THAT is the NAVHDA culture. It is a culture of connections. It is the shared desire of dedicated, enthusiastic hunters to build better gundogs, to bring young hunters and young dogs along, to share and preserve the land, and ultimately to forge a deeper connection with the natural world.

NAVHDA’s culture is about connecting dots. We are the dots. Our dogs are the dots. The game we pursue are the dots and every leaf in the forest and blade of grass in the field is a dot. 

Each on its own means very little.

Connected, they mean everything.

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