|
I just saw a few minutes of a British made dog
shrink program and there was this German Shepherd that wanted to "hunt
- chase - kill" the house cats.
In that context the "hunt" obviously meant the same
thing as we in Sweden call "search" - in other words the work to find scent of a
game or visual contact with it. The problem here, the linguistic problem, is
that the "hunt" in Swedish means the entire row of happenings in "finding,
chasing and killing of game"!
I guess what we call "search" in Swedish when we
talk about pointing birddogs or any other gundog, could be called "ranging" or
"hunting" in some English variety but if we are in Britain and the dog is a
spaniel - then it is "questing"! However I do not know for sure but suspect that
a Labrador that tries to find dead game is "searching" in Britain but a
pointing lab in USA may be "hunting" or "ranging" for live game.
In Swedish our dogs "search" until they have found
the game either by scent or sight. Then they perhaps point, flush or
"chase", whatever is applicable for the game in question. Together
with their handler they "hunt" = search for game and in the end, no matter how
the end is reached, kill the game. They go out "hunting" together with
the aim to get back something in the game bag for the dinner table.
Now you see what I have to face when I try to
explain things in English! (VBG)
I am not complaining in anyway, on the contrary I
find the problem very interesting and educational! This is a particular problem
when discussing gundogs and hunting. What if we were discussing mining or oil
drilling or gardening?
Torsti
Borta Med Vindens Kennel "Ask not what your dog can do for you. Ask
what you can do for your dog." www.rospigan.net |