20/07/2026
The strange world of gundogs and Facebook personalities…
People
Because take something people are genuinely passionate about, add competition, recognition, social media, opinions and a little bit of ego, and you get a very interesting mix.
The funny thing is, the dogs are rarely the complicated part.
Most of us start in exactly the same place. We discover gundogs, become completely obsessed, and suddenly every walk becomes training, every behaviour becomes something to analyse, and every conversation somehow ends up back at dogs.
And there is nothing wrong with that. Passion is a good thing, well an excellent thing. It is what makes people spend years learning, improving and trying to do better in the sun wind and rain
Some people gain experience and it actually makes them more relaxed.
They have had enough dogs humble them that they no longer need to pretend they know everything. They have stood in a field watching a dog ignore something they were convinced they had perfected. They have had the test where everything fell apart. They have had those moments where you have to stand there and think, “Well, that was a very expensive lesson.”
Those are usually the people who can laugh the most.
Because after enough years with dogs, you realise the dog is always going to have the final say. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are, how many awards you have, or how impressive your reputation is. There is always a dog waiting to remind you that you are not quite as clever as you thought you were.
Then there is social media.
And social media is a strange place because it rewards confidence, certainty, and it rewards people who can present an image.
And there is nothing wrong with that. Building a following, sharing knowledge and bringing new people into the sport can be a brilliant thing.
But a following and experience are not the same thing.
A camera does not automatically make someone an expert, and a confident opinion does not automatically make it correct. Sometimes the loudest voice in the room is simply the one with the strongest WiFi connection depending on their location
Then you have the people who discover the power of the phone camera and their quiet woodland walk suddenly becomes Pinewood Studios.
The dog walk is no longer just a dog walk. It is now a full production, there is a camera angle, a speech, a message to deliver, and before you know it, every disagreement, every frustration and every passing thought has become a public announcement.
And honestly, most of us have probably done our own version of this at some point. Maybe not standing in the woods filming ourselves, but we have all had moments where our enthusiasm has got ahead of us.
The problem comes when the sport stops being something you enjoy and starts becoming who you are, Because that is when things can change.
The person who used to laugh at themselves suddenly can’t take a joke, and a bit of banter becomes disrespect. Someone disagreeing becomes a personal attack or trying to embarrass them . Friends who have known them for years suddenly feel like they have to adjust because the rules of the friendship have quietly changed, And I think that is the bit that is the saddest.
Because the people I have always respected most in this sport are rarely the ones who need everyone to know how good they are.
They just get on with it.
They put the work in, they keep learning, they are humble, they are kind, they admit when things go wrong, they can stand in a muddy field with a dog doing something completely ridiculous and laugh about it.
They don’t need to constantly prove themselves because they are comfortable with where they are, And maybe that is why I will always have humour on this page.
Yes, I share the ridiculous moments, there are stories where the dogs make me look like I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Yes, sometimes this page is far more about the chaos and reality of living with dogs than creating some perfectly polished image.
But don’t confuse that with a lack of passion.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I care about Labradors/spaniels, about doing things properly, about the sport and about the responsibility that comes with these dogs.
The jokes don’t mean I take it less seriously
They simply mean I don’t need to take myself seriously.
Because after enough years around dogs, you learn something important.
The dogs don’t care about your reputation, your followers or how important you think you are.
They care simply about whether you do right by them.
