Are today’s gundogs better than ever?

Some 30 years ago, I was working my dogs on a shoot when I fell into conversation with a chap called Dan, a retired gamekeeper of senior years. He admired my pair of black-and-white springers, adding that “they’re really good when they get to eight or nine and slow down a bit”, suggesting that perhaps he wasn’t as big a spaniel fan as I had at first thought. However, he was clearly a dog enthusiast and proved to be a fascinating chap to talk to.

I soon discovered that he had been born in 1900, when Queen Victoria was still on the throne. He was fortunately too young to fight in World War I: his first job at the age of 14 was as a kennel boy, helping in the kennels of his local landowner, a peer of the realm. His lordship, I gathered,