English Shepherds are also valued for their tracking, hunting and treeing ability. Advertising brochures from the 1950s depict English Shepherds treeing squirrel, coon and possum, and note “English Shepherds will tree anything and everything.” This may include, of course, your neighbor’s cat! An industrious English Shepherd may not be satisfied with simply treeing critters — he may decide to climb a tree or two himself! English Shepherd owners need to be aware of and make allowances for the many faceted drives their dogs inherit.
Although it has been more common to use English Shepherds to hunt game that can be treed, the prey drive of some English Shepherds transfers well to upland birds such as grouse. Hunters that use them for upland birds work them as flushing dogs. The dog works within gun range, finds and flushes birds, then retrieves them after the shot. All they need is a good prey drive, above average obedience training, and a gradual introduction to gunfire (to minimize the chance of gun shyness).
