Unusual Dog Occupations

I thought I might share this, prompted by today's post regarding dog-powered sewing machines ....

I was for several years an enthusiastic family historian - I'm still interested but not obsessed any more!

Anyway, one main branch of my family originated in Lincolnshire and for several hundred years were Decoymen on the then flooded Fens, whereby they trapped and sold wildfowl. They dug special lakes with several off-shoots (called pipes) which were covered in netting.

Decoymen used small reddish-brown dogs (as fox-like looking as possible and termed as "pipers") to tempt the ducks further up the covered and narrowing off-shoots until they could be trapped and caught. I found this difficult to believe until I saw a wild-life film where a flock of ducks actually followed a fox along the bank of a river, presumably to keep an eye on him. Here is an old plate of a piper, weaving in and out of the screens alongside the pipe :-

Well I never, I didn't know that!

Wow, that's amazing! I didn't know that either!

Thanks for the information, Lynda You learn something new every day!

We do, don't we!

Tbh, I think I've learned a bunch of things from this thread! I didn't know before that ducks follow foxes, or about the pipers, or even that this practice took place! It's fascinating!

Incredible isn't it. I'm very proud of my heritage.

When I learnt that my forefathers were Duck Decoymen I first thought that they made those artificial ducks to tempt the wild ducks down onto a pond (which they may well have done). It was later that I found out about the vital use that dogs were to the process of capturing the wildfowl.

I would imagine that good "pipers" were bred to type and ability - in such an important role it surely wasn't left to happenchance that a mongrel of the requisite size, colour and specialist trainability would become available when needed. I wonder what happened to the "breed".

That must have been amazing to realise that your family had such a close working relationship with dogs.

Yes, it'd be interesting to know what sort of breeds, if any descript, went into them and what happened to them. The thought processes behind it all is genius!

I think the "piper" breed, if it existed at all, must have died out when the fens were drained and Decoying perished as a subsequence.

As for the process of decoying as a means of livelihood, I believe it originated in Denmark where my forebears lived in similar swamp-like conditions and brought their skills over to Lincolnshire in the Danish invasion, where they settled.

Nice! I'll probably Google this later - it's fascinating!

I'm glad you find it interesting!

Yeah, definitely!

Very interesting and something I didn't know. It is a pity that the breed died out but then many breeds have died out from lack of use. Not like today where you can breed a Labradoodle and sell it for 2 souls and a kidney.

I would love to look into family history. I would never have thought ducks would follow a dog.

Shisa wrote:Very interesting and something I didn't know. It is a pity that the breed died out but then many breeds have died out from lack of use. Not like today where you can breed a Labradoodle and sell it for 2 souls and a kidney.

I should start saying I have a borador instead of a lab x collie

Haha - yes! I have a Chipin and a Muggin then.
No wonder no one takes small dogs seriously

 Sounds like the name of a Hobbit!

It really is interesting that ducks would follow carnivores. Such a small animal, and yet incredibly brave!