Most sporting dogs have been developed to accompany their masters on hunts of one kind or another. The canine hunting sequence consists of a number of distinct elements: sight-searching, scent-searching, flushing, digging, treeing, setting, pointing, decoying and retrieving. Many breeds of sporting dog have become specialized in one of these particular activities and now function only in that capacity. Others have one main activity, but are also useful in one or more additional, subsidiary capacities; they can, however, be classified by their principal specialization.
1.SIGHTHOUNDS: Sight-searching for prey by use of eyes
2.SCENTHOUNDS: Scent-searching for prey by use of nose
3.SHORT-LEGGED SCENTHOUNDS: Scent searching with small dogs
4.FLUSHING DOGS: Flushing prey from ground-level hiding
5.EARTH DOGS: Digging prey from below-ground hiding
6.TREEING DOGS: Treeing prey into above-ground hiding
7.SETTING DOGS: Setting to indicate presence of prey
8.POINTING DOGS: Pointing to position of detected prey
9.DECOY DOGS: Decoying prey into traps or gun range
10.RETRIEVING DOGS: Retrieving dead or helpless prey
11.GENERAL HUNTING DOGS: Other breeds, which have never become specialized, have remained general-purpose hunting dogs — opportunists that are capable of adapting to any challenge they encounter.
12.FIGHTING DOGS: Hunting is not the only sport for which dogs have been used in the past. They were also employed as fighting dogs, either against their own kind or against larger, tethered victims such as bears or bulls. The barbarous sports of dog-fighting, bear-baiting and bull-baiting have long been outlawed, but some of the specialized breeds they fostered have managed to survive in new roles as show dogs or household companions.