But if you really want to see the fur fly, stand up in a roomful of grouse hunters and say, “When it comes to grouse hunting dogs, I think breed _____ is the best.” When grouse hunting’s urtext, New England Grouse Shooting, was published in 1942, author William Harnden Foster felt that only two breeds merited consideration: the pointer and the English setter. This hunting business is supposed to be exciting—and there’s no more exciting dog to hunt grouse over, flusher or pointer, than an English cocker.