I was on my iphone, so I couldn't (wouldn't) go into further detail. But I'm on my computer now. Mwuahahahahaha.......
Anyway, y'all are correct that it can be said that dogs are no longer
needed to hunt. They are still very beneficial, and serve a very important role whether it be sniffing out game, flushing out prey, or catching/holding game, but no, they aren't thechnically "needed".
But you'd have to expand on that. Are dogs actually need to guard flocks? Nope. Humans w/guns can take turns being on guard-duty. Dogs aren't needed to flush out fowl, retrieve fowl, tree coons, or anything else. We don't need them for protection, so not only should they not be used for such, why bother to train them in such avenues at all? To go further, horses are no longer needed either. We have ATVs now, so there's no need for a rancher to use a horse. We have bicycles, cars, and whatever else, so there's no reason whatsoever to ride a horse. .........................I could go on, and PETA has. This is exactly where their train of thought goes. It's about not needing to do use animals in any such manner/way anymore, so therefore we shouldn't force them to do so. Basically, we should just feed them and love them and let them be pretty.
I don't know about y'all, but I've had a few dogs that were more than happy sleeping in bed, relocating to the couch in the morning, going outside to potty, coming in and eating, and then getting back in bed. I've had some that were fine with daily 2 miles walks or walk/jogs and some play sessions of fetch thrown into their day. And I've had more that still needed more. They needed to work. They needed constant mental stimulation, and much more physical work than I could provide by just nice, sweet walks and playing tug. One of my problems now is that TB is 8, and I'm too busy to hunt. He's not in the physical condition he used to be, and I don't have the time to get him there and hunt with him. And it shows. You can walk him all day long. You can exercise him with a flirt pole. You can give him access to a spring pole. But he's still frustrated. He wants to take off in the woods behind my house(I've got a fox and bobcat that live behind our property, and both animals keep coming up by my house and leaving presents). He wants to GO. Yes, he's happy right now, but he's definitely not as content as he used to be when he was being used for hunting at least once a month. He's a dog that was happiest when he was a working dog first, and a pet second (or at least in my opinion as his owner).