what hunting dog breed do you perfer and why ?

[tonkatuff]

Quote:

While there are hunters todays who utilize the breed as a catch dog, they WERE NOT originally created for this task.

I'm fostering a GSP right now and I'm quickly becoming a fan, one of the smartest & most diligent dogs I've ever seen. He's only a year old, was never in the woods but a hunter who shot & wounded a deer asked if he could search my woods for him. I offered to come out & help and thought why not bring the "new kid" and see how he does. This pup picked up the trail in under 5 minutes and followed it for half a mile and wanted to continue but we figured out the deer had crossed into another hunting camps property.

I've got a friend who has his own line of den terriers, hard core vermin exterminators! Don't let 'em loose in your house if ya got mice, they will go right through the sheet rock, siding etc to get their prize!

 

[Hound]

I agree, our GSP was quite amazing the first time we took him hunting. I know for a fact he'd never hunted, he'd been in the pound from 8 weeks old until 8 months old when we got him. He pointed, flushed and retrieved quail and handed them over perfectly. I didn't see that coming, he has absolutely no interest in fetching a toy. I think they are lucky in that they're not overly popular as just pets, so the instincts haven't been bred out of them unlike with other breeds (e.g Labradors).

 

[redhen]

Whats GSP?

 

[Hound]

A German Shorthaired Pointer. It's a bit of a mouthful and not any better in German, the Deutsch Kurzhaar Verstehund.

 

[Beekissed]

Labs, hands down, for both things!

Soft mouth, good prey drive, sensitive to your commands/needs, killer instincts but still safe around my chickens and livestock.... and good family dogs.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
OOh thanks!

 

[onthespot]

The only hunting I personally have done with dogs is mice hunting, LOL and my poodles and maltipoos are lightning fast and work as a team. We hardly ever find anything to hunt any more. Thank goodness! They are better than cats, if I can flush 'em out, they will nail them.

 

[woodmort]

The best dog for grouse, woodcock, pheasants and puddle ducks I ever had was a close working English Springer. She not only flushed but retrieved. She once retrieves a cock pheasant that was beating her with his good wing and had his claws into her nose so she was bleeding and there wasn't a mark on the bird. Once she flushed a woodcock and caught it in midair, turned around and put it in my hand. Being a sporting person, I release it and it flew away. She loved to go in the water for ducks and I never downed a bird that she didn't bring back--if you've ever hunted ruffed grouse in heavy cover you know how important that is. Plus I got here when my girls were 5 and 6 and they could completely control her. I've work with other springers, English setters, weimaraners and labs but never had another like her. Everyone who hunts should hunt over one good dog in their lifetime, and she was it for me. In fact, after she died I kind of stopped hunting. She died over 30 years ago and I still dream about hunting with her.

 

[abluechipstock]

for varmts my dachshunds do a good job, my friend of mine has had bird dogs for years, he's had weimaraners and viszlas, he said the best bird dog he ever had was a viszla

 

[Mahonri]

As a kid, I had a German Shepherd that was an excellent hunting dog. He would sniff till he found a pheasant and point until we allowed him to flush them, he would then retrieve them for us once the shotgun pellets brought them down. He was as good as any 'hunting dog' I'd ever seen.