doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Looking for some recommendations for a bird dog

Llewellyn setters. I've had four.

I think a small GSP would fit your requirements. Low-maintenance coat, livable around the home, capable "light duty" waterfowlers, great for quail, easy to train, and fine-lookin', too.

Molly, 27 lbs, black & white, female, 5
Red, red and white, male, 35lbs, 3-1/2
Belle, roane (red and white), female, 33lbs, 3-1/2
Ginger, red and white, female 31lbs, 13 months

In reference to burrs I cut and comb all the burrs out of four Brittanys in less than 5 minutes after a hunt. Small inconvenience.

Best,

Mike

Buy a dog from a breeder of hunters. One that has proven desire to hunt and to please. Dogs that are partly trained and love the sound of the gun is the only way I'll go now. Ijust lost my best buddy of almost 15 years- a huge hunting machine of a GSP- last spring, so my opinion on breed would be a little biased.

This is the third generation of springers in my house, Lucy and her first bird. The springers are a bit wound up as youngsters, but settle down nicely by age 2 and make excellent pets. She is 29 lbs and will fill out a little bit. The hair can be an issue for some folks. Great bird dogs with big personalities.

Some pictues of my dogs:
This is Red during a trial:







Red won 3rd in the National Shoot-to-Retrieve Association's West Texas Regional Elimination Trial. That is me holding Red, not Brad Pitt




Red and Belle shaking off after a dip in the tank. Molly on the right.

Hi All,

Thanks very much for all the great information! Lots of good advice. I really appreciate it.

Our former dog Katy, had the wonderful trait of bouncing off the walls if she saw the leash in your hand but once you got back to the house it was like a switch had been turned off and she became this mellow house dog. Interesting to hear that some of the hunting breeds will do this also as I have not been around many hunting dogs and didn't know how they behave at home.

I had the opportunity to hunt for chukkers with an older gentleman who had a small female Brittney. She did a good job hunting but also seemed to be a good companion dog. I also hunted with a friend who has a female GSP. Ridiculous experience but I blame most of this on the friend and lack of training not the dog. Dog was totally out of control for the first 2 hrs we hunted. Just running around in huge circles and figure eights completely out of range with my friend frantically yelling at his dog and pressing the shock collar. Fairly comical! But this was not unexpected as I have watched his two girls grow up and they were much the same as children.

I should add that the duck hunting/duck retrieving ability would be a nice plus but probably not as important as the quail hunting ability.

I've been a member here for a long time and I always enjoy the discussions on dogs. But this is the first time I have ever been in a position to actually consider getting one so again thanks for the help.

Any further thoughts or comments would be appreciated. My wife and I will sit down this evening and go through the messages.

Thanks,
Ron

One more to give you a better idea of the size of the dogs. That is the back of my Ford Expedition:



I have hundreds more pictures and would be happy to post more on the slightest pretext so let me know.

Best,


Mike

Thanks for all the pix and opinions you guys--a fun and informative thread for us spectators, too!

I hunted behind a smallish female Brittany in South Dakota the last several years. Not my dog but the owner of the lands dog. She is simply a bird machine. A great little hunter in the field. But in the truck or back at the lodge just the best low maintenance pet you could imagine. Only drawback that I have seen in about 4 years of hunting with the dog is that the tall grass, cat tails and so forth do wear her down, in part because of her small stature.