Very hard decision. You didn't mention about a long hair or short haired dog. If in the house I would think you would want a short-haired dog like a Pointer, German Short Hair, Vizula, Griffon, or any of the wire haired dogs, plus now the pointing retrievers, the best of both worlds.
If you don't mind your wife or you vacuuming the house every day, then a loong hair.
I have had Brittanies, and they are a very good dog, gentle, easy to train and like to retrieve, but I to prefer setters. The one I have now is a 75 lb. male, Max. Very gentle, smart and a very birdy dog, however, it takes me a long time to clean him after some hunts, he has very long feathers on his chest, belly and legs, plus a very full tail.
I built a quail return pen when he was about 4 months old, here is a picture of him then.
Here is a picture of him in the yard in January of this year, 4 1/2 years old.
