Greetings from a WPG future owner.

[UtahJarhead]

Name is UtahJarhead, but I won't tell you what state I live in nor if I've ever served in the military.

I've finally gotten rid of my 2 cats so I've met the criteria from my wife to get a hunting partner. I'm in the process of buying a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. She will be a hunting dog second, family dog first. I'm introducing myself because I think it's appropriate since I've used you guys as a personal resource in the past and found great info and anecdotes.

I'm a software programmer, an NRA Pistol and Rifle instructor, Range Safety Officer, and qualified expert in the Corps (10 years ago!). I like big game more than anything, but apparently WPGs are lazy and won't pull an elk back to camp. Sounds like they'll have to be whipped into shape.

Thanks for being a good resource!

[SwitchGrassWPG]

You may want to check out Versatile Dogs Forum as well for info.

[rkappes]

Welcome...GDF is a great site, wealth of knowledge. Thanks for serving~! Post a picture of that dog when you get him or her.

[mountaindogs]

Welcome! Definatly share pictues.

[landonman]

I have a 13.5 year old wirehair, a 3 year old griffon and a 1.5 year old Drathar. All three of these dogs are sensative and just crazy to hunt, handle very well but I am a pheasa nt hunter from SD. Retired and move here 8 years ago. I hunt every day for 2 to four hours. I keep my dogs pretty much in gun range. The 3 year old stops and points a running bird she sees' which my old dog cann't do. I do know if you don't handle these dogs right they will often times shut down on you. The three year old was miss handled by a trainer so be very very carefull with the trainer you select. I was told she was know good and she was given to me. I have hunted her for 2 years, 200 plus birds and she is the real deal I absolutely love to watch the dog come along by itself. Landonman

[quackerjack]

Jarhead, welcome to the forum and thank you for your service! Just out of curiosity, why did you choose the WPG breed?

[UtahJarhead]

Quackerjack, because I wanted a dog that was low on shedding, good watch dog, not a good guard dog. The wife is afraid of a guard dog turning on us or the kids. I don't have that fear, but she does. The WPG fit the categories perfectly and when I saw them, they looked like a dog I had when I was younger. They don't grow to massive proportions and while they LOVE the outdoors, I don't have to spend 8 hours a day exercising them. They're also great indoors animals, especially around kids.

[UtahJarhead]

Also, I ran into a snag with my plans. The fellow we gave the cats to gave them back. I'm a softie when it comes to animals that don't deserve their circumstances, so I felt obligated. The cats just stayed hidden all the time, he said. 48 hours, that didn't surprise me but whatever... I went over there and you could be standing on a mountain of feces and wouldn't have been able to tell because of the smell of smoke in that house. My mother died from emphazema when I was 9 years old after smoking 5 packs a day. This house was 10x worse. No wonder the cats were hiding. I had to Febreze my carhartt and nuke it from orbit for good measure via the washing machine.

So anybody want 2 cats?

Crappy luck, but like I said... it's not the cats' fault.