Gun Dog Forum

Hi all, I am finally in the market for my first bird dog. I live in south central PA but am certainly willing to travel for the right breeder. I am looking for a GSP and although I'm not in a huge rush to find a pup, I want to get the process started because I know I may end up on a waiting list.

I am open to hearing specific breeder recommendations, but am more interested in how to go about finding desirable breeders in general. I will mostly be hunting ruffed grouse, but most people in my area only hunt stocked pheasants as the grouse population isn't great. I would prefer to purchase from a breeder who hunts grouse so I can get an understanding of how the parents hunt in grouse cover. Since this will be my first bird dog it would be great to find a breeder who will be willing to give advice and help me out when needed in the early training stages.

Everything I read online just talks about finding a reputable breeder with proper health tests in the bloodline, but I'm just struggling to find anything online that may actually lead to finding a breeder. I don't really know anybody in the local bird dog community so I'm just not sure how to make connections. I contacted my local NAVHDA chapter and the individual I spoke to said he would contact me and invite me to their next meeting so I'm hoping he keeps his word.

Any recommendations on how to go about finding a breeder that suits my needs? How did you go about finding the right breeder for you?

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This will give you a couple online breeder sites.
You might look online at Gun Dog Breeders( this is where I used to advertise) They list a lot of breeders. You can narrow your search by breed & state. It will also list who has pups on the ground at this time. Since you aren't in a big hurry, I'd look thru the breeders in your state(or near by states) and look at some of their references. If you find a couple you like, you can ask on this forum to see if anyone has dealt with them. If they are close you could drive and look them over.

Other online sites are gun dog central & the AKC litter site--only thing about the AKC site is you get a lot of people posting litters on there that are show people who don't hunt their dogs,

Good luck on your puppy search

If you go to the GSPCA website, they will have a list of breeders which you can sort by states. The breeders will also have listed your primary purpose in breeding and will also have listed the titles their dogs have achieved. It is certainly true that many will be conformation breeders, but it is easy enough to select whether they hunt and have put serious titles hunt-oriented titles on their dogs. The significance of this is that these people are are dedicated to the breed -- though their focus will vary -- and will have done all appropriate health tests. Chances are they can't even list as a breeder on the national breed club site unless they do. Start calling around from that list, and you'll probably get some referrals as well.

There are all kinds of people who claim that they "breed" and that the dogs hunt, but putting Rufus together with Sadie is probably not the best way to get a consistently good dog that will have a long and useful life. Check out the breed club site and screen for what you want. It is a popular breed, and you should have quite a few from which to choose.

deseeker wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:30 pm

This will give you a couple online breeder sites.
You might look online at Gun Dog Breeders( this is where I used to advertise) They list a lot of breeders. You can narrow your search by breed & state. It will also list who has pups on the ground at this time. Since you aren't in a big hurry, I'd look thru the breeders in your state(or near by states) and look at some of their references. If you find a couple you like, you can ask on this forum to see if anyone has dealt with them. If they are close you could drive and look them over.

Other online sites are gun dog central & the AKC litter site--only thing about the AKC site is you get a lot of people posting litters on there that are show people who don't hunt their dogs,

Good luck on your puppy search

AKC was the first website I went to, but yeah it looked like most of the breeders didn't have hunting as a priority. I will definitely check out Gun Dog Breeders!

OTP Outdoors wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:39 am

AKC was the first website I went to, but yeah it looked like most of the breeders didn't have hunting as a priority. I will definitely check out Gun Dog Breeders!

There is a very significant difference between the AKC website, and the national club. Visit the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of America website -- since that is the breed you want-- and start sorting, selecting and calling. You might note the "health testing" column. These people are serious, knowledgeable and committed to the breed. Just pick one with hunting credentials.

https://www.gspca.org/Breed/Listings/index.html