Gun Dog Forum

I'm considering my next dog as my 11 YO male Elhew pointer is entering his old age.

I'm also aging, at 66 now. So, I'm thinking I don't need/want a full bore EP as I hunt less and shorter hunts.

The wife and I'd really like to have a more affectionate dog around the house as well. I've had two Elhews and both were a bit less than affectionate, although they needed it, they wanted it on their terms.

I think I still want a pointing breed with a short coat as I am in the southwest and hunt quail mostly, with some chukar and pheasant on occasion. It'd be very rare, if at all, for me to hunt in the very cold and snow. Mostly concerned about hunting in warmer weather.

Some friends have had GSPs that seemed quite affectionate and had plenty of energy and endurance for me. Looking for your suggestions.

Welcome back!
I can only say that I've had 2 GSP and both were affectionate, had plenty of energy and endurance,
Not short haired, but my best dogs in your 3 categories were setters.

I'm a Brittany guy and for what you want I think a Brittany would really work well. If you watch the breeding you can find them with a short, flat coat that needs no trimming. That's the type of coat my last two female Brittanys have had. And if you are looking for an affectionate dog I would recommend a female. My current female Brittany is the most loving and affectionate dog I've ever owned.

What a great picture! Thanks.

Brittany with a flat coat. I have a new Brittany male that could spend his whole life in your arms. My female is not near as affectionate. Both are 250 yard dogs but you can rain them in. Got my last dog from Kristy Goodall and all the dogs in that line are affectionate. Unfortunately this dog has a long curly coat but I love him to death. Excellent hunter at 6 months and so easy to train.

You can get a very good family bird dog GSP from many breeders in the midwest. Standing Stone would be a good place to start. Cat and Ethan Pippet
have been training and breeding for a lot of years and breed the kind of dogs you want. Don't know about their prices but they breed nice family dogs, from blood lines I know well.
There are some nice Brittneys around also. Avoid the real big running field trial dogs. They will all get pretty attached ........Cj

oldbeek wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:31 pm

Brittany with a flat coat. I have a new Brittany male that could spend his whole life in your arms. My female is not near as affectionate. Both are 250 yard dogs but you can rain them in. Got my last dog from Kristy Goodall and all the dogs in that line are affectionate. Unfortunately this dog has a long curly coat but I love him to death. Excellent hunter at 6 months and so easy to train.

Kristy and Dean Goodall from "bleep", ND have some very good Brittanys. I've known them for years while running NSTRA in the Mid-North region.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think 250 yds is a good range for me. That pointer in my signature was a big running FT dog, bred out of Sugarknoll Buckshot, Fibber, Snakefoot, Dunn's Fearless Bud, etc. She had no range limit that I ever found. I could keep her in range after a couple years, but had to stay on top of her with turn tone commands and the whistle. It was work. I had to focus on keeping her in range. Not relaxing. Current male pointer, a cousin to the female and similar pedigree, is the opposite, short range, stays in sight, but slowing way down with his age. He's also a very large dog at 75lbs. No more males or large dogs. My back is not getting any stronger.

I think the range of a dog is more in the breeding than the breed. My last two Brittanys have been big running dogs, but they were both out of multiple national field trial champions. My current Brittany is the biggest running and can easily get out to a quarter mile or more in thin cover if I let her. But she is also quite easy to reign in depending on the conditions and type of bird we're hunting. Most of my Brittanys worked more in the 50-100 yard range. All depends on the breeding.

Is this affectionate enough for you?

I have always had pointers, and always will. In my younger years I had some good ones out of horseback shooting dog stock. A few had too much range for the foot hunter but some of them were very good about keeping in touch during the hunt. I currently have two dogs out of horseback shooting dog lines that will push out, but will also circle back. Both have horseback placements, so they are not shoe polishers, but I can hunt them succdessfully on a 40-50 acre preserve field. One is seven, the other is three and I ain't lost either one of them...yet. The seven year old is by Ch. Erin's War Creek and out of Brave Heart Cassie a winning grouse dog. He s 50# and he loves to be stroked. My 3 year old is a smallish female, also out of winning horseback shooting dogs and she is a little dynamo, but I simply cannot lose her in the field. She LOVES attention. She comes arunning to me in the yard and climbs into my lap on first call. She will push another dog out of the way to get to me. Her sire is Waybetter Rocky and dam is Steel City Karen, both open horseback shooting dog champions. My dogs are all outside dogs, but I am quite sure they would be even more attentive if they lived in the house.

That all being said, my brother in law riased and sold a passel of Brittanys that were good hunters and great companion dogs. Most were a bit close for my taste, but a lot of that was his training. They were bred to be dual dogs, show and field and they were prettygood hunters. One dog out of his kennel got into the hands of a horseback field trialer and they put an AKC field championship on him. There are some nice Brittanys out there and they generally have awesome personalities.

RayG

Dakotazeb wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:49 pm

Is this affectionate enough for you?

thumbnail_IMG_20180103_113343290.jpg

Definitely, and here I thought you were a young guy.

Sharon wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:51 am

Dakotazeb wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:49 pm

Is this affectionate enough for you?

thumbnail_IMG_20180103_113343290.jpg

Definitely, and here I thought you were a young guy.

Yup, 76 years young!

A Vizsla would be a good choice as per my wife!!! For warm weather and the affectionate nature to a fault… they don’t call them Velcro dogs for no reason! Range would be dependent upon bloodlines a few have more range as most are 250 or under!

Dakotazeb wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 04, 2023 9:38 am

oldbeek wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:31 pm

Brittany with a flat coat. I have a new Brittany male that could spend his whole life in your arms. My female is not near as affectionate. Both are 250 yard dogs but you can rain them in. Got my last dog from Kristy Goodall and all the dogs in that line are affectionate. Unfortunately this dog has a long curly coat but I love him to death. Excellent hunter at 6 months and so easy to train.

Kristy and Dean Goodall from "bleep", ND have some very good Brittanys. I've known them for years while running NSTRA in the Mid-North region.

It is amazing how their Brittany carry their same traits. Bug is super affectionate, easy to train, and heck on wheels, as is her daughter. My dog is out of the daughter and Boone from Utah. Super affectionate, super easy to train, hits point 50 yards off, heck on wheels, hunts independent at 6 months old, backs naturally every time, trained to heel in 2 sessions using a wonder lead, trained whoa by dropping lead while heeling, solid at whoa when throwing birds in his face. Only thing I didn't get was their small size .

I know all the excellent posts previously posted assume you know this , but as a reminder it's all in the breeding. I told you all about wonderful setters BUT still it's all in the breeding when assuming characteristics of a breed .

My first suggestion would be either a GSP or a Red Setter. But if I were to think long enough I'd probably come up with a Britt too. I have trained a number of them and they are very nice mostly. Not to much range and good companion's. Get it from gun dog breeding though. I've seen a good number of all aage Britts and the run in them turns me off. I think you could get them from show breeding and make out pretty well also. They used to be the one breed breeder's seemed to care about both ways and Britt club of America required a show at some of their yearly trials at one time. All other breed's I'd avoid show breeding like the plague. You might get a good one but IMO it would be pure luck. If you decided to go wwith a flusher, I'd take a real look at field Springer's. Had them years ago and they were super to hunt with and to watch TV with!

I've been making a lot of contacts around the country. In December, I was invited to join a guided group hunt where the guide was a breeder/trainer of Braque du Bourbonnais. In January, I went up to the SoCal NSTRA meet with Mitch Prowse (trainer) where I think I may have spoke to our member Oldbeek. This month, I've made some contacts with some GSP trainers/breeders in Missouri. One prospect sounds a bit bigger running than I'd prefer. Still looking. I may contact the Braque breeder again.

Not a dog I would want. Separation Anxiety is a common problem .
https://www.petful.com/breeds/breed-pro ... urbonnais/
https://usserviceanimals.org/blog/braqu ... -overview/

Still think you'd be happy with a Brittany.

Sharon wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 13, 2023 3:41 pm

Not a dog I would want. Separation Anxiety is a common problem.
https://www.petful.com/breeds/breed-pro ... urbonnais/
https://usserviceanimals.org/blog/braqu ... -overview/

Still think you'd be happy with a Brittany.

Sharon makes a good point. Putting aside Brittanys, it is worth considering that extremely obscure breeds are close enough to their roots to where you really don't know what problems might be imported from overseas. There is typically no health testing done on them-- certainly not for multiple generations -- and no hunt test background. The only people that have them are hard-core fans who are obviously extremely biased. Nothing wrong with that, but bias does lead one to overlook problems.

Some people do like unusual breeds. Me, too, to a degree. My last two breeds have been GWP and Gordon Setter, but while these are not as popular as some other breeds, my dogs had a long genetic history of health testing and success in various objective competitions. A genuinely obscure breed and relatively recent import would be a stretch too far for me. You might give it some thought.

I considered a Braque du Bourbonnais a number of years ago but never pulled the trigger. When I was living in Aberdeen, SD there was a guy that had one and I hunted with him one afternoon. His dog seemed like a good dog but one short hunt wasn't long enough to form an opinion. There is a gal in Lincoln, NE at Rufnit Kennels that has been breeding the Braque's for some time and appears very knowledgeable about the breed. She runs her dogs in NAVHDA.
https://rufnitkennels.com/

I find them to be an interesting breed. They look a lot like GSP's and are about the size of a Brittany.

I am in the same boat. 66 yoa with a 10 yr old Setter. She blew her ACL on the opener last year and may have just run her last full hunt in ND this past week. So I have been reluctantly thinking of the next dog. I almost settled on Pudelpointers, a great, strictly hunting breed that reportedly has a sweet disposition like a Setter. My hesitation is that as with all German dogs they were bred for hunting both fur and feather. Having hunted with a friend's GWP for years and dealt with repeated skunk and porcupine encounters (not to mention neighbors' cats) I didn't want to willingly go there. My ES totally ignores fur except for squirrels and rabbits in the yard. My son asked why Pudelpointers, and I said because they have a disposition like a Setter. He said why get a dog like a Setter instead of a Setter? He's hard to argue with, so now I am searching for our next Setter.

You might consider Pudelpointers. They get rave reviews. There's a breeder in AZ: Iron Rod Gun Dogs. Or you might consider an ES. I think they'd both meet your requirements.

Good luck.

Hopefully he has got a dog by now or gave up.
If not he is definitely over thinking it........Cj

LOL You are so good with words. Should have been a politician.

Yes folks, remember to always check the date of the original and last post in a thread. Some topics can be useful forever, but some shouldn't go past a couple months if it is a direct question.