Pointing Dogs? Anybody train them....

[WRL]

Well.....I've owned Pointer, Setters and worked Brittanies and GSP/Wirehaired Pointers.

Wirehaired Pointers are ugly. But for a amateur wanting a good hunting dog, they are a good prospect.

Beware of GSP. MOST are bred for FTs and if you want to foot hunt behind your dog forget about it. They are BIG running dogs that you will most like need a 4-wheeler to hunt behind.

Setters are sweet, most are bred for the foot hunter. But make sure you watch pedigrees. If you are gonna hunt on foot, you want a pedigree that reflects that.

I love the Pointers. They are exuberant, excitable beautiful dogs. Lack of coat sucks in cold climates. Like with the Setters, check the pedigree for foot hunting dogs.

I currently have 3 pointers and just had a setter pass away.

I will go the path of the Setter next time. I live in a colder climate and the coat is a necessary evil.

WRL

[Pudelpointer]

I ran retriever trials in the late 80' and early 90's. After that I always had a lab or two as hunting dogs. A few years ago my son wanted a pointing dog and I started to do some research and decided on a Pudelpointer. This is not a designer breed, they are hard core working dogs that were developed in Germany in the late 1800's. Out of all the pointing breeds, they tend to be the most natural retrievers, which is important to me. I now have two, a 4 year old male and a 6 mo old female. The male is the best dog that I have ever owned, hands down and the female shows great promise. My male likes to retrieve more than any lab I have ever owned, and I had one or two good labs over the years with all age FT points. If you are interested in more info please PM me and I will help you in anyway that I can. There is a group of breeders called the Pudelpointer Alliance, they have done a great job with this breed. They only breed those dogs that are worthy with strict working criteria, and will only sell puppies to hard core hunters. They have also kept the breed from AKC registration to keep it pure and out of the hands of the masses. They are registered with NAVHDA, American Field and the UKC.

[pupaloo]

That Pointer is a beautiful dog, WRL!

[BuddyJ]

Thanks for all the info so far. What are your thoughts on a Llewellin Setter? Anyone else want to recommend some training material?

A lew is a very nice choice and are usually very easy to train, what part of the world are you located in?

[achiro]

Breed and breeding selection would really depend on your area and the type of terrain you hunt. Any recommendations up to that info from you are premature.
I owned Llewelyns in NW Oklahoma and they worked great for my type of hunting. Smaller areas, creek bottoms, fence rows, and wind breaks on 160 or less were my most common areas. When I hunted big land I went with friends who had English pointers. My dogs were a great compliment to the group in those situations.
Anyway, let us know the type of hunting you willbe doing.

[labman63]

Yep trained them for 20 yrs. Setter and pointers both. One of the finiest gun dogs I ever walked behind was a 2 time Nat Ch horseback FT big running fool that was smart enough to know it was time to hunt and you were not on a horse,turned into a meat dog for the day. Had some mighy good FT setters that would hunt all day with you too. As for those "other" pointing dogs...real pointing dogs have long tails

[Paul "Happy" Gilmore]

What? Stay away from English Pointers? Big running scatter brains? How can you say that about my little girl Gracie...



I'd spend time writing a long rebuttal to your evaluation after having Gracie for 11 years and running NSTRA with her but I have to jump on the quad and go chase her down....



/Paul

closet pitbull owner

[Becky Mills]

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Stay away from 'em. They'll be a bad influence on your retriever.

[Hunt'EmUp]

A training buddy of mine has a L. Setter in for training right now, she's all of 3 mts old, she's in for canine socialization and birds for a few weeks. She is really into birds, and already pointing, they're puppy working on waoh, and since her training partner a 4 mt. old field lab, she picking up them up as well. Very smart little pup, a bit of a trouble maker as only a smart little girl can be. I bet they're going to be glad they got to work with her early .

[KRD]

A lew is a very nice choice and are usually very easy to train, what part of the world are you located in?

Western, KY