Hunting dogs

RichardS · Post by **RichardS** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 7:41 pm

I am looking at getting another dog and have decided to go with a dog I could take hunting with me. I used to have a Weimeraner (sp.?) but he was strictly a house pet. As of now I have no breed preference and was looking for advice.

I am looking for a breed of dog to hunt upland bird primarly. I dont do any duck hunting so I wont need a retreiver.

I also wondered if any of you guys have dogs that will help track deer?

If anyone has some direction to point me towards regarding breeds that would be greatly appreciated.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 8:22 pm

This is such a loaded question...
I'd say first decide whether you want a flushing dog or a pointer.

Considering that you ask about deer as well, I'd say check out versatile
breeds - check NAVHDA - there's a chapter in ON - you can attend some
field trials and may be hunt with some members to see their dogs working.

And there's always personal preference for looks etc.
Keep in mind that working qualities, temper, brains etc is vastly
more important than looks, IMHO.

I suggest you do some reading.
dog forum on www.huntontario.com is a good place.

Good luck,
Leon

RichardS · Post by **RichardS** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:06 pm

Im not trying to start a whos dog is the best thread here, I just want a few opinions on some options.

As for looks, my Boxer has that covered

Thanks for the link!

Shakky · Post by **Shakky** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 10:00 pm

If it were me I'd take a hard look at a Springer.

ComfyBear · Post by **ComfyBear** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 11:06 pm

Springers are great dogs, especially for upland game. Regarding Weimaraners, properly trained they're a great hunting dog. My dad had one, and with little training she was adapted well to hunting.

The breed is several centuries old. A Weimaraner appeared in a Van Dyck painting of the early 1600's.

There are various theories as to its origin. Some feel it is the result of albinism that overtook some ancient German pointing dogs. Others feel it is descended from the German hound, the Braken. And still others feel it is the fruit of crossings overseen by Grand Duke Karl August of Weimar between a regular pointer and a certain yellow pointer.

The Weimaraner is a pointer and an all-around personal hunting dog. He was originally used to hunt, track and bring down big game. As big game became scarce, he was adapted to smaller game and upland birds. He also has a reputation as a fine water retriever, though he may need to be taught to swim. Weimaraners have been used as rescue dogs, service dogs for the disabled, and as police dogs in England and Germany. The breed was first imported to the United States in 1929 by Howard Knight who founded the U.S. breed club. Sesame Street often plays skits with this breed dressed up in human clothes.

Some of its talents include: hunting, tracking, retrieving, pointing, watchdogging, guarding, police work, search & rescue, and agility.

Link to more info:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/wei

http://www.webspawner.com/users/graghos ... araner.htm

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 11:22 pm

Many years ago we had English Setters. What a great bird dog and family pet they make!

Several years ago I was introduced to a Vizsla by a family friend who imported him from relatives in Eastern Europe.
This breed will do everything from pointing whitetails to retrieving waterfowl.

It will be the next breed of dog I'll raise.

ComfyBear · Post by **ComfyBear** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 11:57 pm

Yes Vizslas are nice dogs, they are of Hungarian orgin, look similiar to Weimaraners (but orange, instead of grey, in colour), and are also versatile hunters.

Red Label · Post by **Red Label** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 8:49 am

I really like the NAVHDA breeds, and I chose a Pudelpointer 5 few years ago. She's a very intelligent dog and easy to train. If you get one, buy one with a short coat! Mine has to get buzzed down before the season or she picks up every sticker in the woods.

www.Pudelpointer.org

That being said, I have hunted behind a few different springers (my brother-in-law's and RJ's) and they are an absolute pleasure to hunt with.

Whatever you choose, make sure you are buying from a guy who hunts, and sells to hunters. There are a lot of guys out there breeding dogs with only the bottom line $$$ in mind and they turn out some real airheads.

I'm not preaching to you but make sure you are at a point in your life to commit 14 years to your dog. No offense intended, but when you are 19, there are a lot of things in your life that can change to the detriment of your hunting dog.

R.J. · Post by **R.J.** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 11:31 am

Richard : I have had pointing and flushing dogs . I use to raise and train German short hair , and wire hair pointers . We use to do quite well in the Pheasant challenge competitions here in Ontario and even won the Missouri and Iowa Pheasant chamionships back in 1990 .

Along the way , I have always had at least 1 Springer Spaniel .

The long and short of it is ..... no matter what pointing breed you choose .... it takes alot more training and training maintenance for your average person to maintain a good pointer ..... a Springer Spaniel from good field lines , with good natural ability and the basic's of obedience training becomes an excellent hunting companion .

A Springer of good background and basic obedience will be a very serviceable hunting dog .....

My $0.02 ..... and I've owned and trained many dogs over the last 21 years .

Hi5 · Post by **Hi5** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 11:59 am

Any dog with a bit of a brain can be trained to follow a blood trail. The key is training. Some will do it instinctively with out special effort to train. The one I presently own would need to have training as she won't do it instinctively, although when she was younger she did show promise. Now that she is older she just doesn't care.

Be carefull of your game laws. Some jurisdictions don't allow you even to be accompanied by a dog when big game hunting. A warden applying common sense, however, if he found you unarmed, following a blood trail with a dog, would turn a blind eye. After all, you likely are legally required to make a genuine effort to retrieve wounded game and are subject to prosecution if you don't.

chris4570 · Post by **chris4570** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:15 pm

RichardS,

There are many good and versatile hunting breeds. Many will perform double/triple duty.There are quite often certain characteristics within a certain breed or even a certain line that will differ from each other. You can buy the best pointer (as an example) from the best lines, for the most money and still wind up with a dud. Some dogs that have been bred for high drive are wired all the time and without an outlet for this boundless energy they can be destructive, and annoying to watch pace back and forth all day, panting in anticipation of needing to do something. I mention this because I think a hunting dog should be also, and perhaps foremost, a family pet. That way if the hunting doesn't go according to plan you don't look at the dog as a waste of money or something to be left chained out back for the next ten years.

Labs, german shorthairs/wirehairs, vizlas, springers, english/gordon setters, wiemeraners, pudelpointers. Some breeds will require special grooming or shaving.

Then of course, regardless of the breed or it's ancestory, it will still need to be trained for the task/s you would like to use your dog for. A poorly/incompletely trained dog can be a real hazard to itself and offensive to other hunters. Like the dog that got away from it's owner yesterday morning, and wouldn't come back. Then there's the story of a retriever (not fully trained) was hunting along the atlantic coast. A duck was shot but not killed and glided/swam out, well the retriever was sent to go get the bird. The bird kept going and so did the dog. The dog was not trained to stop when commanded to do so.

ecoaster · Post by **ecoaster** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:37 pm

We've got a confused little gal. She's a beagle/english setter mix. Howls like a beagle and points on squirrels and birds. Never hunted with her (wife's orders

).

raydaughety · Post by **raydaughety** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:58 am

I had a lab that passed away a year ago. Her name was jose'. She was trained to track wounded deer quite by accident. At our hunting camp, we had a backhoe dig a hole about a hundred yards behing the camp and we dumped deer carcasses in it. Well one day about 6 years ago I killed a deer and stopped by the house to show it to Tyler. Jose jumped in the back of the truck and messed with the deer a little so I let her ride to the camp with me. After dressing the deer, I dragged the carcass to the hole. A few minutes later I saw jose, nose to the ground headed for the hole. When she got there, she sat down and started howling. So I got to thinking I might be onto something. The next day, jose and I were rideing around and when we passed the club house, a member was there cleaning a deer. I went into the camp, got a trashbag, and a deerleg dumped it into the gut bucket, put into the trash bag and took her to the woods. I left her in the truck, tied a rope around the blood soaked leg and dragged it about 200 yds into the woods zigzagging as I went and left it. Got back to the truck, turned Jose out and started walking down the road with her. When she got to where I had dragged the leg across the road she was nose to the ground and took off. I stood in the road for about 5 minutes, the could hear her barking. When I got to Her she was jumping up on me and looking at the leg. With alot of attagirls, We went home. The following Saturday my father in law shot a buck crossing a path but couldn't pinpoint where the deer was when he shot, nor could he find any blood. When we got to George, he said " He went in right here and pointed to a well used trail. Meanwhile, Jose kept going down the path and went in the woods about 75 yds from where George "thought" he shot the buck. A couple minutes later we heard her barking

. When we got to her she was sitting next to the buck as proud as she had killed it herself. From that day until her demise jose recovered 33 deer. The only problem was that word had gotten out about jose's ability and I was awakened many nights by hunters that couldn't find their deer. Sorry about the long storie.

Bigtime

peter p · Post by **peter p** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 1:35 pm

The Brittany Spaniel is also a good field dog and house pet. It is the only Spaniel that naturally points instead of flushing. I've had them and they will work all day for you and stay close. They are a calm dog with good temperment.
I've had german short haired pointers that were so high strung that when you took them hunting you didn't have to bring your gun. They would catch the pheasants, rabbits and grouse for you. One minute they would be chasing a rabbit, the next you would see her coming back with it in her mouth. If she was pointing on a pheasant and you gave her the word to flush, she would pounce on it trying to catch it and many times she did and these were wild pheasants not game farm birds.
I know have a lab and trained her on pheasants. There are still a few around the Humber river area where I lived in Etobicoke, in the fields and ravines. I take her rabbit hunting and will flush them and chase them but won't bark while doing so like the pointers or Spaniels do.
I think any dog will do what you want it to do as long as you get it from a breeder that sells hunting stock and is trained properly .
You just have to know what temperment you want in a dog.

GaryM · Post by **GaryM** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:54 pm

raydaughety wrote:I had a lab that passed away a year ago. Her name was jose'. She was trained to track wounded deer quite by accident. At our hunting camp, we had a backhoe dig a hole about a hundred yards behing the camp and we dumped deer carcasses in it. Well one day about 6 years ago I killed a deer and stopped by the house to show it to Tyler. Jose jumped in the back of the truck and messed with the deer a little so I let her ride to the camp with me. After dressing the deer, I dragged the carcass to the hole. A few minutes later I saw jose, nose to the ground headed for the hole. When she got there, she sat down and started howling. So I got to thinking I might be onto something. The next day, jose and I were rideing around and when we passed the club house, a member was there cleaning a deer. I went into the camp, got a trashbag, and a deerleg dumped it into the gut bucket, put into the trash bag and took her to the woods. I left her in the truck, tied a rope around the blood soaked leg and dragged it about 200 yds into the woods zigzagging as I went and left it. Got back to the truck, turned Jose out and started walking down the road with her. When she got to where I had dragged the leg across the road she was nose to the ground and took off. I stood in the road for about 5 minutes, the could hear her barking. When I got to Her she was jumping up on me and looking at the leg. With alot of attagirls, We went home. The following Saturday my father in law shot a buck crossing a path but couldn't pinpoint where the deer was when he shot, nor could he find any blood. When we got to George, he said " He went in right here and pointed to a well used trail. Meanwhile, Jose kept going down the path and went in the woods about 75 yds from where George "thought" he shot the buck. A couple minutes later we heard her barking . When we got to her she was sitting next to the buck as proud as she had killed it herself. From that day until her demise jose recovered 33 deer. The only problem was that word had gotten out about jose's ability and I was awakened many nights by hunters that couldn't find their deer. Sorry about the long storie.

Bigtime

Sorry heck! That was a great story! Also sorry to hear that Jose is now gone. I've always wanted a dog that would do what she could do, but unfortunately, the Gestapo here doesn't allow the use dogs to trail deer...wounded or otherwise.

I saw a hunting show out of Texas where a guy had a dog trained for following wounded deer. It was a hound dog os some sort. It had a radio transmitter collar, and the handler had a receiver. He put the dog on the trail and it sang until it found the deer. The handler had it trained to stop howling if the deer was dead, and howl differently if the deer was down but still alive. Worked like a charm in the heavy Texas cover. Enough deer are lost around here that if you charged a small fee to find a deer, the dog could probably pay its own way.