Q about German Shorthair

[high country]

man you sound like a drahthaar is up your alley. look at my mast posts in and you can see mine has hunted since she stopped nursing. I got her from lee root in omak. lee is a good guy to buy from and really loves his dogs. mine was the runt of the litter and is a little machine, can't imagine what the big males are like.

PS, I have had 1 gsp.....did not do water. I have had 3 labs, the lastone I would put up against any lab alive as a upland dog. my draht has way more legs and lungs and does not get as hot.

they are not cheap, but they are bred to hunt and hunt some more.

call lee and get on a list.

john greer does deserve a lot of respect too. I nearly went with him, but I chose a dog that was always a pointer instead of one that was iffy. (no flies on his dogs at all) by iffy, pointers have been bred to point for a very very long time. pl's are relativly new.


how big is your yard? I have a 5 acre fenced place and my dog hunts it all. I think if you had a little yard you ha better be able to spend some time working out energy with any pointer.

[zelda02]

Hey Yummy, Thought I would give you more food for thought. GSP is bred to hunt more ground then the pointing lab. They should retrieve from water as well. The GSP however was not bred to sit in a duck blind well. They should be more intent on finding the next prize then waiting for you to find and shoot it before they get their part in the great game of hunting. By covering more ground and having more energy than some other breeds they find alot of birds during an upland hunt. If you find yourself in a duck blind in the middle of the night more often then a crp field under the fall sky you should probably find a breed that ends in retriever. But if like to kill upland birds and jump shoot ducks or the occasional duck hunt a breed ending in pointer could be the call. I own GSP's and love the breed, have owned a couple of different bloodlines none of which are great at the duck blind sitting thing, all lines I have had do water fine. I have a male right now that does the dock dog thing and can swim as fast as any lab, all you see is a wake. How do you like to hunt??  Dogs are great.

[hornhunter]

I am a very lucky man ......and thats what it takes.  You have to be lucky enough to get the dog who is willing to do both.  If you would like to enhance your chances of gettting a waterfowling GSP GET A MALE.  My Shorthair sits in a blind (like a 6 year old kid) moving a bit.  BUT, in moderate cold weather, NOT freezing cold HE will sit there all day.  LOVES the water and LOVES to retrieve, has retrieved a half dozen geese from the water, swimming in his days and countless ducks.  He is almost 9 and has been in his prime for 6 years.  He maybe has lost half a step........I will probably never have a dog as goood again.  Sad to say but he is a pleasure to hunt behind.  I think he likes to chuker hunt the best, thars good because so do I!!   

PS- Pointing labs are a JOKE!  Dont fall for it.  About 20% of the labs out there can run all day long. And pointers pick up scent through the air, labs off the ground.  show me a lab that will honor and back a point for 5 min.  I will give you 100.00 right now!

Hows that for my first post!

[GermanShorthair]

I have a GSP and he is great in the field, but not so much for the water.  Also he does get cold kinda easily, but i have read about the german long hairs being both good pointers and retrieveres.  I don't know much about them but maybe a little research can tell ya alot.  Goog Luck

[scudmaster]

Tasty,

I like GSPs, but our dogs are indoor and would have to live with all that energy in the house, a bit too much for me.  I love my lab.  He does not range as far as a GSP on upland birds, but his mellow personality makes it easier to see the behavior change when he gets "birdy". 

To solve the pointing problem,  I have trained him to sit by whistle even when he is hot on birds.  When he gets too far out trailing birds, I blow a whistle and he will sit until I catch up then two peeps on the whistle and he goes again.  Works well for me.  He loves the water and even breaking ice he never seems to get too cold. The trade off for this is that the heat wears him out early in the season of upland.  Good luck there are a lot of good options out there.  With enough time and creativity in your training, you cant get it to work for your style of hunting.

Scud

[Intruder]

You're kinda in a tough spot.... you are really probably looking at making a comprise one way or the other.  As has been mentioned before, GSPs are a real good dog and while some do swim well you're really bucking decades of breeding if you're trying to turn 1 into a waterfowl dog.  Even then, they aren't really gonna tolerate the really cold temps like a retriever.  If you are really wanting to hunt waterfowl then I don't think you'd be very happy w/ a GSP. 

Kinda comes down to how much you value the pointing aspect.  If you're willing to go w/out a pointing field dog then your options for water use open up a lot.  You kinda need to prioritize your wants.... upland, pointing, waterfowl, cold weather, training, house manner, so on and so forth.  1 bit of advice that was given to me almost 30 years ago..... "remember, even if you hunt like crazy with the dog, it's gonna be a pet at least 90% of the time".  Don't under estimate that factor in your choice.     

[Rowdy]

My GSP is almost two and he is a GREAT house dog.  All dogs need to be taught manners and rules.  My dog does not get on the furniture, rarely begs, and goes to his bed when told.  I find it funny when I hear about how hyper GSP's are, outside yeah mine likes to go, he's got first gear and fifth gear.  It's how you choose to raise and train your dog that will be the deciding factor on how that dog acts in the home and field.  I have used my pup for waterfowl in december near the coast.  He was fine the whole day BUT we were jump shooting ducks constantly moving from slough to slough, the running in between spots kept him plenty warm and willing to swim for retrieves.  I would not use him for waterfowl in a situation where he would have to sit still after swimming at least late in the season.  It's all about preference, what do you hunt, how often do you hunt, and what style of dog you prefer.  I personally like more range(run) and lungs(endurance) for the chukar hills so a GSP fit my needs. 

Jake

[Yummy and Tasty Animal]

I'm going to go with a lab because I hunt ducks more than upland game.  I'm going to buy a pointing lab that's guaranteed to point (there is a trainer in Ellensburg who guarantees it), but even if he isn't a master pointer it's not that big of a deal because I'll be in a duck blind more often than out upland hunting.  Just having a dog that will retrieve stuff that I shoot would be a major plus because it is a pain in the ass to chase down wounded birds.  Especially pheasants...they run so damn fast...I think they run faster than I do haha.

[hornhunter]

good choice!