all around sporting dog (breed debate)

[-JR-]

Originally Posted by GSPhunter

Gsp

Great colours on him . Is the ticking just on his chest, please post more pics !

[heronfish]

I've put my name to an English setter pup.

Is there any reason these wouldn't be a good all arounder for upland birds and the occasional duck?

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[kiute]

Best all round hunting dog for Alberta - Labrador, but I have a French Brittany and always will because I hunt birds (95% upland) for only two months a year and the rest of the time my dog accompanies me when hiking, fishing, travelling and hanging around the house. Her smaller size is a great benefit in the truck and house. She has a people pleasing personality and this breed loves to hunt. Great at finding and pointing, retrieves upland birds, does not like retrieving ducks - yet. Geese would be an adventure.

[coachman]

For my style of hunting I would have to say English springer. I have owned and hunted labs and hunted over my buddies labs but they just don't have the nose. I do not hunt over water that much but most of my springers worked good there also. I had a Welsh Springer that did not do water at all and a pheasant would have to hit her on the head to get her attention but I never had a better dog for picking chickens out of a tree. I like the flushing dogs better than the pointers, but this is just the way I hunt.

[Bigwoodsman]

Looking for a multi-purpose dog, begs a few questions that you need to ask yourself.

How many days a field am I going to spend with the dog?

Do I want a large dog or a medium dog?

What kind of bird game am I going to be hunting?

Is this a family dog? or your hunting partner?

We have a Golden Retriever. Great dog, lots of instinct, will hunt hard all day long and she isn't a quitter. Now we got her when she was six never hunted, took her out and she took to it like she takes to water. Over a few days she picked up a lot on what I wanted and I learned a lot on what she was doing. We both had a great time chasing pheasants!

But she is our family pet and that is first and foremost. She is a momma's girl as she can boss mom around, she can also get her way with our daughter. She's a great pet and an OK hunting dog. She loves ice fishing, camping and riding around in the truck.

She's perfect for us. She has heart and gives 110 percent when hunting, she's hard to keep up to. But we both have fun, she get to sleep on the drive home.

I know they're are better trained hunting dogs out there, but I am happy with mine. Golden's are great dogs great with kids too.

Find a dog that fits your needs and you'll be very happy.

BW

[fish_e_o]

Originally Posted by Bigwoodsman

Looking for a multi-purpose dog, begs a few questions that you need to ask yourself.

How many days a field am I going to spend with the dog?

Do I want a large dog or a medium dog?

What kind of bird game am I going to be hunting?

Is this a family dog? or your hunting partner?

probably 30-50 bird days a year but i like spending training time with a dog too

i prefer a large dog

mostly geese but i frequent release sites from time to time

hopefully i don't get a family but accidents happen

[Kurt505]

Don't get one of these!

After a solid 10min of sniffing trees it was off to the cabin to relax while I was cutting wood!!!

[sns2]

Originally Posted by fish_e_o

probably 30-50 bird days a year but i like spending training time with a dog too

i prefer a large dog

mostly geese but i frequent release sites from time to time

hopefully i don't get a family but accidents happen

You've written a job description for a Black Lab.

[Redfrog]

Nuff said!!

[Jimmyd]

G.S.P All the way
My 2 Cents

[ward]

Originally Posted by fish_e_o

probably 30-50 bird days a year but i like spending training time with a dog too

i prefer a large dog

mostly geese but i frequent release sites from time to time

hopefully i don't get a family but accidents happen

Thirty to fifty days each fall tells me you are a dedicated Bird Hunter. Get a pointing dog for Upland and a Lab for Waterfowl. You can always spare them out when they wear down. Always a fresh dog.

[Big Grey Wolf]

If you have had a springer spaniel you would never go back to a black lab.

[h&t]

I have Small Munsterlanders.

This breed works for me

1. they hunt what I hunt - find and point birds, retrieve, swim, can blood track
2. great family dogs, good with kids
3. they're cute and sweet, so the wife loves them too
4. the size is good 40-50 lbs
5. they're relatively healthy, they are not yet ruined by indiscriminate breeding as some popular breeds, most NA stock is only few generations removed from German stock, which is rigorously controlled for working traits, conformation and health.

[ward]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

If you have had a springer spaniel you would never go back to a black lab.

Arguably the best Pheasant dog, but would you consider it an all-round dog ?

[happy honker]

My choc lab pulled teals and ducks out of the swamp all morning, flushed and retrieved partridge out of the thick stuff all afternoon, then slept and farted at the end of the bed all evening while my 7 year old used it as hisWrestlemania opponent.

That's all around enough for me.

[Pixel Shooter]

a lab can be versatile.
Can pic up the odd goose, atleast a two man limit of whites


can hunt a little cold weather in mid Dec


chase a bit of upland


and even pick up the odd little larger greys


or can be photo genic and a little focused

[Jadham]

I agree that a lab is a good all-round dog.

I don't know if it is "the best", but I do everything with mine, and if I was in BC, would feel comfortable using it to accompany for big game.

I prefer labs at the taller/larger end from dedicated hunting lines, one of mine is well above breed standard and he is great. He is middle aged and still learning new "tricks".... he is fetching fish at the end my line, so I can't take him along fishing at the C&R areas anymore.

[Big Grey Wolf]

My first springer would hunt everything, pheasants, ducks, geese, grouse, deer, moose, elk, bear. He would even chase cattle. Excellent family pet. I lost him to a cougar in the end.,

[FishHunterPro]

I've never owned a dog lol but I've been looking into it for a while and everything always points back to the black lab.

[Tactical Lever]

Originally Posted by Norwest Alta

Cheasapeake is what I'd be looking for.

They are quite the dog. Big, rugged, intelligent, and friendly. Maybe a bit hard headed, but a good dog for the outdoors.

[Tactical Lever]

Pit Bull

[tatonka2]

It depends on what you hunt the most, whether you like to hunt over a pointing breed, a flushing breed, or you mostly hunt waterfowl and your experience training a dog.

For someone who likes the pointing breeds, take your pick. A lot will depend on how far you like a dog to range, the coat, size, etc. There are a lot of breeds to chose from and assuming you go with an established, reputable breeder, you'll more than likely get a nice pup. I currently have a Llewellin Setter and he's a great dog both in the field and in the house, but he's a burr magnet. I keep him clipped down pretty short in the fall.

If you mostly hunt waterfowl, a Lab is tough to beat as far as trainability and getting the job done. Just be aware that there are a lot of labs out there with health problems, so it's very, very important to do your homework and find a breeder that has labs that are sound. They are the most popular breed in North American and everybody and their brother seems to be breeding them. I've never seen a breed shed more than a Lab. I have friends and relatives who have them and the dog hair in their house is unreal. Chessies have their followers as well, but this is not a breed for a beginner. I bred Chessies for many years. They develop much more slowly than a lab and can be a one person/one family dogs to the extreme.

If you prefer a Flushing breed, go with a Springer or an English Cocker from proven Field lines. They are hands down the best breeds if you primarily hunt pheasants. Yes, most other breeds will do an ok job on pheasants, but they are amateurs compared to what a well trained spaniel can do. I'm talking wild pheasants.....not pen raised/released pheasants. Shoot, I have a friend who hunts pheasants with a mutt...border collie cross of some sort and he does pretty well. I'm "dog watching" a friends Springer right now while he's in Mexico. Every year here they have a "Legends" weekend where retired NFL players come here and hunt pheasants. They divide up into teams and hunt with the local hunters. My friend participates every year. He told me last year he was with a team of 8 hunters that had his Springer and a Lab. In two days they shot 36 birds and his Springer found and retrieved every bird. I'm guessing the Lab was probably a couch potato.

[Newf]

OK Fish, theres over 50 replies to this thread now...you asked for a debate, and it looks like you got that so far.....everybody loves their breed for a reason.

Has any of the info swayed you either way? What are you thinking?

[Yaha Tinda]

Airedale.

[Pudelpointer]

Fish, you seem to already know what you need, but are wandering.

If you want to focus on geese, and have your dog retrieve them, then find a larger lab or Chesapeake. If you really want to have a versatile breed and focus on geese, the drahtaar is pretty much the only one with the appropriate coat and size to focus on big geese and crappy weather.

Most of the other "European" versatile breeds (Pudelpointer, Large Munsterlander, Griffon, German Witehair, German Shorthair, etc.) have been bred in North America to be smaller, and more specifically bred for upland use. These are generalizations and my opinion only.

My pudelpointers are 60lbs, and are fantastic hunters; solid pointers over upland game, retrievers of feather and fur, trackers of whatever you want to find, and will tackle a wounded goose without hesitation. I have also hunted my female over water on bitterly cold days (-18) with a neoprene vest. Busting ice is not an appropriate task for the breed, or any of the versatiles, IMO, except the aforementioned Drahtaar.

Having said that, a large Canada goose is a lot for a 60lb Pudelpointer to handle. They will retrieve them, but it is a bigger mouthful than they are bred to retrieve. I hunt geese opportunistically, and the dogs do admirably when sent to retrieve. However, were I to start spending >20 days a year pounding dark geese, I would find a big lab or Chesapeake.

Now, if we are talking snow geese, they are no problem for versatiles in the 40-65lb range, and quite manageable by even the smaller breeds (Small Musterlander, Brittany Spaniel, etc.).

If your hunting style was reversed, 50 days on upland, 1/2 as many in a duck blind, and 5 days in a goose spread, I would suggest that a lab or Chesapeake would be a poor choice.

However, I think another poster has given you the best advice of all: get one of each!

[GSPhunter]

Originally Posted by -JR-

Great colours on him . Is the ticking just on his chest, please post more pics !

Yeh she's mostly solid liver with roan on her underbelly and chest.

[tatonka2]

Originally Posted by ward

Arguably the best Pheasant dog, but would you consider it an all-round dog ?

Possibly the best all around dog is a Springer unless a person mostly hunts Geese and other ducks in cold weather and also wants a dog to track big game, or if a person prefers to hunt over a pointing dog. Having said that, I've used my Springers a couple of times to find deer I've shot. I currently have 7 Springers, but I mostly hunt pheasants.

A good dog can't be a bad breed. There are individuals within every breed that excel hunting many different kinds of game and there are also individuals within every breed that couldn't find diddly squat.

The bottom line is that regardless of the breed or what a person hunts, a dog has to be a good family companion as the vast majority of the time that's the role they will be playing...

[Digger]

Two or three more black Labs and I'll be dead

[jayquiver]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

Don't get one of these!

After a solid 10min of sniffing trees it was off to the cabin to relax while I was cutting wood!!!

that hilarious...pillow and all.

[ex811]

Just don't get this guy...
Likes his job a little too much.