Getting a Bird Dog - Talk Me Out of It!

I vote for getting the dog! They are tons of fun and will give you an excuse to go north for grouse and woodcock or west for pheasant, quail and other birds in the fall. The well bred bird dogs I have had in the past have been easy to train. I'm partial to German Shorthaired Pointers because of their drive, energy and versatility. They are a lot easier to train to retrieve as well. The one I have now is the best grouse dog I have ever owned and he is a natural retriever. I have owned setters and English pointers too. I loved my English pointers, but I didn't care for the maintenance on the setters. I was always dealing with burs and ice between their toes. I'd highly recommend finding someone who breeds dogs to do what you want (sounds like you have that covered). There are no guarantees with pups, but I haven't ever had a bad one from well bred parents. Of course, some will be better than others. All of the GSPs, pointers and setters I have owned were very loyal, loving and great with kids. The GSP I have now doesn't have an off switch, so he can be a lot in the house if he isn't worn out from hunting, but we knew that going in (breeder said he was their "wild child", but he fell asleep on my wife's lap and the rest is history).
 
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BassNTN said:
I haven't ever had a bad one from well bred parents.
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I've had a Springer that was loaded top and bottom with FC, AFC and CFC and it was just too much, he has so much drive he was impossible to deal with, at least for someone my age and experience. The breeder bought him back from me and he went to a shooting preserve in Texas.
I then looked for one with "cooler" blood and found one in Arkansas. This one has been great, a joy around the house and fun to train.
The first one wasn't "bad" but was a bad fit for me. So be sure to see the parents and know what you are getting, get references and call them.
 
I like the shorthairs also. Have had high bred and borderline mutts and can't say that one is better than the other. Have had a couple that were not great. Most of them are fine with kids but I wouldn't say the breed in general is. The group I currently have are a mix of everything you would want. I'm down to 3 from them growing g old and when I'm down to one I'll be looking for another pup or two.. as I get older I don't need the dog power I once did.
Be prepared, they shed, a lot.
 
At worst you will end up with another family member that will be a lot of good memories, the cost for keeping them if you use quality dog food will run over $100 a month, least ways ours always have. some bags of food are $100+ and depending on dog size might not last a month, vet visits a couple times a year $100-$200+ ,
 

Brittany puppies litter page with images of each puppy's face linked to individual puppy pages

Page displaying images of each pup's face, video links to YouTube, and showing availability. Each image is linked to individual pages displaying more images and individual puppy video links.
www.havencrestgundogs.com www.havencrestgundogs.com
This guy has 2 litters of brits on the ground. One for more pet and one with more drive. Located in Westmoreland. I was going down the same rabbit hole. His number is : six15633812four
 
david k. said:
My wife and I are both 62 and we are 100% dog lovers but after we had to put our Springer down a few years ago, we decided to stay dog-less going forward.

Our reasoning was primarily due to how owning a dog impacted our ability to travel on the spur of the moment...

And something else to think about would be the expenses associated with owning a dog, or dogs. Fortunately, this wouldn't have been an issue for us but if someone is tight on expenses already, they really should think about this. I'd estimate that over a dogs lifetime, the expenses are probably going to be somewhere close to $50 per month (or more) per dog for their food, tags, vet bills, etc.
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I believe I once heard a dog cost roughly $20k over the life of the dog.
 
Iglow said:
I had pointing dogs in the past and was completely obsessed with bird hunting when I was young, the end of wild birds in Tennessee kinda put an end to it with pointers( I couldn't afford game farms then) but now I've got a Springer for a more 50/50 bird hunting/ duck-dove hunting dog. We are gonna do the game farm pheasants and he's gonna be a retrieving sidekick. I went with a springer cause I can do both rather than a pointing breed, also I've learned that with a flushing breed, it has the same excitement of a pointing breed pointing but in a different way, my lil dog is going back and forth like a windshield wiper and when he smells a bird that little tail starts going a million miles an hour, then he rushes the bird and put it in the air!!! With both you know a ticking bomb of birds is fixing to go off but with the flusher it just ticks faster! That's the best I can think of to describe it.
I've always said I'd trade all the deer and turkeys in the world just to be able to bird hunt, there is no greater thrill in hunting than walking in on a pointing dog and no higher man/ dog partnership in hunting than bird hunting with a pointing breed imo.
I'd say if you're young and can afford it don't wait, do it while you can!!!
But understand, there are no wild birds to speak of in Tennessee anymore so it'll be a game farm thing unless you travel like your Uncle.
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I'd trade all the deer in TN for a 10-15 covey rise day like I grew up doing with Dad & friends. After the wild birds disappeared Dad took to training pointers with pen raised birds. Those dogs were mostly purchased by large land holders in Texas. A picture of one during training graced the cover of quail hunter magazine.

As much as I loved watching pointers work, the sound of a covey or a single flushing, I gave it up when all that was left was tamed (pen raised) birds. There's nothing that can ever replace the flush of a truly wild covey rise.

Yes, I'd most definitely trade every deer to be able to experience that once again.
 
Browning65 said:
I'd trade all the deer in TN for a 10-15 covey rise day like I grew up doing with Dad & friends. After the wild birds disappeared Dad took to training pointers with pen raised birds. Those dogs were mostly purchased by large land holders in Texas. A picture of one during training graced the cover of quail hunter magazine.

As much as I loved watching pointers work, the sound of a covey or a single flushing, I gave it up when all that was left was tamed (pen raised) birds. There's nothing that can ever replace the flush of a truly wild covey rise.

Yes, I'd most definitely trade every deer to be able to experience that once again.
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Well said sir, even the best pen birds just aren't the same. Ruffed grouse is only thing I like better than quail. Few and far between as well here.
 
I got yelled at a lot for shooting at them when rabbit hunting. I just couldn't resist 🤣 , it would take a few minutes for the beagles to stop being birdy 😝 a 12 year old kid and his stevens 20g didn't hurt the population any .
 

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