Do you always stay with the same breed?

[Steve007]

Let us assume that if you are going to be a serious breeder, you must fully immerse yourself in an individual breed over many years and genuinely study one specific breed. I have been there myself. Famous business consultant Peter Drucker observed that "Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission." And that's how you're going have to be if you want to seriously improve the breed.

But let's put that aside. Let's assume that you're not a hard-core breeder or that life changes have forced you to go in a different direction. Do you always stay with the same breed? Life is long if we get lucky, and even if you only have one or two dogs at a time, that adds up to a fair number. Why do you stay with the same breed? Or do you? It is easy to say "breed x is the best and that's all there is to it," but you know that's not true. Of course, I say that as a man who was single for 33 years as an adult, so I may be a little inclined towards broadening my scope. But honestly, there's a lot to be said for a variance, both in the breed and maybe in the activity that you do with that breed.

Among bird dogs, I have only had two breeds (Gordon Setter and GWP), but each of my four dogs came from different lines and were suited to do different things. Previous to that when I was a serious breeder, I had two different breeds as well but not bird dogs.

A new dog is an adventure, and it may be that a different breed is a special adventure. What do you think?

[cjhills]

Personally, I stayed with one breed. It was not because I thought it was the best. I would have really liked to breed other breeds. One for sure would have been Springers. But it is so difficult to breed really good dogs that one breed is about all a person can handle.
Most breeders just give up when they find out how difficult it really is and that all the great litters we produce are not so great. Also most all of the information we got from older breeders was wrong.
Just when you think you have it all figured out a puppy or two from your great line breeding comes a long and bites you in the butt. You have to start all over. Or your great stud dog that you have invested thousands of dollars in has genetic issues that are not going away. He gets the big N and has a happy life as a family pet/ bird dog.
Most of the breeders on here who disagreed with me on almost everything have moved on to some other line of work. I never gave up and always tried to breed better bird dogs, but time runs out and legs can't make the miles they once did. I have 2 very nice females, just passed on breeding this year.
Might breed our longhaired Mini Dachshund. She looks like a Gordon and retrieves like a Lab. Don't point worth a hoot though. Can't imagine anything more fun than litter of weiner dog puppies. It is all good..........Cj
PS: There was a time when I would have gualified as the above mentioned monomaniac.

[deseeker]

I was mainly a pheasant hunter. I started out with Springers. I had 3 of them. I decided I wanted to switch to a pointing breed, so in 1988 I got into Brittanys. Since then I have owned 13 Britts and had 25 litters of pups. My Britts have all now passed on and I can no longer walk more than 200 yards before my back makes me quit hunting . I might switch to duck & goose hunting(don't have to walk doing that), in which case a lab might be in my future. If I could still walk the CRP, I'd still have Britts. But I did train an Irish Setter for a friend and I have another hunting buddy that hunts an Irish which I really like--If I was young enough for a different breed, I wouldn't mind trying an Irish Setter.

[MNTonester]

1st, a Springer Spaniel
2nd, a black Lab
3rd, a Standard Poodle

so, no, haven't stayed with the same breed. Loved all three of them and all were/are decent hunters and sweethearts as pets (the Springer was the best hunter, which is not to take away from the abilities of the other two)

[gonehuntin']

I guess I've owned a ton of breeds, from hounds to DD's which I have now. I have no favorites. It depends on what game I'm intrigued hunting. I've run bassets and beagles on bunnies, walkers on fox and coyote, blue tick on coon, Lab's on waterfowl, Setters on grouse and DD's on all birds. Since I hunt upland and waterfowl now, I'm guess for the last few years God may grant me, I'll stick with the DD.

[Sharon]

1st, beagles
2nd, Jack Russells (for " go - to -ground " trials )
3rd, 2 GSPs
4th , 2 setters... had one litter of 7 pups. All were sold before they were born. One (a runt) was unwanted by the guy so I kept the runt.... close to being an AF Ontario champion. Ran out of cash.

Couldn't possibly say which one I preferred. Enjoyed all of them.

Advice for families: Don't get a Jack Russell because they are cute. They require an experience dog person. More JRTs end up at the humane society than any other breed.

[Steve007]

Might breed our longhaired Mini Dachshund. She looks like a Gordon and retrieves like a Lab. Don't point worth a hoot though

At the risk of hijacking my own thread, there has been many a time when my fine pointing dog has nailed a bird in a briar thicket or amidst brambles and I had to personally go in and dig the bird out, frequently missing the shot because I was getting stuck by thorns. At such times, I wished I had a Miniature Wirehaired Dachshund to go in and get the bird up. You hear of the mule-drawn quail hunting plantations of the South and the combination of Pointer and Labrador. But the heck with that. My dogs retrieve very well. But I could sure use a little Dachshund on occasion.

[RayGubernat]

Put me down as a one breed dog owner. I have had pointers since I was a teenager. They always did what I needed them to do in the field, pretty much the way I wanted them to do it. I grew up hunting over fiercely independent dogs that were driven to find birds and that is what pointers have always done for me, so I stuck with the breed. I hunted over plenty of shorthairs and brittanys, and while they were often very nice and capable dogs, they just did not have what it took to get me to switch. I have always enjoyed watching different dogs do their thing, both in the hunting fields and at field trials. I kinda like to watch different breeds of dogs do what they do, each a little differently, especially when they do it well.

As a young man I was a hard hunter who went out at sunup, came in for lunch and went back out until the shadows lengthened and I wanted a dog that hunted the same way. Pointers did that. Some were an absolute handful in the field and not a lot of fun to hunt behind, but they too learned that they were not the only ones out there that did not know the meaning of the word QUIT. We came to a meeting of the minds eventually.

The funny thing is that, over the years, the pointer breed has itself changed. The infusion of Elhew blood has dialed down some of that fierce independence and mental toughness, infusing a level of trainability and desire to please, while retaining much of the breed's burning desire to find birds. My current dogs actually WANT to be with me almost as much as they want to find birds.

Now, to be clear, as in previous years, my dogs are from the very best horseback shooting/all age dog parentage that I can find. I can run both of my current dogs off horseback and be confident that they will be with me at the end of the brace. I can also be confident that if I am walking behind them with a shotgun in a preserve field or on a state managed WMA that they will come back around to keep me in the hunt with them.

As I have slowed down myself, I have come to appreciate the change.

RayG

[CDN_Cocker]

I've never owned any breed of dog twice but I'm relatively new to bird dogs. My cocker is 10 now and he was my first. I also now have a SM pup. I chose her because I like how her mother hunts (I hunt over her quite a bit) and from my limited experience around a couple SMs they had an off switch that my cocker at 10 still has never been able to develop. Stella, the pup, is 7 months old now and has settled into being a house dog fantastically - something my cocker still can't do. But at this point also doesn't have the drive and style he did at that young age. I am excited to see her progress and she may end up being a better bird dog, who knows. I think if my first cocker would've had that off switch, they would probably be the one breed I stuck with. I love how he hunts. But 10 years with a hyperactive dog that can't just chill tends to leave a bad taste in your mouth... and the wife's!

[BigTub]

Yes. American Brittany.

[marysburg]

The first dogs we hunted with were a Golden Retriever followed by two Brittanies. Then came a Lab, and another Britt. All great dogs. Just for a change, we got a GSP, and really liked her too. I ran all our pointing dogs in the NAVHDA system. Then as we got a little older, we changed to FBESS, and now we have 3 of them. All our dogs have been fun to hunt with, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. We usually have 3 or 4 at a time...a youngster in training, one or two finished gundogs in their prime, and a geriatric who gets light work. We probably have bought our last gundog, and we will slide into retirement from the field with her in another 8 to 10 years. I should have started all this when I was 20........

[Steve007]

we changed to FBESS, I should have started all this when I was 20........

FBESS? French Brittany English Springer Spaniel? What am I missing here? And when you were 20, you were focused on girls.

[Sharon]

I think it was boys she was interested in. Always nice to hear from you friend.

[cjhills]

we changed to FBESS, I should have started all this when I was 20........

FBESS? French Brittany English Springer Spaniel? What am I missing here? And when you were 20, you were focused on girls.

Field Bred English Springer Spaniels........Cj

[Steve007]

I think it was boys she was interested in. Always nice to hear from you friend.

Oh, yeah. I should have remembered that. My error.

[Willie T]

I’m not breed blind. Grew up quail hunting with our EP’s and two of my uncles ran Brittany’s. In the years there were a lot of birds the EP’s worked close. In years with low numbers the Ferrari came out and they ran big. The Brittanys worked close and were 200 yard dogs. The Brits were by far the better house dogs.
My long time hunting buddy runs GSPs. His dogs live in the house. They are laid back indoors and with other dogs. They will run big.
If you do your homework you can find what you want in a Brit or gsp. Both are very popular as quail dogs here in Texas, along with EP’s. There is a lot of variation between lines. Hunting big country out of side by sides is popular here. The preferred dogs run like the dogs you want for horseback trials. For what you are looking for, I would start with kennels producing dogs favored by grouse hunters.
I run pudelpointers for upland, waterfowling, and tracking dogs. They make great house dogs but not what you are looking for. Their sharpness on fur makes trash breaking them a PIA. Gonehunting likely knows something about that with his DD’s.

Y’all have a good discussion going. I am not a breeder but truly admire what the top breeders do. A general comment regarding breeders goals to improve a breed. After hunting behind lots of bird dogs for a little over five decades, a really exceptional bird dog is much the same as it was 50 years ago. Where I see improvement within a breed, is when the gap from top to bottom within a litter is consistently much smaller. The breeders that accomplish that are not as common as one might think. Their dogs are usually in high demand.
Willie

[clbrown23]

I'm new to forum, for me it has depended on what I am planning on doing with the dog. I have had labs in the past, and hunted mostly pheasants and a little chukar. But where I am there is more opportunity for chukars and better populations. So my next dog (picking him up on the 27th of this month) will be a German Wirehaired Pointer. In my limited experience, I believe pointers make a superior chukar hunting dog than a flusher, mostly due to their wide ranging distance that doesn't require me the hunter to be in close range to them while they are locating birds like a flusher does.

[Chemist]

I am open to other breeds, but will likely have the same breed until I move to another region. I had other breeds when I was younger which were not hunting dogs. A relative a mile down the road from me ran English Setters. I really liked the dogs but the after care of the hair after a hunt was not something I wanted to do.

I currently have 2 GSP. They have the quality of low coat maintenance and are a pointing breed which were two things I wanted. The truth is that I personally wanted a wire hair in part because of their reputation for being calmer in the house, and also for a little better cold tolerance than what I have now. But as a compromise I told my other half that she could pick any pointing breed that we could find from field bred stock. I like that I can check their eyes, ears, feet and give their coat a quick check on the tail gate before putting them in the dog box. When I get home I just have to feed them before we both pass out on the couch. What I don't like is that they seem more vulnerable to getting lacerations than the long haired dogs I have hunted with and that they get cold pretty easily if they get wet and stop moving.

When it comes time for the next dog, another GSP is likely but not a sure thing. I like the slick coat, easy maintenance and heat tolerance for early season. I will likely opt for a breed with short hair.
I know there are extremely good visla and weims out there, but I think finding a field bred one for a low price is more difficult. Weims also tend to be larger than I personally want. I would really like to try an English Pointer but there are not many breeders of EP in this area. Once a dog enters my house it will be my house dog for its life so getting to interact with the parents is important to me. I have the ability to watch several GSP parents work within a 3 hour radius of me. It would not guarantee the puppy I buy has the characteristics I want, but would increase the odds. I think it is a case of popularity drives an increase in popularity.

I think my ideal dog would be the size of a French Brit with the coat of a gsp, long 12 oclock tail of an EP, house manners of a lab and can run 30 miles a day. If anybody knows of a runt GSP with a tail that hasn't been docked and a calm disposition let me know.