Brittany people

[ROTTnBRITT]

Curious to know how other peoples brittanys are in regards to being hyper.
I've heard that they can be pretty hyper as a inside dog. I read something once that said " if you see footprints on a persons ceiling then you know they have a Brittany"

One of my friends just got a GSP pup and she is crazy compared to my britt.

[kninebirddog]

It is all in how you allow them to be.
If you give attention to that cute little pup when it is in a hyper state of mind ..then it will grow up to be hyper...If you wait to give that excited hyper pup attention when it calms down then the pup learns being calm is how to get attention

[V-John]

It is all in how you allow them to be.
If you give attention to that cute little pup when it is in a hyper state of mind ..then it will grow up to be hyper...If you wait to give that excited hyper pup attention when it calms down then the pup learns being calm is how to get attention

Excellent post!

[Ruffshooter]

Yep +3;
Got three in the house. Not hyper until it is time to go out or for a ride, then they settle right in again. I do rough house with them but when I say enough they know it is time to stop and settle down. Most times the excitement in my house is when I get home. Plus the other three, mutt and two GSP.

[hosejockey2935]

I agree with Ruff! Mine are always excited when I get home too! There seems to be a time and place for it, most of the time they get excited, but then calm down to the situation pretty fast. My older male is pretty laid back now, but he will be 4 next week. The new pup who is 9 months will run circles around him. However, she is finally starting to understand the concept of relaxing on the couch now.

The thing that I notice is that she has alot more "drive and spark" and (sometimes stubborness) than he ever did as a pup. I am thinking that the hunting lines and female nature both contribute to that. I don't think that they are any worse or better than the GSP's, Labs, Golden Retrivers, etc. The best way to say it is they are an active dog, meaning they need to walk, run, excercise, etc.
If you want docile, get a kitten
~tommy

[Redfishkilla]

I have one brittany who can be hyper before we go run or play, to be expected. They can get restless without exercise but in general they’ll lie down after a few minutes in the house. When I get up early and but on my hunting pants and shoes, I have to load them up early because they annoy me with there enthusiasm for hunting.

My new pup, 14 months now, comes with a switch. I don’t know how they breed them this way but she is a terror, in a great way, in the field and a soft sweetie in the house. I know the individual dog means way more than breed generalizations, but if you’d like to see a hyper dog go see a pointer or GSP that doesn’t get exercise.

[brad27]

but if you’d like to see a hyper dog go see a pointer or GSP that doesn’t get exercise.

or even one that does.

[jetjockey]

My pup is great in the house, with enough excercise. If she doesn't get out at least once a week, she can get pretty hyper. As long as I hunt her, or road her, she's fine. Its funny that this post comes up. Before my wife and I got our pup she had some patient's who were warning her about how wild and crazy brittany's were. It was bad enough that my wife was a little leary about getting one. However, now I have to fight my wife for "my" pup. My wife thinks our brit is her "cuddle bug" and I think shes my hunting buddy. Not a bad situation to be in. My pup is from field trial lines as well, and spends 6 months of the year training and running on the field trial circuit. Thats why I laugh when people say all FT dogs are too hyper to be good house dogs as well. As long as you excercise them, almost every brit I have seen make good house dogs. However, there is always the exception to the rule.

A funny story happened last fall. My family came down to stay with us. My Dad and Brother wanted to go quail hunting one morning. They had seen how well behaved our pup was in the house, until we started getting ready to go hunting. When we started loading stuff into my truck my brit went absolutely crazy. I seriously thought she was going to destroy our house. She was running around, yapping, barking, jumping, etc. I really thought she had been possesed. The fact that she wasn't loaded up in the truck and she thought we were leaving her was killing her. I laughed, and opened the front door of the house. That dog hit that door at a million miles and hour, ran straight to my truck, jumped in the passenger seat, and didn't move! All the doors were open, she could have ran anywhere, but she layed down and just sat their. It was absolutely hilarious. She was so put out when we moved her from "her" seat, to the crate in the back. But she knew what we were doing, and she was going with us come heck or high water... I love that Dog!

[slistoe]

No footprints on the ceiling around here.

[britspan]

My 11 month old brittany still gets in hyper in the house every now and then. Probably because I still gave her attention when she got hyper as a pup because I figured a pup will be a pup, but now I'm eating my own words. How would you guys punish/fix this? I've tried totally ignoring her when she does happen to get hyper and it has helped a little.

[kninebirddog]

My 11 month old brittany still gets in hyper in the house every now and then. Probably because I still gave her attention when she got hyper as a pup because I figured a pup will be a pup, but now I'm eating my own words. How would you guys punish/fix this? I've tried totally ignoring her when she does happen to get hyper and it has helped a little.

You have kinda answered your own question. Key thing is You have to now undo what you allowed so it will take a little extra time to create a new habit. Be constant in your new way and he pup will eventually stop testing as long as you remain consistent if you allow one little slip expect he pup to test again

[Chukar12]

Britspan,

Please don't take this as patronizing, but what does hyper mean? Is the dog jumping on you or the furniture? Doing the hot lap thing? Sporting dogs by nature are high energy and in my opinion in need of copius excercise before any other discussion, however, with that said...

I believe a good companion and frankly most superior performance dogs learn early on about restrictions. Dogs or people for that matter learn nothing useful without accepting restrictions and change. A good point of reference are the Huntsmith videos where you watch Rick and Ronnie describe the important attributes of the chain gang and early table work. On the chain the dog learns to restricted and is not released until it shows the desired manners, on the table the puppy learns to stand still when touched.

I have three of my dogs in the house, when the door is opened they wait until they hear the word bed and then they go lay on their designated dog bed in their designated corner. It did not happen over night, I used some positive techniques early on such as clicker training to get then to go to the bed, if you google Gary Wilkes it will explain the use of the clicker. Please don't mistake this for gun dog training but if you shape the right behaviors at home it makes it transferable to the field. Most of us have an initial inclination to rough house and reward behavior in puppies that becomes a problem in older dogs. It takes discipline and consistency to avoid it to begin with as the heavy compulsion it takes to get rid of "hyper" later ... well nobody enjoys that.

[gittrdonebritts]

From my point of view not saying anyone here is guilty of this but a lot of people that I know who have sporting breeds as pets often use hyper as an excuse for them not properly training them and making the dog understand that it is not the pack leader and must listen to you its master.

[Britguy1]

I have 2 Brittany's at home. One is 10 years old and has been the best housedog you could ever want. Even when he was young he never caused any problems if he got his exercise. Now I have a 16 month old out of Field Trial lines and he has proven to be a very good house dog too. He definitely needs more time to burn off his energy but never is "hyper". Neither dog has ever chewed anything up of destroyed anything real valuable. The younger one learned his lesson early by biting on a computer cord. Never has touched anything since. Brittany's are great pets and house dogs. I'd refer the breed anytime.

[kninebirddog]

From my point of view not saying anyone here is guilty of this but a lot of people that I know who have sporting breeds as pets often use hyper as an excuse for them not properly training them and making the dog understand that it is not the pack leader and must listen to you its master.

This is worth a repeat

[AzDoggin]

From my point of view not saying anyone here is guilty of this but a lot of people that I know who have sporting breeds as pets often use hyper as an excuse for them not properly training them and making the dog understand that it is not the pack leader and must listen to you its master.

Oh, I agree, but also think you have to have a certain amount of knowledge to view the situation from this perspective. The Britt I raised and trained when I was in my 20's could indeed be described as "hyper" at times (I called her my 'helicopter dog' because she would jump in the air and turn 360's when she was excited - which was ALOT). I didn't know any better at the time, and just thought she needed alot of excercise which she did, but that wasn't all she needed. She was a heck of a hunter and could run all day long, and still beg for more when home in the back yard. I'll also say that her behavior had nothing to do with her being a Britt - had more to do with me being clueless. Had I known better, I would have trained her to be more civilized around the yard - so I'm not making excuses other than for ignorance on my part.

My next dog will be socialized and trained for "calm" behavior and now I know what to do and how to do it. I think those Huntsmith Puppy Development DVD's are amazing in the amount of detail they give in terms of training a very young pup to be calm and to accept restriction and direction. In fact, I'll bet a person could use those very same methods on an adult dog in training a little more self control.

Cesar Millan has the formula, IMO. In order of priority for a dog to be a good citizen, s/he needs:

1. Exercise
2. Rules, boundaries, limitations
3. Affection

[ROTTnBRITT]

I have only one brittany, and he is my first. His actions sound to be that same as everyone else. Really well behaved in the house but when Im putting on my hunting clothes he get crazy.

[hosejockey2935]

However, now I have to fight my wife for "my" pup. My wife thinks our brit is her "cuddle bug" and I think shes my hunting buddy. Not a bad situation to be in.

Sounds all to familiar! Glad I'm not the only one with this "problem"

[jarbo03]

I have had 3 britts and all of them were the most chilled and calm dogs I have ever hunted with, my current britt is the best dog I have been around when it comes to chillin in a duck blind. All of them were dogs that my family bred and were from the same bloodlines.

[barthowes]

my four year old britt Sue was very hyper when we got her two years ago. We tried not to give her too much attention till she was calm. now shes so calm she's a lap dog most of the time or layin on the couch next to me. It's all how you raise them.

[3Britts]

However, now I have to fight my wife for "my" pup. My wife thinks our brit is her "cuddle bug" and I think shes my hunting buddy. Not a bad situation to be in.

Sounds all to familiar! Glad I'm not the only one with this "problem"

Sounds like you each need another pup. As it just so happens, I have three females at four weeks still needing homes.

Each dog will be who it is, hyper or not. Most grow out of it after a few years if they are hyper. But a shorthair in the house, really.

[jetjockey]

However, now I have to fight my wife for "my" pup. My wife thinks our brit is her "cuddle bug" and I think shes my hunting buddy. Not a bad situation to be in.

Sounds all to familiar! Glad I'm not the only one with this "problem"

Sounds like you each need another pup. As it just so happens, I have three females at four weeks still needing homes.

Each dog will be who it is, hyper or not. Most grow out of it after a few years if they are hyper. But a shorthair in the house, really.

"bleep".. You beat me too it. We are planning on breeding our pup in a year or so. Can't wait to have some puppy's around the house.......... BTW.. I think Im going to let my wife pick out the next one too. To say she picked out a good one the first time would be an understatement.. I guess that means we're going to be arguing over that one too.

[A/C Guy]

..
A funny story happened last fall. My family came down to stay with us. My Dad and Brother wanted to go quail hunting one morning. They had seen how well behaved our pup was in the house, until we started getting ready to go hunting. When we started loading stuff into my truck my brit went absolutely crazy. I seriously thought she was going to destroy our house. She was running around, yapping, barking, jumping, etc. I really thought she had been possesed. The fact that she wasn't loaded up in the truck and she thought we were leaving her was killing her. I laughed, and opened the front door of the house. That dog hit that door at a million miles and hour, ran straight to my truck, jumped in the passenger seat, and didn't move! All the doors were open, she could have ran anywhere, but she layed down and just sat their. It was absolutely hilarious. She was so put out when we moved her from "her" seat, to the crate in the back. But she knew what we were doing, and she was going with us come heck or high water... I love that Dog!

Our Britts are like that; minus the barking and yapping. They start running around the house when they see me pick up any hunting gear. Then they charge to the Jeep and wait impatiently to go. The only time that our Britts ever got cabin fever was when we were in our motorhome and it rained for 3 days straight. I didn't feel like getting all wet and muddy, so I just took a 3 day siesta. By the time the 4th day came, they had so much pent up energy, they were about to explode. Took them out the 4th morning and they ran full speed for about 25 minutes, then everything was back to normal. No foot prints on our ceiling either.

[A/C Guy]

My 11 month old brittany still gets in hyper in the house every now and then. Probably because I still gave her attention when she got hyper as a pup because I figured a pup will be a pup, but now I'm eating my own words. How would you guys punish/fix this? I've tried totally ignoring her when she does happen to get hyper and it has helped a little.

When a puppy is hyper or is barking to get out of a pen, you should not respond to them until they are calm. By the time our puppies go to their new homes, most of them know to not jump on the side of the pen if they want to get picked up. If they are jumping, we pick up the one that isn't jumping. They quickly learn that jumping and barking get ignored and calm behavior gets the attention and reward. To undo what you have done, you will need to firmly make the dog stay still when she gets hyper. Initially, make her stay still for 5 seconds. Then 10 seconds, then 15 seconds, etc. In a week or so, she will understand and you will be able to stop her from being hyper in the house. Be sure to praise her when she does stay still for those few seconds.

[Birddogz]

My Britts are so bad about freaking out when I put my hunting clothes on, that I load them before I even put them on. In the house they are couch potatoes, unless they feel there is an opportunity for a food heist. Crafty little devils.

[3Britts]

My Britts are so bad about freaking out when I put my hunting clothes on, that I load them before I even put them on. In the house they are couch potatoes, unless they feel there is an opportunity for a food heist. Crafty little devils.

I understand that. We have banned the word "hunt" in any form until I am ready to walk out the door or my dogs get too hyper.

[ezzy333]

I said something about my gun to my wife and Rush about hit the walls. Amazing how smart they are when it is something they are wanting to do.

Ezzy

[Birddogz]

I ssed to try to fool them by loading my truck where they couldn't see me. When I would come in to make sure that I didn't forget something, they would be jumping, howling, and spinning in circles. I have no idea how they knew. The only thing I can figure is that they either smelled me moving hunting clothes, or smelled the excitement on my own skin.

[north country guy]

Mine Are PERFECT :roll: Love em Just The Way They Are

[ezzy333]

I ssed to try to fool them by loading my truck where they couldn't see me. When I would come in to make sure that I didn't forget something, they would be jumping, howling, and spinning in circles. I have no idea how they knew. The only thing I can figure is that they either smelled me moving hunting clothes, or smelled the excitement on my own skin.

I have and still wonder how they know. It's uncanny. But what it does tell me just how much they anticipate and totally enjoy their time in the field. When my little female would rather go to the field than eat you know it is her No. one pleasure.

Ezzy

[Birddogz]

My dogs are the same. I have tried to feed them 2 hours before hunting in the morning, to avoid any chance of bloat, and they simply will not eat. Hunting to a Britt is like breathing to a human. Not to say other breeds aren't the same way, because they are, but Britts seem to exude enthusiasm like no other breed I have encountered. Other breeds hunt as hard, but no other dog seems to have as big of a "Pep Rally".

[hosejockey2935]

They are definately smart dogs, it must be in the genes. It is funny, because if we are sitting around the house and happen to say birds in conversation, usually there is no reaction. However, if I happen to be wearing tan and orange and say "birds" my "oldest" is at my feet and won't let me walk anywhere until I let him out. I'm sure the young one will be the same way once she gets her first taste this summer and fall!

~tommy