english springer spaniel/german shorthaired pointer mix?

[jegan]

I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with English springer spaniel/German shorthaired pointer mixes? Are they easy to train? What is their temperament? Are they good hunting dogs? I do waterfowl, upland, and possibly some tracking. Please let me know what you think. Thanks

[DonF]

You got a pointer flusher mix. Won't be able to tell what you have until it grows up. Probably cute pups and good looking mom and dad but, I'd walk away in a heart beat.

[cjhills]

I have one. She is a old dog now. But is a very good pheasant hunting dog. Her father was a young springer. her mother was a very good bird dog . they didn't think the male was old enough. He was.
She only pointed one bird in her life. It was a rooster. She hunted like springer and was very easy to train. As I got more into pointing dogs she kind of got left out. For a pheasant or rough grouse dog I would take one again. Several pups in her litter were pointers and she probably would have if train that way. I trained her to sit on whistle and hunted her with my master dogs. Very good CJ

[Sharon]

You got a pointer flusher mix. Won't be able to tell what you have until it grows up. Probably cute pups and good looking mom and dad but, I'd walk away in a heart beat.

X2

[Doc E]

It's a mutt................I hope you didn't pay much.



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[ROTTnBRITT]

I know a guy with one. She is a flusher. But does well hunting pheasants. Released ones. He said he shot 32 birds over her this year.

[deseeker]

Since this is a pointing dog/flushing dog mix, this might be one of those cases where you should use a wing on a string. It might give you an indication on what the dog will do when it gets older. This might take a couple weeks of doing this to figure out what it will do. If all the pup does for 2 weeks is chase the wing--it will most likely be a flusher when it gets older(and you should train for a flusher). If the pup starts to creep the wing, move it slowly back towards him---if he stops and points there is a good chance he might point when he gets older. Once you get an idea what he is going to do, stop useing the wing on the string if he is showing signs of being a pointer(and go with a pointing training program). (IMO) By the way, I have seen some good mixed breed hunting dogs If you don't have a wing, a small piece of cloth tied to the string will work---it is more about the movement than the feathers.

[Meller]

I noticed in your profile, that you own a GSP and a Vizsla and that you hunt; so I will bet that you will be able to tell what you have in a short while, a pointer or a flusher. Just have fun and enjoy your new puppy.

[buckeyebowman]

This is interesting. My very first bird dog was a Springer. On occasion I'd just take him out for "walks" in the environment where we'd be hunting come fall. Just after I got him, I'm thinking at 14-15 weeks old, we're walking through an overgrown apple grove when I notice him locked up in a classic point on a tangle of greenbrier. I'm serious! Body all stretched out, head and nose held low, right forepaw picked up off the ground and right foreleg tucked into the body! Wish I had a picture! Stupid me, wondering what the dog was up to, took about 3 steps toward the tangle to see what was up, and one of the biggest pheasant roosters I've ever seen came boiling up out of that tangle and got snagged up in the briers!

At the flush, the Springer's flushing instincts took over, and he was into that tangle like a shot! If I didn't care about being pin cushioned by the briers I could have caught that rooster with my bare hands. I was more concerned about the dog, since he got all snagged up in there as well, and came out looking like he'd been through a war! But, his tail was going about 90 miles an hour, and he came out of there excited as heck! Well, at least I knew that I had a dog that was birdy. But, in hindsight, I sometimes wonder if I "trained" him differently, and believe me, at that young age I was doing precious little training, if that dog would have pointed birds.

I'll admit that I'm intrigued here. Any possibility of your posting some pics of this dog? I'd be interested in just seeing what a Springer/GSP mix looks like.

[jegan]

Thank you everyone for your replies and opinions. I saw an ad for this mix and thought I would ask to see what people thought. I definitely will not be getting one. Thanks everyone.

[Gordon Guy]

Maybe we have the makings of a new breed of dog, English short/longhaired ...sometimes Pointer.

[cjhills]

It's a mutt................I hope you didn't pay much.



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Nothing wrong with a mutt some of the best all around dogs are mutts. Most dogs point occasionally, the pause before the pounce, but pointing springers are discourage as much as springing pointers. Cj

[buckeyebowman]

It's a mutt................I hope you didn't pay much.



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Nothing wrong with a mutt some of the best all around dogs are mutts. Most dogs point occasionally, the pause before the point, but pointing springers are discourage as much as springing pointers. Cj

Great point! No pun intended. Some of the smartest, most savvy, dogs I've ever seen in my life were "mutts". As far as why certain traits are prized in some breeds while denigrated in others, isn't that simply human preference? Or should we say prejudice? I just got done reading a capsule summary of the German Shorthair Pointer. Nobody really knows how many different dog genes went into producing that breed. Should we then consider them mutts?

[boonebrit]

Sometimes a Mutt will turn out to be a dandy bird dog. My dad still has a Samoyed/Golden mix that turned out to be a great hunting dog. Awesome retriever, top notch coon dog, and an amazing tracker. Had a superb nose and a great instinct... Always pinning game, using us and and the wind to his advantage. We actually watched him jump on the back of a forkhorn buck after we jumped it from some brush, and strangle the thing to death...the buck was unlucky as the dog pinned him in a swamp. We also watched that dog take out three big raccoons in water... horrific site, but what a tough dog! Mutts can be great...

[Trekmoor]

I have only seen two GSP x springer dogs at work . They worked well but both dogs were flushers.

Bill T.