GSP mix

[strick9995]

I'm considering adopting a 4-5 month old German shorthair and lab (probably) mix puppy from the animal shelter. What are your opinions on turning it into a bird dog? Pheasant, quail, dove etc.

[averageguy]

If you develop and train the dog it is highly likely it will hunt. Whether it points or flushes remains to be seen, but if you are open to either outcome, I say give it your best shot and predict you both will be very happy you did. I have a soft spot for giving every puppy/dog a shot at making good.

[birddogger2]

If you develop and train the dog it is highly likely it will hunt. Whether it points or flushes remains to be seen, but if you are open to either outcome, I say give it your best shot and predict you both will be very happy you did. I have a soft spot for giving every puppy/dog a shot at making good.

I agree completely with this. With that kind of parentage, it is highly likely that the youngster will want to hunt. Just how it will want to hunt is an unknown, but as said above, if either way works for you, you should be good to go.

And the dog will get a chance to do what it was born for.

RayG

[JONOV]

My buddy has one...Super sweet dog, as would be expected. Actually, its one of the most mentally well balanced dog I've ever met, except she barks at cows.

Great retriever, loves duck hunting. During field hunts it actually beats any other dog to the birds since the GSP in her gives her an athletic edge.

Pheasant hunts more like a lab, but has a quasi point. I have no idea if it could be steadied. The Coat is a bit thinner than a labs but thicker than a GSP, we do duck hunt with her on NoDak lakes and she does nicely.

He spent a few sessions with a trainer but nothing crazy, mostly he wanted to introduce her to birds and gunfire.

[fishvik]

Go for it. I've had numerous pointer/retriever crosses and all have been great bird dogs. They were all retrieving machines in and out of water. They all had coats that were good enough to deal with cold water. Most were close working dogs that flashed a point and then flushed if the bird moved.

[Steve007]

Go for it. I've had numerous pointer/retriever crosses and all have been great bird dogs. They were all retrieving machines in and out of water. They all had coats that were good enough to deal with cold water. Most were close working dogs that flashed a point and then flushed if the bird moved.

Well, uh, not to put cold water on this cheering section, but MOST labs these days haven't seen a bird in ten generations. They have been the most popular dog in the US for for 25 years, which means unless you've a specific purpose-bred dog, they are pets. And German Shorthaired Pointers are #10 in AKC registrations, which means they're almost all pets -- and bred to be pets -- rather than bird dogs, too.

Obviously a crossbred from hunting lines is a likely dog, but let's not get carried away. That's not what he's getting. He's getting a backyard petbred dog,and the animal shelter source may indicate other problems as well. What are the chances of any backyard/mixed breed/petbred dog turning out to be a good hunter? I like encouraging someone too, but let's be reasonable. You guys know better than this.

[fishvik]

Go for it. I've had numerous pointer/retriever crosses and all have been great bird dogs. They were all retrieving machines in and out of water. They all had coats that were good enough to deal with cold water. Most were close working dogs that flashed a point and then flushed if the bird moved.

Well, uh, not to put cold water on this cheering section, but MOST labs these days haven't seen a bird in ten generations. They have been the most popular dog in the US for for 25 years, which means unless you've a specific purpose-bred dog, they are pets. And German Shorthaired Pointers are #10 in AKC registrations, which means they're almost all pets -- and bred to be pets -- rather than bird dogs, too.

Obviously a crossbred from hunting lines is a likely dog, but let's not get carried away. That's not what he's getting. He's getting a backyard petbred dog,and the animal shelter source may indicate other problems as well. What are the chances of any backyard/mixed breed/petbred dog turning out to be a good hunter? I like encouraging someone too, but let's be reasonable. You guys know better than this.

All of my dogs were from either a backyard breeder or the pond and all hunted, and well. Now I will tell you in Idaho most bird dog breeds and ones in the ponds due tend to be from hunting breeding. The main reason that they end up in ponds is because the yuppies that originally adopted them had no idea what they were getting in those breeds.

[averageguy]

Hunted or not, it is a rare Lab that does not have a strong desire to retrieve and an affinity for water. It is a rare GSP that does not have a pointing instinct and desire to run/search when turned loose. Now there are alot of Labs which suffer from poor conformation and health problems.

Opportunity separates dogs' performance far more than their genetics do when speaking to the masses of average hunting dogs. And how many "hunting dogs" are not pets 90% of the time with 20 days or less a year opportunity to hunt? Very Few.

My input remains as posted.

[ezzy333]

Hunted or not, it is a rare Lab that does not have a strong desire to retrieve and an affinity for water. It is a rare GSP that does not have a pointing instinct and desire to run/search when turned loose. Now there are alot of Labs which suffer from poor conformation and health problems.

Opportunity separates dogs' performance far more than their genetics do when speaking to the masses of average hunting dogs. And how many "hunting dogs" are not pets 90% of the time with 20 days or less a year opportunity to hunt? Very Few.

My input remains as posted.

And I have to agree.

[Steve007]

Hunted or not, it is a rare Lab that does not have a strong desire to retrieve and an affinity for water. It is a rare GSP that does not have a pointing instinct and desire to run/search when turned loose. Now there are alot of Labs which suffer from poor conformation and health problems.

Opportunity separates dogs' performance far more than their genetics do when speaking to the masses of average hunting dogs. And how many "hunting dogs" are not pets 90% of the time with 20 days or less a year opportunity to hunt? Very Few.

My input remains as posted.

And I have to agree.

Uh huh. And your views on getting a dog where the ancestors have positively not been screened for hip dysplasia or other health problems for multiple generations would be what?

edited for typo only.

[Sharon]

I've rescued 5 Jack Russells in my life time and one GSP from the animal shelter . In almost all cases , they were true to their breed hunting wise , BUT almost all had behavioural issues - from afraid of strangers ( biting ) to...... This is the most common problem with rescues. Who knows what they have been through before you get them.

Will I do it again? Yes, but know what you may be getting into.

This may certainly not be true for your shelter, but I've found that the shelter doesn't always tell all in their eagerness to get a dog adopted.

[averageguy]

What were their ages when rescued?

[Sharon]

from 7 weeks to two years

[averageguy]

The die is largely cast with a 2 year old dog. A 7 week old pup is a blank slate waiting to be shaped but poor genetics leading to a weak mind does happen and apparently did?

The dog in the OP is 4-5 months which means a lot of critical socialization period has past. Easy enough to interact with the pup and get a read on it prior to making a decision is my thought on that.

[birddogger2]

Hunted or not, it is a rare Lab that does not have a strong desire to retrieve and an affinity for water. It is a rare GSP that does not have a pointing instinct and desire to run/search when turned loose. Now there are alot of Labs which suffer from poor conformation and health problems.

Opportunity separates dogs' performance far more than their genetics do when speaking to the masses of average hunting dogs. And how many "hunting dogs" are not pets 90% of the time with 20 days or less a year opportunity to hunt? Very Few.

My input remains as posted.

And I have to agree.

Uh huh. And your views on getting a dog where the ancestors have positively not been screened for hip dysplasia or other health problems for multiple generations would be what?

edited for typo only.

Actually, I should think that the hybrid vigor and the widely divergent gene pools that is present in most mutts(which is what we are talking about here), is a pretty good insulator for the types of genetic abnormalities that tend to rear their ugly head when there is tight breeding , focused on color, or performance or conformation improvements.

RayG

[fishvik]

I have never had hip problems with any of my cross breeds. But then again while it is a genetic trait I think it is not as prevalent in crossbreeds with versatile pointers because they are not as likely to have the genes as retrievers. In addition I think that the condition is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of folks plain overfeed their retrievers.

[Steve007]

Uh huh. And your views on getting a dog where the ancestors have positively not been screened for hip dysplasia or other health problems for multiple generations would be what?

edited for typo only.

Actually, I should think that the hybrid vigor and the widely divergent gene pools that is present in most mutts(which is what we are talking about here), is a pretty good insulator for the types of genetic abnormalities that tend to rear their ugly head when there is tight breeding , focused on color, or performance or conformation improvements.

Ray, this is one of those things people hear from their grandfathers or from unknowledgeable people who repeat it until it become "common knowledge". It is false.

What is true is that A) mutts are never performance-tested or conformation-evaluated. They are pets. If a goldendoodle limps when it chases a squirrel at the age of four, the pet owner doesn't notice or care. B) It flies in the face of logic to say health-tested dogs from legitimate breeders (not some primitive who doesn't understand or believe in breed-specific health testing) aren't going to be more sound than dogs who aren't. C) Mutts die or are crippled from genetic ailments frequently, and no one knows. You hear about one who lives to be 18, but not the hundreds who quietly die of genetic cardiac problems or epilepsy or go blind. Just as for every random-bred dog you hear about that hunts birds adequately, there are many thousands that don't.

Sorry. Careful breeders test, and yield far healthier dogs than random-bred ones from unthinking owners.

[birddogger2]

Steve -

You might be right about some of this.

However, I do maintain that when you focus on breed improvement in specific areas, such as coat color, you do so at the "expense" of other genetic contributors, whether you like it or not. We cannot isolate the perfect genotype to reproduce it. If a dog is "perfect" in one area,it is a given that it is less than perfect in some other areas.

In pointers, no one that I know of was more focused on producing a "complete" dog, than Robert Whele. He worked on it for decades. He bred dogs that had wonderful conformation, excellent gaits and which were smart, biddable and generally good to be around, in addition to being fine bird dogs.

BUT... guess what?? He never could get completely rid of undershot jaws in his line. He bred a couple of dogs, early on, that had a lot of the attributes he was looking for, but that also threw pups with bad bites. Decades later...Elhew dogs still have a greater incidence of bad bites than some other lines.

As he said: "It is hard to get all the coons up the same tree."

The more you concentrate the genetics for a set of desirable attributes, the more you concentrate the recessive, often abberant genes that hitchike in the background along with those desirable ones.

All one has to do is to look at the OFA statistics. Despite having OFA Good hips for several generations, it is still possible for a specific mating to produce pups with bad hips. The odds are reduced but not eliminated. The science behind the selection process is just not as good as we would like.

I will say that it is rare for someone to do those kinds of genetic tests on pointers. That breed has undergone, and continues to undergo a brutal selection process. If the dog does not perform in the field to a very high degree...it very likely does not get bred. That, for better or worse, really focuses the available gene pool on performance in the field. Even today, when a trainer takes fifty pups and prospects to the prairies for evaluation and training... they may come back with only ten, but those ten will be bird dogs.

RayG

[cjhills]

This is an amazing post. RG is learning. He once posted "you can get rid of bad bites in three generations".
While I don't believe in breeding dogs without health tests, It is amazing how healthy some of the crossbreds are and what good conformation they have.
Dysplasia and other genetic issues are fairly common in pointers because so few are tested.
It would be more interesting to know about the forty dogs the trainer leaves on the prairie. While it is likely they will never be bred, they were bred from parents which somebody thought were breedable. likely most were not left behind for health issues.
It does seem like genetic issues are less common among cross bred dog than they are in the inbred registered dogs. That was part of the reason for breeding shorthair blood into the pointers.
Labs and Goldens hips are improving with testing. Of course it is possible to produce a pup with bad hips from dogs with excellent hips. But the odds improve with testing. With all breeding you hope for the best and take your chances.
Personally, I would not have a issue with a crossbred dog. Part of the problem with the OPs dog is not knowing the father. It might work. If you want a dog for a special reason probably not.
If you want a family dog that will probably hunt go for it.................................Cj

[birddogger2]

"He once posted "you can get rid of bad bites in three generations"."

I do not recall ever making such a statement. Maybe that is "fake news". I call BS.

Dysplasia is NOT at all common in FDSB pointers. I have had pointers for nearly 60 years and been involved with competitive pointers for nearly forty years and cannot recall one single instance of dysplasia in an FDSB bred pointer. If an FDSB pointer can't run...it typically doesn't get to celebrate its second birthday...which is the main reason why the breed is where it is today.

As usual, cJ is in error. He may be looking at the AKC website information. The pointers that are surveyed on that website are AKC pointers, which are overwhelmingly dogs that are bred for conformation shows such as Westminster. There are some dedicated AKC pointer breeders who breed for the dual dog... but, unfortunately, they are in the minority in the breed.

The fact is...these are NOT the pointers that compete in American Field events. Not even close. They are nice dogs, but they are bred for a different purpose.

cJ knows this, but I guess he thinks we don't know the difference. Wrong again.

We have gone over this ground before. Apparently there is someone out there that is NOT learning which is why he is, and has been for some time... on my "ignore' list.

RayG


Oh and he got the cross breeding thing backwards also.

In my neck of the woods it is fairly commonly accepted that pointer genetics were introduced into the shorthair to pick their heads up off the ground and give them some run... like pointers. Just look at the competitive shorthairs out there. They are mostly white and liver...like pointers. They run like pointers, point high like pointers and some of them have nice square heads with a stop at the eyes...like pointers.

I wonder how that happened?

Just so you know...my neck of the woods includes a few folks who have competed and won at the very highest levels in the NGSPA and the GSPA.

[cjhills]

RG proves my point. If you do testing and kill off the dogs that have genetic issues so they can't run before their second birthday you won't see much dysplasia. But the dogs that can run and their parents, who produced the dogs with genetic issues are reproducing, does that help the problem?
Still wondering about the trainer who takes 50 dogs west and leaves 40 on the prairie. Seems like he may be ignoring breeding problems. Perhaps there is a problem in his breeding program. What are you buying if you buy a field trial washout from this breeder, as many people on here recommend.
TO the OP I have seen some very nice crossbred dogs..…….Cj

[Steve007]

It does seem like genetic issues are less common among cross bred dog than they are in the inbred registered dogs. That was part of the reason for breeding shorthair blood into the pointers.

Uh, Pointer breeders people bred shorthairs to Pointers to improve Pointers? This is a joke, right? And you might look up the definition of "inbred". You seem to be little fuzzy on the meaning of the term. You might also review my post relative to the lack of genetic issues in randombred dog. I guess you missed it.

[cjhills]

It does seem like genetic issues are less common among cross bred dog than they are in the inbred registered dogs. That was part of the reason for breeding shorthair blood into the pointers.

Uh, Pointer breeders people bred shorthairs to Pointers to improve Pointers? This is a joke, right? And you might look up the definition of "inbred". You seem to be little fuzzy on the meaning of the term. You might also review my post relative to the lack of genetic issues in randombred dog. I guess you missed it.

Miller bred in Shorthair blood to improve Shorthairs. That is a real Joke......Cj

[JONOV]

Hunted or not, it is a rare Lab that does not have a strong desire to retrieve and an affinity for water. It is a rare GSP that does not have a pointing instinct and desire to run/search when turned loose. Now there are alot of Labs which suffer from poor conformation and health problems.

Opportunity separates dogs' performance far more than their genetics do when speaking to the masses of average hunting dogs. And how many "hunting dogs" are not pets 90% of the time with 20 days or less a year opportunity to hunt? Very Few.

My input remains as posted.

And I have to agree.

Uh huh. And your views on getting a dog where the ancestors have positively not been screened for hip dysplasia or other health problems for multiple generations would be what?

edited for typo only.

I'll let you in on a dirty secret. GSP's (half the genes for this dog) have very low instances of hip dysplasia. Low enough, that were I buying one, I'd not care if he were x-ray'd. The instances of hip displasia are less than 5%. My biggest concern would be show lines. Labs are a lot worse, but even still, 86% of dogs have normal hips. Again, more than pet stock, I'd be most concerned about show lines. I look at those dogs and wonder if they can play outside on a hot day.

My mom and dad have had two Golden Retrievers, and one lab. One Golden, and one Lab, came from shelter/owner surrender. The show line GR probably would have been too soft to make a decent hunting dog, but its hard to say. She loved to swim and loved to go get things. The rescue GR came from a local puppy mill. Truly, that dog missed his calling in life, which would have been to retrieve geese out of Chesapeake Bay or something. This is the same dog that the owners surrendering told my mom that he was "afraid of water," but that was solved when he saw a goose in the water. Just a big, hard charging, prey driven, intelligent male. The third lab from the pound loves swimming and retrieving. He does have a few joint issues, but they were visible to my parents when they adopted him, and as has been mentioned, he only retrieves sticks from the bay.

The die is largely cast with a 2 year old dog. A 7 week old pup is a blank slate waiting to be shaped but poor genetics leading to a weak mind does happen and apparently did?

I've fostered for the Wirehair rescue, shorthair rescue, and we've applied and been screened to foster for a local lab rescue and a Golden Retriever Rescue.
Lab's and Golden's won't even get turned over to a rescue by the pound. They get adopted in a heartbeat. The rescues carry mixes or owner surrenders. Even the GWP rescue doesn't get the "cream of the crop" of rejects. I was about to get in my car and pick up a 2 year old, housebroken, healthy neutered male that was good with kids and was rejected as a "poor hunter," but the shelter said, "no, we'll place him, he'll by gone by 10:30 Saturday morning."

The GSP rescue deals with a lot of dogs that are simply too much dog for the owner. It isn't at all uncommon for a dog under two and the comment on the ad is "No young children, I'm too rambunctious and might knock them over, I need a yard with a fence and a very active family that will put time into training me." There's no reason to believe that those dogs wouldn't hunt.

I also almost took a dog as a foster that not only had a great pedigree, but had professional training. It was described as "overly anxious and hyper" by a family that (I don't think) exercised it much. The breeder refused to take the dog back since they neutered it. It seemed as if this owner simply wanted a dog to go with the image that he kept. He wanted a bird dog to go with the Center Console fishing boat, F150, Barbour Jacket, etc...Didn't realize that he doesn't hunt much at all and that these dogs take work. That dog was placed permanently with a guy that runs a lot. The dog has been doing great from what I hear.

Just like "pet quality" or "backyard" labs swim and fetch, "pet" GSP's have a lot of energy. People (around here) buy them because the idea of a handsome bird dog appeals to them, it fits with an image they identify with. Compared to a lab, they require a lot more activity.

Both of my GSP fosters have had a strong pointing instinct. One naturally backed my dog when he pointed a squirrel. Neither of them would have been a candidate for hunting, one because he came from such a bad situation for neglect that the psychological dye was cast, the other was older and didn't see well. But both pointed, and the oldster still sniffed around everything he could looking for something. I have no reason to believe that if someone got their hands on them at four or five months without major mental damage, they would have been fine.

GSP's aren't unique or special, but like Border Collies, Malinois, JRT's, etc, they are intelligent, very active dogs, that need both activity and intellectual stimulation.

The dog in the OP is 4-5 months which means a lot of critical socialization period has past. Easy enough to interact with the pup and get a read on it prior to making a decision is my thought on that.

Yeah, if the dog is mentally well balanced and even keeled he'll be fine. And OP can judge that. And if OP has had the dog since a pup, then he knows he's socialized it decently.

[JONOV]

I'll let you in on a dirty secret. GSP's (half the genes for this dog) have very low instances of hip dysplasia. Low enough, that were I buying one, I'd not care if he were x-ray'd. The instances of hip displasia are less than 5%. Labs are a lot worse, but even still, 86% of dogs have normal hips.

Re: OFA or Penn Hip
Postby Steve007 » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:53 pm

Jonov, it's worth noting that those stats are the ones compiled by the OFA, and thus are clearly falsely low. It isn't that the OFA fibs, but they evaluate what they see. Who would waste money sending in xrays that wouldn't pass? And of course, pet people or the unknowledgeable don't send in xrays at all.

As an example, I had a Gordon Setter some years ago that both my competent general vet and a second-opinion orthopedic surgeon said was bi-lateral dysplastic. (I got a partial refund from the breeder,and kept the dog.) I never sent the films to the OFA. So when they report HD percentages on Gordons, my dog was not factored in.

It is certainly clear that HD is(mostly) genetic and that some breeds have a far higher incidence than others. But numbers reported by OFA (or Penn Hip) are entirely incorrect and way too low for the reasons stated.

Good point, I hadn't thought about that.

Still, I think that form follows function...Thus the reason that a hunting or field trial quality lab looks way different than a Bench bred lab. And, most show GSP's that I've seen don't look physically different than hunting dogs...NAVHDA or AKC Hunting stock. The NGSPA dogs look more like Pointers, which from a hip perspective, isn't a bad thing.

And hips are somewhat complicated...If you breed two dysplastic parents you only get 25% of the offspring that have it...So it isn't exactly mixing paint.

Anyhow, there's nothing wrong with getting a mixed breed dog, as long as you're realistic. Most people that do something thinking they're outfoxing the rest of the crowd get burnt. Its one thing to get the dog and think, "huh, maybe I can take him duck hunting and he'll bring my ducks back." Its another to think "I'm getting this dog because I need something to retrieve my ducks."

[cjhills]

"He once posted "you can get rid of bad bites in three generations"."

I do not recall ever making such a statement. Maybe that is "fake news". I call BS.

Dysplasia is NOT at all common in FDSB pointers. I have had pointers for nearly 60 years and been involved with competitive pointers for nearly forty years and cannot recall one single instance of dysplasia in an FDSB bred pointer. If an FDSB pointer can't run...it typically doesn't get to celebrate its second birthday...which is the main reason why the breed is where it is today.

As usual, cJ is in error. He may be looking at the AKC website information. The pointers that are surveyed on that website are AKC pointers, which are overwhelmingly dogs that are bred for conformation shows such as Westminster. There are some dedicated AKC pointer breeders who breed for the dual dog... but, unfortunately, they are in the minority in the breed.

The fact is...these are NOT the pointers that compete in American Field events. Not even close. They are nice dogs, but they are bred for a different purpose.

cJ knows this, but I guess he thinks we don't know the difference. Wrong again.

We have gone over this ground before. Apparently there is someone out there that is NOT learning which is why he is, and has been for some time... on my "ignore' list.

RayG


Oh and he got the cross breeding thing backwards also.

In my neck of the woods it is fairly commonly accepted that pointer genetics were introduced into the shorthair to pick their heads up off the ground and give them some run... like pointers. Just look at the competitive shorthairs out there. They are mostly white and liver...like pointers. They run like pointers, point high like pointers and some of them have nice square heads with a stop at the eyes...like pointers.

I wonder how that happened?

Just so you know...my neck of the woods includes a few folks who have competed and won at the very highest levels in the NGSPA and the GSPA.

If you search Inbreeding you will find a post 'Is my wirehair inbred"'. You wrote Wehle could have Eliminated the bad bite in three generations. The cross breeding goes both ways. You also called me" an arrogant bunghole" you were wrong on all statements staterments.................Cj

[birddogger2]

RG proves my point. If you do testing and kill off the dogs that have genetic issues so they can't run before their second birthday you won't see much dysplasia. But the dogs that can run and their parents, who produced the dogs with genetic issues are reproducing, does that help the problem?
Still wondering about the trainer who takes 50 dogs west and leaves 40 on the prairie. Seems like he may be ignoring breeding problems. Perhaps there is a problem in his breeding program. What are you buying if you buy a field trial washout from this breeder, as many people on here recommend.
TO the OP I have seen some very nice crossbred dogs..…….Cj

I proved nothing of the sort. You proved you have a problem with understanding what I write.

If you discover early on and remove dogs that have gait problems from the gene pool ... there is very little need to test in the first place, because the remaining dogs have demonstrated that they do not have gait problems. As I said previously(and I guess you didn't read that part)...it is still possible for dogs that have tested OFA good for three or more generations, to produce dysplastic dogs because it is still in the genes...somewhere. When you have selected for gait and run for a hundred years, as has been done with FDSB pointers... you don't get much in the way of dysplasia. When the sires of choice are three to seven year old multiple horseback champions... dysplasia and bad gaits are simply not found in their offspring all that often.

The youngsters from such breedings are often available as "washouts" from a particular field trial trainer's program. There are many reasons for washing out... as you might imagine. Some reasons are reasons to eliminate the dog from consideration as a hunting dog...others absolutely are not.


For instance... If the only reason that the dog didn't make the cut is because it did not run big enough... that would probably be a bird dog that most hunters could only dream of. If the reason that the dog didn't make the cut was a crooked or low tail on point, or if it didn't carry a merry tail or at least a "floating " tail when it ran... that again may well be a bird dog a hunter will drool over. Field trials are, to a degree, a beauty contest. The beauty is measured differently than in the show ring. It is measure mostly in performance characteristics.

Some breeders tend to be a bit kennel blind and dismissive of other's dogs, especially breeds other than theirs. I seem to find this more with those who do not test or trial. That is unfortunate.

For the record, the English Setter back about forty years ago...had a HUGE problem with dysplasia. The solution was culling ... ruthless and protracted. Current FDSB setters are relatively free of dysplasia... especially those with heavy horseback field trial lineage. Again this is because of continued insistence on performance in competition and relentless culling of those individuals with poor gaits.

RayG

[strick9995]

Well I got the pup and after spending only 3 days with her i'm very impressed and surprised at the amount of intelligence she has shown in the short time that we have spent together. I'm pretty confident that i can get this dog to hunt. thanks for the input.

[Sharon]

That's great! She's giving us the drop dead look there for what some of us said. Enjoy your dog.

[birddogger2]

Well I got the pup and after spending only 3 days with her i'm very impressed and surprised at the amount of intelligence she has shown in the short time that we have spent together. I'm pretty confident that i can get this dog to hunt. thanks for the input.

Do me a favor, if you would please. When she figures out whether she wants to be a pointer or a flusher let us know. I have a couple bucks on her becoming a pointing type.

She is a cutie, no question about that. Good luck, but most of all...have fun.

RayG

[Steve007]

That's her '"I'm weak from hunger. Feed me a biscuit" look. Pretty cute dog! A new dog is always a new adventure..

[averageguy]

Happy to hear it. Keep us posted.

[fishvik]

Good luck with her and I think she'll love having feathers in her teeth.

[cjhills]

She looks nice. thanks for giving her a chance. It should be fun...…...Cj

[strick9995]

Well I got the pup and after spending only 3 days with her i'm very impressed and surprised at the amount of intelligence she has shown in the short time that we have spent together. I'm pretty confident that i can get this dog to hunt. thanks for the input.

Do me a favor, if you would please. When she figures out whether she wants to be a pointer or a flusher let us know. I have a couple bucks on her becoming a pointing type.

She is a cutie, no question about that. Good luck, but most of all...have fun.

RayG

I have a good feeling that she is going to point. We'll see.

[strick9995]

That's her '"I'm weak from hunger. Feed me a biscuit" look. Pretty cute dog! A new dog is always a new adventure..

That's probably exactly what she was thinking. When she was sent to the animal shelter she had been running around in the country for a while and was very skinny.

Now she would eat all day if i would let her. She is ALWAYS hungry.