I have hunted feists for squirrel and sheds (they can easily be trained to do both) most of my life and don't recall seeing too many breeders west of the Mississippi except for a feller in Arkansas maybe 20 years or so ago that had some. If you have never had one be prepared to have one the rest of your life. They are one of the smartest kid friendly and easiest to train breeds you will ever take to the woods.
Their versatile and quick to learn. Extremely intelligent and they don't care one bit to swim after something. Their eyesight will make you want to go to the optometrists and get a checkup and their nose is second to none. They use both to hunt and you will watch a good one work his eyes as much as his nose then take off and tree something you will spend the next 20 minutes picking apart with binos to find. They retrieve game wonderfully and simply drop it at your feet before running off to find something else with a little coaxing in the early stages. People get caught up on them as just squirrel dogs but I have seen them used as bear dogs, game retrieval, morel finders and just pets.
I've had some good dogs over the last 40 or so years. Labs, Brittany's, Drahtharrs. All had certain traits that made them wonderful companions to be in the woods with. They all hold a special place in my heart. A feist however is everything about most of them rolled into one. If a man could teach one to point a grouse... I guess he would have finally found his Goldilocks. That is just my opinion however and gun dog opinions are like rifle calibers and pickup trucks. They vary by locale, age and intelligence.
