"Only Birds" bird dog breed

[birdseye]

No skunks, coons, badgers, giraffes, blood trailing, retrieving dead fox or chupacabras, no silly "tests"...ONLY BIRDS. Oh yea, a Pointy dog

What Breed?

 

[brymoore]

For my style and type of hunting, I love all age English Setters. I love chukar and other open range birds. I want to put my dog down and for it to have the drive to push hard until it finds birds. I love watching an experienced setter work a ridge properly using the wind to find birds. When you’re watching the dog work in style and it slam points, it’s a very happy moment for me.

As fast paced as setters are in the field, they are easy, relaxed dogs in the house. Level headed dogs that don’t cause problems.

 

[El Jason]

no silly "tests"

The “silly tests” are what make some breeds such consistent and fantastic producers of good dogs. Genetic variability exists within every breed. The more uniformity and the higher degree of selection contributes to a lower frequency of bad dogs.

Setters are nice dogs. I strongly considered one many years ago.

 

[MNElkNut]

Lab. Yellow in particular. Such a versatile dog. Early season ducks all the way to pheasants at -20 in 3 feet of snowed in cattails, breaking ice to bring one back, sharpies, huns, etc. Then push the mellow button and they curl up on your couch. They have such a drive to please you.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

I would maintain that it depends on what you are hunting.

I also would not discount dogs that are versatile for hunting birds only.

They are probably more versatile in hunting birds as well.

Some hair/fur types collect more burrs than others, if you are hunting birds in burry areas then I would go with a breed that doesn't catch burrs.

Some dogs are better in the cold than others as well. Vice Versa with the heat.

Open terrain some larger dog breeds are better with (Less Steps to cover more ground) and thick terrain some smaller dog breeds a better at (More Maneuverable in tight spaces).

It depends on your situation.

Like Trucks everyone has their own brand (breed) they prefer

 

[44hunter45]

watching and taking notes...

 

[El Jason]

 

[El Jason]

Kind of birdy…and pointy.

 

[birdseye]

For my style and type of hunting, I love all age English Setters. I love chukar and other open range birds. I want to put my dog down and for it to have the drive to push hard until it finds birds. I love watching an experienced setter work a ridge properly using the wind to find birds. When you’re watching the dog work in style and it slam points, it’s a very happy moment for me.

As fast paced as setters are in the field, they are easy, relaxed dogs in the house. Level headed dogs that don’t cause problems.

Yep, the horseback field trial bred Setter. 'nuff said and could of just locked this thread after your reply, brymoore.

 

[Treeshark]

English/Gordon Setter would be my choice for sure. I really like their temperament, seem a little less hyper than some other pointing breeds.

We had one of each growing up, great hunters and great pets- I personally would get a Gordon.

 

[Salmonchaser]

GSP.

 

[jpc01101]

Sad to say I've never hunted behind a really "good" dog. Growing up we had brittany's and they were as good as they could be with the little bit Dad got to work with them. My memories of bird hunting Iowa, Nebraska and South dakota include a LOT of me and my brother being the dog . I'll do more bird hunting one of these days.

 

[birdseye]

observations while watching some of the online bird dog videos- in many of the setter clips, they show the dog(s) standing proudly on point and the hunter(s) taking their time going in for the flush and shot. most of the scruffy face, short tailed dog vids, it's a bunch of bro's scrambling up and down a mountain side, many times in front of the dog(s) and most birds killed are either flushed by the hunters or the supposed "pointy" dogs with very little to no actual pointing taking place and then the obligatory high fiving and fist bumping. Tailgate hero pics are meaningless when it comes to the ability of the dog

 

[El Jason]

Not much point here. Barely had time to take these photos.

 

[huntnpack]

Its a new breed for me, but my braque francais doesn't have much fur drive at all. Not the best with water, but that's probably my training failure more than anything.

 

[D4570]

As a kid, we raised papered German shorthair pointers, Fabules to hunt behind.
BUT we also had some run-of-the-mill black labs. They did not point, but they could field hunt with the best of them and retrieve. I had more fun with them than the hyper pointers. And of course, they excelled for ducks and geese.

 

[brymoore]

The “other dog” in our house is a rescue GSP. Poor Pepper is a Portland Covid puppy who was on her way to the pound at a year old. I responded to a FB add from the breeder looking for a hunting home. I adopted her to be my son’s dog.

She spent her first year of life as a city dog. She was completely out of place as a country dog but she learned. One of my sons has a duck addiction. Pepper has become his duck dog. She won’t play fetch in the yard but retrieved roughly 200 ducks last year for my son and his friends. She’s still learning upland birds. She has moments of brilliance and some moments of stupidity, just like most dogs.

 

[brymoore]

I may have misspoke when I said Setters are calm and level headed in the house. My 5 month old pup today.


Dot’s theme song:

Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me, ooh

 

[jjgarrett0]

Its a new breed for me, but my braque francais doesn't have much fur drive at all. Not the best with water, but that's probably my training failure more than anything.

They are on my short list for my next dog. How do you like it?

 

[NDGuy]

Red dogs for me.

Have had a Vizsla and now own a Irish Setter/Golden Retriever cross.

V's are very high energy and while I love them I wont' get another until my kids are older.

My Golden Setter is a lot more chill at home than my V was lol. I miss her every day, she passed away last fall.