I'm thinking of getting a dog this spring specifically for use with hawking, I would like one that ranges in close, will point or flush feather'n'fur, be willing to swim for ducks and will tolerate very cold temperatures and is more of a median sized. Any of you dog people have any ideas?
missy
My soul is sick of chicken soup, it wants some chocolate!
I'm partial to Jack Russells....Not exactly what you are looking for, but then again, I am biased...hehehehe
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Post by austringer84 on Feb 4, 2006 10:11:57 GMT -5
my jack does all you ask as mentioned above, and will swim in the coldest water to flush wateva u desire, but she is not medium sized...o...a springer spaniel could do all u desire...good luck with whatever u get.
You might look around for a Lab breeder who specializes in medium sized dogs. Not all hunters want the typical big Lab and breeders are aware of this. Another breed that I would look at is the Wire-haired German pointer. Possibly larger than you have in mind, but they are a medium large breed that can fit in a house and not try to take over. They have a rough coat that is weather resistant and a will to please.
I've been considering the german wire hairs a lot, them and the sorthairs seem to be popular around here and I've never heard any bad stuff about them, and who can resist the shaggy dog look.
missy
My soul is sick of chicken soup, it wants some chocolate!
I would think, from your question, that you might not be too experienced with hunting dogs. German shorthairs as well as wire hairs are considered to be more of a professional's dog. They are extremely talented but can be very frustrating. If you decide on one of the 'tried and true' spaniels, setters, pointers, or retrievers I believe you will be very happy with the results. I would also stress the fact that picking the right pup from the right breeder is more important than picking the breed. I just watched an awsome Brittany work duck ponds for peregrine tiercel yesterday so I have Brittany on the brain right now.
Be sure to get some good input from knowledgeable hunters/falconers in your area
It sounds like you would like a german wirehair. I currently run a wirehair. He points feather and fur. Loves water (even if it's icy). He hunts great for my hawk or gun. He has been easy to train. He is a great family dog as well. The important thing is to research your lines. I recommend finding a dog from a NAVHDA breeder. NAVHDA tests a dog for situations that are closer to falconry purposes than most other organizations (with the exception of the german tests). Also, NAVHDA chapters are wonderful at helping you train your pup.
Labs, German Shorthairs, German Wirehairs, Brittanys... all good dogs. Whats more important is the TRAINING the dog receives. You can have a dog from a great bloodline but if not trained well you will have a pain in the rear. Yes I know on occasion there is a dog that just seems to do it all with no training. But trust me those dogs are the exception. Plan to spend alot of time training your dog. If you dont know how, do as jsuggs said and get with a gun dog training group. Or if you can afford it, have your dog trained by a highly recomended professional gun dog trainer. They can do it fantastick results. Also remember that even with great pedigrees not all puppies come out as good as mom and pop. You wont REALLY know what you have intil the dog grows up a little. Consider getting a started dog (a dog that has begun gun dog training). Having said all that... Labs can do it all! And by the way your name sake is doing great in detection training!!!
Post by Falcon Boy on Mar 18, 2006 10:15:46 GMT -5
One thing about professional gun dog training, my neighboor sent her dog away for it, it had been living with them for a few months. Once there, it was depressed teh whole time and did not listen to any of the training becuase of its "missing its family". If you do send the dog away for training, i suggest doing it before you have had the dog a long time. The dog was a black lab.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Boy talkl about a question that will get you a lot of biase answers so here's mine. You're hunt with a gos hawk so short chases are best for your bird right. So the larger spannels work best under falcons farther ranging . My chose was for the shorter ranging cocker spannel. That said I picked an American Cocker because of my lack of experiance training dogs for hunting thus he's a great companion dog and doesn't take up a lot of room in the back seat with the kids. And he's not to bad in the bush for flushing rabbits and grouse. I just have problems with him holding the point. But hey that's the trainer not the dog. But for the best hunting cockers find the English Cocker they are still bred more for hunting than companion like the American Cocker, and as a side note cockers were developed for flushing woodcock for falconers carrying goshawks. Some of the research I did before I picked a dog. Down side to spannels is they don't shed and if you let their coats get long they need a lot of maintances, the pick up a lot of burs and need a lot of brushing with a fine comb not a brush. But hey like someone else said this reply was made by someone who is partial to spanniel Oh! and one more note find a breeder who breeds for field trials not show, THe show dogs tend to be a little less savy in the field so I'm told. Remeber this one fact the older hunting breeds where bred for hunters carrying falcons the newer breeds where bred for poeple carrying guns. Again a bias of mine. Good luck Chris.
It sounds like one of two things went wrong with your neighbors lab. 1. It did not have the correct drives (inherited traits) for the job your neighbor wanted it to do or 2. The trainer wasent good. Remember there are alot of labs out there that wouldent retrieve a steak! To much back yard breeding. And again sometimes the right genes just dont get passed down even with good parents. Consider too that some trainers just plain suck. Check references. If it was a good dog with a good trainer there would have been success. That the dog just missed its owners is highly unlikely (blarney).