Want to get me a good bird dog for upland foul. Any one have any advice on purchasing a GSP. This is the dog I have settled on and really want. I am willing to pay $1200 or more for a 1 1/2 or 2 year old that is already trained. Can I build a better bond with the dog and/or get a better response if I train the dog myself? Any suggestions on training(books, websites, etc. . ) Any advice on good kennels with defect free registered dogs?

Thanks

 

This link brings you to a site with a whole bunch of other links relating to GSP kennels, clubs, etc:

http://www.shorthairs.net

From what I've seen, they're great field dogs.

 

Hey rockledge. What a wonderful web page. With all the research I've done so far, I sure wish I would have run across it sooner. It has great info on kennels. In fact, I found a great kennel right here in New Mexico where I live. It is called Rugerheim Kennels. I think I'll be contacting them soon.

Still looking for training info if any body can help.

Thanks

 

Glad I could help out.

PS - You can probably get a few good ideas on training from the people who run the kennel.

 

I've had the priviledge of hunting pheasants with a couple GSP's, and let me tell you, you've made the right choice. They are truly remarkable. The one dog was relatively untrained, and instinct alone made it one of the best dogs I've ever hunted with. A perfect pont on instinct alone, they are amazing.

A word of warning though, THEY ARE HYPER, I've yet to come across another dog that was as high strung as those two. Apparently they settle down at around 5 years though.

It lets them go all day long though, great dogs!

Waxy

 

I have 2 German Shorthairs, got the male as a pup and the female when she was 6. Both were given to me for free. (Don't count on being as lucky as I am). I trained the male myself, had never had or trained a hunting dog before him. I think I learned more from him then he did from me. The female had some training already when I got her and she is ok but I haven't really tested her much. She isn't as trusting of me as the male is and I don't trust her as much either.
I think if you want a good companion animal that will hunt well for you and trust you, do it yourself. If you want a dog that is going to sit out in the kennel until you get it out to go hunting and impress your friends with how precise it weaves a good pattern, pay a lot of money to have it trained.
My dog is not the polished hunter that will win ribbons, but when we went out to ND opening weekend for his first hunt, 16 of our 30 birds for the first day and 28 of the 60 for the weekend were shot over his points, the other 4 dogs (labs and springers)combined for the rest.

 

I've got a female GSP and she was pretty crazy until she was about 2, after that she really settled down. She is great with kids, and a heck of a watchdog, and an awesome birddog. I got her when she was about 8 weeks for $250 and found her very easy to train. I got a lot of my info from Bill Tarrants book (can't remember the title off the top of my head). Another good website to go check out it www.uplandbirddog.com
Most of the guys on that site are professional trainers and could probably answer any question you have.

Good luck,

Longneck

 

All of your responses have been great. I never have hunted with a dog before but I have watched some relatives hunt with them years ago. The responses I have recieved have realy boosted my confidense.

Buckarcher. Yeah, I will have the dog as a pet also. It will be around some kids so I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for the first couple of years.

2 acres aught to be enough running room for when we are not out in the field. We have a lot of quail around our property and some can get onto our property. Do you guys think I should add a layer of chicken wire to keep them out? Last question I promise. I think other info I can probably get from the kennel's and books/websites.

 

The part about being hyper....is totally true! Out of all dogs, they require the most attetion per day. At least 1hr a day.

Our dog is 5 1/2, and still as hyper as the day we got her. She is a great hunter, not much training at all, and she can hold her own. It's all instinct. The females are usually easier to work with also. We had another female before this one. We took her hunting when she was 5 mos. old. No training at all, man she did everything perfect. Pointed, waited for us to get close to her, went in after the bird when we said, waited as the bird was shot, went and fetched the bird, and brought it right back. It was a thing of beauty, all from an un-trained 5 mo old puppy.

Sadly, she was stolen from us when she was 9mos old. We didnt find her until 2 years later. I was riding home on the school bus 1 day and saw her laying in some guys driveway. I went back and talked to the guy about 'his dog'. But my dad figured it was too late, so we just left her there. I knew it was her, because she had a perfect heart shaped spot on her left shoulder, not too many dogs like that.......Oh well.

I say train the dog yourself, it might not turn out as proper, but you will have a closer bond to it, and it will always be true to you!! Sorry so long........

 

Matt. Thanks for the advice and sorry about your loss. It must have been heartbreaking.

Based on your advice and others, I have decided to train the dog myself. I have purchased several books just tonight and will be consulting the folks at the kennel as soon as I read them. I want to have some point of reference when they give me advice.

With the sort of schedule I have, I will have plenty of time to work with the dog. I am not looking for a perfect hunting dog, more a good hunting companion.

I work knights and my wife needs the companionship also.

 

My dogs love kids, the male will always go and lay down next to any baby he can find and just curl up with it. The female will go lick it until it's soaked so we've got to tame her a little sometimes. With 2,3,4 year olds they are good. My male knocked down my nephew one time cuz he thought Ethan was going to be able to catch him if he jumped just like I do (he's a very trusting dog, if you tell him he can do it, he believes you, if you tell him he can't, he believes you) but the kid fell over. He never jumped on another kid again. He figured out they are too small, I didn't have to tell him anything.
About the chicken wire, I wouldn't worry about it. The birds won't go near the dog, and if you have a fence, the dog won't be able to hunt without you where it could maybe learning bad habits. If you don't have a fence, chicken wire isn't going to keep the dog in anyway. Besides, think of it this way. When hunting you can only control the dog, not the birds. Practice this at home too and it will translate in to the field better.

P.S. Feel free to ask as many questions as you have, there are a lot of people out there doing stuff wrong simply because they don't know how to do it right.

Health tips: Feed good quality food, just not too much. Hunting dogs are more prone to arthritis than most and being too heavy is the BIGGEST factor in when your dog has to retire from hunting due to arthritis and age.
2. Watch the parasites. They can knock a dog down as fast as anything, deworm regularly and follow your vet's advice for your area. My friend in another state had a dog that was skin and bones before I could see it and figure it out for him. Had good energy and ate like crazy, but kept losing weight.
3. Keep the teeth clean, inflammed gums let bacteria into the bloodstream. That's hard on the immune system and any organ that gets a high blood supply (heart, kidneys, lungs, liver.)

There are more, but those are the biggest ones.

 

Excellent choice! I've owned and hunted GSP's for about 15 years. I've also had a few English Pointers as well. The GSP's are head and shoulders above the English versions. Got my first one because my pointer got sick and couldn't go anymore. He was 7 months old at the time and had been started, but was a long way from a finished dog. We bonded immediately and got to the point I think I could actually read his mind!

I found GSP's to be very intelligent. Mine learned to hunt quail, pheasant and woodcock, often all in the same hunt. He learned how to pin down running pheasant pretty much by himself in about an hour. Never busted one again. Great retrievers too. I raised 4 litters from him and a female I owned. All of their pups made good dogs.

My advice it to get a puppy from someone who actually hunts his dogs on wild birds. Spend the first month or 2 just playing with it, getting to know it and it getting to know you. Then do the training yourself. There are a bunch of videos/ books out there that will show you how. If you do the job yourself, you will enjoy the hunting more because you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you did the work. One last thing, when you're going through the training process, you will see that your GSP learns very quickly. He will tire of doing the repetitions necessary. DON'T shortcut. He still needs the reps. Just vary the training so it stays interesting for him.

Good luck to you!

 

This is true, I found that once my dog learned something, short refresher courses were better than continuing to force him into boredom. Also, if he just isn't getting it that day (learning something new) take a 15 minute break then go back to practicing something he knows and put off the new skill for a week or two. Often by the time I got back to it, I didn't even have to teach him because he remembered the failed training session and figured it out on his own. If he doesn't get it the second time, don't take another week off, you don't want to get too far behind schedule, just keep working at it. They really want to please.

 

First of all I would like to thank you guys for being so helpful. . (Rockledge, Buckarcher, Teamroper60, Longneck, Matt and Waxy).

As long as ya'll are permitting me more questions, I have one just out of curriosity. I will be mostly(90% or more) hunting upland game and not water foul. But on the infrequent occasion that I do go duck hunting with my brother in law or someone else, how well do GSPs take to the water? I don't want to drown the poor dog. He/she will be around a lot of water because we do a bunch of fishing. Is it out of the question? The dog will primarily be hunting over land though because I am a very mobile hunter. All the years of elk hunting has made me that way I guess. I can only sit still for so long.

--I am thinking they don't take to water that well because they seam a lot leaner than labs. Am I right or wrong?

 

Actually, the GSP is one of a handful of so-called "Versatile" breeds. The Germans intended for them to replace the need for 3 dogs. They were bred to do upland work (pointing), water work (retrieving) and scent tracking (like a bloodhound).

I've trained all mine to swim and retrieve in water. Start your pup out swimming at a young age and it'll be fine. I started mine at about 3 months and they swam like fish. You may not think you would use a water retrieve while hunting upland game, but that might not be the case. I've had several birds fall into ponds and my GSP's have managed to swim out and get them all.