Gundogs

[nightflight]

I've been away from the shooting world for about five years, but have decided to get back into it again. I'm going to need a good dog, and have been considering a couple of different breeds. I really fancied a German Wire Haired pointer, but a friend has told me some nightmare stories about training them, so the next in line is a Flat Coat Retriever. I went to see a breeder today, and was very impressed with her dogs.
I have seen these dogs working in the past, but would appreciate any comments from anyone on here who has had experience of working them. I will be using it for some rough shooting, picking up, wildfowling, and some driven days.

[nightflight]

Reference my friends pointer, I think it was just a case of the dog needing a lot of intensive training, and even then it wasn't that good in the field. He had previously had Labradors, but fancied a change. I think he was expecting a pointer to be as responsive as his other dogs, but I think they do need more training. I gather that as a breed, if you get a good one, they are brilliant. Otherwise they can be hard work.
For my purposes, I think a Flatcoat is going be a better bet.

[nightflight]

nick_j007 said:

Some interesting comments re different breeds. They all have their own pluses and minuses.

Will your dog be a family companion also I wonder? If so that's worth baring in mind. I see my fair share of working line dogs (say labs, cockers or Springers come to mind) that live in a home but are hard work as they operate at a high mental level all the time and find it hard to settle unless they are truly worked and exercised adequately. Just a thought.

I own my second wire-haired vizsla and I wondered if the dense coat and general gun dog skills might fit the bill? My boy Max has a very tight coat and is not very wiry (which suits me well). My old gal now departed was in comparison really quite shaggy, so coats vary. They are markedly bigger than regular vizslas as they were crossed with GWP's back in the 30's. As I understand it this was to deal specifically with dense undercover.

Love flatcoats, and in fact we were close to getting one 2 yrs ago, but Max my Wire came up so I plumbed for a known breed.

At risk of selling the breed too much, I cannot speak highly enough of the innate temperament of the Wire-Haired Vizslas. They need plenty of exercise and no harsh training methods, but they also reward big time as pets.

Amber my first girl was an excellent all round worker, but still no contest for a Springer in dense cover looking for shot and missing game. Max my 2 yr old boy is not as driven to work as Amber was, but that is a more due to the fact that he's not had as much input as my first dog did. Max has an awesome nose on him and he tracks like a hound nose down - amazing to watch. He's an advanced truffle hunter

So I would say keeping looking and talking about it and something will most likely come up that makes your mind up for you. We love our gun dog breeds in this family, and had an actual list with various pros and cons of each breed. We went to a few shows to look at flat coats too and were very close to getting one. Shows can be a good place to see your intended breed as it gives you a good hands on experience. Crufts in March of course. Sooner you have discover dogs in mid Nov at Earls Court. http://www.discoverdogs.org.uk/

A bit of a ramble in places sorry, but thought I'd talk about my own breed of preference as it may suit you.

You can see quite a few shots of Max on my Twitter feed, but Twitpic images are here: http://twitpic.com/77kw78 I took him cycling yesterday!

Good luck.

Nick

Thanks for that Nick. Yes, the dog will also be a family pet, but will be spending a lot of time with me as I am about to take early retirement. I will therefore be able to spend most of my time with it, and will be doing a lot of training.
I know what you mean about the other breeds, a lot of which I have always wanted, but I'm having to take input from the rest of the family. A flatcoat is presently top of the list.