Gun Dog Talk

Working with many different breeds each year, I’m often asked why I like a particular breed,why I may like a certain bloodline, or even which is better a male or female hunting dog? I’m privileged to get to work with some great dogs every day. I have also made some real good mentors and friends in the dog world. Through these relationships with dogs and people we have been able to evaluate a lot of different dogs. We can stack up the English Pointer against the German Shorthair pointer for example. We can even take dogs of the same breed and set them against each other and see which is better. I guess these similar exercises are done as Field Trials or Hunt tests. Basically judging a dogs capability to find game and handle it well. Of course there are a lot of different rules and bias as to what is the best way to do that. Bottom line an intelligent, well-bred, bird finding machine is going to be able to compete in most cases. The most important thing to do is take time and research a breed your interested in. Find out about their good and bad qualities. Find someone that can take you to the field and show you their dog. Talk to people that are in the game and know what they are doing. Maybe come to our kennel and see all the different breeds, watch them work, and find out what’s best for you.  In the picture above my friends and I were doing just that. We just ran a couple dogs and we were discussing each dogs weakness and strength. I call it gun dog talk! So if your looking for you next hunting companion. Make sure you do some good GUN DOG TALK before you decide which dog you think is best. Get to know the trainer/breeder and their dogs. Find out as much as possible…. find someone you can trust to give you their knowledge, expertise,  opinion when looking and working with a specific breed of dog.