I am intrested in getting a bird dog. I like to hunt waterfowl and upland birds. I am looking at a lab or greman short hair.Is a preferance to having a{1}***** or a male dog?I live in Colo Springs,Co. Is it best to get one already trained or is a puppy the way to go? I had a golden but was not very good.elkman52 @aol.com

Posted By JPFEILER on 01 Feb 2012 02:49 AM
I am intrested in getting a bird dog. I like to hunt waterfowl and upland birds. I am looking at a lab or greman short hair.Is a preferance to having a{1}***** or a male dog?I live in Colo Springs,Co. Is it best to get one already trained or is a puppy the way to go? I had a golden but was not very good.elkman52 @aol.com

Here are what I see as the differences in getting a well started dog or a pup. With a pup you will pay somewhere between $400 to $1000 for a well bred pup from proven parents. You will get all of the health clearances, just as you would with a started dog. You also get to enjoy the puppy days and the bonding, but you also get the chewing that goes with it. My last lab pup about chewed my porch supports into before I got her stopped. I had paid $600 for her and she turned out to be a dud, in that she just would not retrieve anything.

I love my labs never paid close to $4000. One male and one female both are great hunters and great retrievers trained them my self with the help of a great book called waterdogs. We have a very close bond they are fantastic with the grandkids and can't wait to get out in the field. I got my male at 10 weeks old and my female at 7 weeks old. both are AKC with great blood lines. the joy you will have with your new dog is the best thing in the world. I take mine out and watch them work and all my daily troubles just go away. Good luck with you new friend you can't go wrong owning a dog.

ATF, DEA, TSA and Military are running prices up on Labs....

Labs a fantanstic dogs. Great at everything they do and unfortunately Movies like marley and me and certain breeders are f-ing them up. I had hunted with labs for years and they are machines,and they are great family dogs too.

i love my labs too but the best all around bird dog i ever had was a springer lab cross, nothing like a lab on redbull

Are you set on those two breekds or are you interested in others. I personally own a Brittany and have never had a problem. Brits are more for the upland game birds but are very adaptable and able to be used for all other birds as well. Just thought I would throw that out for you. Growing up my family had a couple labs. We had good and bad experiences with them. Sometimes you get lucky when you are buying dogs and other times you get screwed over bad. Just make sure you do your homework on the kennels and breeders that you are buying from before you settle on your price and the dog you want.

sorry about the spelling errors.

Hey Zgull nothing wrong with a brittany, I have hunted over them for upland and they do a great job and have even watched them retrieve birds down in water. But as a duck dog I think you handicap yourself and the dog when its 40 degree water.

No way I would put a Brittany into some of the ice and cold conditions I have put Ol Abe.

I think you need tyo ask yourfelf how much hunting you REALLY plan to do

I ama lab person, they make great house pets and companions

I do like german shorth hairs as well, but to me a lab has it beat in looks and , many in temperments as well


after yuou decide on a breed
you HAVE to do your homework on a breeder 10'x's more than the breed

way too many BAD breeders out there, and price alone means nothing on quality


in labs all the more so, they are the #1 breed in teh world and as such, even more so of bad breeders out there looking to make money and producing health and temperment problem dogs!

labs these days are like silver cars
way too many styles to just call them the same
many are of HIGH energy line's and well they will test your will to train if your a newbie, and then there are lines of labs with very low if any hunt in them(sadly)
I highly recommend you do lots of research on any breeders you are thinking about, and ask lots of questions, and please be honest with the breder on what you want in a dog, and can handle in a dog!!

if you do your part you will have a dog that you are more than happy with, if not you can be stuck cursing a lot and not happy with a dog you will have for 10+ yrs!


if you do a lot of water work, go lab, or even chessy
but if you do mostly land work, a lab or German short hair will be fine!
drathar's are another great breed if you like to look at them!

I understand that most would not use a Brittany for waterfoul. I dont waterfoul hunt much so a birt is fine for me. If i did alot of duck and goose hunting then i would definately lean towards a lab or a even a golden retriever personally. Of course the other reason that I use my brit for waterfowl is that he is a large Brit. He is 45 lbs which is 10 to 15 lbs heavier than the average brit. Sirbuster is on the right track with making sure that you research it out all the way. you dont want to pay alot of money for a dog that wont perform. Just figured i would chim in on this one cuz i love hunting over dogs. it make the whole time out in the field much more enjoyable.

IF you can afford a started dog it would be advisable or a finished dog. This way you know what your getting as far as a huinting dog and it will hunt whatever you tell it to. Check with trainers and ask alot of questions and ask for many references and if possible ask to see the dogs work. The 2000 to 4000 you will spend will be worth it. What stae are you in ?

Advantage of Started or even Finished dog is you know what the dog can do and you don't have the first 18-24 months of Vet and food costs let alone all the time it takes to train. Disadvantage other than the obvious costs, he did not bond with you and family as a puppy. Probably never been in a house if you want that and may not be chew and jump on furniture broke.

can a beagle be used for upland and waterfowl

Beagles can be used to game birds. When I was a kid my neighbor had beagles and we hunted pheasant with them. They did a good job, but you had to keep up with them. As for waterfowl, you can not expect a beagle to make retrieves in water or to endure the cold of icy water if they did make the retrieve. 

Yep....while Ol Abe took to Pheasants, Quail because of good gamey smell and dove retrieval after he figuured out that was what we were shooting with no training other than taking him, that's pretty lucky....and I have to keep him close because he ain't fixing to do anything but try to catch them!

Something I consider is your hunting style. When I was young, fast on my feet, and could run all day, I used English Springer Spaniels (yes they retrieve water fowl just fine), and a Labrador. Both loved to hunt and fetch. But in retrieving water fowl, the Lab was far superior. Especially when bring in geese. I had a Springer that too quite a beating from a goose one afternoon. And a Lab is hard to beat as a family pet. A more devoted breed of dog would be hard to find. To make them happy, just have them near you. But now that I am older, I don't walk too well. And flushing bird dogs can be hard to keep up with. So I decided I want a breed that still finds the birds, but then just points them out for me. So I am looking at a German Shorthair. One reason, I hear they make excellent family dogs, can go all day and then some, and are easy to train. Sounds like my kind of dog. I have no clue as to how they would work on water fowl. But friends tell me they do a good job. So I have to take them at their word. And besides, I hunt water fowl very little. If I was a dedicated duck hunter like I used to be, a Labrador would be in my boat.

Any thoughts about a Welsh Springer Spaniel?  All I know is they are great with little kids and we have a bunch of young grandkids.  I have never hunted with my own dog but thinking of getting one next year.  Maybe it will get me out after birds more than once or twice a year.

Loved my Shorthair Pointers. Easily trained myself, and terrific at pointing and retrieving. Dumb enough to love the water too. Best family pets I could have hoped for. If I was to get another bird dog, it would be a GHP.

I'm curious what got you looking at labs and german shorthairs? They are two different breeds that excel in there own fields, shorthairs on upland game and labs at waterfowl. Either way you have two good choices but you are not really comparing "apples to apples". Both of the shorthairs I have had, had whole different personalities, both were great in the house but when you took them to the field my female was always within 50 yards and my male would be in the next county, my female hated water and never retrieved, whereas my male loves water and retrieves everything he can find. I'm not sure about labs but I can only imagine that there are good ones and bad ones as in any breed, but you are comparing pointing dogs to flushing dogs, what tyoe of hunting dog do you want to follow?

If you don't have a lot of time or knowledge for training I would reccommend getting a started dog. I have had two started dogs now and two puppies and I will say that without a doubt the dogs I got as started dogs are far better than the dogs I have tried to train myself, and they all have turned out to be very loyal dogs that crave attention and are great in the house. I just purchased a english setter for 1/5 the cost of my current draht and she will run circles around him in the grouse woods all day long. My female shorthair that has now passed away was a pointing machine and I didn't pay a dollar for her. I guess what I'm saying is that if you don't have access to the birds for training and you are going to send the dog to a trainer why not save yourself the money of the puppy stage and buy a started/finished dog that you can see work and you know what your getting?

Either way I wish you luck in your search and I'm sure you will find a great dog.

Go with the lab puppy will do everything you need to do but labs are crazy. I trained mine myself with a few books the internet and a e collar. It was fun to teach him and then see him hunting knowing that your the one that taught him everything he knows. It was also a sense of accomplishment at the end to be able to hunt and know he is going to know what to do before and after the shot. And as for male or female it is up to you. And the lab will be nice and warm in the snow water or out in the field so. I would say definitely the lab good luck and have fun

I picked ol Abe from one of two choices when I won him at a DU banquet....gotta be a poor bloodlinehe or they wud not be giving him away....best waterfowl dawg I have ever owned and fine on upland....maybe "getting lucky" is best...he just turned 10 and still has full desire...just a little slower, especially coming back , and a little hard of hearing.
He has pretty well done it all from fields of SK to rice of SE MO to timber of ARK to marsh and mud of LA with Pheasants in MT and quail in IL and lots of doves....deep water, disappearing horizon in big water, gator racing back to blind (gator did not like three of us unloading on him), air boat, john boat, pirogue, pit blinds, day blind, laying in a corn field, fighting a Sand Hill we thought was dead, diving after a diver and disappearing under water, hiding from rain and thunder under blind seat, breaking thru ice....I am a lucky man and I tear up when I think he only has a season or two left....he is asleep under the table behind me right now...my once in a lifetime buddy!

I was in the same boat as you when trying to pick a breed of dog about a year ago. I know that labs are great dogs and everyone has them, they are good for family and hunting dogs. One day I met a gentleman and we got on the topic of dogs, he breeds GSP's so of course he was a little biased but I learned alot from him that day. After that I started looking into the GSP breed more and decided that was the breed of dog that I wanted. If you look into the history of the GSP breed you will find out that it was orginally a poor man's all around dog, it was used for hunting, herding, gaurding, and family pets. I am working on starting him on water first and then the upland should be natural (hopefully). The biggest turn off that I had about labs is that they a very well known to have problems with hip dysplasia and there is alot of inbreeding which makes high strung and stupid dogs IMO. I was worried about a GSP being very engergetic and hard to control but we have not had that problem with our pup, he is 11 weeks old now so time will tell. I think alot of a dogs attitude is attributed to the way it is handled, ie. in a kennel all day or a family pet. Good luck and make sure to do your research.

Don't go disparging Labs! If you get them from a reputable "hunting" breeder instead of lap dog puppy mill! I have owned or hunted over Labs for over 30 years....Labs are awesome!
Now hush up before you wake Ol Abe from lying in breeze thru dining room door and he comes bites you for disrespect......oh, I got three friends who tried GSP's when their Labs passed....all got rid of the hyper sob's and went back to Labs....our personal experiences may not matter but don't be too quick to judge esp without any personal experience!

Go with a Chessie. I am a little biased though.

Tom,
I am not trying to place judgment on labs as they are great dogs, just trying to give a different perspective. I have hunted over labs and they have all been good dogs and I almost got a lab. And you can run into the puppy mill problem with any popular breed, that is why you should always do your research about a breed and the breeder. As for the hyper dogs I can say the same about friends having labs that were so hyper the owner's didn't like them and got rid of them, which can be said for any breed. And don’t take me as an expert either, just another person’s views.

10-4

lankas labs atwood kansas pointing labs i have a 9 month old that is a hunting machine . it is unbelievable how fast his dogs learn. i like so much just bought my second one he is on the web LANKAS LABS ATWOOD KANSAS MY DOG WORKS OUT ABOUT 25 YARDS ON UPLAND AND WILL FIND AND RETRIEVE ANYTHING THAT HITS THE GROUND. BUT LIKE MIKE SAYS IF YOU WANT A HUNTING KENNEL DOG THEN THESE MIGHT NOT BE FOR YOU MINE ARE A PART OF THE FAMILY AND REQUIRE LOTS OF ATTENTION

lankas labs atwood kansas pointing labs i have a 9 month old that is a hunting machine . it is unbelievable how fast his dogs learn. i like so much just bought my second one he is on the web LANKAS LABS ATWOOD KANSAS MY DOG WORKS OUT ABOUT 25 YARDS ON UPLAND AND WILL FIND AND RETRIEVE ANYTHING THAT HITS THE GROUND. BUT LIKE MIKE SAYS IF YOU WANT A HUNTING KENNEL DOG THEN THESE MIGHT NOT BE FOR YOU MINE ARE A PART OF THE FAMILY AND REQUIRE LOTS OF ATTENTION

lankas labs atwood kansas pointing labs i have a 9 month old that is a hunting machine . it is unbelievable how fast his dogs learn. i like so much just bought my second one he is on the web LANKAS LABS ATWOOD KANSAS MY DOG WORKS OUT ABOUT 25 YARDS ON UPLAND AND WILL FIND AND RETRIEVE ANYTHING THAT HITS THE GROUND. BUT LIKE MIKE SAYS IF YOU WANT A HUNTING KENNEL DOG THEN THESE MIGHT NOT BE FOR YOU MINE ARE A PART OF THE FAMILY AND REQUIRE LOTS OF ATTENTION

lankas labs atwood kansas pointing labs i have a 9 month old that is a hunting machine . it is unbelievable how fast his dogs learn. i like so much just bought my second one he is on the web LANKAS LABS ATWOOD KANSAS MY DOG WORKS OUT ABOUT 25 YARDS ON UPLAND AND WILL FIND AND RETRIEVE ANYTHING THAT HITS THE GROUND. BUT LIKE MIKE SAYS IF YOU WANT A HUNTING KENNEL DOG THEN THESE MIGHT NOT BE FOR YOU MINE ARE A PART OF THE FAMILY AND REQUIRE LOTS OF ATTENTION

What???? Would you repeat that?