Can you hunt a pointer and retriever together?

[fishroger]

I have a lab that has completed gun dog training and is a very good retriever and occassionally points. I have a friend who has a pointer who strictly points. Can we hunt them together or will the retriever want to run in and flush the bird after its pointed by the other dog?

[Harmonica Bear]

Sure, I do it all the time with a buddy of mine and his lab with out much issue. Plus if the dog has completed training you should be able to stop the dog from running in.

[bwana_d]

It can definitely be done. Depends on what you want and how far you want to take it. It also depends on the cover you will be hunting and dogs. Some cover it can be a great one - two punch, some cover not so good.

Depending on the maturity, the training and exposure my pointing dog has had I will hunt with flushing dogs. The less training and exposure the more likely we are to hunt the same area but go different directions. This allows me to continue to work and train while I am hunting and avoid my dog developing bad habits.

I like to let my pointing dogs run - 200 - 400 yards out when I am on foot in open cover. This can be frustrating to the flushing dog owner, because my dog has already covered the ground they are about to cover. It is a riot to walk up on my dog pointing, send his dog in for the flush, maintain my dog on point, shoot the bird and then let his dog retrieve it. My dogs typically like to retrieve and it takes a lot of repetition to get to stay on point through the retrieve of the other dog. It is also something I would not do all the time with my dogs because I want them to do it all and get rewarded making the retrieve.

You might want to check out what they do on plantation hunts. They will run pointing dogs until they go on point. When everyone is in position they will send in the flushing dogs.

[2thepointsetters]

It can be done but I dont see the reason for it. The pointing dog covers all the ground finds the birds and then you send a flusher in? What does this make better? Even though my dogs are very steady I dont like when guys send a flusher in on point. I have done this many times and find it better just to switch out dogs at the next spot and a have a fresh one.

[gspman]

It's an aesthetic thing for some folks and can be the height of dog work/training for some. To each his own. It ain't for me though.

[NWBuck]

I do it all the time with a couple of friends who own yellow labs. Hunting isn't nearly as much about what dog the person has, as it is spending time with friends. Yes, their labs occasionally bust in on my shorthairs' points, but they also find plenty of birds on their own. Not to mention the number of times the labs are able to make retrieves that my shorthair possibly couldn't. For me, if it's a person I want to enjoy a day in the field with, I wouldn't care what kind of dog is in his truck.

[Heidi]

I have britannys and my buddy has a lab. The lab always

keeps on eye on my dog because he likes to roam over there

when one of my dogs on point. As long as the lab's owner

keeps him off my dog, she will stay on point and not bust

the bird. Busting birds is big waste of training time and

expense. Fun to watch them all together and give it a try

[ruster]

My brother and I did this for several years, I had a GSP and my brother ran a Springer. The dogs different styles really complemented each other and allowed us to work a variety of different cover situations. For example we would pull up to a spot that had a couple cattail sloughs and some woody/brushy cover, with CRP grass covering the upland areas in between. My brother and his Springer would work the cattails and brush while the GSP and I cover the uplands, a very effective way to hunt a given area. However both of our dogs were fully trained and very experienced before we even attempted this. I would not try this with young/inexperienced dogs unless you have full control over them, other wise you will get frustrated.

[KLoopBinaction]

pointer all the way, best hunts I"ve ever been on were with a gsp and a pointing lab. I have a pointing lab and love him, bud has one also great fun in all waterfowl pheasants whatever, but gsp's are great to awsume.............

[11-87]

My GSP has hunted with 2 labs on many occasions. As we cover alot of ground, its good for the 3 dogs, my dog won't hardly bother the other 2 and the same for them is likewise. all work good together in close quarters, and fine when wide open areas.

On birds holding tight, Found it was good to have both, the pointer would do his thing, and if you walked up and bird held tight in cold windy wet weather,or started runnng, the labs would be there to back you up.

[candiru]

I personally would not want to do this with a pointing dog that is not well-seasoned. I wuld not want to go back and fix problems because the dog started seeing it as a competition to get the birds, and therefore started performing more like a flusher.

[OutlawTorn]

I own both, and although I would like to run them together some day, its going to be a while. My Chessie is just fine, its the 8mth old GSP that needs to work on his own for a while.

When he is solid, then I imagine them hunting together. Ill follow the Chessie closely until the GSP goes on point, at which point Ill go to the pointer.

[setterguy]

Every time I hear this question I always think about dating two women at the same time. It sure sounds like a great idea but rarely goes smoothly.

Some people can work it out, but I don't think you can get the full potential out of either dog by asking them to adapt to the ways of another dog.

If I had one of each I would hunt them independently, thus always having a fresh dog on the ground. I have never seen a dog that can hunt at 100% for more than an hour at a time. Some will say "My dog can hunt all day" Hogwash...a dog may be out of the truck and on the ground all day but they are not "hunting" effectively after they are fatigued.

[Surface Tension]

Very possible.

The flusher finds all the birds the Pointer didn't.

[germanshorthairs]

Surface tension you must be extremally biased towards labs to comment like that. I have seen great labs and great pointers miss birds.