German Shorhaired Pointer

[Markley]

I am thinking of getting a GSP instead of a Lab. How hard is it to get them to point or stay in point? What books or videos do you recommend?

[Guest]

all pointing dogs should point naturally, and from a early age. with some training they will hold point until released by you. get the book Training the Versatile Hunting dog from the North American versatile hunting dog association. best book out there

[BLACKJACK]

How hard is it to get them to hold point? Briefly, how do you do it? What keeps them from becoming wide-ranging flushing dogs instead of pointers?

How about retrieving, do you just throw dummies on land and in the water like you would for a Lab? On scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being high (a Lab), how do you rate the retrieving ability and desire of GSP? Will they retrieve ducks?

How about their short coats, will they hold up on a cold, snowy pheasant hunt?

Some day when I get tired of chasing Labs, I'd like to try a pointer, but I've always wondered about 'teaching the pointing' and their retrieving, any info you can give would be appreciated.

[BDR]

I believe alot of these factors will very greaty between each GSP. I have a 4 year old male that retrieves as good as any dog i've seen,he will break ice to retrieve ducks or pheasants. One negative would be they hate to sit still in a blind and whine the whole time. I pheasant hunt till the very end and he will always go all day,sometimes I have to melt ice from his toes,tried all the boots but they eventually come off and get lost. My 2 year old female is about half his size and a 100% different story She will locate dead birds but not reliable to pick up and return 50-50. She will get cold and act like she wants to go to the truck if not on birds constantly, but she has not been in the field nearly as much, my fault but that male is so good he always gets to go. I also had way more time to spend with the male when he was a pup. No serious training just the usual playing fetch and using scent and hidding dummies. I think he loved that dummie and would go in a burning building to get it. Maybe a key was that dummie always had Pheasant scent on it. I believe this is how drug and bomb dogs are trained. But My dog will still go after any wild game.
I think that unless your going to pay big $$ for training it is just luck of the draw. A good pedigree probaly help but my male has a weak ped. ,paid $100 and my female has one of the best ped. you can get in this area paid $500. I'd take another male like mine in a heartbeat.

[Guest]

I have been around alot of shorthair pups, my buddy breeds them. And they point on there own you do not need to train them to point.

And the cold ,
Ask RT Sports we were hunting in the freezing cold in Iowa all weekend long and my shorthair was out there just as long as the labs. He does stay in the tahoe when we are driving but hes never ran for the truck when we are in the field. These dogs will hunt through anything! At least the ones I have seen.

Retrieveing birds, We used a dummy with scent. He loves having a bird in his mouth, Ive sailed birds way out he always brings the bird right back.

Water I live right on the Mississippi, hes on the water all summer long. You drop a bird in the water hes all over it!

I will agree though I do not think you could get a shorthair to sit in a blind without winning, They dont sit still very long when there hunting. (Get him neer a couch) and its a differnt story.

I know quite a few people who hunt shorthairs and they will tell you the same thing.
Good Luck

PS
But yes if you leave the dog out in the cold with nothing to do he WILL get cold they have short hair!
LOL

[This message has been edited by B Sander (edited 10-17-2002).]

[Markley]

Hey B Sander,

What is the timetable of your friends next pups? Have they been good hunters? I am looking at getting one late winter, early spring!

If anyone else knows of some in that time let me know!

[Guest]

I will ask him and get back to you as soon as I can. I know that he is planning to have some pups soon.

Hunters?
Yes, my dog is one of his pups and he is a great hunter. And I have ran a few of his other dogs and they also are very good hunters.
But I am leaving for ND so it might take a week or two.

[Guest]

My first Bird dog was a male short hair and he was absolutely fantastic. I did spend a lot of time training him when he was a pup. Pointers point instinctively and they should hold point with some training. Retrieving-wise he was almost unmatched, although I never put him in the postion of having to break through ice duck hunting. He could handle any weather when out hunting upland birds in the field. As far as books go, I followed Wolters Book, Gun Dog for him. Now I would recommend the book "How to Teach Gun Dogs to Train Themselves" by Joan Bailey.

[Bird Dog]

Heres just another thought to consider.Have you ever thought about finding a started dog
from a reputable breeder?The up front costs are probably the biggest hurdle to overcome,but when you start to consider the amount of training time it will require.the hassle of trying to find birds to train the dog on etc.And the vet bills for a pup, the amount of food the dog will eat up until he would be considered steady to wing and shot and retrieveing for you.Not to mention that a pup can be harder to take care of than a baby atleast for the first few weeks.A big plus is the fact that you will know that you have a dog that will hunt and do what you will want it to do when you go to pick it up a lot of breeders will take back a dog if you are unhappy with it.Not all dogs even if from good blood lines will turn out to be good hunters.But your chances for a good hunting dog greatly improve with good bloodlines.I hope this helps you some

Bird Dog

[Markley]

Do you know of any in Minnesota or neighboring states?

[early007]

Hi I highly recommend buying a started dog. I got mine two years ago. It was the best decision I ever made. It saves many headaches plus you can look at the dog in the field and know what you are getting. It is definately worth the extra money. A great place to search is the Gun Dog magazine. They have many breeders and trainers in the classifieds. I found my dog in IL. But I thought the best looking dogs and most responsive trainers were from Kansas and Missouri. You just have to make some phone calls.

[Bird Dog]

Sorry if it took awhile for me to get back I was out of town.Gun Dog would be a good place to look.Also you may want to find Bird Dog and Retriever news on the internet they have alot of breeders on there and some are in Mn.I would also pick up a copy of the Pointing dog journal magazine there are alot of adds in there also.

Good luck
Bird Dog

[NoodleSalad]

I said I would drive anywhere to get a dog from the best lines. I found her in Iowa. Boone- to be specific. She was started. Gun Dog Magazine has a great tape I used. (The COMPLETE pointing dog) If you can find the book-Speed train your own pointing dog- it's awsome. Train your dog right and spend the time. I think the most important thing is to train your dog with live birds between all of the yardwork. Hope this helps-NS

[Markley]

Hey Noodle Salad,

Could the book be called "Speed Train your own bird dog" by Larry Mueller? I have 2 GSP books that I am reading and 2 more pointer training books being shipped as we speak. I will be studying hard the next couple of months. The time period of a puppy would be between Feb 1 and March 1 and later for a starter GSP.

Thanks everyone for your help! Also, if I decide to get a pup let me know if you here anything in Feb.

Thanks again!

[NoodleSalad]

That's it. Great Book. -NS

[Guest]

Markley

I asked my friend when he was going to have his next pups, and he said about 5 monthes. When his dog is going into heet next.
He guessed that half the litter is usally all brown and half brown and white spotted, normally 7-8 pups.
So he figures this spring!

Sorry for takeing so long...