German Shorthaired Pointer Advice

[Ron]

I too have had English Pointers and GSP. The german shorthair is much easier to train, when your time is limited, very family oriented and a great hunting dog. I only use mine for quail. I have a good lab for ducks, dove, and pheasant so the GSP stays home sometimes. When you go look at a litter and use the information above, the only thing I would add is to watch the dogs together and there's usually one that ventures away and has it's nose to the ground, that's the one I buy. It's worked everytime so far.

[Aggiebow88]

Everyone has a differnt philosophy.... but it is amazing I agree with what Dale said about training

More on my thoughts on the breed. Mine (in my Avator) was my best friend for 15 years till I had to put her down. Was 2 years ago and I am still getting teary eyed typing this. I had a Female and had her fixed but that is preference. I wanted a slightly smaller dog. Mine was in the house most of the time I was home and outside in the yard when I was not. Slept on the floor at the foot of my bed unless we were at a hotel on a hunting trip and then she knew she could sleep on the bed with m. She was smart enough to not even look at the bed unless we were in a hotel and then she got excited and jumped up there as soon as we got in the room. VERY intelligent breed. Great with kids if raised with kids. Good guard dogs, can be protective...... they need moderate exercise and a big yard is a bonus but as Dale stated not a necessity. when they are pups they are VERY energetic and will slow down a bit as they get older a lot like Labs and other sporting breeds. they live to please thier owner.Try to get one ot fit your needs. If you plan on hunting on foot you probably do not want a line that is a BIG long distance running trial dog but one that tends to stay in a little closer for the foot hunter. This is probably not as big of a deal with Quail as is with pheasant. A dog takes a while to figure out pheasant. I took (litterally) 100's of quail and pheaant over my dog and she was a great companion as well. She was my best friend for many years. I got lucky enough to have a pari of roosters mounted late in her life that ended up being the last two birds she pointed for me............ when she got older the mind was still willing but the body could not carry through....

[Artos]

Agdog,

I've always been a lab guy as most of my needs are retreiver oriented and not so much pointing.

Having said that, I'm 99% sure my next dog will be a Vizsla...give them a little research, they are quite the pooch. They are related to the gsp, very loyal, need a soft hand for training, very little shedding and not much dog smell!!

[Agdog]

Dale and everyone else thanks for the information, very helpful.

What other options are there if I am not able to convince other members of the household that a large kennel is necessary in our backyard? Does anyone let their GSP run free in the house while you're at work? Or am I asking for serious trouble that way? It sounds like free range of the backyard is out of the question so I'm trying to figure out what my best situation is going to be. I work a full day and don't want to be unfair to the pup while i'm away. There will be days I can bring it in to the office or on the road with me and we have some pretty open terrain nearby where I can let it exercise regularly.

Great lookin dog Micks!

[Zookeeper]

This is my GSP his name is Second Chance "Chance" He was a rescue I got from a kennel in Calif.His former owner gave him up at 1yr old because of his new wife. He is now 5 and has turned out to be a great partner.

[Shane]

The reason I don't have dogs right now is because my wife and I both have jobs outside the home, our kids are in school, and most evenings we are running around to and from kids' activities. If we had dogs, they'd be sitting out there in the back yard 95% of the time. I LOVE dogs - well, I love bird dogs. I have no use for little yippie lap dogs. I love bird dogs enough not to own one right now. I wouldn't be a very good buddy for a dog these days.

[Dale Moser]

Dale and everyone else thanks for the information, very helpful.

What other options are there if I am not able to convince other members of the household that a large kennel is necessary in our backyard? Does anyone let their GSP run free in the house while you're at work? Or am I asking for serious trouble that way? It sounds like free range of the backyard is out of the question so I'm trying to figure out what my best situation is going to be. I work a full day and don't want to be unfair to the pup while i'm away. There will be days I can bring it in to the office or on the road with me and we have some pretty open terrain nearby where I can let it exercise regularly.

Great lookin dog Micks!

Both of mine are capable of staying in the house all day without disturbing anything, and have been since they were 2 or so. But it would be a tough row to hoe before that! I left mine in a plastic kennel in the garage when they were really young. It's not "Fair", but they ARE dogs, and life aint always fair. Plus, fear of that plastic kennel can be a valuable tool as well.

[Aggiebow88]

Both of mine are capable of staying in the house all day without disturbing anything, and have been since they were 2 or so. But it would be a tough row to hoe before that! I left mine in a plastic kennel in the garage when they were really young. It's not "Fair", but they ARE dogs, and life aint always fair. Plus, fear of that plastic kennel can be a valuable tool as well.

Like Dale said. After mine got older she could and would stay in the house all day (a few times 12+ hrs) or in the yard (bigger fenced yard 0.5 ac+) and not cause issues. when they are 1.5 or younger........ With mine, I would do as Dale and crate her when she was younger. Crate trained her to house train her and it worked very well as well. She WOULd climb hurricane fencing at the corners and I had to put up electric fence to keep her in, After she got hit once I never even had to keep it plugged in for the next several years.

Much as Shane stated, I do not have a bird dog now because I do not have the time I feel I need to devote to one to get the companion and performance I demand. this again is personal as there are MANY who bring a dog home, put it in the run outside and NEVER do anything with them and there are MANY like Dale who get to work with and let them run on a regular basis. botton line most ANY pup you get, esp a sporting breed will be challenging at times when it is a pup but will mature and require less "maintenance" to keep it out of trouble. Another option is a companion animal for it to play with in the yard to keep it from getting bored (animal shelter rescue?)

[RdRdrFan]

I run English Pointers now. Started off with GSP's. Love both breeds. Get the gender that you feel most comfortable with. For me, I prefer a female. In my opinion it is easier to get a female trained than a male. However, once a female is trained she will still mess up every now and again. Tougher to train a male but a well trained male won't screw anything up. Don't know if that makes sense to you or not but it is my experience. I don't do trials and I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm trying to find birds. I truly don't care if my dog retrieves and drops the bird at my feet rather than holding it until I take it out of her mouth. Either way the bird makes it into my skillet.

As for breeders, my last GSP came from Rob Martin out of the Bullard area. To this day she is probably the best dog that I have ever hunted behind. She is a full sister to his Jewel dog. When I am in the market for another dog I will go back to Rob for a pup out of Jewel. The web address is www.germanbirddogs.com.

Also, not to bust anybodies chops but I've seen more pointing dogs screwed up by training the Richard Wolters way than any other method. The guy was a retriever guy, not a pointing dog guy..........and it shows. There are alot of good books out there. I would personally recommend checking out "The Best Way to Train Your Gun Dog" by Delmar Smith. Great book by a legend. The man had a way with dogs. I still read that book at least once a year and I always pick up something new.

[scotty]

I have a GSP and a Golden. They have free run of the house, if the weather is bad, but they stay out in the yard, if it's nice. Hank, my GSP, is spoiled rotten. He thinks he's a 95# lap dog. He's actually trying to help me type this right now!
He was a ball of fire when we first got him, but he's mellowed a lot the last couple of years. Still loves to run though. And swim.

[rdwhunter]

I have two wonderful GSP's. They have been the best dogs. They will lay around the house like hounds until you are ready to go hunt. Then they will give it their all. I got mine from a breeder in Hamilton. I have several freinds that have gotten GSP's there as well. His name is Ronnie Sale 254-463-9000. Tell him Russell says hi.

[Deerfeeder]

Pick the gender that YOU'RE most comfortable with. Pros and cons either way. I have all females and wouldn't have it any other way. Some guys prefer males. Pick what YOU want.

I've owned shorthairs for 25+ years. I'd be happy to talk with you about what you may want to look for in a shorthair. PM me your phone number and a good time to call.

Good Luck!

GPSBrad. I just pm'ed you. Sorry Not trying to hyjack your thread. I love my GSP.

[Mason]

This is probably more training garbage than you want to know Randall, but you might find some use in it. Cut from an email I sent to a friend of a friend of mine wanting to get a shorthair..........


........1st, get a male for your 1st, and get him from a kennel/breeder, or at least someone who knows how to breed shorthairs, and get him home by 8 weeks or so. I look for a wide, deep chest with lots of room for lungs and heart.....and good straight front legs. People go into some pretty intese pup pickin programs but I've just always used those criteria....and personality.
If you can teach a dog HERE, and WHOA....and do so thouroughly, you can teach him to point, hold, and retreive birds provided he's got the nose. If he's well bred, he'll pick up most of that on his own after you teach him "WHOA, and "HERE".

Good stuff Dale, I've had 1 and my older brother had another, mine was superlaid back at home, the most loyal and devoted dog I ever owned, hunted without training... seriously, never once trained him, but saw him on point down on a fenceline when he was about 16 weeks old, flushed 4 quail out of there, man was I proud.
My brothers came out of a kennel in Ok;ahoma, they will only sale neutered males, I was told that he came out of the same kennel that the former Grand Champion at the '03? Westminister came out of, I don't know, but Sam did nothing but hunt and run.... if you call running with the nose to the ground running. We killed hundreds of Scaled quail over that dog, we put him in booties and a chest protector and there wasn't anything West Texas could throw at him would slow him down, we had Pappy Rhodes snakeproof him and he avoided rattlers like a wino avoids water.... Sam never sat down, ever, he was either hunting in the fields or running circles in the yard, and we had almost 3/4 of an acre fenced in for the dogs!
I'll always say GSP if someone wants a bird dog.

[gspbrad]

Yeah, that part was specificaly for the guy I sent THAT email to.

Brad, how do you handle hunting the females with males when they are in heat?

I had my female fixed (by neccesity) and she just never quite had that drive that she had before. She put on about 8lbs too that I never did get off of her in 8 years of hunting, training, roading harness, all of it.......never could get that weight off.

What kennel do you use, if you don't mind my asking?

Hey Dale,

I just keep them separated; males vs. females. I’ll run a brace of bitches together and just not mix them with a male. It still drives the males bonkers though. I end up putting a bark collar on the male while kenneled to keep the whining from getting too bad.

Spaying your female shouldn’t have changed her drive, but the weight gain could affect performance. I’ve seen a lot of bitches pick up weight after being spayed. None of my bitches are fixed and they are all pretty lean. I’m a firm believer in using quality food. I think it makes a huge difference in consistency regarding performance. and maintaining a specific weight. I feed Purina Pro Plan Premium Performance (30/20) from Sept – Feb. I cut back to a Purina Pro Plan Large breed (26/12) the remainder of the season. The 30/20 is too rich for the off-season. I used to field trial some and would keep them on the hot stuff through the trial season. I closely monitor my dog’s weight. I try to keep them within a 1 lb variance year round.

I currently have all Grief/Rabach lines. I’m very happy with what I have. Over the last 25 years, I’ve had dogs out of Rusty, Clown, and Hustler – decent, but they just never hit the sweet spot for me. I prefer a dog that’s athletic, intelligent, and biddable. I also prefer a smaller package; bitches around 42-43 lbs, males 55-58 lbs. I don’t have much use for anything bigger – personal preference. I have some high inbreeding coefficient ratios to Greif v Hundsheimerkogel and Axel V Wasserschling D. These dogs go back to the 1940s and 1950s. Unique in this day and age when most everyone is still promoting Rusty or Clown.

You can find just about anything you want in a shorthair; range, breeding, color, size, etc. I feel in love with the breed and as a young lad and have never been without a kennel full since. I even use them to track deer.

[Dale Moser]

Thanks for the info, you clearly have studied the lineage a lot more than I have.lol

I'm still just on my 2nd, but I've helped my uncle with a lot of dogs, and the guy that got me into bird dogs when I was in and just out of high school. The 8 year old male I've got now is the best I've ever seen and I'd take another just like him today if I had the room. He's out of Clown as well. Easiest dog I've ever been around, he picked up whoa, and here in no time, and HE'S been training ME ever since. Killed a million over him, and he's still a young 8.