best dog

[Wightwings]

The best dog for someone who has not had one and never trained one ( but will get proper help ) is what?

[North East Harris Hawker]

for falconry? mmm probbably a GWP/GSP bitch from a pup, when this one of mine croaks it the next one is going to school to be taught, ok its expensive but once its taught, it'll teach the next generation for free!

[Milsbon]

you want a nice n steady female english springer spaniel,

[KenHawker1970]

Bedlington terrier(no dog hares for the misses to clean up). Or asI said before chris, a Lakeland terrier.

Ken

[Shaun Byrne]

What sort of ground you got WW?

[Ian Wileman]

Teckels are becoming popular.....but if you want a real worker my border terrier bitch has just beem mated to e very good dog.

[Varmint]

I would say a Brittany Spaniel Bitch.

The good lines have without a doubt, the best nose in the HPR world. They have the ellegance of the setter and will go in the toughest cover.
They are much easier to train than both the GSP and the GWP and are equally at home in the house or the kennel.
Only draw back can be certain lines of Brittany are very short and this prohibits there use on the Grouse..

Will Hunt all day, will point steadily from a very early age and can also be used to retrieve on shooting days.

[Saker Mad]

get yourself a springer m8 they are great workers mines seven year old now and still has the energy of a pup

[Wightwings]

thanks guys some great feedback.
H4 at the moment its all wide open flat land broken into individual fields with hedgerows and the odd copse. Not ideal for the Broadwing as i have but better for the longwing ( next year :wink: )
I am hoping to get some more enclosed land and am waiting for someone to come back to me.
I have taken on board the Pup comments and so the dog will be working both next year i hope and useing this one as a growing phase.
its an important decision thats why im "plying" you guys for info.
many thanks
chris

[Falcon]

It's down to land and what you like yourself really, I like the pointers myself!

[Ian Wileman]

Hungarian Wirehaired Visla Pups, due end of November, previous litter has done well in field trials and show ring. For more info phone 01452 760585 (Glos) evenings or e-mail callinan@btinternet.com (29129868)

Just found this on I.B.R.

[North East Harris Hawker]

I would say a Brittany Spaniel Bitch.

The good lines have without a doubt, the best nose in the HPR world. They have the ellegance of the setter and will go in the toughest cover.
They are much easier to train than both the GSP and the GWP and are equally at home in the house or the kennel.
Only draw back can be certain lines of Brittany are very short and this prohibits there use on the Grouse..

Will Hunt all day, will point steadily from a very early age and can also be used to retrieve on shooting days.
these are good dogs for falconry, i have seen a few worked up in scotland, very graceful movers and extremely steady on point

[Grovsey]

hi m8
Its all down to what land you have and the game you havoe got to hand,if you are going to work hedge rows thats have rabbits and pheasent in and going to flush them with a harris,redtail or gos then you want a springer.
if you are walking open land with a falcon then you want a pointer,visla type.
it is all down to what you are flying and what game you have to go at.you will find that you will get a dog for a sertent type off land and then move and it is not right there .at the end off the day you have to live with it?

[Shaun Byrne]

COCKER!!!! lol!!!

[Hawkmaster]

What about SPROCKERS? Springer cross Cocker. Phil bred some real beauties recently.

[Shaun Byrne]

At least your half way there HM lol!!

[IAmTheWeasel]

What? No jacks? I would of thought that the Russels would be popular for the rabbits over there. They are really popular here with the squirrel hawkin crowd. I have a jack russel, a rat terrier and a jack rat......guess how that happened.........

[Chris S]

i work a weimaraner bitch,works well with hawks and falcons shes only 2 but is doing well.and they look nice what more can you ask for

[Gaz]

work a weimaraner bitch

Bet you do!!!..........Bandit country this boy....dodgy gezzer :mrgreen:






p.s.did u ring Chris??

[Chris S]

hi all wife just bought me a new pup for christmas,a solid liver GSP dog called him Sniper.(dam shes good to me)

[Hawkmaster]

Cool you lucky man! Where are the pictures?

[Chris S]

there is a pic in the album and there will be more soon :D

[Hawkmaster]

Cool thanks, whats with the Siberian in the gallery?

[CastleFalconry]

Brittanies for me, They work and point like a GSP in open field, and like a springer in enclosed country.

They're like a mix between a pointer and a spaniel. They work all day quite happily and have bounds of energy with the advantage that they make great family pets too!

I'll get beaten for this but they seem to be more 'thoughtful' than springers in the way they work (Sorry springer fans!!!!) and are very receptive to vocal commands and hand signals.

Look at what you want the dog to do. If you want it to signal to you that it's found something, then go for some sort of pointer. If you want something just to flush, then look at a spaniel of some sort.
R.

[Jiff]

i've just sold some more fishing gear and now have 300 spare quids,i have me heart set on a springer,but all my shooting buddies are putting me off,i may go for one of the terrier crosses,but i'd imagine they'r harder to control in the field,a pointer on my ground would be good but i feel a flushing dog would be better,the decision will be made shortly and the pictures posted, :wink:

[CastleFalconry]

Brittany!! Best of all worlds!!!!!

[Jiff]

never see nany advertised, but because of my shooting contacts can get a spaniel from working stock farely cheaply.

[Coedhirion]

BRITTANY every time. they quickly learn not only to point above ground quarry, but will point burry. Never put a ferret down a hole pointed by a Brit & found no rabbit home. Saves hours of hole trying. Gotta be the cleverest sharpest dog going. Will work all day up an down steep rough land, brambles gorse nothing puts them off. An now I GOT ONE TOO picked her up today, 4 months old an the sweatest thing ever. Corr I'm lucky !!!!!! :D :D :D

[Shaun Byrne]

Never liked the look of the Brittany, they always remind me of a Springer and Labrador cross for some reason.

[Jiff]

don't think there would be much wrong withthat cross as it goes :)

[Shaun Byrne]

No mate, dont get me wrong the Brittany is a great dog and so is the Spring/Lab but you not only have to work them but look at them every day, if you dont like what you're looking at you aint going to keep it long. Each to their own.

[Kevin Massey]

could be worse, you could be lumbered with this daft ******......we do luv him though .....................ish :lol:

[Ian Wileman]

Jiff...if you want a real moocher my mate has had an accident. His Lurcher (Greyhound/Whipet X Bedlington) has bonked his Bedlington...(all working strain....six pups....I am sure (as he is well aware they are not going to be the fastest dogs in the world), if you wanted one, you could have one for a couple of quid. They same thin happened a eighteen months ago. He kept a bitch back.....she is mustard! 20inch, quick at the burrow, pushes all sorts up, excellent with pheasant etc. PM if interested

[Hawkmaster]

I have been REALLY researching this in the past week or so and I must say in my situation I think I agree with Varmint on this one, the Brittany looks the best dog to get.

I have so many criteria to meet and it seems the best of the lot, except on two things, price and availabily.

[Finnish]

GET A BRITTANY YOU NO IT MAKES SENCE. :D

[Hawkmaster]

There seems to be two kinds and looks to them, I like yours. Tell me more?

[Varmint]

I've noticed that too Hawkmaster, you get the small pug looking Brittanies who seem to rock along like a horse and you get the leggier more setter looking brittanies, i like the latter too.

There's a Guy here in Scotland Called Steve Buck, i have lost his details but he has bred some superb Brittanies most of which work in Falconry, and the one i had from him was pointing scent firmly at 10 weeks old?

Caught my first pheasant with a gos over him at 12 weeks?

My GSP is still looped at 14mnths old, and my setters???? enough said on that topic, but they both share the single brain cell, it's just a matter of who's turn it is to use it? :wink:

[Gos212]

Ive got a 4yr old Brittany bitch of the small variety. I'm no expert but I think the smaller version have a pure French background. As they have only been in the UK for 15yrs or so, the original blood lines must still be there.

The rangier versions are very common and preffered in the states. I know that if showing Brittany's in the States they don't allow any Black colouring at all in the breed.

I was thinking about taking a litter from mine this year and spoke to a Scottish breeder last week. She told me that if it wasn't for Falconers she wouldn't have bred so many. Her last 3 litters went entirely to Falconers.

[Hawkmaster]

I just need to find one now as there are none available. :cry:

[Sighthound]

Heres my springer pup, 7 months old, I got her from a keeper friend near Blair Drummond, shes bred in the purple and is coming along well.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/Sighthound/PICT0015.jpg
She is a nice size only 17 inches and has none of that 'springer' hyperness (at the moment) She already marks burrows and waits while I net up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/Sighthound/PICT0020.jpg
Just hope hawk and her will get on!

[Coedhirion]

Brittany is best, an I have just got a real cracker. 4 month bitch she out runs the sheep dogs and is already in all the cover she can find working back and for. Dont think she knows why yet !! my friends distant related dog points holes an cover and her bitch is outstanding pointer she found 7 bunny in an almost bare field this afternoon, poor bunny. even her redtail had trouble missin them.... Sorry to all redtail lovers !!! must try to get a picture put in

[Hawkmaster]

Where did you get her?

[Bird_Dog]

Brittany Spaniel are fine, but they do have a few negatives. The ones I've seen are often sensitive and sometimes neurotic. Very few serious quail hunters use them "in these here parts" (a little Texan for ya). I was given one when I was 12 to train for quail hunting. Loved her, but it just didn't work out in the presence of other English pointers. I would put them on the versatile dog breed list, tho. I suggest a German short-haired pointer because compared with spaniels they have less grooming requirements and because of the GSP sharpness. Here a pic of my GSP after digging a hole big enough to walk in... it took him 20-30 mins to get to the wounded quail that ran down a rabbit hole

[Bird_Dog]

oops forgot to add the pic

-- Bird_Dog

[Coedhirion]

I got the Britt from a breeder my friend knows, she had hers from there. Got this fancy long pedegree with lotsa crufts winners an a grotty long name to go with it, plus real good working records in familly. Hope breeder dosnt read this!! Easternite Verbina or sumit. Known as 'The Bean Bag' as its awful fat, Bina for short!! Came from opposite side of country, poor mite, cost nearly as much for a carrier to bring her as far as Welsh boarder, but well worth it !!!!

[IAmTheWeasel]

Anyone take note that the Best in show dog at the Westminster dog show was a German Short Hair pointer

[Hawkmaster]

Yes that is right!

And for the previous years it was:

Newfoundland
Kerry Blue Terrier
Poodle (Miniature)
Bichons Frises
Spaniels (English Springer)
Papillon

So make of it what you want!

[Morb]

Anyone have any experience with English Setters?

[North East Harris Hawker]

i tkae it you want to work this dog with your bird morg?

[Morb]

That's the plan. I know a guy who breeds them and he is expecting a litter soon.

[Varmint]

Not an easy breed for the novice Morb!

I have two and i must say after training a few pointers im not finding them easy, they want to run and run and some might say not much going on upstairs?

They are smart, but in a different way to most breeds.

Very sensitive, cannot be heavily handled and need lots and lots of work, cause they have limitless energy.

Just my own observations of my own dogs, others might find them different?

[Gaz]

They are smart, but in a different way to most breeds.
Love that :mrgreen: ..like what?they have a day off when THEY decide?? :wink:

[Morb]

[quote="Varmint"]
Very sensitive, cannot be heavily handled and need lots and lots of work, cause they have limitless energy.
quote]

I was told that you can't rough with them. I have some experience training dogs, labs mostly but I have never trained upland game dogs before.