Hunting dog choices, Pudelpointer or Brittney. Please help!
- Thread starter dan240
- Start date
After 20+ years of Labs and Golden Retrievers I spent a lot of time looking at different breeds before choosing a new pup this last spring. I did know I wanted a versatile dog that was not as large as the Labs.
This was my final choice, a Field-Bred English Springer.
I'm not the best at reading dog lips but it seems the pup is saying "BIRD" and it's eyes seem to confirm that.
Oh yes, she is birdy! LoL 35 Field Champions in her pedigree going back 5 generations.
She is about 5 months now and has already decided the grouse in the Back 40 are the best things she has ever sniffed. Sort of a puppy cocaine! LoL
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Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
I would offer a hunt down southern AB, but I am not sure how my season is going to pan out. I have a 7 y/o male and a 1 y/o female. The female I don't want to overwhelm with multiple hunters, but will have a better idea a little further into the season. My male had a persistent shoulder injury last year, which I was sure was sorted out, but he has recently shown some concerning symptoms that I need to figure out.
If things work out okay I would be more than happy to take you out for a day so you can see them work.
As for the breeds you are looking at and their pros-cons, I would suggest a PP if you do any amount of waterfowl (x10 on the goose comment). My male retrieved a very large goose (+-16lbs) last year out of heavy cattails. He had it by the breast and he was all but invisible under an outstretched wing laying from head to tail... wish I had a camera that day.
The male is 65lbs, but my female is a fair bit smaller.
If I was not a waterfowl hunter (at all), I would run a Brit; they are just neat, funny little dogs. If I was interested in a flusher, I would have Springer or Field spaniel. If I was a hardcore waterfowler, I would have a lab or chessie. If I was a Ruffie hunter I would have an English Setter. However, I am a Hun, Sharptail, Pheasant, Ruffie, Duck, Goose, and rabbit hunter; so, I have Pudelpointers.
As for PP breeders, my two are from Cedarwoods kennels in Boise, Idaho. Pine Ridge in Ont., Fin Renard in Quebec... there are options.
ive owned a shorthair.four pudlepointers from pineridge and a wirehare(drathare).next dog i get when the kids are old enough would be a wirehair again. the pudlepointers all turned gun shy .later on.they were perfect first 2 years then one got afraid of lighting then gun shy. one was an import and she was great but got stolen for six months when i came across the new owner at a park. dog imediatly recognized me and ran to me, she was tatooed and chipped and the guy did take a beating. i got into a lot of trouble on that one but dog was ruined to hunt.pudlespointers are great in the field and water late season bonus thicker hides and good for tracking.i will only get the wirehare because they tend to be bigger . i love the look of the spaniels but if you field hunt i would hate to pic out burrs.
Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
^^??^^
If your dogs "became gunshy" it is something you are doing. Time for some self reflection...
Having said that, Pudelpointers, like all versatile dogs do best when they are part of the family (not kennelled 23 hours a day).
If your dogs "became gunshy" it is something you are doing. Time for some self reflection...
Having said that, Pudelpointers, like all versatile dogs do best when they are part of the family (not kennelled 23 hours a day).
i personally didnt like your coment about reflection. andnope they just were that way,and my dogs were not kennelled, the shorthair and wirehair had no problems and were great.obviously you love puddlepointers, how long have you had them. i had my first in 1990 .even though they became gun shy i still kept them and loved them.how have your dogs placed in navda,how many birds you shot over them,.
Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
You are right dogger1, my comment was out of line. I don't know you or your dogs. I just know that if I had 4 dogs turn gun shy, all around the same time, I would be asking myself some tough questions.
99 out of 100 "Gun Shy" dogs are made, not born. If your dogs were mentally unstable (which I define gun-shyness to be), I would suggest that the breeder has some serious issues with his line(s). But you state one of the Pudelpointers was an import, so that means you got defective dogs from multiple breeders.
I don't personally know the breeder at Pine Ridge, so I won't comment further.
Have any other Pudelpointer owners experienced similar issues? If so, are they from the same breeder? I have never heard of these issues in Pudelpointers before, in fact, that is why I got a Pudelpointer in the first place - healthy, stable, hard hunting dogs.
Parker is 7 and has had well over 500 birds shot over him (ducks, geese, upland), as well as a fair number of jackrabbits. Kiva is still a pup and this will be her first full hunting season, so I will report back, but so far she is showing great promise as a fantastic duck dog.
Both dogs ran 112 NA.
99 out of 100 "Gun Shy" dogs are made, not born. If your dogs were mentally unstable (which I define gun-shyness to be), I would suggest that the breeder has some serious issues with his line(s). But you state one of the Pudelpointers was an import, so that means you got defective dogs from multiple breeders.
I don't personally know the breeder at Pine Ridge, so I won't comment further.
Have any other Pudelpointer owners experienced similar issues? If so, are they from the same breeder? I have never heard of these issues in Pudelpointers before, in fact, that is why I got a Pudelpointer in the first place - healthy, stable, hard hunting dogs.
Parker is 7 and has had well over 500 birds shot over him (ducks, geese, upland), as well as a fair number of jackrabbits. Kiva is still a pup and this will be her first full hunting season, so I will report back, but so far she is showing great promise as a fantastic duck dog.
Both dogs ran 112 NA.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I am not a dog owner but I have had the opportunity to hunt with Pudelpointers.....my brother has had two males.The older one has passed on to the happy hunting grounds after a long and fruitful career. Both of them have been great versatile hunting dogs and good family pets. The only downside is that they do attract a lot of burs. Also, his second male has some issues with cracked toenails when hunting upland. Sorry, I don't know where he purchased the pups.
If I was only hunting upland, I would get a Britteny, but for greater versatility the Pudelpointer is a great choice.
p.s. never heard of one developing gun-shyness.
If I was only hunting upland, I would get a Britteny, but for greater versatility the Pudelpointer is a great choice.
p.s. never heard of one developing gun-shyness.
I spent a lot of time shooting over pudelpointers when I lived in Nebraska. The two dogs were fantastic on Prairie Chickens, Sharptails, Bobwhites, Pheasants, and Huns. Both were great family dogs. A German fella named Bodo was the breeder of them. Both were around 70 pounds each, and were good waterdogs too.
Pudelpointer
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lethbridge, Alberta
Had forgotten this thread. Said i would update on Kiva's season. Can't seem to make photobucket links work off the iPad, so I will try and add some pics later.
Got her out for some Huns on opening day (Sept1) and we managed a couple. She wasn't pointing strongly and (anthropomorphizing) seemed confused/overwhelmed by scenting up to 15 birds at one time. Retrieves were good, but she wasn't marking the birds at all; just working in all directions working scent until she found them.
Got a couple more birds over the next week, and she started to work coveys a bit better.
Sept. 8th signaled the beginning of waterfowl season. Opening day we went out with a buddy and his young male lab cross. Kiva stayed in the truck first. I knocked down a duck that landed not far away, and I had it pretty well marked. I won't go into it, but he never found the bird, and the morning's flights flared while they searched. 45 min later we switched out the dogs. 8 birds down for the morning and we had 7 in the blind, including the first one of the day. Every bird fall was missed by my little brown dog as the cat tails obscured her view of everywhere except straight up. She was taking a short line at the time, and some retrieves took her up to 10 minutes, but she was determined and I was very happy. The one bird that was not retrieved dove a couple times and then flew away... so I don't really count it as a lost bird.
The next month found us sitting in the blind, jump shooting the occasional duck, or working the fields for Huns. Lots of duck and partridge dinners.
The opening of pheasants in mid October found us in my favourite spot. I had decided to take my grandfathers old Champion single shot out for Kiva's first pheasant. She bumped a couple birds just out of the truck, but got it together after she burned off a little rocket fuel. A series of solid points and subsequent flushes later I was cursing myself for pi** poor shooting. The old Champion is the tightest choked shotgun I own, and I was missing what are normally "gimme" shots for me. Kiva was holding very well, allowing me lots of time, and I had to kick up a number of birds. On rooster 6 I started counting as it flushed, 1... 2... Boom. The rooster folded dead in the air. Even though it was close to 35 yards out, later plucking revealed close to 2 dozen pellets in the bird. Did I mention the gun is tight choked?
Kiva made a picture perfect retrieve, save for the fact she dropped it at my feet; she wasn't retrieving to hand at that point anyway, so I didn't expect any different.
The rest of the season saw Kiva point lots of birds and another dozen roosters in the bag. A few more ducks were retrieved, including one cold morning where she retrieved 7 birds from an icy corner of the lake. It was -8C with a windchill around -18. She had Parker's neoprene vest on, but the cold didn't seem to bother her.
Near the end of the season in December I took a new hunter out for geese, and he managed 2 Snow geese on a local reservoir. The water was the roughest Kiva had ever experienced, but with a little encouragement she did an admirable job, bringing them both to hand.
Parker had a rather low volume year with about 30 birds to his credit, including the longest blind water retrieve of his life. Migrant hunter jump shot some Widgeons off the end of a reservoir, and nocked down a couple. There had been a guy stopped at the spot a short time before, and we could see a bird near the far shore of a little bay. He sent Parker and he splashed his way across the belly deep bay, and retrieved a coot to MH. I arrived and could see another bird floating down the reservoir, with the wind pushing it farther away by the second. It was barely visible in the waves, but I gave Parker a line and sent him for "dead bird". He lined out about 50 yards and then spotted the bird sailing off another 80 yards away. Must have taken him 3 minutes of swimming to catch up to it, and that much again to work his way back. Just awesome.
All in all, I was very happy with both dogs this year.
Pictures to follow.
Got her out for some Huns on opening day (Sept1) and we managed a couple. She wasn't pointing strongly and (anthropomorphizing) seemed confused/overwhelmed by scenting up to 15 birds at one time. Retrieves were good, but she wasn't marking the birds at all; just working in all directions working scent until she found them.
Got a couple more birds over the next week, and she started to work coveys a bit better.
Sept. 8th signaled the beginning of waterfowl season. Opening day we went out with a buddy and his young male lab cross. Kiva stayed in the truck first. I knocked down a duck that landed not far away, and I had it pretty well marked. I won't go into it, but he never found the bird, and the morning's flights flared while they searched. 45 min later we switched out the dogs. 8 birds down for the morning and we had 7 in the blind, including the first one of the day. Every bird fall was missed by my little brown dog as the cat tails obscured her view of everywhere except straight up. She was taking a short line at the time, and some retrieves took her up to 10 minutes, but she was determined and I was very happy. The one bird that was not retrieved dove a couple times and then flew away... so I don't really count it as a lost bird.
The next month found us sitting in the blind, jump shooting the occasional duck, or working the fields for Huns. Lots of duck and partridge dinners.
The opening of pheasants in mid October found us in my favourite spot. I had decided to take my grandfathers old Champion single shot out for Kiva's first pheasant. She bumped a couple birds just out of the truck, but got it together after she burned off a little rocket fuel. A series of solid points and subsequent flushes later I was cursing myself for pi** poor shooting. The old Champion is the tightest choked shotgun I own, and I was missing what are normally "gimme" shots for me. Kiva was holding very well, allowing me lots of time, and I had to kick up a number of birds. On rooster 6 I started counting as it flushed, 1... 2... Boom. The rooster folded dead in the air. Even though it was close to 35 yards out, later plucking revealed close to 2 dozen pellets in the bird. Did I mention the gun is tight choked?
Kiva made a picture perfect retrieve, save for the fact she dropped it at my feet; she wasn't retrieving to hand at that point anyway, so I didn't expect any different.
The rest of the season saw Kiva point lots of birds and another dozen roosters in the bag. A few more ducks were retrieved, including one cold morning where she retrieved 7 birds from an icy corner of the lake. It was -8C with a windchill around -18. She had Parker's neoprene vest on, but the cold didn't seem to bother her.
Near the end of the season in December I took a new hunter out for geese, and he managed 2 Snow geese on a local reservoir. The water was the roughest Kiva had ever experienced, but with a little encouragement she did an admirable job, bringing them both to hand.
Parker had a rather low volume year with about 30 birds to his credit, including the longest blind water retrieve of his life. Migrant hunter jump shot some Widgeons off the end of a reservoir, and nocked down a couple. There had been a guy stopped at the spot a short time before, and we could see a bird near the far shore of a little bay. He sent Parker and he splashed his way across the belly deep bay, and retrieved a coot to MH. I arrived and could see another bird floating down the reservoir, with the wind pushing it farther away by the second. It was barely visible in the waves, but I gave Parker a line and sent him for "dead bird". He lined out about 50 yards and then spotted the bird sailing off another 80 yards away. Must have taken him 3 minutes of swimming to catch up to it, and that much again to work his way back. Just awesome.
All in all, I was very happy with both dogs this year.
Pictures to follow.
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I have always been a lab person as I was and avid duck hunter. Switched over into pheasants as well and they did a superb job on that as well. In fact my last lab never had a duck in his mouth only pheasants. There are excellent to poor in any breed I was extremely fortunate to have been blessed with having 3 very top notch labs. The one I have now is no more interested in hunting than flying to the moon. Wife bought her out of the local paper for my birthday.
My best friend had a Britney which was a superb upland dog. Also excellent on pheasants, but the big roosters were at the very upper limit of what he could get in his mouth. The Britney was not a cold water dog duck/ goose dog.
Anyways I have seriously considered another good hunting dog that can do it all so to speak but I want it to point instead of flushing. The pudel pointer out of Mike Polota's Kennel (Pineridge) is my top choice at this point. I have met Mike on many occasions as we hunted at his place and he used to run the hunts on Scugog Island. Very knowledgeable, dedicated to the breed and honest man in my opinion.
The other option I have been giving serious thought to is a pointing lab line that hails out of "Black Jack" Kennels in Kansas. they do a lot of wild pheasant, and duck hunting down there and these dogs are breed for the task.
None of these dogs are cheap, but compared to wives and girl friends of the past there a absolute bargin. A wise old man once said "if you lock your wife and your dog in the closet and come back at the end of day out of the two it will only be the dog that's glad to see you". I don't think the old man was wise, just foolish enough to try it.
Regardless out of the two I would get the Pudel Pointer.
My best friend had a Britney which was a superb upland dog. Also excellent on pheasants, but the big roosters were at the very upper limit of what he could get in his mouth. The Britney was not a cold water dog duck/ goose dog.
Anyways I have seriously considered another good hunting dog that can do it all so to speak but I want it to point instead of flushing. The pudel pointer out of Mike Polota's Kennel (Pineridge) is my top choice at this point. I have met Mike on many occasions as we hunted at his place and he used to run the hunts on Scugog Island. Very knowledgeable, dedicated to the breed and honest man in my opinion.
The other option I have been giving serious thought to is a pointing lab line that hails out of "Black Jack" Kennels in Kansas. they do a lot of wild pheasant, and duck hunting down there and these dogs are breed for the task.
None of these dogs are cheap, but compared to wives and girl friends of the past there a absolute bargin. A wise old man once said "if you lock your wife and your dog in the closet and come back at the end of day out of the two it will only be the dog that's glad to see you". I don't think the old man was wise, just foolish enough to try it.
Regardless out of the two I would get the Pudel Pointer.
