Everyone has breed or dog blindness to a certain extent. How many of you remember and get excited over someone else's dogs point? But I bet you remember your dog's first point distinctively.

Regarding PLs. They probably do exist. Those that own them say so. Just like people who actually seen the curvature of the earth say this planet is round. You just have to take some things on faith.

To the original topic, best all around sporting dog; I have to first off define what sporting means to me. I don't waterfowl hunt, antler hunt, or bloodtrack. Sporting dog to me means upland birds, which I can only formulate an opinion on. And for me its:

opcorn momment:

The setter, followed closely by the English pointer. Nothing against other breeds but there's something about the way the setters work. There's a few important (to me) reasons why the lab, gsp, wirehair, etc. just doesn't work for me:

For labs, its the way they run. I know its normal as any dogs but pointing dogs have an easy gait and when at full run, its smooth. They're not faster than the lab but doesn't seem as labored.

For the other pointers its their tail or lack of. And beards belong on a barmaid not a dog. Personal preferences but I just gotta have that tail.

One other item is setters tend (in my experience) want to always hunt. How can you tell? Open the door. The momment she steps out, she's looking for anything furry or feathery. At the park, she has a one tracked mind; search and search. If another dog wants to play, she'll ignore them and keep searching. If I point, she'll immediately go low and act like she's stalking. Then she'll turn, look at me with wide eyes as if she's saying, "WHERE?!"

She's also a very good house pet. If a stranger approached the house, she'll bark but with tail wagging. If they open the door (happens sometimes when I had a roommate), she will sit in front of them and 'whooooooo' at them (translation: PET ME!). She's also very gentle around childen. She will approach them very slowly then stand there and let them pet her. There are children who are afraid of dogs but absolutely love her. The boys will try to rough house with her and the girls will try to hug her, but she just stands there and takes everything in stride.