This has probable been done befor but I didnt see it.

For me it is a Britney, not because I like them that much but that is just what I have. My dad was given one about 10 years ago and he was and still is trying to kill my old man, I dont know how many times that dog has ranaway, but he alwees finds his way home. Hell of a hunter, on about the 5th day. We would run him behind the truck befor we hunted to take the edge off, 6 miles at about 15mph or so. He would start out at like 25.


2 years ago I was looking in the paper and I saw an add for Brit pups, $100, and it just happened that I had $100. My dad was not to happy (I was still at home at the time). He is no Akc or what ever but he hunts like a champ, even with my lack of training ability. We have some good times under our belts, and colers. I hunt grouse and woodcock in the thick cover, and he staies vary close. He has been out to ND for them big birds and did great, that was his first year hunting, would love to see what he cand do now.

One of the best fishing dogs i have ever seen.

I don't live in the country so I have to think about the best obedient dog I've ever had. It would be a Briard. They were used to carry medicine in World War 1. They look like a sheep dog. A man gave me one at a dog shelter. He just so happened to pull up at the gate so we didn;t even go in .We advoided the paperwork and I took the dog. I am no trainer but I swear the dog was almost human. I never used a leash, Hand signals was all I ever used and that included heeling etc. A very loving dog.Barked when folks came and shut up on the first command. She got old and crippled so I had her put to sleep .I miss that dog. Everyone loved Sandy. Worst thing was, was that she needed a hair cut every 2 months.
Chuck

i love my lab, but my heart is full of bloodhound.....there's nothing better than hearin' that bawhoooooooo when you pull up or when it's on something......took Anddee out the other day for her first offical training day....she did awesome for a pup.....she did gi jane too found a dead bobcat, freah turkey poo, fresh deer nuggets, she ate those, lol......found a dead turtle and a snake skin....i took her to the zone we just burned, i was basically just going to go over commands and just get her used to the woods, but she wanted to track, i'd drag the bobcat around and let her find it, she did.....they are such great dogs, they're protective, loyal....obident....they are tough too, but with lots of love and good training, they're worth it.....i think labs are the lovebugs of the doggy world, but you can't go wrong with a hound...this is her taking a break from the other day, she was worn out...i took her off the leash briefly and even when she was trailin', she would wait for me, now that is what i like
15 weeks and 2 days old

I "fell into" Chessies.

Deciding I wanted a bird dog 9 years ago, I searched the local paper and saw Chessies were $500. Way out of my price range at the time, my mom told me to wait until after Christmas, since puppy prices would surely come down. Sure enough, two days after the holiday the ad I had been eye-balling said, "CBR's, one left, $50." The rest is history, and though my choice of breed was un-researched and by accident, I couldn't have been luckier. Guess you could call it fate, because Cinnamon (my 9 year-old) and Sage (Cinnamon's 4 year-old son) have both performed beyond my expectations.

I like the continetal breeds. The German dogs. They are generally good pointers, decent retrievers and for the most part non shedders. They do not run as big as english pointers as a rule and tend to be solid retrievers. As long as they are kept in the house, they are not barkers, chewers, or diggers. They are not incessant pests like labs can be always wanting to play and are usually quite content to simply lay at your feet. I will say that you need to be careful as to your bloodlines as some of the FT All Age type dogs can just be crazy.

I used to be a lab person, but modern field trail labs are too hot for my tastes. Burning a dog constantly with the e-collar is not my idea of fun. I would like to see them start to breed more labs with more co-operation and maybe less drive. I think you could look to MH or UKC type dogs in the past, but the last tests I have attended seemed to be more about judges' ego and less about what a good dog should be able to do.

I'm going to catch flack for this but I prefer the Original Mountain Cur, a mixed up breed (or rather strain) whose origins are somewhat shady. I'll do the best I can to accurately give a brief history, though I could be slightly off. Before WWII, many southern mountain families had "all-purpose dogs," that is, dogs that were of mixed blood, but performed well in hunting (particularly treeing game), cattle work, and protection. These dogs often had natural bobbed tails and dewclaws. After WWII, when society became less dependent on the rural life and started forming, as the book Squirrel Dog Basics calls it, a plastic world, the need for these old cur dogs became less. Plastic world meaning that natural necessary functions (ex: hunting, fishing, wide-scale farming, etc) were no longer necessary, so that most kids think an egg comes from Homeland and not a chicken coop. Anyway, the need for such dogs, therefore, lessoned. That is until a few men who remembered the old dogs of the southern mountains decided to collect a foundation stock and keep the dogs around. There have managed to be a few successful breeders associations and registries, and therefore, the Original Mountain Cur (as well as several other strains) has managed to stick around. Of course, since they are not needed as much for the "all purpose" lifestyle, breeding has generally focused on treeing ability and physical standards of conformation. Technically, these dogs still have a rounded gene pool, as there is no telling what type of dogs went into the old time curs that rested under the porches of the pioneers. For example, my mountain cur will point quail and bark treed on squirrels, possums, barn cats, and I assume coon and bobcat, though we've not had that chance, yet. They do not hunt like a hound, though, as they handle a little easier (SUPPOSEDLY, though I've never had to handle a hound to know...this is just the word from other men who've handled both dogs in the woods) and instead of the melodious howl, they have a choppy bark. Most are brindle, tan, red, black, blue, blonde, etc with varying white and spotted markings and short coats...anywhere from 30 to 60 pounds. The natural bob tails and dewclaws are still common and even favored sometimes.
Now here is the part I'll probably get flack for...but I also here that, though there is really no distinguishing factor in hunting ability, males just might handle better than females (opinion, of course). The reason I have heard is that males tend to be more conscious of the pecking order and territorial behavior, and therefore conform better to the pack and understand more clearly that you are the dominant leader. They are therefore, "sweeter" dogs in that they want to submissively and boldy please you. I've heard that females can be less aware of this and therefore bond less in their independence. You've maybe heard the term they don't call the the B word for nothin'. Though this is not proven, I've noticed in my experience of having a handful of different dogs over the years that this rings true. Could be coincidence. Now, they say the problem with males is they feel the need to pee on everything when they hop out of the box while your female already has one treed (or pointed out). . . Now I guess with retreiver only type dogs, the ability to find game on its very own means nothing, so I guess the male/female theory may mean nothing as well. Sorry this is long, but hey...it's a discussion board where opinions lead to more refined opinions, eh?

I like labs, Mine serves a duel purpose He hunts and is companionship for my son. But I have to say if I had the space I would have a pack of hounds I have to agree with huntnma I love to hear that bawhoooooo.

I like small dogs because I don't have to feed them as much. I have settled on the Deutsches Jagdterrier. These are a lot of dog in a 20 lb package. I have hunted hogs, birds, coons, rabbits, squirrels, and ducks. I've had two (I just buried one) and am amazed at how well they retrieve. Difficult blinds were beyond them (name a breed besides retrievers which it isn't) but they can do doubles and simple blinds. They love water, can kill a coon, bay a pig and flush birds all in the same hunt (speaking from experience). These are great little hunters.

Mike,
You have fallen for the prejudice of the mid to late 1800's when you call a cur a mixed breed. Cur is a term like hound or terrier. It's a group of dogs. The wealthy hated the curs of the poor. The poor could only afford one or two dogs at most. The dog had to earn it's keep as a generalist. Wealthy men could have a number of dogs if they were so inclined. They kept specialists. Hounds for fox, different hounds for Coons, didn't hunt squirrel, pointers for birds, you get the idea. A wealthy man didn't want his bitch polluted by a cur so he would tell all how bad this dog was and it's pedigree was unknown. The pedigree was probably very well known, in reality, and just as royally bred (a good'un to a good'un). No curs were and are the all american dog.

Dr Fatguy

DrFatguy,
I don't believe I've fallen for any prejudice at all. I am not using the derogatory term "curs," but rather, I am using it just like you said - as a variety( ex: mountain curs, leoperd curs, blackmouth curs, camus curs, mountain view curs, etc.), most of which have only developed into consistent varieties fairly recently compared to most refined breeds, and even still aren't that refined yet. Cur dogs may have been carefully bred, but I don't believe they were bred for the "pure-bred" factor. Even today, guys breed Original mountain curs to feist type dogs and call them Treeing Curs. They also breed Mountain Curs to Leoperd Curs or Blackmouth Curs or whatever else. My point is that the poor mountain folk didn't care about the "purity" of the lines as did the noble folks, but rather, I would assume the ability and "all-purpose" characteristics of the parents. If a guy had a good treedog, I imagine he would take it down the road to have it bred to the good old mixed up hound of equal ability whether or not they were of similar ancestry or not. I don't believe he loaded it on the wagon and drove to the next state or territory to have his gyp bred to a stud that looks the same. He just went down the road to his buddy who had a good old stud, whether he sported the same tail or coat color or not. This, I believe, is why curs can often work cattle, tree game, bay game, and point birds all in one afternoon and then tree a bag of coons that night...they have a wide gene pool of mixed abilities and traits, unlike a Beagle. For example, a guy could breed a Mountain cur to a walker hound, and the dog would still be a cur type dog; however, not in a derogatory manner. Mountain curs are of mixed ancestry, as any dog, but the "mixed up" ancestry served as a benefit for more recent Post WWII breed registries, such as the Original Mountain Cur Breeders Association, Kemmer Mountain Cur Breeders Association, etc. Yes, they are varieties, like hounds, terriors, etc, but I am pretty sure that the lines weren't as pure, and still aren't. For example, Walker Hounds likely have some highly pedigreed bloodlines with only Walker Hounds in the pedigree that goes back a long ways in history. That's why you can count on it that every walker hound is going to closely resemble the next. Mountain Curs, however, are not so refined. Some have naturally docked or 3/4 tails, some have dewclaws, and some strains of Mountain curs, such as the Busher/York strains, will weigh nearly 60 pounds while the same breed of Mountain cur from the Streak strain might weigh 30 pounds. Yet, they would all still be Original Mountain Curs (the breed, not the the term for a mongrel of a dog) They would be"full-blood" Original Mountain Curs from foundation stock. Get what I'm saying? Now, however, the all-purpose factor is not so necessary anymore, and things like treeing ability and size are focused on more, cuasing the dogs to breed tighter, more consistent litters of pups that are more "breed-like." If you look at some of the yearbooks from some of the registries, I would guess you'd see quite a variety in physical conformation. My pup is an Original Mountain Cur, but I would bet you that if you went back far enough, and maybe not far at all compared to the pedigrees of century-old hound dog lines, you'd probably find a dog that didn't fit the bill of what an Original Mountain Cur should be - probably a cur in the derogatory sense, or a birddog. He is 32 pounds, but his dad is 45 pounds and his mom is 38 pounds. He doesn't fit the bill in every sense, but he's still an Original Mountain Cur and qualifies for the registry. Now I just recently saw a photo of an OMC that weighed 59 pounds! Lots of variety and I believe it serves to better the breed (or strain or whatever you want to call it). This is all really good discussion. By the way, I have heard about those little terriors of yours. You should check out squirrel dog central at www.sqdog.com. There are sometimes some discussions involving those terriors, I believe, but there's a lot of cur, feist, and laika talk, too. -MIKE

Since i plan to move out to Texas next year, i was hoping to get either a Lab or German shorthaired pointer