There is a lot of water here in this valley. Where I have access to upland there is lots of ponds. When I get near the pond, I put the dog in "down" and sneak up on the water. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. But it always makes for a good blind retrieve test, when I call the dog up and send her out.

I have had Brittany's for 50 years and I can for a fact say that some will retrieve a duck like a lab. others are hard to get to like water. I had one female wouldn't go in water if she was dying of thrist. I had another female I broke as I will discribe and she would go swimming on her own. Just at the site of water in January, because she liked it. I have found most will like water if they are started young about 6-8 months and in the heat of summer. You go swimming with them. I go in the water about ankle deep. I have my fetch dummy and we play fetch in the water where no swimming is involved. The I go a little deeper and play more, sometimes he swims sometimes he don't. When he is really into this water thing. I throw the dummy where he really has to swim for it. Usually they don't even think about it, they just go get it.

Good Luck Bob

I have a 6 year old Brittany.He absolutely loves the water. In fact, we get invited to go on hunts with my buddies because their pointers and GSPs won't retrieve from water deeper than they can wade in. I never tried him on waterfowl but I think he would retrieve a duck. A goose may be a little big to tackle though.

NAVHDA will tell you many dogs are versatile. Don't believe their BS. The problem is in real versatility the brittany is not really versatile. Sure the brittany can play the NAVHDA summertime warm water game,but that is where it ends. If you are looking for a REAL versatile dog, then get a GSP or a GWP....the rest are just wannebee versatiles, with wannabee versatile owners. The dog world is filled with them.[:@]

The majority of the GSPs I've saw are also so tightly wound up that it would be a feat justforcing them to sit and stay still for waterfowl. I've heard somewhere that someone xbred a gsp with a pointer. Anyways, its the breeding for running all day which tends towards hyperactivity.

Mite you wouldn't know a wound up GSP from a hole in the ground. The problem is not the dog, it is the lack of obedience training by the owner/handler/trainer.[:'(]

Friends have one. My pup plays with their GSP everyday. That one is hyper, always running. I've met alot of GSP owners while hunting and none do waterfowl with them. I live in Pacific flyway country so alot of waterfowl hunters here and in the five or six years, when I was doing waterfowl also, never came across a GSP.[:-]

I could be where I'm located tuck up here in the NW, but with a major city like Seattle and surrounding areas, most hunt in the Skagit, Cherry Valley, and Conway area. Duck season sounds like a war.

But upland has been my passion since eighth grade and I'm always interested in pointing breeds but always liked setters (I'm old enough now that you shouldn't ask my age). I will usually make an effort to talk to other owners on training methods, what they feed their dogs, etc. There is nothing better to an owner talking about their dogs. Even at the local dog park, my pup plays with a chessie, lab, brit,and the GSPon a daily basis. That's because of me, when I see a possible hunting dog, I usually come over and talk with the owners. So, yeah I've never owned one but talked to alot who have.

Not to be a stick in the mud Mite, but talking to guys that have these dogs doesn't mean squat. 99% of the guys out there with hunting dogs do NO training what so ever with their dogs. Guys with serious gun dogs, and well trained ones, do not hang around at "dog parks". You will hear many say setters don't like water, won't retrieve, and blah, blah blah.....you just gotta know what your doing with a dog. Most dogs have owners who are dumber than a rock when it comes to training.

Mite,

There is a HUGE difference between the Trial bred shorthairs and the original breed, called Deutsch Kurzhaars, DK's.

They have to be proven as VERSATILE before they can be bred in fact.

If you want to read about them or see an article written on them check out our web site at Red Earth Outfitters.com

There is a page on Dk's and an article page.

Phil
REO

No there is not. It is getting just as bad with you Kurzhaar guys as it is with the Drahthaar guys.[&:]