I might give some though to the English Pointers. The ones that I have seen have all been in that 50 lb or less range. Not to say that all of them are. SHort hair, points, and they do retrieve. Maybe not as well as some others, but unless you are going to be field trialing, then who really cares. As long as the dog brings the game back to you, you're good.

Brittanies are great dogs and I'd recomend them to anyone. As far as getting stuck with a non-hunting dog, I don't think that one exists. If you take any dog hunting they'll have fun and he will try and to please you. You'll probably laugh at me and she's the worst "hunting" dog that I ever had but I take my yorkshire terrier hunting. She doesn't have stamina to last all day but I take her on short afternoon hunts and when we get home she's so happy that shewon't leave my side the rest of thenight.

I have grown up with brittanies they are great family and upland bird dogs.

First of all welcome to the forums pat, it would be hard to recommend any type of dog. What you should be doing is getting out around some to see how they work when hunting. Once you decide on what you like, get some info on how to train the dog your interested in. I am saying this as it appears like your new at it, and we all have breeds we like on here. If you can't see them working at least do a web search and check them out. Check out the good things about the breed as well as some of the other issues about them. Like how to care for it as well as how much room they need to run for the proper excersize. When looking at any breed you should know something about them and good luck to you..

Field bred English Cockers or Springers. Our ESS females are 34# & 38#. My male is a big boy and is 47#. Friends have field bred (English) cockers running 19#-35#. They're a blast to shoot over and great family dogs too.

Hard to beat a small lab especially a pointing lab. Tough enough to take any conditions and if you get a well bred dog their intellegence makes them easy to train, Even a first time trainer can do very well with the correct program spelled out in many great books that are readilly available. Oh yea, Ive spent many an hour removing burs and dingel berrys from long haired dogs, and seen the thinner skinned dogs undersides and genetals bright red from a wkend of tough hunting. I have operated a guide service in SD for apx 15 years now and have made many dog misteaks. Soagain its hard to beat a pointing lab, IMHO.