You guys make my head spin (as well as green with envy) with all the species and covers you hunt. But here is an aspect of a good bird dog that is important to me yet I don' t think has been mentioned.

If I get to hunt upland 15 times in a year I consider myself lucky. 365 days - 15 days = 350 days that I spend with my dog not hunting. My Springer is part of my family and a great companion. I know that labs are great companion dogs too but what about some of the other breeds? Can a GSP be a good buddy too?

Springer2000
By all means a GSP is not only a good buddy but a part of the family. They will be in bed with you in a minute and I mean under the covers if allowed. As they get older they still want to lay in your lap. Leave your recliner and come back and low and behold guess who is looking at you curled up in the chair. You can walk to the kitchen to the basement it does not matter you have a shadow and it happens to have four legs just waiting to please you. I hope I explained it, yes by all means they are your best friend. Most of my dogs they have to be touching you or be able to look at you when resting in the house they do indeed bond, and closely.

Fortunately I get out more than you, and to me I want the best available and that is for upland and waterfowl so far I have yet to be dissapointed. I do spend off season training and testing but come hunting season I get out as much as possible and then some.

Dear Hunters Edge

I respect to your choice of gun dog and your dogs. I would like to hunt with you and your dogs if it could be possible in future. We have really good GSP' s and GSP fans in Turkey. We also have many Kurzhaars which are from real German blood lines. 2 years ago we imported a very beautiful dog from Texas for one of my close friend. One of my hunting mate has very good Kurzhaars which he imported from Germany. They point to upland games, retrieve waterfowls and even find wounded wild boars. What kind of a GSP, a Kurzhaar or a Drahthaar is. In fact they are versatile dog. And what kind of dog a Setter is it is a pointing dog, Labrador is a retrieving dog. So if i hunt woodcock i prefer an English Setter, for partridge and quail Englsih Pointer and if i hunt waterfowl i use a Lab. And to find a wounded boar i use hounds lime barack or Bloodhound.
I love field trials hut test and so. But i am not sure a dog which is very good in trails is very good in hunt too..
Best regards

My Boykin Spaniel has read all of the posts on this subject, and she thinks you guys take this ' best birddog' stuff way too serious--she just wishes she could hunt some of those exotic birds out west, she has never been west of Kansas. She has hunted with most of the breeds mentioned and thinks most are over rated show offs----but as small as she is, she keeps her thoughts to herself..............good hunting..........

tdulger
If your ever over my way by all means we can get out and do some hunting. I will be more than happy to show you what P stands for in the GSP, ----POINTER. Yes they are versatile or better yet considered continental breeds. Just so you understand the reason why continental breeds were bred were basically to poach. The middle class finially could own a dog but not a kennel as the rich. So they bred them to do it all. Only they did not own any land so they had to poach. Now you need to understand in most cases the penalty was quite severe if caught poaching. So poaching was a risky business then. Now put yourself in that era and consider what type of dog would you use, if you were poaching? I would wager you would be using the best. You know what, thats exactly what they did and what I and many others use today. I would highly suggest looking at all pointing breeds that are registered with AKC last year. I believe you will see I am definiately not alone in observing this breed of dog as being one of the best out there.

You are correct that testing,trialing is not hunting. It is the closest thing that can be judged and most are set up to simulate actual hunting scenario' s. I would personally hold more credit on a title given from being judged ( by usually two or more), than just a persons word that this so and so has a great hunting dog.

ed3592
Your boykin or dog does not think, but the wit from her owner putting his thoughts as hers on the board is hilarous LOL. I like the humor it made my day. I think a trip out west may be good for both of you, hope it comes available to you sooner than later. If your out there you may want to stop by and see chukarbuster he mentioned putting the tailgate down and letting the dogs run. Your boykin or you may sing a different tune afterwards.

Dear ed3592

Is the season still not closed in west Say hi to your spaniel for me. You are wellcome if your spaniel want to hunt beautiful upland birds of east )

You guys are going to bash me for this but that ok.
I hunted behind a friends GSP several times & though she was great. The only thing I did not like about his GSP was she tired out too fast. The dog had regular exercise in the off season. Could this problem be strickly diet related?

I hunt with a Golden Retriever. I know what you guys are going to say. (the golden retriever is not a bird dog.) I have trained my golden retriever to hunt Pheasent & Mountain Grouse. She can find the birds with her nose & retrieve them after I shoot them.

There are many reasons for a dog to tire quickly but usually it is associated with pain my guess is the dog may be suffering from arthritis. Is the dog old? Has the dog been OFA' d? Yes it can be diet related as well but would look into it if you can find out why you may have avenue' s to increase time afield and also increase her life expectancy especially if it is something serious. Of course the dogs desire level could be real low there are many reasons but health reasons would be my first concern, the dogs health.

Best BirdDog?

After reading all these posts it is quite clear some guys feel very strongly they have a " correct answer" .

Here in the Northeast my Springer could make a believer out of a few people I think that her breed should definitely be considered for the types of hunting I do most often. She' ll work pheasants, grouse and woodcock all day long. Stays sharp even between very rare/long flushes, retrieves to hand better than any dog I' ve owned and just is real smart about finding where birds like to hide. I never have to worry about her flushing to far out, she understands the whole point is to have them come up close enough for me to shoot, I' ve watched her dozens of times hold up long enough for me to get in a better position or closer.
I get out out about 15-20 times a year waterfowling as well and after explaining to her what it was I was expecting from her in a blind, I don' t think she' s not retrieved a bird yet.
I grew up in Kennewick Washington and did a lot bird hunting in the Tri-City area before moving back east and as much as I love my Springer, she wouldn' t have been " the best" in that area. We hunted GSP' s for pheasant, chukar and quail and they hunted very well. I' d say better than any lab we hunted over in that area, and our dogs did as well if not better than our friends Pointers or Setters. The " BEST" dog I ever hunted with in that area was an English Setter .. but he was just one of those rare dogs who blows you away with his ability. As good as he was out west though, I' m not sure if he would have been " great" here in the thick woods of the Northeast, a little to far ranging I think.

As far as Best BirdDog in the home, it has to be the Springer in my opinion. Plus, she enjoys workouts almost as much as hunting and really tries hard to do whatever will make me happy. They really are amazing family members. That' s my .02 cent opinion.

GOLDEN RETRIEVER!!!