Versatile hunting dog?

[John.warren]

I’ve always had labs, and my last one would hunt damn near everything. I love upland, but want a dog that can hunt waterfowl too. I have never had a pointer, but all the guys i pheasant hunt with use them. My big issue is they don’t care about downed birds. What breeds should I look at that can do it all, but especially will find a down bird in thick cover?

If you want one dog that’ll flat-out do it all, look hard at a Deutsch-Drahthaar. They’re bred under a system that makes them prove they can point, retrieve, track cripples, and work water. Mine will lock up solid on a rooster, then turn around and hammer through cattails to dig a duck out of the nastiest cover. They’re not as “easy button” as a lab. They can be stubborn and high drive but if your number one concern is never losing a downed bird and still having a dog that points, a DD is about as close to a no-compromise option as you’ll find IMO.

 

[JGood]

Except your NAVHDA doesn't allow labs to compete. You ever wonder why? Because they would be the only winners of that also. That's why.

My logic makes a lot more sense than your logic of using an event to compare to a lab that a lab can't even compete in................... Just saying.

This is my favorite rage-bait/dumb comment. Nothing gets the people going like making an uninformed comment claiming their dog could outcompete someone else’s in a non competition environment. I love it.

 

[SDChungus]

This is my favorite rage-bait/dumb comment. Nothing gets the people going like making an uninformed comment claiming their dog could outcompete someone else’s in a non competition environment. I love it.

Agreed. He needs to feed more $100 bags of purina pro plan branded corn. What a bootlicker.

 

[KurtR]

Well the first ever versatile dog a wirehair ran by Landon Poplin is now a grhrch congrats on the pass. Passed this year down at the grand i was at in music city.

 

[Tilzbow]

I recently heard a quote from a well known and respected versatile dog trainer/breeder who defined a versatile dog as, “A dog that’ll do what the owner needs it to do and do it well.” (I probably don’t have the quote exactly right but that was the gist of it.)