Versatile hunting dog?

[PA Bob]

Yep, you can't teach drive in a dog. i really lucked out with mine. Now to find a stud with the same drive as her. would like to breed her once.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Valor vom Felsengebirge. Never had a puppy quite so savage and feral. Will be an amazing hunting machine with zero doubt. VERY quick study and very switched on at 10 weeks. Hoping I can tame him down a bit.

 

[dmc]

I have Jeska vom Felsengebirge (aka Hell Bitch).... amazing hunting dog. She's gotta be 9 now and getting grey, but the only time she's calm is after 3 hard days of upland hunting. Good luck with Valor.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Oh Schitt........I am trying to bring this pup along with free range chickens and two cats!

My last DD was Draht Lite. Snuggle Bug. Male too. So chill and mild mannered. Killed one chicken (he was an adult...GF, now Wife "I'll take Buck for the weekend") and she recently obtained chickens.


Instantly killed one....pranced right back. Sat properly in front of her...and waited for "OUT" and delivered to hand.

He was simple. A few harsh NO commands and one Nick on the collar. In the end the chickens would literally peck out of his bowl as he was lying on the deck.

This puppy......is gonna be WORK.

Our Cats are super chill. And Louie is huge (22lbs) and part dog. I have the best tempered cats to attempt to bring a puppy along with. They generally don't run and trigger that prey drive.

But we will see.

Was EXTREMELY hesitant to get a new puppy in this environment. Setting myself up for failure. I know this.

But my love for hunting dogs and feeling lonely without a best buddy made me want to try.

My last Bestie was my Chessie. A complete dickhead since pick up at 8 weeks. But uber loyal.

He killed out last cat (4 month old kitten with no sense or throttle)- which I could see coming but not stop. So we have some PTSD.

I do realize that revealing these things on the internet is extremely stupid "You're an F'ing idiot". And I will have earned it. But gonna try.

I hate the chickens. Will not shed tears if we lose a few. Snow White- my wife.....will. But she knew coming into this the challenge. Just never had a puppy this "Hot".

 

[MallardSX2]

It would be hard for me to deviate from a lab. I love mine.


Well....the one does have some terroristic tendencies.....but she is starting to fall in line. lol

 

[2Stamp]

My journey into versatile dogs is the Brittany. Previous two were rescues, not much on the hunting side but awesome in the house. I'm on my third, but this one I got from a pup and has been raised to be a hunting dog as well as house companion. He's hell on my wife's chickens if they are dumb enough to get into his yard. She's finally accepted no to chastise him for doing his job when he brings back bunnies, her chickens, etc.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Asking what do YOU consider Versatile?

To me it should be Upland, Waterfowl, Fur and Blood. All of it. Track bears, trail blood poorly hit deer/elk, point Upland, retrieve to hand, sit over decoys in a blind, and be sharp on fur.

 

[PA Bob]

You just described a German Wirehaired.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Agree....and the Drahthaar, Munsters, Pudels, Griffs....a true DK. Wires...

I was a long time Chesapeake guy. My Chessies were duck dogs who would get birdy around pheasants.

They were Pets who brought birds back. I wouldn't say they were Versatile

 

[huntineveryday]

I prefer the American Versatile more than the German Versatile. Find, point, and retrieve upland game, steady at blind and retrieves waterfowl, and can track blood. I don't have a need for the sharpness on fur. The way I hunt that is going to result in more skunk and porcupine encounters and potential sharpness around other dogs. But that's why I got wirehair from a breeder with preference towards NAVHDA lines rather than a draht from someone working through the VVD-GNA system.

The good news is that you can find both, and you can find someone breeding dogs the way you want to use them.

I hunt upland and waterfowl with friends with other breeds, labs, Goldens, shortairs...I just love the drive and grit of the wirehairs I've had. Are they going to have the drive in the prairie and steadiness on point of an English Pointer, or the marking ability of a lab? No. But it's a blast to see a dog retrieve ducks over water in the morning, searching for one that swam into the flooded grass and coming out 5 minutes later with the bird, then switching gears later in the day and locking down a running rooster under point and trailing and retrieving a winged running bird (from your buddies shot, of course). Add the ability to stay at heal until released to track a deer you shot bowhunting, and you have a great dog.

 

[omicron1792]

My Pudelpointer has been great at all of th hunting styles. As opposed to the others here she is a chill house dog when not hunting.

Fave thing about her is she sniffs out every snake. A snake won’t get within 50 yards of us and she will sniff it out and bay it until I can kill it (or remove it if non venomous). I bet she has found 50 snakes in her 4 years so far.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I prefer the American Versatile more than the German Versatile. Find, point, and retrieve upland game, steady at blind and retrieves waterfowl, and can track blood. I don't have a need for the sharpness on fur. The way I hunt that is going to result in more skunk and porcupine encounters and potential sharpness around other dogs. But that's why I got wirehair from a breeder with preference towards NAVHDA lines rather than a draht from someone working through the VVD-GNA system.

The good news is that you can find both, and you can find someone breeding dogs the way you want to use them.

I hunt upland and waterfowl with friends with other breeds, labs, Goldens, shortairs...I just love the drive and grit of the wirehairs I've had. Are they going to have the drive in the prairie and steadiness on point of an English Pointer, or the marking ability of a lab? No. But it's a blast to see a dog retrieve ducks over water in the morning, searching for one that swam into the flooded grass and coming out 5 minutes later with the bird, then switching gears later in the day and locking down a running rooster under point and trailing and retrieving a winged running bird (from your buddies shot, of course). Add the ability to stay at heal until released to track a deer you shot bowhunting, and you have a great dog.

Hunerd percent!

My YT feed is a ton of Forrester and Ghostpoint? Makes a great video. Like you mentioned....I don't see any Draht in those Wires.

I don't NEED it either. I just kinda have to accept it for the other attributes that come with it. Plus I've grown to know several solid people in that community and it's all part of it.

 

[KurtR]

Jack of all trades but master of none

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

FakeNews ^

 

[KurtR]

They cant retrieve like a retriever, point like a pointer or hound like a hound but they can do all of them things good probably better than most people need but at the top levels no versatile dog is hanging in what those dogs are individually bred and trained to do. If they could they would be running because people like to win

 

[PA Bob]

i like to Hunt

 

[KurtR]

Yep me to that’s why mine picked up over 500 birds last season

 

[Maverick1]

i like to Hunt

You like to hunt - and post nothingburger comments to get to the classifieds????

 

[huntineveryday]

Hunerd percent!

My YT feed is a ton of Forrester and Ghostpoint? Makes a great video. Like you mentioned....I don't see any Draht in those Wires.

I don't NEED it either. I just kinda have to accept it for the other attributes that come with it. Plus I've grown to know several solid people in that community and it's all part of it.

What I like about the VDD-GNA system is that I think they tend to produce a more consistent product. And confirmation matters, so if you get a draht, it'll act like a draht and look like a draht.

Wirehairs (and definately shorthairs) have had some lines bred for hunting, some for show, some for pets, all disregarding some other aspect of the breed to get those specific traits they want. Creates more breeders to wade through to find someone putting out good, consistent pups that look and hunt like I want.

 

[huntineveryday]

Jack of all trades but master of none

Yeah. You certainly don't see wirehairs competing in open field trails at the same level of pointers, setters, and brittanys, so no arguments there. There are some that have done well in the retrieving games, but they just don't retrieve the same way a lab does. Nose driven independent search vs accurately marking multiple drops with great memory. I want that search if I'm hunting flooded grass, but it can be embarrassing decoying birds over open water when your dog is swimming around upwind of a floating duck like it doesn't exist! I haven't been around hunting hounds, but I can tell you my wirehairs and my wife's basset hound certainly don't use thier noses the same. That hound simply sees the world through his nose.

All that said, I haven't seen the grit needed driving through brush or to retrieve a pheasant that lands across cold water from setters and brittanys that my wirehairs have. I haven't seen the drive to hunt all day from any lab I hunt with that compares to my wirehairs, whether upland or waterfowl. And there's enough tracking there to really excel at finding crippled birds after shots that miss the mark, with the independence to stay on track until the bird is found.

Each of those parts may not be the leading edge of thier segment, but that versatility just creates something unique that can be really special to hunt with if you chase a variety of game.