# Hunting Dogs



## dh1 (Dec 16, 2004)

labs all the way!


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## dash (Oct 4, 2006)

*dog*

I agree labs 100%


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## cdhunter (Feb 4, 2006)

depends on what your planning to use them for? my top three choices are
1. labs color doesn't matter, even tempered and fairly intelligent and can be trained to do a variety of jobs well.

2. springer spaniels great dogs for thrushing and pushing bush. small enough that they can live indoors. on the down side a little high strung.

3. my personal favorite bassets these dogs are great for small game and tracking. the downside they take lots of work and are down right stubborn, and need lots of exercise or they just become lazy. upside they put up with a lot of crap (ears pulled ect), and are devoted to their families.When they catch a sent of small game watch out they have to be forced from the trail or they just won't stop


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## Diesel-Dog (Aug 18, 2005)

I will agree with a lab, they are by far the most versitile hunting dog out there. They are great with kids and also great in the house. If you are serious about getting a hunting dog make sure 100% that the pup comes from TITLED parents, do not get one out of your local paper as they are 99.9% of the time pet quality animals and not field bred dogs. I train labs for Field trials and Hunt Tests ( along with hunting them all season long) so I have a but of experience with this.



cdhunter said:


> 1. labs color doesn't matter,


 Actually this is both true and false. While coat color does not matter there are very few "quality" chocolate dogs in the gene pool. Your best best is Black with yellow second. 

If you have any questions feel free to PM me and I would be glad to help out. If you are seriously in the market I can point you at a killer deal right now on a litter of 8 wk old pups that come from a FC/AFC x FTCH breeding for a killer deal!!

Drew


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## NockOn (Feb 24, 2003)

Diesel-Dog,

How do you know if your dog is pet stock or not? My chocolate lab is from Titled Parents but I don't know enough about dogs to tell the difference. It doesn't matter either way for me since I don't hunt with her but I'm kind of curious. 

I know that she's extremely smart and learns new tricks very fast.

Cheers,


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## russ (Jul 29, 2002)

Diesel-Dog said:


> Actually this is both true and false. While coat color does not matter there are very few "quality" chocolate dogs in the gene pool. Your best best is Black with yellow second.
> 
> 
> Drew


Interesting, I know a breeder that bred 2 chocolates and got nothing but blacks in a litter of 8 or 9, and she also bred two blacks and got 4 chocolates, 2 yellows and 1 black. 


As far as dogs go, Golden Retrievers rate very high in my books.


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## Diesel-Dog (Aug 18, 2005)

NockOn said:


> How do you know if your dog is pet stock or not? My chocolate lab is from Titled Parents but I don't know enough about dogs to tell the difference.


 The only way to tell is by researching the dogs pedigree, you will want to see titles such as FC,AFC,NFC,NAFC,JH,MH,SH,NMN. Those are field titles. Show titles are CH, Show dogs are only bred for looks and conformation where field dogs are bred to hunt ( good nose's, marking abilities, bidability, lining skills ect...). I am not saying a show quality dog cannot hunt ( as I know a few that do) but the chances of getting a great hunting dog is low.



russ said:


> Interesting, I know a breeder that bred 2 chocolates and got nothing but blacks in a litter of 8 or 9, and she also bred two blacks and got 4 chocolates, 2 yellows and 1 black.


Yes this is all decided by the genetics of the dogs. Some dogs will only carry 1 color and other dogs may carry 2 or possibly all 3 colors. Before we breed any dog we do a DNA test on all dogs to deturmine what color (s) that a dog will throw. Breeding a dog that will throw all 3 colors is a bad idea as it can result in faults that are catigorized as " undesireable"



russ said:


> As far as dogs go, Golden Retrievers rate very high in my books.


 Goldens are great family dogs and hunter's but they cannot be compared to a Lab when it come's to hunting and field trials...... labs are just in a league of their own

Drew


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## fuel80guy (Feb 28, 2006)

My personnal experience is a Viszla is a terrific close working pointing dog that is very eager to please its owner.They have very short hair so no real shedding unlike labs.Viszlas a are terrific with kids as mine let my 1 year old explore him(poke eyes,ears,nose mouth you name it my daughter tugged,pulled it).Oh did i mention they are great house dogs as well.
The only negative about a viszla is they do need alot of exercise reguraly.
IMO there a great dog.


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## musky_xl (Dec 20, 2007)

Got to stick my 2 cents in...

I had a Lab/Dane that was the best dog Ive ever encountered...I had to put him down in May at 15yrs old.

The dog had a lab head/face with looser jowls, he was quite a bit taller than a lab but had very broad muscular shoulders of the lab. His waist was slimmer than the lab but still had very muscular hind end. I believe his frame made him a great swimmer and very fast on the run.

He hunted with me every chance we got...retrieved birds/rabbits, he was very intelligent. 

Im thinkn about trying to get another cross just like him.


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