Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Advice on selecting a breed?

I'll chime in with my 2 cents. I've owned an American water spaniel, two Chesapeake Bay retrievers, and currently have a Labrador. If the Labrador had been my first dog, I probably wouldn't have had anything else. She has been easy to train, is gentle as a lamb with my wife's little Malti-poo, and has just been a great dog. As far as I'm concerned, for a person with little to no dog training experience, first time dog owner, wants a pet/hunting dog, dog that is good with kids, strangers, etc, there is no other breed to consider.
But whatever breed you choose to go with, my advice is this: if you are getting a pure breed, make sure you do some research on that breed and check out what health issues are prevalent; one of the more common ones is hip dysplasia. I was going to go with another Chessie prior to getting my Lab, but the breeder (who was asking $1200/pup) was not too forthcoming with the pedigrees of the parents or grandparents; when I pushed further, I got a bit of a scolding, told I didn't know what the hell I was talking about, etc. That threw up a BIG red flag for me, so I passed on a pup......later found the litter of labs (hobby breeder I found on a local sportsman's website) and asked him for the same information. Not only did he give me the parents and grandparents pedigree, but also the great grandparents as well. Turned out that all had excellent or very good hips and eyes. There is nothing worse that having a working dog go lame, esp. early on in their life. My female chessie had bad knees (nothing that could be predicted via X-rays, like hips) after two seasons, so for the next 8 years I had basically a house pet; she was a good dog, but I didn't buy her for a house pet......and when the kids & wife (and yourself) become emotionally attached, well....you end up trying to walk up birds and fetching your own ducks and doves.

I would also caution you to make sure you get a pup from field stock; avoid "pet" stock, "bench" stock, and "show" stock.....the difference is field stock are dogs that come from hunting back grounds; their breeders usually hunt, mom & dad had some good hunting abilities and the genetics was passed on (or that's the theory, anyway). Pet stock is usually just that....dogs are great as pets, but couldnt find their food bowls if they couldn't see 'em. Show stock are bred to look pretty...nothing more; don't let someone con you by saying "sure, they hunt".....haven't seen a show dog yet, of any breed, that was useful as a hunter. I've found this to be particularly true of Springers and English setters.
At any rate, I just thought I would pass this along....checking the pedigree of your prospective pup doesn't guarantee that you will get a dog with no health issues, but it will certainly hedge your bets!
Here is my current hunting dog, Ziva:




I would also suggest, if you truly want a hunting dog, to avoid "rescue" dogs.....I know some folks who have done very well going this route, but they were experienced dog folks who knew what to look for in a prospective dog. A lot of these dogs are "damaged" psycologically, and it takes a bit of "getting in their head" to figure out what their issues are and correct them. Plus, sometimes you have to deal with "shelter nazis" that demand access to your home at any time, well tell you what methods you must use, etc, etc, .....IMHO, it's not worth it.
Sorry to be so long winded; Good luck......keep us posted!