Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs How "tough" is your Gun Dog?

My dog was breaking 2 inches of ice duck hunting in North Dakota last January...it was -5 degrees that day".

How old is the puppy? I wouldn't characterize him or give up on him too soon. I don't disagree with you that dogs, like humans, have some ingrained or genetic behavioral traits that they'll always carry but I've seen a couple of wimpy pups that changed a lot with training, encouragement and maturity. They both ended up with a desire to hunt in any conditions.

Buncha puzzie's.

Tell ya how tuff my dogs are.
The other day left them in the living room with the TV on while I took my weekly shower..
When I came out I realized The View had been on the whole time I was showering.

To make matters worse, it was one of the old shows with Rosi O'Donnell.

They survived but the Vet said it's the worse case of PTSD he's ever seen.

I prefer to query people here rather than other, more dedicated internet forums. For various reasons.

I am making a blanket type inquiry on general Toughness of dogs. And by toughness, I am meaning things such as pain tolerance, environmental tolerance, or simply the lack of being swayed or affected by being uncomfortable.

I have had just a small handful of hunting dogs. Both were Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. The first was a female, the second was a male. I don't recall much of the female. I was very young and the dog was given away without my consent......life lessons learned there. The male I had as an adult. He had a high pain tolerance. But some seperation anxiety that got in the way of really testing much else.

Though not a hunting dog, my current adult dog is an Australian Cattle Dog. To me, he is the standard to be judged against. His pain tolerance is off the charts. I've seen him continue about his business with flesh hanging. He has broken ice to play Fetch. Will find water to lie down in to cool off in January. Just an all around tough guy.

My current puppy is the opposite. He is a softy. Wasnt expecting it, but he is. He needs to paw and fluff up a perfect nest before he lays down. Every place he lays must be padded. If we are sorting laundary for weekend chores, he is found coiled up, camoflauged in with the Darks....sound asleep. He is shivering immediately after getting in the water. The same water I am standing in up to the Blue Line myself in shorts. I don't find it at all cold.

In my experience, this is the dog. Not much you can train or change about it.

Thoughts or experiences? Of course this is the internet, so I would not expect anything less than...."My dog was breaking 2 inches of ice duck hunting in North Dakota last January...it was -5 degrees that day".

Tough isn't always what a Dog can take. More often it's what a Dog is willing to give.

How about giving 4 solid hours at 11 and 12 years old? How about doing it with kidney function of around 15%? How about getting her last Vet checkup and the Vet says I can't believe this Dog is still here. She is doing great. Then you tell the Vet no she isn't and he does another kidney check and he comes back and says there is nothing left. It's time or it's going to get ugly real quick.

How about Her last Ruffed Grouse being rocked up high and setting its wings for a glide to who knows where? Two other Dogs looked for a bit and came back shortly. She was gone for over a half hour. We both gave up and started calling her in. A little later she shows up with a dead Grouse.

How about in your prime you look like this?






And at the end like this, but never quit?







Yea she was tough. I'd also venture to say she had more than a little grit.
Somebody said it before me, but it holds true. "Damn fine Dog."

My time as a Boykin owner ended after almost 20.years this week when I had my last one put down because of failing health. Both of my dogs gave their all in hot and cold weather. The older dog hunted hard through her 13th season. Their efforts to please were monumental. Lack of wild bird opportunities make getting a new pup impractical. I used to live in wonderful pheasant country and the dogs had over 100 wild birds shot over them almost every season for several years. I will miss the companionship.

I just had to put this old boy down a little over a month ago.


He was by far the "toughest" dog I've ever been around. He would hunt pheasant until he wore the pads off his paws and only when I managed to get a leash on him would he stop. Bloody paws and all, he would keep going.

Ran full bore into a barbed wire fence, pierced his chest as he flipped [bleep] over elbows over it, shook himself off and kept running.

And when it came to other dogs, he was downright brutal. Saw him chase a great dane across our property, chased off labs and retrievers and really only ever got along with our female GSP and my Dad's lab.

Oh and he could swim for hours on end. Never for a purpose, just liked to swim.

As someone above mentioned, it was his desire. He had a very strong hunt instinct in him and he just wouldn't stop, ever. Was very difficult to say goodbye to him, because he was MY dog.

Nothing is tougher than our dog, Jet. Not only is he fast, hence the name Jet, but just to see his own reflection in the mirror is more than many dogs bigger than him could withstand...