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Joined: Feb 2004
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
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Not specific to your question J, but to type, my experience with pointers has been wonderful. This was Bosch (GWP, smooth coat) who unfortunately got ill and I had to put down. Caught him here locked up on a rooster pheasant - he was a smart bomb on birds and it broke my heart when he got ill. you know of course that pointers as group are generally wound a lot tighter than the flushing dogs. I've heard very good things about French Brit's.
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Joined: Sep 2009
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Posts: 1,596 |
Britt's as a whole tend to be soft tempered and many don't take to water like most of the versatile hunting breeds.
I've seen and judged many Britts in field trials and both NAVHDA and AKC hunting tests and was never was that impressed with the breed. I was never interested in owning one.
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Joined: Dec 2006
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2006
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I've owned two, and have found them to be both excellent as upland dogs for grouse and woodcock and as house dogs / family pets. They have a sweet disposition and as some others have said, they seem to require a bit more gentle handling when training. I'm aware that opinions are subjective, but I wouldn't hesitate to invest in a Brit.
***************************************** Hunting FOR Savages, Hunting WITH Savages
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 248
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Dec 2007
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I have to chime in, albeit a little late. Buckeroo Banzai Buddy is my Brit. He is my grouse dog. He is my arrow retrieval system, he is my faithful companion. He is four and I have never heard him growl. He still has all his parts and I have never seen any dog or anything period give as much effort at everything he does than Buddy. He is a great rider, he does work for Trout Unlimited though, when I take him fishing I can't keep him out of the river. He is the best dog I have ever been around. You can't go wrong with a Brittany.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2006
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Over the last 40 years or so I have lived with 6 Brits, a couple Weims, and currently, a Vizsla. The Vizsla has been the best companion and the only one I can take fishing. The Brits were the best all around, with 2 of them flat out superb hunters. I loved all of them. I have come to believe that a good blooded dog is probably smarter than I am and simply needs to get some birds in front to develop inherent instincts and some have nearly trained themselves. If the dog is really interested in being with you, you've done the basic training (come, stay, heel) it becomes easy to then train a dandy hunter and companion.
Imagine your grave on a windy winter night. You've been dead for 70 years. It's been 50 since a visitor last paused at your tombstone..... Now explain why you're in a pissy mood today.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 19,813
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 19,813 |
If a Britt is good enough for Delmar Smith, they are sure as hell good enough for me.
"Be sure you're right. Then go ahead." Fess Parker as Davy Crockett
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 5,839
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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My first Brit was a French Brittany. She was a rescue dog but fully trained. She taught me more than I taught her. She was absolutely fearless and a phenomenal bird dog. Here's some pics of Mandy on her last hunt. She was too old for a day afield but I paid for some pen raised birds and had them set out for her. She loved it. Willow, our current Brit is an American Brittany. She was a rescue as well and the sweetest dog we have ever had. She was a year old when we got her but because of our son's five year bout with cancer, her training never happened. She still loves to hunt, but is not the caliber bird dog as was Mandy. It really doesn't matter. If she never pointed another bird I wouldn't care. She's a fantastic comfort dog for my wife while I'm gone to the slope. As far as Brittanies being dumb. Both of mine have been two of the smartest dogs I've ever known. Willow with some huns.
Chronographs, bore scopes and pattern boards have broke a lot of hearts.
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I've seen and judged many Britts in field trials and both NAVHDA and AKC hunting tests and was never was that impressed with the breed. I was never interested in owning one. Ghost, if you get this note: What breeds were you impressed with? What would you choose and why?
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 397
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Aug 2006
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After four Labs, three excellent dogs and one with every recessive gene possessed by the breed, and a one year failed experiment with a neurotic, biting Vizsla, I settled on a French Brittany because I no longer wanted to sprint after a flushing dog, I wanted a pointing dog that hunted with me rather than for itself, one that would check in with me more often and be a devoted house dog, and because I did not want a bigger, more wide-ranging dog. Americans created the American Brittany to be bigger and more wide-ranging. I hunted with another guy and his American Brittany for Gambel's quail, and his wider-ranging dog flushed many coveys so far away we got no shots. Hunter, from Keller's French Brittanys in Arizona has been just what I wanted. He is just over two years old, and has tallied 82 blue grouse, 80 pheasants, and over 100 Gambel's quail in two hunting seasons. He travels well, likes fishing trips and rides in the pickup, and would just as soon be a lap dog. His only fault, aside from thinking I am the coolest thing on the planet outside of a game bird, is being a fanatic for finding birds(and balls) and retrieving them, but not to hand. We are working on that. This dog is every bit as smart as my Labs. As someone said above, decide what you want in a dog, and get the breed that meets your criteria, whether other people think that's the breed you ought to have or not.
Living proof that expressing your opinion is not a good career advancement strategy.
There comes a time in a man's life when he has to start cutting and quit straddling fences. Ed Abbey
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 29,383
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Britt's as a whole tend to be soft tempered and many don't take to water like most of the versatile hunting breeds. Not in my experience I've seen and judged many Britts in field trials and both NAVHDA and AKC hunting tests and was never was that impressed with the breed. I was never interested in owning one. What were you impressed with ?
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Couldn't keep my Brits out of the water....
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Hunter S. Thompson
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Joined: May 2005
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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My Brits (I've had seven over the years) never hesitated to retrieve ducks, doves or quail that went into the drink. During one time when I had a pair of them (I lived in Nebraska), we hunted a lot more ducks than upland game. Never lost a bird that I can recall. They were very good pheasant and sharptail dogs, as well.
Ben
Some days it takes most of the day for me to do practically nothing...
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