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

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".

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.

Not giving up at all. I really like him. He is just not at all "gritty".

Was just generally inquiring to others.

I know nothing of the "refined" breeds like Britts and Setters. But I label them as not as "gritty". I could easily be proven wrong.

Do you think male vs female has much to do with it?

I don't know for sure but from what I've seen it doesn't seem to make much difference. We've got a female Lab that will be 12 in August. When she was about three years old my wife said, before she's done there could be a picture of her under the word bitch in the dictionary. She wasn't too far off.

Pussed up paw from a foxtail imbedded. One day of slightly limping.

Really cold one morning going hunting.

A pupcicle.

But a real softy.

When it gets -5 here, I can walk on water and not break it much less my dog. miles

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."

Wow, what a dog.
Hope mine turns out to have half as much.

I think it is more desire then tough in most cases. Desire is breed into a dog. A person can make a dog tough, but you'll be hardpressed to make a dog have desire.

I had an English Pointer that didn't care how cold it was outside when it was time to hunt. However when it was cold out and time for him to go do his business you had to find him and drag him out there.

That's what I term "game" mixed with drive. And that's how this little pup is heading. Just like you describe-forced off the porch to piss in the rain, but overcome fear of even knowing how to swim to follow scent out into the deep cattails

When I was in high school I had a golden retriever/yellow lab cross named Jake. He was the toughest and most athletic dog I have ever been around and he would have died rather than quit on me. Even near the end of his life with his kidneys shutting down and terrible arthritis you couldn't walk past him with a shotgun and he was up and ready to go. When he died, it was only the second time in 25 years I ever seen my dad cry.

Pretty tough. This one caught a stob in the woods. Didn't stop her from keeping on training, until I saw the giant hole in her side. She laid there perfectly still while I shaved her and stitched her back up. Vet gave me a stapler after this one. LOL.

That seems pretty tough to me. Was that just behind rib cage or over it? Just curious and nice job sewing. I guess I need to get a kit to keep in the truck.

I have a year old Catahoula that appears to get tougher by the week. As she ages, she gets tougher and braver. It will be interesting to see where she levels out. She is a little girl at about 40 pounds, but she is a lot of dog for her size!

I've got a 45lb 2yr old female Springer who is as gritty of a dog as I've ever seen. Springers don't really have coats made for duck hunting, but she spent several mornings with me last season in a neoprene vest and covered in ice. Her pain tolerance is extremely high, but she takes a soft hand. A gruff word or a beep on her collar is normally all it takes to snatch her back to reality.

I've also got a 10yr old lab with bad arthritis. I haven't hunted him much at all in the last 2 years, but he wants to go just as bad as when he was a puppy. And he'll still go all day if you let him, he's just stove up real bad the next day. He's another tough one. I'm honestly surprised that he's never hurt himself he goes so hard.

Here is the Jackal, a.k.a. the Grim Reaper with my daughter. He is 52 pounds of cold twisted blue steel. There is no quit in him. Will never have another like him.

The OP never replied to this but it would certainly help with answering the question.

A little OT - I was reading a touchy-feely story today about the millions of dogs who would be boarded on July 4th because they're scared of fireworks & I kind of chuckled. I have to lock mine up because he thinks people are shooting & wants to go over there. I took him to the local skeet range when he was a pup to test his shyness & had to get him out of there before he dragged me on the range.

My pup is 17.5 weeks.

That's still pretty young. I'd guess he'll go through a lot of changes over the next year or so.

Lets see there is the time in South Dakota my wirehair ran threw 5 wire fence post. I thought it was normal 3.. Ripped her chest wide open 20 minutes into a 3 day hunt. Got her stitched up vet said put a t-shirt over her should be good to go.. Hunted great rest of the trip..

Then the North Dakota trip, we were in the pheasants big time.. She went after one running wouldnt come back on my whistle, so i paged her vibrate mode nothen.. Shocked her little bit nothen,, turned the gain up nothen.. By this time we see 20-30 phesants get up far away now im shocking her, Im thinken did the battries die is it to loose..Were the birds were was knee high water cattail we could not get to them i was worried about losing my dog..She was nuts.. Finally she comes back we get to the truck, the collar is working.. i take off the collar i melted a perfect square into her neck.From shocking her.She never yelped once the whole time she was so into the birds she took it... I felt horrible that i did that to her..