My son has been thinking of a bird dog (have a gun shy lab who hates water) and I suggested the GWP.
Any owners out there?

Thanks.

You need to contact MT DD FAN on this forum. He has three of 'em, and likes 'em a lot. I've hunted with him, and they're great dogs.

also called Draughthars....I know a breeder in Iowa...they are awesome multi purpose dogs...

I believe JJHack can help. PM him.

You guys are going to upset some of us.....

A Deutsch Drahthaar is not quite the same as a German Wirehair Pointer. But close. I don't own one yet but have a pup " on order" if a male pup drops next month.

But I'll let others speak to the breeds with actual experience. I know I am quite excited waiting for mine. I've researched and waited nearly 4 years. And I was a Die Hard Chessie guy. We'll see about my choice soon

+1
Here is my DD Sampson


Check out http://www.vdd-gna.org/

I've hunted with some good GWPs but if going in blind your chances of getting a solid dog my money is on the DD.

You won't be disappointed.

Funny the Drahthaar was mentioned. I researched these dogs about 20 years ago following an article in a Gun Dog or like periodical. I was fascinated with the breed and their abilities. However I bought a yellow lab and now a black since they were more family dogs than hunters.

A good reason to look at the DD. It's one of the few breeds Americans haven't managed to ruin,,,, Yet.

I always thought they were the same breed, but simply "papered" differently.. Anybody care to elaborate on the differences?

I too think they are the same dog. I have had three of them. Great hunters and house dogs. All three lived to be about 17. Try to get one with a good stiff coat.

I have had an English Setter, Lewellen setter, brittney and 3 German Whirehars/Drathaars. Enjoyed the Drathaars the most.

This one doesn't look like the typical Drathaar. Usually they are more chunky.

The difference is unregulated vs regulated breeding.

The GWP has no testing requirement for the breeding stock

To be a breeding dog in the VDD you have to pass to performance/ability tests, hardness test, coat and conformation test, and be certified hip dysplasia free by the folks in Germany. So you have the proven and the best breeding.

oh DDs are family dogs





biggest lap dog I've ever been around. Until you get him in the field.

Nimrod, you bring back so many memories with the pict of the dog with the kid sitting on him. Lokes like my first two Drathaars.
You are sure correct on being lap dogs untill the hunting starts!

This is Tank, my Deutsch Drahthaar. He is by far the best hunting dog I've had the pleasure of hunting behind. I wish I could tell some stories of some of our hunts, man we've had fun! He does everything from upland to waterfowl to fur and is great around the kids. He does have issues with getting bored around the yard and gives me fits- he's an outside dog, but it's all good . He's pretty intense, extremely loyal, and is very smart.
At about 10 weeks old

He loves the snow!

He found this guy while we were shed hunting in our local woods. The critter was spared- this time .

Watching some Yellowstone trout.

Hangin' out with the kids.

A CO triple.

A KS rooster.
[img]http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww92/jwaller7/DSC01438_zpsea244638.jpg[/img]
On a covey of KS quail.
[img]http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww92/jwaller7/DSC01501_zps3d7aeaaf.jpg[/img]

We are retired and just put our last Drathaar down (15 yrs old) a few months ago. We miss her but said no more dogs. Hope I can still say no if a nice one like yours shows up!

Very classy looking dog! I'm hoping for similar

I have a buddy in Iowa that has a litter due March 15...he only imports the best dogs from Germany...I have no interest financially in his kennel...pm me and I will give you his contact info...

Kennel name if you don't mind(of Tank)?

Vom Himmelbogen is his kennel name...he lives about 35 min outside Des Moines...I doubt he has a website...

sorry, since you edited to say "Tank" this info is not what you want...

Still ok. I enjoy looking at all the breeders, though I am committed as well as satisfied with my deposit.

Several of the dog scores are visible with easy GoogleFu. Some really great dogs and kennels out there. Very interesting to invest a few hours in educating oneself on how to read the Test Scores

That is a seriously cool dog!

I have a drahthaar. I was a lab guy for years. My father in law hunts English setter and pointer. I have had a gsp as well. There is no more family friendly dog than a lab, but with the exception of water retrieves a drat will out hunt any lab. They are amazingly tough, driven dogs. I can't express that enough.


I actually have both a pudelpointer and a drahthaar, my drahthaar hunted from birth....here is a pic series at about 3 months old. I am not a dog trainer, just a hunter.....and our grouse are not big....she is just a pup here.






A bit farther into the season she really began to develop. She has never hunted planted birds and has always produced for me.....



This quail fell dead in some bad nasty thicket that my FIL's English pointer and setter would not go into. I walked Cali down wind of it and sent her in.....minutes later, here is the spoils....


I killed a limit of chukar over her only once so far....more due to my fear of dying than her lack of hunt. This hunt was about -15 and the birds were holding pretty tight. Sorry, no field pics as my camera batts were zonked by the cold.



I don't have any field pics of our pudelpointer. She was a rescue and hunting her is rough on me after having a push button dog like Cali.



I just learned that I need to take more field pics. When buck, my black lab, passed I assumed I would never again have such a great dog. Buck was able to telepathically do what I wanted, it was glorious. Cali, my drahthaar, she does not do what I think all the time, and at first, I was dissapointed.....I learned that I need to let her hunt and follow her, for I am right 60% of the time and she I right 99% of the time. She does not have the clingy lovey side my lab did, in fact for the first 4 years of her life, I am not sure she even liked me. She just slept on a bed in a corner and ate....then disappeared into our 5 acres of grass fields all day. Now she has become a bit more of a lap dog. Our pudelpointer is every bit as needy as a lab, but again, she is a rescue.

Fwiw, both are beyond tollerant.

[img]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z16/gyonemura/440a06432d1b03854ebadf5ad4d4329e.jpg[/img]

I am on second and third GWPs. We hunt doves, quail and ducks in S. Az with them. My first one came in handy for some blood trailing too.
My wife feels secure with them in the house when I am away. They are very protective.

They love fishing too.

Great pics and good info. I was at the CT hunting and fishing show and at the Ruffed Grouse Society Booth was talking to a guy and in conversation has one and loves it. He gave me the name of a trainer in Maine and breeders on the east coast and PA. If I don't purchase this spring, it will be likely sometime in 2014.

They are protective for sure and they need to do something all the time. I have dead birds, mice and sometimes bigger critters on my door step when I wake up.

They're happiest hunting with their humans.

Don't put it off. Nobody has a year to spare.

Boy, your right about that. Time marches on very quickly. I started a bucket list, my wife calls it a f#$*it list!
Gearing up to 6 weeks off per year, one major trip with my wife, one hunting trip - Montana, Idaho, Newfoundland....
I'm 60 and I intend to take more time off to do things that I haven't had the time to do. I call it "being selfish" with my self and my time.

Have one of the smooth coat variety. Intelligent, intense, very good nose, very people and dog friendly, and needs a lot of exercise. Off season and occassionally in- I'll hop on the ATV and do 6-8 mi with him along side at 18-20 mph--they have a motor does doesn't run out of gas quickly. When bored can get quite vocal.

Great bird dog here; can range pretty far and fast but biddable and obedient too. Probably has been my best pheasant dog.

I have a GWP for sale but he's what they call a smooth coat. In other words to the untrained eye he looks like a GSP. He's approaching three y/o and is a very handsome guy. Professionally trained to a year and a half, he's seen a lot of birds since and is a very good pointer with a very good nose. He's a greyhound in a linebackers body and will not quit yet is easily managed with a collar. Probably best of all, his disposition is so nice--hasn't met another dog or person he didn't like.

If he is representative of the breed, and he is the second of two very much alike I've had, I'd say you'd have to try hard to go wrong.

If Photobucket wouldn't be so frustrating, I'd post some pic's.

Okay guys you convinced me, how much do they cost?

Well, mine is just $995 (if I may Rick) for a dog that now, from a trainer, would be pushing 3k. Why..,we've purchased a small second home in an area we like by a lake and he would be problematic there and I won't board him--he deserves better. That, and pheasant opportunities in NW IA have dried up, I'm sorry to say, with ground having gone north of $20k/acre. Fence-to-fence cultivation, tiling streams, coupled with CRP contracts disappearing, leaves very little natural cover for the birds and, ...I hate it.

But I can tell you this: this AKC dog is great. PM me if questions.