As some 24HCF members know, I've been running Springers on upland birds for 25+ years. My last one died suddenly last November, and I just didn't have the time--or the heart, to tell the truth--to replace him yet. But next spring I'm thinking about getting a new gun dog, and for a lot of reasons I'm thinking of getting a Brittany.

I don't have a lot of experience shooting over pointing dogs, and zero experience in training them. But it seems to me that a pointing breed makes more sense for hunting the birds we have down here in Texas, particularly quail. And as I'm very partial to the temperament of spaniels, a Brittany makes some sense to me. I'm starting to look at a couple of breeders, but thought I'd see what kind of thoughts some of y'all have about this breed?

I ran em and you won't be sorry. They run the gamut of wide ranging field trialers to close working French Brits. Be sure you get the kind that fits your needs/wants. They have sweet dispositions and make great friends.

I just like the magic of the moment when a dog points.

^^^^^^^^

What he said Doc. Sweet dogs, and I think a little easier to have around in the off season, easy to train ( relatively)

They are my favorite bird dog, and good for what they are made for, but don't expect them to be on time for any Mensa meetings.

Forget the Brittany and get yourself a French Brittany. They will fill your bag limits and steal your heart!



I would call Plum Creek Kennels if I were you.

http://french-brittany.com/

That little guy was from Lubbock TX. He was a bird finding machine.

No fears... I currently live with an American Cocker Spaniel. I'd say Barney is dumber'n a box of rocks but I don't want to insult the rocks...

Thanks for the link, MCH! Nice-looking dogs!

Yep. Cockers make Brittanies look smart!


Ive been working, as you know, with herding breeds ever since my Brittany, and they have spoiled me.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, my dog, 'Robin'...

I had one of Bill's dogs. Bill is, IMO, a class act.

My dog wasn't one of Bill's. But Bill's dog was the stud from an accidental breeding. Wish I had another just like him. My next will be from Bill.

Fine looking Brittany.

Thank you.


I sure hope I'm wrong about this afterlife and Rainbow Bridge stuff..


I would sure like to see her again.....

ingwe
Are you saying they are oust side the Bell Curve and not at the top? The ones I have had occasion to encounter all seemed very social with both people and other dogs. Cheers NC

Don't know about the bell curve, but mine rode the short bus to school! She was, as you say, very social and friendly with everyone and everything. Really nice dogs.

i've hunted with some good Brittanys and just as many that weren't so good. They make great pets so there are a lot of them around that aren't much for hunting. Buy a 1 to 2 year old dog so you know what you're getting.

Takes a very light hand to train them some can be very timid! A good Brittany is great with the right owner. Lately more impressed with the French Brittanys. We had lots of Brittanys growing up some were outstanding some so so.

This could be said for most any hunting dog.

Not so. There are breds that typically do not make good pets.

One of the smartest and socially dispositioned breeds I have ever owned. My last pointer was an Ameican Brittany and the next one most assuredly will be too.
I would recommend starting off with a pup, and take a long hard look at the pups and not just the pedigrees. I bought three pups from different stock with the intent of keeping only one. The one I did keep was the only dog of the three that didn't come from registered stock.

Lets see this list of bird dogs that don't make good pets. I bet most of the problems you have "seen" were owner issues and not breed issues.

True dat. That could be said of virtually any breeds....

You'll see a lot of GSPs and labs turned into shelters because they are too 'hyper'.

What this means in english is that the owners had NO concept of what living with a high drive dog was like, and were not willing to commit to it. Plus they picked the pup cause his daddy was a field trial champ...again not knowing at all what that means...other than something to brag about to their friends, before they turn him in at the pound.


Dog owners who don't do their homework are some of my favorite whipping boys...I could go on and on....

My Britt has been a wonderful dog. She would do best if she were a "house" dog but we don't have that capability right now. As long as I exercise her everyday and do some kind of little training, then she seems fine in an outdoor kennel.

She has been a very smart dog, occasionally stubborn but yet soft with discipline, loves water.

I totally agree with you ingwe. So lets blame the dog/breed because god knows it can't be the humans fault.

Ingwe, you're too right on that. Good gun dog stock tends to be high-wired, and too many folks have no clue what that is gonna mean, especially with puppies. Doesn't just happen with bird dogs, either... my youngest daughter got a standard poodle a couple years ago and he damn near destroyed her house!

Even a confirmed Spaniel man such as I am has come to the conclusion after nearly 30 years of training and hunting them that it's a lot easier on the furniture (and everything else) to get a started dog than a puppy. But you lose a lot of fun & memories, so it's a trade off.

I appreciate all the opinions written here. I'm looking forward to visiting some breeders and looking at some dogs & pups.

I've just started my research, dunno if I'll be able to find a good started dog, but that'd be my preference, I think.

I got my current Brittany from James Morriss, Lone Star Brittany's out of Midland. Great pet, smart, and he's a bird finding machine. I believe mine came from the last breeding he did with frozen sperm from Nolan's Last Bullet, A.K.A. "Buddy". James was easy to deal with. You might also check the NSTRA site, they usually have some great dogs advertised there. Good luck.

I've hunted with Britts and setters my whole life and I prefer Brittanys. They are great dogs. My current Britt lives in our home. They are a little hyper, but with daily exercise and a yard to run in they can be calm. All of the Brittanys I've been around were very smart. I agree they can be soft, but some are very hard headed.

Watching a rooster I missed fly away.


Pointing a rooster yesterday.

Doc, many here have more experience than I so I'll just pass along advice from a relative who has bred Britts for field trials for many years, and won too, If you're hunting on foot look elsewhere than field trial lines. Field trial dogs are meant to be very energetic and wide ranging.

Personally I want a companion most of the year and a companion that will hunt with me for the bit of a year that is the bird season. Not hunt on his own and point until I catch up. Britts are very good in the house and need to be around their people more than most hunting breeds.

I disagree with that for several reasons. First not all field trial lines are big runners. Second is that there are great bargains to be found from field trial lines. You can get a fully trained ready to hunt young dog for a steal just because it didn't make the handlers roster. Last if the dog holds point what does it matter if it ranges? Even the widest ranging French and American Brittany's tend to stay in the same zip code.

Agree.

On top of that, field trial stock for the most part is where the hottest noses reside. Most want their pointers to be too close anyway. I used to believe a close pointer was the way, until I hunted with some Dog men who knew how to play the game.

You can bring them in, but it is hard to make them get out.

All the brittanys that I have ever owned or hunted with were very socially oriented towards their owners. My last britt would pick up anyones bird (even rabbits for that matter) but would not retrieve to any one but me.
I think that is one thing that makes the breed generally range tighter as they have more of a desire to stay in visual check with hunter. Typically the tighter the cover the tighter they hunt, or should. To me that is the appeal of them as a pointing breed.
As with most anything, dog breeds, birds, or even hunting terrain as far as that goes, are not all the same.

All I can say is I trust the breeder/field trial guy who advised me, he's been running Britts fr decades for the love of it. Last time he hunted South Dakota he had trouble keeping his dogs on his side of the section until they tired a bit. He expected that, usually he's on horseback when the dogs are working. But his dogs win. Must be a reason the breeders I looked into in the region stress their lines are bred for foot hunting.

The big running field trial Dogs run in a brace and it is a foot race. Part of their training entails conditioning for a fast short run.

No doubt speed is born into the top ones, however that doesn't mean you can't take one of their pups and bring them in. It may take some patience, perseverance and time, but if he has the right stuff you will end up with a hot and stylish Dog that slams into its point. The type of Dog that says, "Right here, right now boss, step up and do your thing. I did mine." The type of Dog that takes your breath away and not one that makes you wonder if he is only stopping because he is thinking about doing something else.

Once you have seen that type of flashy Dog, then you will understand why it would be worth the effort to take the chance on hot blood.

Doc, check out Otter Creek Brittanys. They will be having litters this spring. I just paid my deposit for a female. I was lucky enough to get first pick.

Doc,

We owned and ran American Britts (many) for 40 years and hunted them from the Maritmes to the Dakotas for many of those years. Also were active in breed club activities on the East Coast. All this before and during the AKC name change and the introduction of HB handling to Brittany field trials, which I think was not a good thing on balance for the breed.

Am Britts are a great dog for the first time PD owner/trainer. They are just as "smart" as any other breed and make great pets/house dogs. I have never seen a well bred Britt who couldn't be made in to a decent bird dog for the average bird hunter. Most can be molded into a super gun dog in the right hands. Not so, for some other breeds IME.

Two GOTO names I would offer if I needed a good Britt:

Rick Smith (I believe his/his dad's bloodlines (Bazooka) are available from the Ronnie Smith kennels in Big Cabin, OK. Rick and Ronnie also put on excellent training seminars.

Dave Walker in ID.

Both are supernice guys and have top tier bloodlines. Good Luck and pics of your new pup are a necessity!!

NB

The smartest bird dog I ever had was a Brittany. He figured out how to hold blue quail. He run a fish hook pattern around the covey and stop them until I could catch up. The dumbest was a yellow lab out of the Kellogg pointing lab bloodline. I think the Brittany is the best compromise of gun dog and family pet.

I just put my 13.5-year-old Brittany down to relieve her of a losing struggle with bone cancer but I want to join the chorus of voices advocating for the breed.

As others have said, Brittanies are easy to live with. I've always lived in small-to-medium sized cities and the Brittany is an especially good breed when you're trying to hit that balance between field-capability and in-town livability. Mine absolutely loved to be inside with her people and her couch.

Dixie could be hard-headed when her birdiness overcame her training and good sense but that drive also made her a tireless and effective pointer. She was a big runner and needed daily exercise, but I expected that after having met her parents and understanding the nature of her field-trial lineage.

There's a pretty big hole in my life right now and I will be mourning Dixie for some time to come. But when it's time to bring a puppy back into our lives, I will be seeking out another Brittany without hesitation.

Brittany was my last bird dog and they broke the mold on the one I had, flat out hunting machine. I hope to see him again one day as well.

Steve you have my condolences , there are not many days that I don't think of the dogs that have passed from my life.

That is a beautiful picture Tom.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If a Britt is good enough for Delmar Smith, they are sure as hell good enough for me.

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.

Ghost, if you get this note:

What breeds were you impressed with? What would you choose and why?

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.

What were you impressed with ?

Couldn't keep my Brits out of the water....

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.