Want a GSP in the worst way. I’d have to buy one trained as I’ve no experience training bird dogs. Neighbors Dad got a GSP from a yard sale. Was a gift to her late husband from a Federal Exec. With the owner passing it didn’t get hunted. My Neighbor said it was the best hunting dog any of them have been around. We’ve got a Chocolate / Aus Shepard mix that’s my baby and a WH Dachshund rescue that’s sharp as a tack. We had a black lab mutt that was my a wife’s Family dog. She passed at 17 or 18 and that was a very hard time for all of us. She was 10 when I met her and we bonded immediately. She’s the only one that slept in bed with us.
I started training English Pointers in the 6th grade and a small paperback on training pointers.
You can do it too now with You Tube if you wish. I have had pointers and gsps as good as they get. If they have good genetics you can hardly fail. I was offered several thousand for my first female pointer when I was in the 10th grade. $3000 was a lot of money in 1965. I passed on it.
I haven't dealt with English Pointers in 30 years and dont know if the nature to make great pets has been bred out or not.
All the GSPs have been great house pets and great with kids. They essentially learn to hunt and point if you just take them and let them get used to going from the time they are big puppies.
I dont shoot near them until they have grown to love running and hunting. They essentially learn to point after a while on their own.
Let a big pup get busy and out from you and fire away from it the first time. If it is concerned just go on as if nothing happened out of the ordinary. It will que off your actions, as it learns to do as you want it to and it will become an extension of you if you raise and train it yourself.
Nowadays electric collars can save a lot of misery by keeping a dog from running a half mile after a Jack or deer. Teach them early that barbed wire and cattle guards are dangerous as are horses and cows. Both can kill with a kick if a dog comes up behind it. They also are great to keep a dog from chasing javelins and porky's and skunks.
