I've not been a dog person all my life, but got a dog about 11 years ago and got totally immersed in it. He was bred for a protection sport and we trained, did the clubs, and competed, titled etc. in obedience, tracking, and protection (Schutzhund or IPO) and ring sport. I traveled all over the US and Canada to train and do stuff with him like seminars, competition, clubs. We didn't achieve any special notoriety or even a very high level of success on an objective basis, but ultimately a dog to me is a life companion and not just a partner, tool, or equipment for an avocation. A much greater portion of our time together is just being together in life. He lives in my house, my kids grew up with him, I take him just about everywhere I go near and far. I work from home and we never really leave one another.
He doesn't do hunting. I don't hunt big game with dogs and he doesn't point or retrieve birds or anything. He still goes with me but he stays in camp or in the 4x4 or if I just go out for the morning he'll stay with my wife and kids at home.
Right now where I am, deer season ended and it's open for quail, chukar, duck, and rabbit. I went out the other morning for a few hours and saw two ducks (red heads) and one cottontail. I really wanted to find some coveys but didn't see or hear anything but some Stellar's jay. I was seeing and hearing quail all summer long but now I figure I won't see a thing without a dog. My neighbor (from somewhere in the neighborhood) has been raising a English Setter pup that will always point on the covey that roosts in the spruce next to my house when they walk by. (can't hunt them in my neighborhood though).
Still, I can't see myself getting a dog just to point birds. I don't even care if my chickens give me eggs. They all have names and if they're content to follow me around the yard and sit in my lap every once in a while they'll stay with me long after they've stopped laying. Nevertheless, I've been around dog sport enough to know that you can't expect to do anything with the wrong dog for the job.
I don't even know if I have a big job for a bird dog. My town is surrounded by more than a million acres of public land but I don't even know how many game birds are out there. I'm out there everyday but just see the quail in the summer and the rest of the time it's mostly jackrabbits and coyotes. There's deer and bear but the tags are scarce and if I get a tag it's usually for a unit that's a few hundred miles away. It occurred to me to get a couple blue tick hounds to hunt mountain lion but I figure they'd be bad news for my otherwise pretty suburban neighborhood.
