Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs German Short-haired Pointers - Comment?

Care to comment? I'm thinking late next spring.

Cautions?
Opinions?

Harold

Never owned one myself, but have known several. Fabulous upland bird dogs, loads of personality, but need LOTS of room to run.
M

I haven't owned one either, but have known serveral and they were very smart dogs. Not to mention sociable and gorgeous too.

I've had one for a year and a half now. She's from good lines, but really shows little desire to point anything. She's young and I haven't really gotten her as much work as I had planned on when I bought her, but to this point, I'm not really impressed. I will also say that this is my first pointer, so I'm sure the learning curve is against me here too. We'll see what happens in the nex couple of years.

Had one for 13yrs, 2 year break by the wifes orders, she couldnt deal with losing her, just got a pup in Feb. You need a lot of time and they need PLENTY of exercise!
If our old gal went two days without a good long run she would start doing laps around the dining room table. For like 45 minutes. Our new pup just gets downright ornery if she doesnt get run daily. Shes chasing robins, but does not really point yet. All in all, I love em to death.

Have had three. Fantastic dogs. Methodical, very good retrievers, good water dog in decent climates, superb noses, mine would hunt themselves to death ... I needed to watch one in particular to keep him from getting heatstroke. He never knew when to quit.

Two were absolute sweethearts. The male, however, had a bad temperament. He would bite kids. Also, I wear a scar on my ring finger from another Shorthair that bit me when I was 7.

Some lines have absolutely unbelievable style on point. I had liver-and-roan, but I think liver-on-white Shorthairs are drop-dead gorgeous.

I'm doing Springers now, but I would do another Shorthair. Great hunting dogs.

rb

I've had 8 I think. Trying to remember. Great dogs from field lines. Lot's of energy. Can't think of any real down sides to them. Also have had 6 English Pointers and trained a good number of English setters, Britt's and a few Vislas so my opinion of GSP's is not without something to compare them to.

Some are runners and some want to stay close. The trend today is toward the runners and these are harder to train as they are on go all the time. A good one will do it all but requires a lot more time and training then the ones that stay close and those dogs often stay so close that they are in your lap when you set down. Think of it this way: Most dogs will hunt but the good ones will mind with very little training on the hunting part as it comes natural. And the dog that is busy running hard has very little time to learn to mind your commands.

Don't think you can expect anything in particular. If you get a recent import from German lines or dog from an "Americanized" line, there will be huge differences in range, build, sharpness, to mention a few. Do your research into the breeder before making a decision.

I've hunted over several shorthairs. They always look like they are starving to death..... Fine dogs, mostly, but the bounding-thing somewhat irritates me, and they don't have a tail I can see in tall brush. JMO, Dutch.

I am on my 3rd and 4th GSP's. If you do your homework on the parent dogs, you'll have excellent family, house and bird dogs.

My two dogs love being with children and are rock steady. They are from hunting lines, small for the breed, naturally work close to medium, and have pointed since 8 weeks old.

For upland and family dogs, if chosen carefully, they are my preference.

My friends have had shorthairs. Can only speak of the ones I have been around. They don't seem to like real cold weather. Don't like water, crossing creeks, etc. if cold. They always seemed to cut easy, milo stalks, barbed wire, thin skinned I would say. Some have been a little "watch yourself" or get bit, tempermental some days just fine, others seem grumpy. I guess am saying they have a personality of themselves & what they want to do, not one that they will do what ever you want, when you want it. Like most labs, they want to hunt for themselves.

Usually good hunters, good noses. As they say before, you will have to make sure you aren't getting a BIG RUNNING field trial blood line, or they will do just that RUN BIG, & you will think you need binoculars & a helicopter to keep up. That is fine if you hunt great big open flat fields, they will cover the ground for you. It is just what you want, these guys I hunted with were field trial competitors. Like all breeds try to fit what you want to the dog.

I actually have one and have had for bird seasons and hunted over many others, also hunted over pointers, setters and brits extensively.

GSP's on the whole are NOT worried about water or wet cover, thick cover, or cold all of these DO apply to the pointer or english pointer as some call them.

Shorthairs are family oriented, they do make good guard dogs and can be sharp if the owner doesn't take the time to properly introduce people to the dog. They are very smart and a bit stubborn. They like any other dog can vary in mannerisms. However they generally have superior noses, drive and point to all but the pointers, and that's a wash. They do not run as big as pointers in general but they are very natural retrievers which pointers are not. They are eager to please and tough dogs. They are easy to maintain witht he short dense coat, they do shed some.

Bear in mind that there is as much variance in dogs as in the pointing breeds. GSP's do tend to be mainly hunting dogs with most all kennels leaning to working rather than show dogs.

A fine kennel with outstanding dogs is Honey Run Shorthairs out of PA. Good looking and performing dogs. You might look at the sight.

Know what you want and how the breed you are looking at fits that desire. GSP's can live in the house and hunt awesome, they do require excersise and a commitment to properly train them for field and home.

I have had four. two in the past and two at present. I live in wisconsin and hunt upper michigan grouse, wisconsin grouse,south dakota pheasant and nebraska sharptail.I have never had a problem with cold temps. Actually the dam dogs love the cold snowy days best of all.
As for temperment I can honestly say that I have read so many articles about the gsps being so high strung and needing a lot of room to run and that they dont make good family dogs that I could PUKE.
Of all of the people that I know of that have shorthairs will totaly disagree with the typical things stated about the breed.
They are great hunters very loveable family pets, and your best friend no matter the day you have had.
Good luck and go for it.

Look into NAVHDA lines. "Hunting" lines that are straight AKC appear to me to have a lot of Field Trial emphasis which is where the run comes from that others have mentioned. Field trialers can be bird finding machines but much harder for average guy/gal to handle.

The hard to handle thing means the handler needs training most of the time. I'd recommend using the Wolters book [/i]"Gun Dog"[i] for pointing dogs and [/i]"Water Dog"[i] for retrievers as a starting point. Dogs aren't a mystery to train if you have an idea of what you are doing. Like children consistancy and understanding they aren't as smart as you makes all the difference.

You may not want a field trial dog because the hunting traits they have do not fit your style. Most foot hunters do not want a dog that makes 600 yard casts or doesn't retrieve. Many hunters want pointing dogs to be in gun range and that's just silly. Know how the dogs from that line hunt and what you really want before you make a choice.

There is as much variation in dogs of the same litter as between breeds, remember that.

If you look at the original standards of MOST of the versatile European breeds, you will find that those breeds are SUPPOSED to hunt "under the gun".

If you don't want a close hunting dog, don't choose one of those breeds. If you want a dog that "runs big" pick a BREED that suits your desire, don't turn a BREED into something it is not.

The Deutsch Kurzhaar standard calls for a close hunting dog for the foot hunter. If that's not what you want, get something else. JMO, Dutch.

It is not reasonable to expect a GSP to stay inside 40 yards, if you want that get a lab or a springer or some such. A Munsterlander may stay that close.

If you want to have a dog that makes 600 yard casts, get a pointer. JMO, Dutch.

I don't want a boot licker or a 1/4 mile dog and thusly I run a GSP who is a 3250 max more like 125 most of the time dog. He isn't underfoot and he isn't in the next county a perfect foot hunting dog. My caution was that most foot hunters do not want the 600 yard dog and if you want one always in gun range avoid a pointing dog because they aren't wired that way.

All ist klar?

I'm on my fourth GSP and love the breed. My favorite was my third whose name was Homer and he died of cancer at eight. I've included his picture. He would break through 1/2" of bank ice on a river to get a mallard in single digits, hold on a woodcock a foot away. He pointed and retrieved his first bird(cockbird pheasant) at eight months. Best retrieve was a wounded male woodie clinging to root underwater. The dog came up with him.
What a dog! A real blessing from the Lord!

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria

Qtip, Homer sounds like he was a hell of a good dog. From his picture he was also easy on the eyes. The prospect of getting a dog like that makes me think hard about getting another dog.
Pat

I think he may have my "oner"; meaning a once-in-a-lifetime dog. He just about trained himself. His grandma won best of breed at Westminster according to the breeder I got him from. I never bothered to look that up as it had nothing to do with hunt. He was a spoiled little baby around home and a great watchdog to boot. I miss him tons.

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!

My family, for the last 4 generations at least, has been involved in raising dogs for conformation (among other things) so it's kind of bred into me to look at a dog (and many other animals) with that in mind. The quality of your dogs' grandma was apparent in the photo, and GSP are a very striking breed to begin with.
Only problem with getting the "oner" is that it's a bit unfair to all the dogs who follow that one, they just never measure up.

There are lots of breeds I'd like to try but I don't think I could ever bring myself to pick anything other than a GSP. I have two and they're absolutely great family dogs that will hunt until they drop. Very easy to train and will hunt ANY range you specify if you do your part. Course that goes for everything else you ask as well.....

This little girl deserves her own Hall of Fame.... Lookin' at that pic took me back to when I was training her. I bought that Tri-Tronics collar so I could be like all the other guys I saw but with the help of a few trainers who trained ME how to train her, it turned out to be money NOT well spent. I started slow, let her have a bunch of fun, used positive re-enforcement, repeated my lessons ALOT, kept control over her with a check-cord until she was 100% on, patiently increased the range, and varied the training areas. When ya figure that out, just about any breed is a push-over to train IMO. She's coming up on 13 now and getting really slow. It'll be hard to hunt again after she's gone....

I missed that before but it sure couldn't be more true....

Man am I getting fired up to get a GSP. What's the best time of the year to get one? Christmas? Springtime? Fall?

?? sse ??

Ayuh, me too.

I'm thinking April - June?

Comments?

Harold

Anybody ever wonder why NAVHDA GSP's tend to be so much more dark colored than the ones you see around Field Trials?

Harold,

Over 25-years worth of GSP's here - I agree with the good traits mentioned on this thread. The detractors don't know much about handling GSP's.

I hunt pheasants 90% and grouse 10%.

That said, your profile lists Vermont as your location - a GSP (or any pointer) might not be my first choice for grouse hunting in thick cover that stays thick much of the season. I'd probably go with a Springer.

Don,

I recall a gent of your same name from Iowa that trains gun dogs - any resemblance?

I've had three GSPs,two of which I'd have to describe as once in a lifetime dogs,they were father and son. He sired 23 pups,he was so well known through my two hunting clubs that most of the litters he sired were pretty much presold.Only once did the pups go unspoken for longer than a few days.Four pups in that litter lasted until week 11,then all sold in two days.He's been gone twelve years now.
The reason:he was beautiful,smart,tremendous desire to hunt,great family dog,great watchdog.What else do you want? His son that I kept,same way,except he turned out to be sterile.None of his other offspring were to my knowledge.He's been gone about three years.Both males lived until passed twelve.
The bitch that I bought with the idea of mating to the son was almost,but not quite in the same class as the two dogs.I found her to be a little more willful,but still an excellent all around hunting dog and faithful four legged family retainer overall.
These dogs were designed to do it all.They were originally intended to be versatile...to hunt feathered and furred game,retrieve,guard,and live in town instead of on big estates.
My experience is that if they become a problem,or don't do it all,it's much more likely the fault of the owner than the dog.Most GSPs bring everything they need with them when they come.
My dogs came from lines of dual champions (show and field) and I'll be getting another as soon as I return from Africa in August.Unfortunately , my female died recently.If the next one is anything like the first three,the pup I get in august will be hunting by November..... not a finished dog,but finding birds,making points,and perhaps starting to retrieve.

Speak of the devil.
I was at the range this evening (BIG range),the rangemaster has four GSP pups for sale.They all looked pretty good to me.The dam is also his,and she is exceptional.He had the sire,who he says was even better,but he was killed by a bear,right in front of the pens the pups have been kept in,about three months ago.That's less than three miles from my house,hadn't heard about that incident.
At any rate,these pups are 11 months old,left from a total litter of 12.Two males,two females.They are liver and white as opposed to liver and rhone.He's asking for $350 for each of the males,$250 for one female with an undocked tail,$850 for the other female.
If I wasn't getting ready to leave for Tanzania at the end of the month,one of the males would have come home with me.As is I'm going to have to board my Brittany,couldn't see buying one of these pups and then boarding him almost immediately.Around here that will cost almost as much as the purchase price would be.
If you are interested,contact Keith at 973-764-4100.I'm sure he can answer all your questions.He has a reputation for being a pretty stand up guy.

I've owned GSPs since 1989, bred, trained, showed, trialed, but mostly hunted and loved them. Mine were absolutely reliable with people, unless those people weren't welcome. Wonderful family dogs and guard dogs. As many have stated, they need room to exercise. The vast majority I've been associated with had good to excellent noses, and strong natural pointing and retrieving instincts. Probably 60% were natural backers. Most were medium to big running dogs. I've owned some very well bred high dollar pups. The best one I ever owned was my first GSP, a back yard bred hot ticked male who died about 5 years ago. Every hunter who owns bird dogs is due one great dog. Tucker was mine. There will never be another quite like him.

I've had the extreme pleasure of hunting over a couple tremendous Dixieland bloodline GSPs. They didn't make me a better shot, but they sure found quail (and dead dove/deer). Neither were plodders and we always covered tons of ground. They never hesitate to stuff their face in a cactus and both have survived snakebites. I have no problem letting my one year old pull on their ears (but I won't let him near the red heeler.)

I have 3 Shorthairs now, and think you would be hard pressed to find a better upland dog. Do your homework and you'll have a great huntin' partner. Talk to a reputable breeder and tell him your want and needs.
--Mike

Just reading back on this thread and noticed the "best time" to get one question. Myself I prefer a dog born in March. You take then home in May and do yard work all summer and start hunting them mid September on wild birds until the end of January.

Thanks Planemech.
I'm kinda thinkin' the same way.
Suppose I'll have to start getting on the phone this fall?
Best wishes,
Harold

Hi there

I hunt upland and woodland small games (mostly rabbits, hares, partridges, pheasants, woodcocks and foxes) with a female GSP (konwn as Bonnie "Nom de Dieu", now 5 years old).



Excellent at pointing, very good retriever, very pleasant at home and with childrens ... very beautiful dog and good guardian too! How could I ask more ?

Germans usually use them as well as small games pointing dogs and as big game blood hounds. There are not lots of dog breeds able to produce good performances in those two very different disciplines.

Nice looking dog.

We're on #'s 7 & 8 gsp's and will probably never be without as long as I'm able to hunt. They like all large active dogs, need attention & at times a firm hand. But they can be as well behaved as you want them to be it just depends on how much time you are willing to spend with them & not just training time. Mine have all been good to great hunters but also wonderful family dogs even the largest at over 85# still makes a pretty darm good lap dog. All have good retrievers though a couple had a little trouble deciding that fetching was as much "fun" as it turned out to be.

Absolutely gorgeous dog Grand! Nice pic! Wow!

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!

thanks

Breeder is the belgian "kurzhaar" club's president. His dogs are really fine ones.

that breed earns more attention from the hunters than it recieves.

Most of the upland hunters around here use britain spaniels ... probably because they're easier to find and to train.

In America the dog would lose points for the soft tail and stance, but she's colored the way I them best, has a great looking muzzle and head not pointy like some. Good deep chest.

Pretty dog.

not a soft tail, in fact she wasn't hunting on that picture, she just discovered with her nose that some cat was lying in the high grass of the neihbour's horse prairie ...

See her pointing attitude on a pheasant or other true games she usually hunts (pheasants, partridges, woodcocks, foxes, hares and rabbits. She also usually points roe deer when hunting woodcock in december):





in fact her tail can be a usefil indicator about what she points

Note that cutting the tails is now forbidden in Begium. Every dog born since january 2005 has now a full length tail.

I think GSP's from french breeders usually have more pointy noses, because they introduced english pointer blood at some time in the breed, probably to improve field trial results. Original GSP are more all terrain gun dogs than pointers and i do prefer them that way.

Absolutely the tail is an indicator of what's in front!My 12 yr. old GSP indicates what it is by the tail too. With pheasants which he hates the intensity is amazing he quivers from tail to snout and leans into the point hard while the fur on the end of his tail fluffs up It doesn't do that for quail or prairie grouse of partridge just pheasants. His tail tends to be lower on planted birds or cats.

Too bad about the tails, a full length tail is a bloody mess at the end of the season and it just doesn't look right.

Harold,All,

Is this what you guys are talking about?

Tom

http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/Tsquare_02/?action=view&current=Gracieposes.jpghttp://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/Tsquare_02/?action=view&current=MeGracieII.jpghttp://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/Tsquare_02/?action=view&current=P8110002.jpg

that's what i call gun dogs ;-)

And another.

Tom

http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/Tsquare_02/?action=view&current=MeGracieII.jpg

And another.

Tom

http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/Tsquare_02/?action=view&current=Gracieposes.jpg

i would like to give it a big hug ...

is the head not totally brown ?

grand_veneur,

No, she has a small white patch at her nose on one side. It looks almost like someone spilled a drop or two of bleach that ran down behind her nose. It looks almost like a small question mark.

Other than that, he head is all brown.

Tom

Oh a real cutie! The bird dog bump is well evident at the back of the skull, big ears and paws. What about 12-14 weeks in those photos? Very nice.

If you like GSP's take a look at the fantastic dogs at www.honeyrunshorthairs.com show and field champions in the same dogs. One from there has won the NASTRA invitational- the top versitile dog in the USA.

Planemech, grand veneur,

She is 9 weeks old. She's a handful, but coming along.

gran veneur,

This pix shows the white question mark a bit better.

Tom

http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/Tsquare_02/?action=view&current=P8200035.jpg

will make a beautiful dog !

seeing lots of pictures from NA GSP's, i find your dogs are more "white" than ours.

i see darker dogs here, sometimes totally brown or black but always with less white.

True in some lines, there is some evidence of a similar tactic to those used by the French, with the introduction of pointer in recent history. I prefer them darker, my dog is very close to the coloration of yours.

She looks like she'll go large for breed standard and she will darken up. The greyish cast to the white she has now is the tip off. My boy was that way and he's more ticked than white by a good margin.

according to our standard description, when dog is two-colored, background color should not be brown, nor white, nor more white than brown or more brown than white but such a mix that you could not tell if hairs are white or brown.

this is a weak point when hunting woodland: you've got a true "camo" dog, not easy to spot.

The dog will have a majority liver head and may be white to heavily ticked- the mottled like your dog to all liver. Black seems to be a rage color now, while they can be registered they cannot be shown with black as any part of the coloration, they may be field trialed though.

sorry about the names of the colors. My english is not so rich, i simply use brown, dark or black. I didn't know "liver" could also be used as a color name.

I have hunted with a dark coated GSP quite a bit. The dog was superb. She has just passed on due we think to a Vet error.

The night before last in Southern Vermont the temperature hit 41F and we had a fire going for much of the weekend also. I have seen that GSP get cramped up from being wet and cold. I don't think that it had a thick enough coat for late CT hunting let alone Vermont.

I would get a lighter colored dog with more hair.

I hunt GSP's in all weather here in Nebraska from September through the end of January or from 80 to sub zero GSP's can tolerate all better than say setters or pointers. That one GSP got cramped and chilled seems to me to be more a sign of not enough work or stretching- i.e. being left in a kennel without proper supervision, rather than a bash on an entire breed. They aren't December and January duck dogs true, they aren't shrinking violets either. All around tougher dogs than than setters of any type or pointers

+ 1

but if you hunt in especially thorny bush or cold water environment, drathaars could work better than kurzhaars.