I'm researching/looking for a hunting dog that will be a family dog as well and we have a 8 mo. old baby.

GSP's are the best dogs ever!

My girlfriend has a Vizsla (Hungarian pointer dog). They are very docile and extremely intelligent dogs. I get complements from strangers every time I take it for a walk.

Worth a look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizsla

I eventually want to get a GSP and they are GREAT with kids. I came to this conclusion after doing much research and talking with numerous people who own them.

i own two GSP and theyre are VERY active dogs

they are hunters first and foremost but listen well.

i would not have a GSP as a inside dog

I've had 3 GSP's that have all been family/inside dogs. All three were rescue dogs and were horribly gun shy(hunting isn't why we had them) but they are amazing dogs.

We have 3 GSP/Lab mixes in our family and, despite their tendency to fight amongst each other, the 2 year old is able to play fearlessly amongst them without any risk of injury. They have TONS of energy and, with proper training, make great multi purpose dogs.

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GSP's make great family dogs if you get them from the right lines. They are bird hunters so they have plenty of energy that needs to be used up everyday. Google DEUTSCH KURZHAAR and you will see the original lines before AKC got ahold of the breed. I know of a family that raises some of the top gsp in the country and they have five that sleep in the bedroom with them.

Like most breeds it is about picking great parents that have what you want from a dog. Go spend time with some breeders and meet and interact with their dogs. Then pick a litter.

[This message has been edited by Banks_Hunting (edited 10/23/2009 10:20p).]

I would also look at the Brittany spaniel. GSP's are great, but I am biased because I have a brittany so take info fwiw.
They have tons of energy, and my 7 mo. pup plays great with toddlers. They are also extremely friendly. They do shed more than a shorthair, but it is minimal. If you need a breeder recommendation feel free to shoot me an email.

Thanks for the input. I've had blue heelers, red heelers, and border collie mixes in the past, so I'm used to high energy dogs. This go around I'm looking for a dog that will hunt. I've come to appreciate the GSP's, GWP's, pudelpointers and a couple others so far. The pudelpointer breeder gets $1000 for a puppy. I've seen him swap a trained dog for a Mercedes SUV before. That's a little out of my price range. So the look goes on.

Call Keith Barr at Spanish Oaks Hunt Club. He runs GSP in NAVHDA and trains all of the breeds you listed. You can get a good feel for the different breeds through him. Also I think the next NAVHDA traing day is the weekend of Nov 7. You could go out and look at some of the breeds.

Very curious-but mine is about everything. She's the BEST DOG EVER. Very smart and active.

I've never seen anyone say GSP's are anything but great family dogs.

A quick story about my GSP. My sister has been fairly scared of dogs her whole life. She was a small girl when she was a kid and her best friend always had a bunch of huge, smelly dogs that would jump on her. Since then she's never liked dogs. She has projected that fear/distaste onto her son and apparently her daughter as well. Her son disliked dogs so much he would ask his friends to put their dogs up before he came over.

About a year after I got my shorthair they were visiting my folks and I came down to spend the weekend. Wanting to expose her kids to a good dog, I brought mine with as well. My plan was for the kids to spend some time with her on Saturday morning and then I would kennel her for the rest of the weekend. My nephew was about 5 1/2 at the time and my niece was just shy of 2.

I got in late on Friday night and my sister wasn't too happy I brought my dog. She didn't even like the fact that the dog was smelling her feet. The kids were already in bed by the time I got there. On Saturday morning I got up before the kids. When my nephew saw there was adog downstairs he was very reluctant to come down. When my niece came down she was shaking in her high chair. Trudy being a year old GSP was obviously very inquisitive about these two new small people and wanted to play. After an hour or two of structured play, they both had warmed slightly to the dog, but I decided it was time to go drop her off for the day/night at Petsmart.

Well, as I was on my way to drop her off, Petsmart called to inform me that apparently they had different vaccination requirements than my vet in Dallas and they couldn't accept her. So I turned around and headed back to the house.

What happened next was pretty incredible. Before lunch time, the two formerly dog-scared kids were rolling around on the floor with the dog. Trudy and I play a wrestle a lot and there is a lot of mock aggression there. I noticed that when she was playing with then, none of that was there. It was as if she knew that while it was ok to bark pr playbite with me or my dad, it was absolutely not ok with these two kids.

Since then my oldest sister has gotten a German Longhaired Pointer (which have a very similar temperament) and those two kids have completely fallen in love with that dog. Id' suggest you put GLP's on your list as well, but if you don't want to break the bank, then GLP's are out of the question.

What is it that you want to hunt with a GSP? And where? I say that because as a quail hunting goes GSP's generally do not have the range, thus are not as effective as the other pointing breeds. They are however great on pheasant, sharptail, etc.

Out here, we have quail, chukar, pheasant, and waterfowl, plus rabbits. Primarily I want one to hunt chukar and pheasant, and then quail when I can get on some private land. It the dog can jump up an occasional cottontail, I'm okay w/ that also. I'd like a dog that will fetch the occasional waterfowl as well. My fat old blue heeler would do all that if she only had a nose. She'd eat everything before she'd fetch it though.

Putting in second comment reg'd brittany. They sound right up your alley. I know purebreds that will go for about 350 for male, and they are great hunting dogs and mid range pointers.