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Thoughts on Brittany Spaniels? They point, stay closer, are hardy, make great inside dogs,...

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Hair, hair, and more hair. I've got 3 of them, but if I'm not picking crap out of their hair, I'm sweeping it up off the floor. Energy level is about par with other bird dogs...tapers off after 2 or 3. Overall, I'd say they are great dogs, but if the primary purpose is hunting, I'd go GSP or Pointer first. If primary purpose is as a pet, but you still want to hunt occasionally, I'd go Brittany every time.

And BTW, they aren't classified as spaniels anymore. They dropped that part of the breed name a few years back.

English...by your handle you are (a) a pointer freak/staunch fan, and (b) probably an 07 grad (younger than I am)...some good advice from an older Ag, don't let your individual bias defy common sense and logic, there are great dogs in both pointers and GSP's, your point about stamina and pure hunting is an opinion not totally substantiated by trial results in the past and the breeding steps made with GSP's related to hunting. "I would rather hunt with my dog than hunt for him"....hence a GSP, check out recent trial champions....nuff said

Col. A 1976

To the question about shorthairs handling the cold, I can only offer my personal experience. I took my very skinny and small female GSP to Denver with me in December. It was very cold and snowy while we were there. But in hanging out with her German Longhaired Pointer cousin and my two nephews, not once did she complain about the cold even though it was well below freezing and she was bounding around through chest deep snow. In fact the cold/snow bother the GLP more because he'd get frozen snow icing over on the hair between his toes.