My dog passed before Thanksgiving this year.
Great dog, got her at Brazos County animal shelter in 1998.
Researching breeds for a new best friend and Brittany and English Pointers look like a good fit for our needs - medium size, family dog, good with school age children and likes to run.
Any breeder recommendations in Texas I should talk to?

Do you have your heart set on a puppy? If not, I would highly suggest checking out breed-specific rescues. There are tons of great dogs out there that need homes.

As a guy who has owned and raised English Pointers since age 7, I CANNOT imagine having one as a family pet.

They are wired to bird hunt...period.


That being said, I've seen Brittanys be great pets, but with the versatility to go out and run, point, retrieve, etc.

Good luck!

Ever considered an English Setter?

They're great field dogs and wonderful pets. On average, they are much calmer than Britts or Pointers, but, have all the energy you can handle outside. The #1 trial dog in Texas right now is a Setter.


Lilly





Nick

I love my spiringer, dad has one too. Check out Rachel Allenby in liberty hill

We have both a Brit and a pointer that are family pets. I would say that the pointer is the better indoor pet, he is quiet, calm, obedient, loyal, never barks, does not jump on furniture, does not go to the bathroom in the house, anyway you get the point. The brit is great too, she is a little wilder, barks a lot more, and is a little less obedient, she is also younger so she may grow out of it. You can't go wrong with either one. Both hunt hard and are good bird dogs and great pets.

The Pointer Rescue Organization is a great group, that has a lot of dogs that need homes. If you want a Brit pup, I got mine from Mike Pirtle, in Decatur he is a retired fire fighter, and he trains hunting dogs and his wife shows them, so you get a pretty well rounded pup. His website is quaildog.com, he would be happy to chat with you and see if he can give any advise.

we have a Brittany and she is a good family dog.

she likes to RUN and needs lots of space and exercise. That said, when she gets to run she is a great inside dog. lots of personality, becoming more and more obedient and starting to calm down(she's just over 2)

we had a rough time for her first year or so, but i think that's true of most smart and energetic dogs.

be aware, they shed quite a bit. we have a dark floor and we have to sweep every few days to even try to keep up with the hair.

My 15 yr old english pointer that by the way was a cracckerjack bird dog has always lived in the house and has always been a greaty pet. I found that keeping her in socialized her and she litened much better than previous kennel hunters and hunted the way I wanted.

I had a Brittany that was pretty hyperactive. It was still very good around any age people but her constant motion would drive a calmer person nuts.

My neighbor had a Brittany that was as calm as it could be. It's all in the breeding I guess, but I have seen more Brittanies like mine than like my neighbor's.

I still think about how much fun the Brit was but the long hair was so high maintenance around cockleburrs, speargrass, etc. Speargrass is like a slow torture to the dog if you don't remove it before the point makes it's way to the skin.

I will never own another dog except for a brittany. They are the sweetest dogs in the world. My parents loved mine so much that they got one of their own. The only downfall is most are t.u. colors. You need to a get a liver-colored one.

If we were debating which hunts better, then there would be a debate, but to which is a better pet, there should not even be a discussion. Get a brittany, you will not be disappointed.

On my above post, both of my family's brittanys hunt well too. Seriously, pointers are wired to point. Brittanys are wired to be the best all-around dog in the world by far.

We got my brittany from a breeder in Cypress near Houston. Lucky find, because for my parents', we flew to alabama to pick it up. Wiorth every mile.

[This message has been edited by mlwoo (edited 12/30/2011 12:24p).]

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Brittanys are wired to be the best all-around dog in the world by far.

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...this may encompass the entirety of the OB in one post. Ridiculous overstatement with no statistical basis, or fact whatsoever. If it had included an "/EOT" it would have been perfect.

Seriously. Bird dogs (ALL bird dogs) are hyper. They have to be active or they won't hunt all day. They can be good family dogs but it depends on how much consistent discipline you, the owner, demands of them.

If you really want to hunt them then think about how often you want to hunt and what you want to hunt. Long haired dogs don't do well here in Kansas because they attract way too many burs, stickers, speargrass, etc. You can't keep them clean and it's both annoying and a health hazard to the dog. If you're hunting cactus country then a Brit or a Setter will be just fine.

There is a reason that most professional upland hunters run English Pointers, German Shorthairs, Brittanies, Setters or Springers. They're all very good at what they do. They have great noses and good stamina.

Whether or not they are a family dog is up to you. Set expectations, be consistent and they'll be just fine.

What kind of "statistical evidence" do you want, nerd? Mwaaaaaaaaaahhh

The statistics was aimed less at your dumb post and more at others dumb posts.

People come on here asking honest questions and instead they get, Brits are the "best all around dog in the world by far." I grew up with Brits and like them, and still think that that statement is ridiculous.

At least on the OB you're not alone. There's someone that /EOTs every thread. Doesn't matter if it's about coolers, knives, bows, shotguns... And usually it's "ended" by an 870 Express which everyone knows is just retarded. At least you made a Brittany king of the world. At the very least I have to give you credit for tossing out a dog that is legitimately in the discussion for one of the better upland dog breeds.

Bird dog: English setter. Keep them trimmed if burrs are a problem
Coolers: Yeti
Knives: Benchmade
Bows: Hoyt
Shotguns: Perazzi

EOT

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As a guy who has owned and raised English Pointers since age 7, I CANNOT imagine having one as a family pet.

They are wired to bird hunt...period.

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I agree. I grew up around bird dogs back when there were still quail here. My dad raised, bred, and trained them as his main business for a number of years. We even had some dogs that we let out to hunt and knew we might not ever get them back. (This was before GPS devices.) Pointers are very friendly but their drive is not to love on you; it's to hunt.

That said, there are exceptions. We had a Brittany that was half nuts. I can think of a couple of pointers (one English and one German Shorthair) that were great pets. AND good bird dogs. The English was a Texas Derby Dog of the Year. We lost the Shorthair to a rattlesnake bite in Frio County.

Pointing Labs. Best hunting dog period.


EOT

Sean you are surprised people think their breed of bird dog is the best. never met a bird dog owner that didn't think theirs was the best.

1. & 2. Gunner(male-more brown) and Brazos(female-more white) are German Shorthaired Pointers who were turned in by their owner. They are both trained to Sit, Lay Down, Stay, Shake and 'Kennel'. The previous owners had really worked with these pups, as they were both very interactive and anxious to please. I can't imagine the pain the owner experienced in leaving this pair behind to an unknown future. It was obvious to me these pups wanted to be sprung from their cages and return to normal life at the house. If I were in the market right now, these two would be laying on the floor at my feet right now. I could easily see Hunter as a hunting dog - he seems to have been worked with, very obedient and very eager to please. Brazos was definitely the more the submissive one - more the pup to be petted and loved on versus chasing squirrels, though I wouldn't put it past her!





Gunner laying on command and staying:

Not surprised. Just annoyed that they demand it and refuse to listen to any other viewpoint. Not just dogs, but everything.

I watched a Benelli SBE fail to feed this weekend but that doesnt mean I think theyre s***. Ive only seen 2 or 3 setters in my life that would fetch worth a damn but I would still consider one thanks to their other attributes.

Nothing is perfect. Not your gun, your dog, your kid or your wife. Its okay to pretend they are but dont get doooshy about it.

EVA3,

As I type this I am in Frio Co. And as a GSP lover, I am truly sorry for your loss.


For the OP-

I love Shorthairs. I grew up with English and Brits, and when I bought my first dog out of college it was a Shorthair. I love them all. As far as pets go, I have seen great docile in the house dogs that were beasts in the field. I have seen hyper idiots in the house that were idiots in the field.

Go to a rescue group and size the dog up. First impressions about these breeds are usually pretty accurate.

Thanks for the feedback, meeting with a breeder this weekend.

What type of breeder? Did you make a decision yet?

Did you go through a complex matrix of statstical analysis? Or did you choose by color and hair length? Or a matrix of both?

Sean98 has no weiner.

EOT

I do, it's just small. You have to look close.

I'll be asking all these questions again in March or April, so bookmark this page so you can give me the answers again when I'm buying a pup.

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so you can give me the answers again when I'm buying a pup.

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EOT

Where are those pups blauser?

Consider the English Springer--not as hyper as the Brittany and are awesome family pets, especially with children. Great in the field. I recently adopted from English Springer Rescue America (ESRA) and it was a wonderful experience! Dogs are fostered in a home setting where their personality and social makeup are known factors when you adopt. They currently have some in Texas for adoption on their website.

Dogs are just awesome.

Get a dog and post pics. I like every type of hunting dog. I don't think a pointer would make a great pet, but I have friends with setters, germans, springers, labs, boykins, jagdterriers and every single one of those dogs are awesome pets with the ability to be able to do other cool things.

My buddy told me his jagdterrier tracked a wounded deer 600 yards the other day and there would have been no way he would have found it without him. The dog is six months old.

Dogs are just awesome.

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My buddy told me his jagdterrier tracked a wounded deer 600 yards the other day and there would have been no way he would have found it without him. The dog is six months old

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My parents have a new puppy that's half lab, half black and tan (he's about a year old now). They just got it to have a dog around the farm...bark at strangers...eat scraps...chase off armadillos, etc.

Opening weekend this year, one of dad's neighbors knocked on the door and told dad that he had shot a deer on his place, but the spike had run off and the neighbor had tracked it to dad's fence line. He wanted to know if dad minded if he looked for the deer on his place, and pop said of course not, and that he'd help him.

The puppy (10 months at the time, and had never been put on a trail of any kind) followed along with dad, just curious and wanting to go where he went. They walked down into the creek bottom behind the house, and no sooner had they reached the bottom, than the puppy nose down took off running. Quarter of a mile later, dad heard his bay change. They caught up and the pup had found the deer and was as proud as any dog could ever be.

Pretty awesome animals.



[This message has been edited by Stive (edited 1/3/2012 12:09p).]