All round best dog??

[Angel]

Just an open discussion, when it comes to dogs what breed would you say is the best family companion with a nice mix for a hunter? Doesn't have to be for the pure hunter but a dog that would work for a hunter but most importantly be great with a family.


Im guessing Labs and Goldens will be at the top of the list

[Bushman]

Owned quite a few different breeds of hunting/family dogs over the last 40 or so years and Labs are right up there at the top of my best list.

[cmac]

Hard to go wrong with retrievers, I have a golden and a flat coatetd retriever, both have thier quirks but are excellent with my kids.

[mainland hunter]

I'll take my amstaff and boxerx hunting this year for the first time and see, but as for family pet those 2 breeds are fantastic.

[Kasomor]

Just an open discussion, when it comes to dogs what breed would you say is the best family companion with a nice mix for a hunter? Doesn't have to be for the pure hunter but a dog that would work for a hunter but most importantly be great with a family.


Im guessing Labs and Goldens will be at the top of the list

It's what ever breed the person your asking either owns now or grew up with.

[Sasquatch]

I would agree that labs and goldens are great breeds as far as being family pets are concerned.

But, it's becoming more and more difficult to find hunting quality goldens these days, as the gene pool has been weakened by the "show dog" breeders. They are still out there, but fewer of them all the time.

[Shooter]

It's what ever breed the person your asking either owns now or grew up with.

Very true. I have a Springer right now that is an AWESOME family member and a Brittany on the way up. I grew up with labs, Rotti's, mutt's but my best dog growing up has to be hands down our Doberman that we had. Not a hunter but the best dog we ever owned as a kid. Our Springer these days gives her a run for best family pet but I'll always have a soft spot for a nice doby.

[bsa30-06]

Golden Retreiver........However having said that i think most breeds can be a excellent family pet , good with kids,good with other animals,protective etc.....depending on how they were raised.We had several different dogs growing up and two of them came from being abandoned in the bush.One was just a very young pup that was thrown into the bush to die when we got her ,the forestry guy found her and brought her into the lake we were camped at he couldnt keep her so we did.She turned out to be a great family pet.The other was a blue heeler we got that was tied to a tree in the middle of nowhere with chicken wire he was there for several days before being cut loose,half starved to death and very scared of people we suspected he had been hit lots but after a few days of seeing this dog around and talking to him and trying to get close to him we had him sleeping in our tent with us.He came home with us aswell.

[BlacktailStalker]

"Hunter" is a broad term.
That automatically limits you to either birds or big game... or does it?

My doberman that recently passed treed bears and flushed grouse on a regular basis, on her own while shed hunting or hiking (which she found as well) and I never shot anything over her.
She also chased both grizz and black bears away from my ex's lodge on the Dean River, treeing the biggest black bear I've seen to date (I've seen a lot in trees !)
I once used her to flush pheasants deliberately on a farm but the ones she flushed were out of range.
Man I miss her.

I vote doberman.

[leadpillproductions]

labs for me