Been thinking of getting a dog but know very little about what breed and even less of training, it would be a while from now unless me and the old man go halfers, which may be a possibility.
The practicality would be shed hunting (lots of ticks, lots and lots hard hiking) hunting in grizzly country and it carrying food in and packing some meat out and shutting up around animals unless its a threat from a pred, and retrieving for the very limited amount of bird hunting I do, which is at the bottom of the list of importance compared to shed hunting or taking him in heavy grizz country.
Be better to have short hair for ticks or long hair for cold? Obviously good stamina/endurance and intelligence and probably longer legs better for long shed hunting hikes?
I really like taller more athletic bluenose pitbulls (lol im sure some of you are going to laugh and shake your head at that one) they got great aesthetics and are very sweet and loyal when raised with love, but im guessing they would be no good for the aforementioned tasks? Also like dogo argentinos, short haired as well though
Any thoughts on this or breed recomendations welcomed as I know absolutely nothing, had a doberman, an english bull terrier and a fox terrier growing up as a kid and teen but thats it.
I just got a dog last week. Very different breed from the ones you mentioned. I grew up with golden retrievers and Jack Russel terriers. I am also new to training.
the pup I picked was a Bracco Italiano.
I was looking for an upland bird dog with some duck mixed in as well as shed hunting. I like the pointing breeds and I also like the hound look so it worked out well in the looks department. She is really smart and taking to training well, even with my little knowledge of training dogs.
i have no faith in my dog as a protector.
a breed that might work well for you would be a Greater Swiss mountain dog. Great looking animals with lots of strength
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I put a deposit on a chesapeake, great dogs. I have the same plan as you, shed, bird, but mostly beside me for elk, deer. My last one was a great tracker. Any dog will pick up ticks, but short hair might help. Alway brushed mine and didnt have problems. Good luck!
My experience with dogs has been that they attract bears, kind of an oxymoron to bring one for pred protection. I know a lot of guys on here have dogs they hunt with, but Im too soft hearted to do that with my pooch, shes a sweetheart mini aussie that wants to be friends with all living things,,not good
I put a deposit on a chesapeake, great dogs. I have the same plan as you, shed, bird, but mostly beside me for elk, deer. My last one was a great tracker. Any dog will pick up ticks, but short hair might help. Alway brushed mine and didnt have problems. Good luck!
Where is your Chessie coming from?
I have a deposit on a boy right now ready to pick up in April.
They are great dogs, this will be Chessie #3 for me.
Can't go wrong with a blue nose. I've taken mine sheep hunting when I went solo.
notice in the 1st picture between the 2 tall rocks there's a sheep. lol he was completely unphased by it.
If you are looking for a hunting dog, look for a breeder that prioritizes hunting. I have had several flat coated retrievers, all good dogs, but 3 came from non hunting homes and one was bred from very very good hunting stock. the differences are night and day, all are good companions but the one dogs instincts are amazing. Also the key to training is persistence and patience. When I look back at the first dog my wife and I owned versus our current group, we have learned a lot along the way and a lot of my first dogs bad habits were a result of poor training on our part and not any fault of the dog. I love hunting with a dog and I never hunt without one.
You can never go wrong with a Lab, waterfowl, upland, shed hunting, blood trailing, watchdog but not protection and unsolicited ear cleanings when you least expect it. Purebred from hunting lines.
You can never go wrong with a Lab, waterfowl, upland, shed hunting, blood trailing, watchdog but not protection and unsolicited ear cleanings when you least expect it. Purebred from hunting lines.
Labs are an excellent choice but it is actually getting harder and harder to find a litter bred from good hunting lines. The majority of labs being bred out there these days have had the prey drive bred right out of them because this breed has been the choice of many to be service dogs which have NO prey drive at all out of the need for safety. I guess no one likes to see a blind person being pulled out onto the road because the dog deciding they'd like to chase a squirrel.
I've written about this before but do your due diligence, people, if you're looking for a pup you want to hunt with. Asking for pedigrees of the dam and sire is a must. Find out for sure if OFA and genetic testing were done, if there are any behavioural problems with the parents, or health issues with the eyes, hypothyroidism, any allergies, or digestive disorders, or coat issues if you want a low shedding dog. If the breeders of pure bred dogs don't offer a 30 month health guarantee/warranty like all good breeders do that may be a red flag. Get references from other owners who have purchased puppies from the breeder. Personally, I never get pups from a first breeding, always a second or third, so I can do a background check on the dogs previously bred from those two dogs.
Once again,,,,a lot of hunting dog breeds have had the prey drive bred out of the lineage so if you want a reliable bird dog check into that very closely. Just make sure you, as an owner of a hunting dog puppy, have the energy and time to raise/train a high end energy dog that will need at least 1-2 hours of off leash time per day,,,,, otherwise you may end up with a destructive pup/dog on your hands which was caused from boredom and a lack of mental and physical exercise,,,,and there's hardly anything worse in the dog world than an untrained, disobedient dog.
Just remember this,,,,hunting dog breed pups have endless energy their first few years and if you can't satisfy those needs you're probably better off getting a dog that doesn't hunt ,,,,which is basically just a cat that barks. lol
Last edited by mastercaster; 02-24-2025 at 03:26 PM.
Well I'm a mut dog guy, all my dogs for the last 60 years have all been muts. My current dog is (best guess looking at the parents) lab, pitbull, border colly, shepherd maby some dalmatian. Always had comments about how good my dogs are. I've never actually trained them they just spend all their time with us. Car/truck rides, canoe, boat, quad, in the shop, getting firewood. Sometimes they know what I'm going to do before I do.
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Originally Posted by BC Boy
