JTracyII wrote:Don't know if you said, will you be hunting the dog and if so what?
Can of worms, here we go...
We wont be hunting the dog. But please read before you attack. I grew up in a hunting household my whole life with my Dad and Uncles and best friends Dads hunting everything they could shoot. I am familiar with hunting and with hunting with dogs and with hunting without dogs from a very early age. I grew up around gsps and labs mainly but also some vizsla and springer experience. I have seen hunting dogs as loved members of the family. I have also seen hunting dogs who lived their lives in a cold a$$ garage with the only semi-kindness coming to them when they did something right for their master. And yep, I'll judge. That's a bs way for a dog to live imho. And yes I know a lot of hunting dogs are not treated that way. But a lot are. Here's what I learned for myself. Hunting isn't for me. But pointers are. I have had so many kinds of dogs in my life and although it's another generalization, there is something about their personality that I love and miss. Funny enough though, when I got picky about dog hair I didn't think I could ever have a pointer because I thought they were all heavy shedders (except for vizlas and weims, which I love but I don't like that short pokey fur that sticks into everything they touch). In my family I never learned about wpgs and pps. So when I recently started researching I got pretty excited about the prospect of possibly being able to have a low shedding pointer after all. But then I started learning how strongly many breeders feel about their dogs going to hunting homes. So I have to be honest. I get it but I don't. I agree that these dogs should not become the next designer dog. They were meant to hunt and to be bred and trained as such. But come on. I know how many days the average hunter might take a pointer out in a given year. And it's not that high of a percentage. And yes I know there are things like navhda that folks participate in, but I also know that a lot of folks with hunting dogs don't! So if I have no intent to breed my dog and damage the line, but I do intend on having it live inside my home with my family and children as a loved part of our family, and if I do intend to do the research necessary to make sure it is the right fit first (1-2 years before we even intend to get the dog!), and if I do intend to research and make sure I am purchasing from a reputable and upstanding breeder, and if I do intend to work the dog through agility and hiking, and running, and camping, and playing with my kids, then I do not comprehend why I do not deserve to have a dog of these breeds (without resorting to a backyard breeder).
So feel free to pm me if you know of a breeder of either breed that comes highly recommended and would consider a home such as ours for one of their pups. Stepping down from my soap box now.
And for the record, my Dad has been scratching his head for decades about how on earth he managed to raise and let loose a lettuce eating tree hugger. (his words not mine...)
