what breed of dog to get?

[sheephead24]

thanks for all the info, I would be interested in a griffon or german wirehair, are they both good waterfoul and upland hunters?

[Jarrod32]

The German Wirehairs are good upland and waterfowl dogs...probably better on upland, but as long as they have a retrieving instinct, they will be more than adequate on waterfowl...

Not sure about the griffons...

[JConrad]

Griffs are excellent in the water and in the field... thus they are one of the versitle breeds... The NAVDA testing emphasizes both water and field. Cold conditions do not bother them...

[goose52]

i've owned german wirehairs for years. i get the vdd ones, much tighter breeding standards. some of mine were even the shorter haired ones that are solid brown and some looked like griffs. but they all were great on upland game and waterfowl and would break ice and were tough as nails in any weather.

[JConrad]

Hey Chris.... Belle took her NAVHDA NA test on May 16 at four brooks. She scored 110 pts and a Prize I... Her only 3 was on the tracking and it was my fault that she did not get a 4. I let her go too soon and she started to quarter away from the track... Good news is she came back to the track and followed it to the woods but the rooster was long gone so she received a 3. Ten dogs were tested on Saturday and she was the only Prize I dog.

Now we can start preparing for her Utility Test. Ed Erickson is going to help me steady her and work on her live duck retrieve. Will take the utility test next spring. She is really doing well at this point...

I hope all is well with you and your boy....

[2 DA GILLS]

Joel,

Congrats to you and Belle. That is an excellent score. The track is what got my dog as well. He was perfect in all other areas, but the track.

Good luck with the UT test prep work. I am sending my dog off to a pro for at least a month to have some work done and have him assessed for how much work is required to have him UT ready.

[SportFishin']

Joel,

Congrats on the Prize I!!! Yeah your Griff & Chad Nelson's Griff were the only two dogs to get Prize I for the whole weekend at NA test. Chad got a 108 Prize I. These scores are great evidence of how the controlled breeding of the Griff's has really improved the breed over the last 5 years.

My Griff has taken a few steps backwards in the last month. I have been trying to break down getting him steady but nothing is working one week he will be solid & last night he was horrible. So we decided to take the retrieving out of the training equation for next month & see what happens. He is so eager to retrieve that he is not understanding the steady part of the Flush & Shot sequence. It all has to do with Drive & Desire and he has so much of both he just can't conrol it. Plus he is a borderline "Soft Dog" so I really have to watch how much pressure I put to him. We have made big steps forward in the Duck search though, set him up last night on the pond sent him on "Fetch" & he searched and expanded his search a little more so I'm happy there.

Good luck in your training & Congrats again!!!

Regards,

Chris

[MNUser]

Britt. He is 18 months old and the best dog we have ever had. He is really perfect. We had some trouble at the beginning but got that whole thing worked out.

I'm amazed everyday how smart he is. He knows a lot of words and is really good about letting you know what he needs. He is SUPER obedient.

He hunts great and has become a GREAT family dog. He is great with the kids and loves nothing more than to be loved up. He will crawl into your lap and become a 45 pound lap dog.

The kids love him to death. Fun!

[JConrad]

Thanks for the note Chris.... yes the selective breeding of Griffons is making a big difference. We were discussing this at Pine Shadows this morning. Sad thing is many of the other hunting breeds are way over bred without control over which dogs should really be bred.

I am having a similiar experience with Belle at this point. She absolutely loves to retrieve and is very anxious to get to the bird. She is now breaking with the flush which she did not do until recently.

I spoke with Ed Erickson at Autum Breeze in Isle MN. He is going to begin helping me with the process of steadying her from flush through shot. Bill Jensen recommend Ed and since he is only about an hour drive from me it should work out well.

Ed works primarily with pointing dogs and has trained a good number of Prize I utility dogs and Versitle Champions. He also believes in training the trainer so I will learn quite a bit from him.

Maybe this fall we can get our dogs out together on a Pheasant hunt... Would be great to see two excellent Griffons working together!!!

When do you plan on running you dog in the Utility Test or are you going to do the UPT first?

Time to head out onto the lake.... The walleye bite has been terrific the past week....

[SportFishin']

Hey Joel,

Yeah Ed is a great trainer you can't go wrong there. You'll have a great dog when your done.

As far as my UT. I ran my first one last year in the Fall test when he was 2yrs 4mo and recieved a 153 No Prize. With hindsight be 20/20 he wasn't really ready to run the test to get a prize. I had taken the handlers clinic a few years before. But decided to run him in his first test just to get my nerves settled & experience the test for real & know what we needed to focus on in training for that Prize I. His biggest problem was steadiness & his duck search wasn't great. At Kelly Farms where we tested there are alot of lilly pads where they did the duck search & he had never encountered them before and he wouldn't expand his search. He had winded the duck which was out of sight, he just woudn't commit to swimming through the pads & expanding the search. So the last few weeks we have been working alot with weedy lakes with lilly pads & other obstructions to swim through for our future tests. I think from a novice handlers perspective the duck search is the hardest part to train for, but I have learned a few things since then from Joe Dolejsi & other chapter members that it takes small steps to expand that duck search. We aslo had a great Waterfowl season last year so that helped alot. So now when I send him without a shot into the water on a "Fetch" command he is expanding that search and not coming back until called back.

Would love to get together in the Fall. The Spouse & I are relocating to Billings,MT in July for her job promotion! But I do have plans on coming back for a few weekend hunts in the fall near the Glenwood/Starbuck Area if your interested in meeting for a day over there. A couple of the other chapter members are going to come out to MT after we are settled in & hunt some Chukar, Huns, Pheasant, & Sharptail this fall.

I'm so stoked about this move, we are going to be 50 miles away from the best Chukar & Hun. populations in MT. I'm going to try & get my outfitters license so I can guide upland bird/Waterfowl hunts for a ranch or two with my Griff & English Pointer this fall. Then we are going to try & start our own business in a year or two for Upland Bird Hunts/Dogs and adding a few more Griff's to our mix once we get the right section of land purchased to train & breed. But the breeding is a few years out yet have to get the dog to Prize I first. Plus my new English Pointer 7 months has a under bite so he will be getting neutered most likely.

I'll keep in touch. I'll start another thread so we can stop highjacking this one.

Regards,

Chris

[JConrad]

Thanks for the note Chris.....

Send me an email at [email protected] can discuss further.

Bill Jensen has given me some really good tips on the duck search on how to start small and then work out to longer and longer searchs. As I discussed with Ed, we need to work on that plus just steading her up.. She sure has the desire to hunt and has a great nose. I have to keep reminding myself that she is only 14 months old.

If we obtain our goal of a UT Prize I I may breed her if her hips check out ok with OFA.

Julie and I are thinking about a possible move our to the Black Hills of SD. Taking a trip out to the Spearfish area later this month. This past cold MN winter really got to me. The winters out there arn't quite as severe as central MN. Also some good fishing and hunting not far away!