Grouse Dog

[Wild Willie]

Setterguy - thanks for getting back to me regarding the question of – what really makes a truly good grouse dog? As you might have guessed...I just want to measure my dog against your list of important attributes to see if he may be something worth taking out into the grouse woods.

#1: Stopping at the faintest hint of scent – I have witnessed Buddy do this a number of times while hunting pheasants and chukar. The better the scenting conditions the farther away he will lock down. I know he can't see the bird...but he knows one is in the direction his noise is pointed. The bird could be a foot away or it could be ten feet away...I have also noticed that his sight points are different from scent points.

#2: The second most important trait in a grouse dog is what I call grouse smarts, and it is impossible to train – Don't know about this one...I can only keep my fingers crossed.

#3: Of course the ability to hold birds is important, but if a dog doesn't hold its point I want nothing to do with it anyway – I feel really good about this one!

#4: One more thing that I have noticed in the truely gifted dogs that I have seen is thier ability to cover ground in the woods without effort and with that noise – Not sure about this one...but I know Buddy is a quick compact little dog. I'm sure he will be fine with this one as well.

Thanks for your input and I look forward to seeing you up at the Farm in Princeton on Oct. 2nd.

[Fishaholic1]

Hi there, I've hunted over a Brit for the past six years. I would highly recomend them for hunting Grouse, woodcock, and really good for Pheasant. One very important idem you need is a shock collar. They can really cruise on ya if you are not careful, other then that, my Brit is 50 pounds and not fat, so you can find them bigger then those little Frenchies. I like the Brits that barge into the thorn bush without hesitation. Email me if you have any other questions, [email protected]