Upland dogs that will also retreive ducks and geese?

A Clumber Spaniel....... might as well as we will bring out every breed possible on this thread. Time for a popcorn and sit back and read!

Dick

I was in the same situation as you last year. I went with a Pudelpointer. I could not be happier. He passed his Natural Ability test at 5 1/2 months old. At 7 months he was retrieving ducks and steady to shot in the blind and canoe. He retrieved 6 geese all water and one still very much alive! Shot about ten grouse and twenty pheasants. Only one bird lost. He is not steady after shot in the field but steady in the blind. On the other hand he is full of life and a off leash run of at least an hour every day and another second walk on leash of an hour is required. He gets training every day. He is the best hunting buddy ever. His connection to me is unbelievable. Versatile hunting dogs are impressive if you put in the time. NAVHDA is key.

Consider a German wire-haired pointer or pudelpointer.

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Originally Posted by Fox

The locating part would be the ticket, there are marshes where I want to hunt ducks but there is no way I will because unless I drop them in the water and wade out to them I will never find them, too much grass or too many alders.

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You clearly need a dog. :)

Re your question on springers and cats, I think it's going to come down not to breed but to whether the dog was raised with cats. But re the question of springers in general, if you think a pointing breed will be better than a Lab then you don't want a springer, you want to look at the European versatile breeds.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I had been looking at Brittanys, Springers and the duck toller, the tollers are hard to find and a lot of money, plus they are supposed to be crazy like a border collie and we need to leave for work daily.

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You will have a difficult time finding success with a toller, and they do not point. Their energy levels are not any different from any other working dog.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Any idea what dogs would be good for thick bush grouse hunting as well as retrieving migratory birds in the water and on land. I know a lab will flush grouse but with how think the grouse bushes are I would think that something that would point them in one way or another would be better.

Laugh hard if you want but I used to use our deer hunting beagle that would not hunt deer as a grouse flushing dog, he was the best pet ever but never hunted anything but grouse and once in a while rabbits.

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I didn't include in my PM to you that Springers do not point. But my freezer is full with a wide variety of wild game that my Springer happily retrieved to hand. ;)

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Originally Posted by fishhawk

Most of your continental versatile breeds will fit that bill, German shorthairs, wirehairs, Vizsla etc. Check out NAVHDA on line for more info on versatile breeds.

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When I was looking for a new pup a few years ago, I attended the NAVHDA Invitational in Ohio. The event consists of three sections, field, double mark and blind retrieve. I was most impressed with the blind retrieve. It was a blind retrieve of approx. 90 yards across water. Straight across the pond, find the duck and straight back. I thought it was amazing. The double mark and field sections were very impressive as well. I would say that 60 to 70 % of the dogs were GSPs with pretty well all other versatile breeds represented, there was even a 8 year old Pointer which earned a VC that weekend. I choose a Brittany and am very happy with my choice. After a couple of years working with my dog, I am even more impressed with the dedication it takes to train to that level. I guess my point is that even though the Invitational dogs are the best of the best, you are only restricted by the type of weather and water temps you will be hunting if you have the time and dedication to train.

I am leaning towards a Brittany, the bush I would be hunting could be tough for strictly a flusher (too thick) and the longer hair would serve it better in the winter, plus they are smaller which would be fine for everything but geese (which we normally field hunt anyway). I pinged a few breeders to get an idea, no done deal yet but I miss having a dog around and I need to get moving on something or I never will.

We shall see what happens coming into the spring, lots of Brittany breeders that have been recommended in previous threads here, so that is a good selling point too.

Not many Brittanys can sit still in a blind, just be forewarned.

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Originally Posted by seadog

A Deutsch-Drahthaar will fit your needs .

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always the #1 on my list
but they are needy when it comes to how much time you have to spend with them if you want to actually max out their potential - so certainly not for everyone.
regarding the comment on being not able to retrieve a heavy goose. I would not attribute that to the breed, but rather to the individual dog not being conditioned to retrieve heavy game (e.g. goose, fox).