Upland dogs that will also retreive ducks and geese?

The breeds you mentioned can all be sourced within Ontario with great breeders.

Fox, you’re definitely on the right track and you’re asking yourself the right questions, incl. what the dog will do when you don’t go hunting.
The breeds you listed could not be more different in their traits (as you already noted yourself). It’s highly unlikely that any of them will hunt like that one beagle you mentioned. Great memories for sure, but you will have to open another chapter at this point.
Better be sure you decide on and somewhat commit to the type of hunting you want to do (at least initially). Rank the type of hunting by the days you actually will be out there together with the dog. Only after that I would make a (long) list of suitable breeds and then start cutting back.
By the way, I share similar thoughts when it comes to short-haired dogs in our climate, which unfortunately is a limitation of great breeds like DK/GS or VI.

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Originally Posted by Fox

German Short Haired Pointer - I would love one but the short hair hurts them for the weather
Lab - The breed standard it too big, flushing dog, roudy when young and not aware of their size
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreiver - Very costly, hard to find with hunting genetics, insane and documented anxiety issues
Springer Spaniel - Flusher rather than a pointer, I have been told that they end up being a single person dog often, larger at 50-55lbs
Brittany Spaniel - A little small for geese, does not want to sit still, can be over sensitive to training

Due to all of this I am really leaning towards the Brittany, I know a few of the other breeds mentioned need to be examined but being south of Ottawa travel is something to be considered, I have no problem putting a few hours in to go get a dog but having to bring something in from out of province or out of country is not going to happen for us.

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I just went through a lot of research in picking up a Brittany (and I'm still reading a lot as I progress). Here's a couple of my non-expert comments.

1) I was really worried about size with one of my other dogs. It was really a lot of worrying for nothing. I had a very small house when I acquired her, plus another dog, plus traveling in a travel trailer alot and I was certain that anything over 35-40 lbs would be unruly. She's 50lbs full grown and that extra 10-15 means nothing now. When they are inside and calm, they take up and require very little space. When they are unruly, well the 20lb Brittany pup takes the cake right now.

2) I wouldn't be worried about the GSP and short hair. I can't imagine they are any better or worse than a Brittany and irrespective of that, given a dry, out of the wind place to retreat to and I think any dog would easily manage 9 hours even in the coldest days of Ottawa. My terrier, with a horrible coat, will curl up in the snow by me while I'm chopping wood at -15 (with full option to go inside) and show no ill effect.

3) There are a bunch of other versatile breeds as well, such as small munsterlander, pudelpointer, even variance in the Brittany (french). So plenty of variety.

Good luck with your search.

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German Short Haired Pointer - I would love one but the short hair hurts them for the weather][/QUOTE]

Not trying to change your mind on your selection of breed, because the Brittany is a great dog. But just to clarify for others reading this. The German Shorthair pointer is very capable of handling cold weather. I own a six year old female that I kennel out doors all year, she has a insulated dog house that she can go in any time but spends most of the day hanging out, out side of it. Evan in minus temps. I hunt her thru the whole season finishing off on Rabbits at the end of February. Never an issue with cold, no jacket nothing. Yes the GSP has a short coat but a lot of people don't know about them, is that they have a layer of down next to there skin, under there fur. Its got a lot to do with conditioning them as well. Only task I don't recommend them for is retrieving from icy water, A GSP will be fine for jump shooting winter ducks as it will by able to move around and stay warm while you walk and search for more ducks. Mine has done this a lot with no problems, but sitting in one spot while in wait for more birds to come in the dog will get cold in minus temps if its already been in the icy water and wet. This is my experience with the GSP in the cold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR2wc5AAKpE

Spaniels a single person dog? Not from what I've seen. 55lbs is a big springer. My ESS was a medium male, 45 lbs, and both my daughters could handle him. Note: make sure other people handling your dog have precise instructions on how to handle him or he'll start doing strange things - usually undesirable things.

Good idea with the outdoor kennel.
That's what I have - so the dog is either in the house when someone is home, in a crate overnight, or outside in a kennel when no-one is around. The kennel is 4x4 inside and 4x12 outside.

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

Spaniels a single person dog? Not from what I've seen. 55lbs is a big springer. My ESS was a medium male, 45 lbs, and both my daughters could handle him. Note: make sure other people handling your dog have precise instructions on how to handle him or he'll start doing strange things - usually undesirable things.

Good idea with the outdoor kennel.
That's what I have - so the dog is either in the house when someone is home, in a crate overnight, or outside in a kennel when no-one is around. The kennel is 4x4 inside and 4x12 outside.

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That is my target, I know I will have to work with my wife to make sure she knows how to handle the dog. I had a room mate who had a troubled dog, a ridgeback, when he went away for a month and paid me to take care of it I took an evil dog that bit at me to something I could have sit and stay for as long as I wanted and do exactly as I wanted, the moment he got back the dog went back to evil.

I am anxious to have something that works for me but I will not rush in to this and end up with an expensive mouth to feed with no use.

If your not in a rush spend some time this year and go see some dogs work. I think there are trials and tests for most of the breeds you might be interested in. Its great to get opinions from other people, but if you go and see different styles of dogs work, you will get a good idea of what you like and what you don't.

Fox, I'll only mention it one more time but without a doubt the best thing you can do for yourself and your future dog (whatever breed you go with) is to come out to a NAVHDA training day in Richmond (about 30 mins north of you) and see several Vdogs work.

From there you can ask the handlers all your breed specific questions, handle the dogs, observe their temperaments, and see which would suit your needs the best with your own eyes, hands and ears.

The Ottawa NAVHDA group currently has; britanys, pudlepointers, german shorthairs (& DKs), german wirehairs (& DDs), munsterlanders, griffons, an english setter, a gordon setter and a couple wirehaired and smoothhaired vizlas.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I guess I better jump in on this again and give you all a better idea of what is going on in my head.

Ok, first off, I do not like crating a dog when I am away but I also will not have a dog running free range around my house, at least not at the start, so our plan is to have a 10x10 kennel with nice dog house setup around our livestock so that when we go off to work in the morning we can put the dog outside with a little space. We are gone about 9 hours, I think that is too long to expect the dog to hold it.

Due to this I need to have a dog that has a coat on it so that it can buck the weather.

We also do not want to have a large dog, I had been toying with the idea of a lab but labs now get massive and I really don't want to deal with a monster dog. We do most of our waterfowl hunting over fields and ducks over water would be one of the least used tasks that the dog would have, just nice to be able to have something that would like the water and retrieve in water as a secondary thing. This is why I am not so worried about sitting still, most water ducks for me would be jump shot anyway on small marshes and in the fall not the winter, I don't like ice, something about being in the water when it is so cold it would kill me fast makes me uneasy.

I like the idea of a pointer because of my experience with my favourite beagle. Buster was no good for deer but he really liked to be in the bush with me and would range close. When we would get into good terrain he almost started to go birdy, it was weird to watch a 13in beagle nose down hunting a game bird but on many occasions this is what he would do. I could watch him go and get an idea of where the bird would be but the flushing mentality generally did not give me a chance to get the shot at the angle that I would have liked. I would love to be able to walk up on a bird pointed by my dog in a way that gave me the best chance at a shot.

We also have a cat and we have livestock, I cannot have a dog that is so crazy that makes our cat go nuts or terrorize the animals, I know that this is something of training as they grow up but some of this is built in.

So based on this and what I like as a breed from being around them I have a list of dogs that I would love to own but why they may not work.

German Short Haired Pointer - I would love one but the short hair hurts them for the weather
Lab - The breed standard it too big, flushing dog, roudy when young and not aware of their size
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreiver - Very costly, hard to find with hunting genetics, insane and documented anxiety issues
Springer Spaniel - Flusher rather than a pointer, I have been told that they end up being a single person dog often, larger at 50-55lbs
Brittany Spaniel - A little small for geese, does not want to sit still, can be over sensitive to training

Due to all of this I am really leaning towards the Brittany, I know a few of the other breeds mentioned need to be examined but being south of Ottawa travel is something to be considered, I have no problem putting a few hours in to go get a dog but having to bring something in from out of province or out of country is not going to happen for us.

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I wish everyone did their homework that well. :thumbup:

( Often lab breeders have small sized pups born that can still be great gundogs. I had a setter runt born once that no one chose. I kept her and she's an amazing hunter. .. see avatar.)

I actually prefer the runts.