# Looking for a good hunting dog.



## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

I'm looking to get another dog, I want a dog that is going to be good for waterfowl hunting but will also do good hunting upland game. I’m wanting to get a dog that has all ready been trained and is a good family dog as well.. I know this sounds picky but I just don’t have the knowledge to train a dog (and the wife wants me to leave the current pup for my daughters home pup). Please let me know if you know of any that would work out. I'm looking to surprise my daughter for Christmas. I see a lot of dogs on KSL but i have no idea where to start.


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## Donttreadonme (Sep 11, 2007)

PM Steve Shaver and tshuntin on here. They are both in the know and may be able to point you in the right direction. Whatever you do, DON'T BUY A DOG WITHOUT SEEING IT RUN FIRST. What one guy will call a finished dog may only be started to another. Make sure it meets your expectations.


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## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

Donttreadonme said:


> PM Steve Shaver and tshuntin on here. They are both in the know and may be able to point you in the right direction. Whatever you do, DON'T BUY A DOG WITHOUT SEEING IT RUN FIRST. What one guy will call a finished dog may only be started to another. Make sure it meets your expectations.


Awesome, Thanks for the info. And when you say to make sure I see it run.. what exactly do you mean? I'm guessing seeing it retrieve and take commands but i would love a little more info?


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## Donttreadonme (Sep 11, 2007)

Yes make sure you see the dog hunt. If you are going to hunt both waterfowl and upland, then go on a hunt for both, even if it is to a pheasant farm for the upland work. Make sure the dog takes commands well and knows what it is doing. 

When I have a little more time I will post up a list of what I would want to see in basic started, hunting dogs and finished hunting dogs as well.


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

look for desire, the drive to fetch anything. here is a couple videos of one of my dogs Otto from a couple of days ago. One of them is him retrieving a duck and the other is a few minutes later when i tossed a dummy out in the decoys when the shooting slowed down. The dog didnt care if it was a bird or dummy, he just wants to fetch anything. Look for this kind of desire in a pup and also in the parents of dogs you are looking at. Everybody will say their dog fetches and has desire but everybody has a different definition of desire so make sure you look behind the scenes and see where the dog has been bred from. I should have a litter of pups in a month or so that will have this same level of drive in them as well. You also want to look for intelligence in the dogs but that is harder to measure. Otto here is one of the smartest dogs i have seen in several years. he is completely steady and only takes a day or two to pick up on new things. he hasnt needed any e-collars (hasnt even worn one yet) or any force fetching done at all. he is a great example of the intelligence you should look for in a dog. intelligence translates into a much easier time training. 
http://trainingyourretriever.com/otto/


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