just thought it would be intresting and fun for people to say why they chose the breed of dog they own and explain there character for others to read about the diffrent types of gun dogs so join in the post.i will lick it off with my brittanys

having had a lab for 14 years i then got 2 ess one lived to 12yrs and the other i sold at 6yrs old so when thinking about another dog i had to decide what i wanted the dog to do for me and would it fit in to the family home. I decided i wanted a dog what would work with the gun but also work with hawks and falcons so it had to be an hpr breed i wanted a small dog so the setter and the pointers was out so i looked at the brittany this breed first came into the uk in the 80s, it is a very inteligent breed and can be very sensitive but being a complete huning machine you need to be very firm and conssistent otherwise they will get there own way and become wayward they have a reputation off running off and hunting in the next county to where you are stood i have found with my pup tilly is that reminders to the recall and stop whistle are paramount to getting the best out of them . in the home she is a delight all the brittanys i have met are very loving and have a soft nature fantastic with children and its becuase of this soft nature that people are not firm enough in the first 2 yrs of training that they have a bit of a bad reputation tilly keeps me on my toes with her training and is always pushing the boundrys she is now 16month old and is just starting to calm down so she is ready for feild work training  she has been out with my goshawk and harris hawk and found and pointed game for them and that was my aim with her and thats why i chose the brittany a lovely little dog but not for the faint hearted.

Hi there,

thought i would reply to your post.

I always wanted a cocker spaniel,but never realised there was a working strain of the breed.After doing some research on the internet,i found Ali,and contacted her,and she invited me to attend a working test as a spectator.I was amazed at what i saw,and came away determined to own my own working cocker spaniel.I finally got Bailey from a breeder in Warrington in December 2008.He has been a joy to own,although sometimes i wonder what the hell i was thinking of getting in to this gundog training lark.

He has certainly changed my life for the better,makes me smile,always greeting me wagging his tail feverishly.He is loved by all who meet him on our local walks,even by our own cat,who now thinks he is a dog!

Thanks for reading this.

Regards

Steve&Bailey

nice post glad your enjoying him

As I am snowed in , I thought that I would reply too.

 I first met Weimaraners as a toddler when one knocked me over .Then my school friend had one and then I moved my horse to a new yard and the owner bred them. She offered me one, and I got Archie( a total loon). I didn't really choose Weimaraners, they just kept cropping up in my life. I wouldn't have any other breed. I was brought up with terriers,but wanted a dog that I could do stuff with. My original interest was agility.

h emma archie much better fun than a terrier

Ive got Swedish vallhunds (google that one, not a gun dog) and was showing the 1st one and my other half said he wanted a dog he cold do things with and a bigger more manly type dog, we went to discover dogs on Nov and he had a long short list!! we didnt want anything to big, so he disapeared on his own and came back telling me had made up his mind and wanted a hungarian vizsla, so that night i searched the net and found a breeder, we travelled down to Cornwall the following week and met Lenci who fell asleep inhis arms and snored!! we didnt plan to have a gun dog and as she hated showing it was down to him to train her so they found a local trainer and got theie level one gun dog club cert, i got my 2nd Vallhund and said we would get another viz when the time was right and now we have devil dog, ooops i mean Islay and all the things we did wrong training wise with Lenci we arent doing with Islay, hopefully she will be a duel purpose  dog and work as well as show, so far at 4 months she is enthusiastic about everything, unlike Lenci who is only enthusiastic about sleeping in front of the fire or running away accross open fields!!!

i think iam on the right emma she is a lovely looking dog i think you was talking to alan at the end of training

yep that was me, shes a monster but really looking forward to her future, she has great character but happy to learn and do things.  Am hoping she will go far in both the show ring and working, although ive never been in the field before so we will learn together.

great stuff look forward to watching her develop at the club

great stuff look forward to watching her develop at the club

We had 2 English Springers when I was growing up, the first, Sam, proved to be a good working dog for my dad & a great family dog. The second, Sas, turned out to be gun shy so he more or less became my dog as I was in my late teens at the time.I loved them both dearly and the experience of these two very different dogs had a marked effect on me. There was never really any other breed that I wanted.

Archie came to us as a 12 week old pup from the RSPCA. He'd had about 4 foster homes before fate brought him to us.

Springers are always 'Glass absolutely FULL to the brim' characters, always happy, very affectionate with a very loving nature. We have a very outdoorsy liftestyle so a Springer fits in with this - mind you, you can't just 'Go For A Walk' with a Springer, you're on your toes the whole time. Engaging them, keeping them interested in you before they find something else to be interested in. Archie is a maverick, a quirky little dog, but we are learning together. It's been a long, tough old road & we have a long way to go but we'll get there.

glad you picked archie up from the rspca one less gundog getting passed from pillow to post he sounds like he has a lot of character

Erm, 'character' is one word for him Steve

I think if he was yours, you may just call him by some other name sometimes

lol i sometimes re name tilly when out training her

I choose the toller as I'd had a cocker spaniel and worked obedience with it but decided I wanted something slighly taller but still a gundog and a friend found me the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever - I met one and the rest is history!!  I love the red colouring of the dog, their speed and intelligence.  They are also the clowns of the retriever breeds!!  They are a rare breed and still can be worked in the field one day and shown in a ring the next unlike a lot of gundogs these days as many seem to have a "show" and "working" split.

Not been to club since the early in the year as so much has been happening however I do intend coming back soon hopefully.  Unfortunately one of my pups is very, very poorly and is taking alot of looking after which has left no time for training.

Hope everyone is well and had a great Christmas!  Hope to see you soon.

Debbie

hope the pup recovers soon and then back at the club

Did any one google swedish vallhunds and see what they were??!!!!

i had a quick look a very diffrent and intresting breed

if i could down load pictures  on here i would!! one of them thinks she is a vizlsa as she follows Lenci our eldest viz everywhere and she can flush pheasants!! she prob would be quite good at beeting so long as she didnt try and herd the birds!!

lol would be good if she could herd them streight in front of the guns