Brittany Spaniel

[gerardplauche]

I am thinking about getting a Brittany Spaniel for woodcock hunting. I will be honest, I will not spend enough time to train him good; I don't have that kind of time. Years ago, I had a Springer Spaniel that naturally pointed. I wonder if the Brittany will have the same good instincts? My question is: Did I just get lucky with my Springer's natural ability - or - Are most Spaniels good point dogs by breed?

 

[kerley]

Jerold, years ago I bought a Springer Spaniel for the kids. It was a nice dog. We had lots of problems with her. We are not professional dog trainers. Our problems were getting her attention, she just wanted to run wild and investigate everything. She just refused to come when called. If she was busy, she would totally ignore you . Possibly she was just not old enough or ready to learn. We lived in the country on 32 acres and she managed to run off and the next day I found her dead in the road. Just my experience. Good luck. Tom :cboy:

 

[dun]

I've hunted of good Brits and bad. One was a pure natural and a joy to hunt over, others you had to browbeat into performing. There are good and bad in all of the breeds, GSPs are the worst in my opinion. Find a Brit that is bred for foot hunting not the big running dogs.

 

[xbred]

have hunted woodcock behind brits, e. setters, pointers, gsh pointers. most any close ranging pointing dog, brit, setter, pointer, will point a woodcock..it takes a lot less training to point woodcocks than quail..good luck i's suggest a brit or e. setter...

 

[mnmtranching]

You were lucky with the Springer, most won't point and are poor hunting dogs.
Brits on the other hand have the natural pointing instinct, much better with people. Would be an excellent choice for Woodcock. I would get one from hunting breeding. Like cattle, show stuff has no place out working.

 

[gerardplauche]

You were lucky with the Springer, most won't point and are poor hunting dogs.
Brits on the other hand have the natural pointing instinct, much better with people. Would be an excellent choice for Woodcock. I would get one from hunting breeding. Like cattle, show stuff has no place out working.

Yeah, I could not care less about the show quality of the dog. Pointing instincts is my main concern.

 

[dun]

You were lucky with the Springer, most won't point and are poor hunting dogs.
Brits on the other hand have the natural pointing instinct, much better with people. Would be an excellent choice for Woodcock. I would get one from hunting breeding. Like cattle, show stuff has no place out working.

Spingers aren;t supposed to point, that's why they're called Springer Spaniels not pointing Spaniels.
If you know how they should hunt and work with that, Springers are great dogs for some types of birds.

 

[gerardplauche]

Well, what I liked most about my Springer, was that she never went too far ahead of me. She would go a piece and then look back to see where I was. If I was far off, she would freeze and wait for me. But when she spotted a bird, she would lock up and let out a very quick, whisper-type bark. It's hard to explain, but you definitely new she was looking at a bird. She would do this for about 4-5 seconds before flushing it up, which was all the time I needed. I had got used her style, and had many successful hunts with her.