New bird dog puppy

[WoodieBoater]

Funny you should mention being excited to see what he's like at 2... Dutch turns 2 tomorrow and I can honestly say that dog never ceases to amaze me. Not just with hunting ability but obedience and manners as well. And like onion said intelligence is there and it makes training easy. He's not stubborn either. Which again makes training easy.

 

And on that note I'll tell you what I've noticed for differences. The most glaring difference to me is in the personality. Most drahth's I've seen are what I'd call "sharp" and aloof. Tons of instinct and prey drive and they aren't so concerned with weather you're keeping up or not. With them you're more an alpha than a hunting buddy. And They'll hunt just to hunt. They were originally bred to hunt everything. Birds. Fox. Deer. The German hunt test actually still includes a Fox retrieve and blood tracking I believe. Whatever it is  a drahth thinks it was put on this earth to kill it. You may be able to find a german wirehair that's a bit softer (really the same breed just not held to the same registration standards) but most true drahths are real sharp. I figure you've gathered that griffs are pretty much the opposite.

 

I wouldn't say any of that is a pro or a con. It's all about what you want. If you really break it down... even if you're a hardcore birdhunter  how much time do you spend in the field with a dog? Maybe TOPS a quarter of the days in a year? The rest is being In the household and training... for me I wanted a dog that was easy to live with 260 days out of the year and would curl up under my desk at my feet at work but would turn it on when I can hunt. That's the WPG.

 

Beyond that appearance wise pretty similar. I'd say generally griffs have a bit longer coat but functionally they're pretty identical. Dutch gets confused for a german wirehair all the time.

Edited November 10, 2017 by WoodieBoater

[WoodieBoater]

Now I feel like I've been hard on them haha. Drahths can be lovy dovy just not nearly to the extent that griffs are. They just have different personalities as a rule.

[WoodieBoater]

Did a quick morning duck hunt last Friday before deer season started. Decent group of resident birds and some nice dog work.

Probably going to hold off on the grouse woods for a while. Maybe some more duck reports to come

[WoodieBoater]

Dutch spent his first morning on a platform. Did pretty well, sat there from 630 to 830. We didn't kill any birds but it was good training anyways.

 

We got some kids out over thanksgiving weekend on some planted pheasants at a preserve. I didn't take any pictures, there was a lot going on trying to keep kids lined up and work the dog but Dutch did great. I don't know if he did it on purpose but he made two big loops to cut off and pin running roosters. Weather it was on purpose or not it was cool to watch. Found a ton of leftover quail coveyed up as well. Pretty cool to get kids out and provide good dog work for them. Hopefully some caught the bug.

 

 

[WoodieBoater]

Had a pretty good opening weekend of late cut. Dutch did well retrieving ducks over the weekend. Struggled a little bit this morning. Good days and bad days I suppose.

 

We just got a breeding confirmation and a family member is getting a pup out of the same breeding that Dutch came out of in March. The more dog power the better. More updates to come.

 

[dawsonscreek]

This make me want a versatile bird dog, big time. I have never hunted over a bird dog, but really enjoy rabbits with my beagle. I would love to get out on upland birds sometime with a good dog. Seems like Dutch is the perfect sort of dog, likes the couch, likes upland, and likes waterfowl. Very cool thread man!

[Tg8]

I cant tell you how thankful i am to woodieboater. my pup has been the best all around dog i have had yet. 6months old now.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[DJ 17]

1 hour ago, Tg8 said:

I cant tell you how thankful i am to woodieboater. my pup has been the best all around dog i have had yet. 6months old now.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app
 

TG8 Where did you get him?

[Tg8]

http://www.highdesertgriffons.com/

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[WoodieBoater]

Its great to see so much interest in the breed. They really are great do it all dogs. Id have to say though its all about putting time in to training as with any other breed.

 

Tg8 that pup looks great. Have you had a chance to get her out hunting at all yet this year?

I've seen a lot of pictures of Onions griff as well and he seems to be having a great first season. The breeder he got his from has puppies quite frequently as well.

 

Dennis I've had a couple of breeding announcements I got this week from other breeders if your interested in those as well. I can send you their way if you'd like. They're breeders I looked at when I was looking for a pup.

 

Really excited to have another pup around to hunt with next season. Cant wait to see a pair work together.

 

[Tg8]

i have had her at pheasant hollow for bird introduction. and many hikes no gun intro yet she is timid

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[DJ 17]

Sure I will take the info. I don't have the wife on board for 2 dogs at once yet, but im working on it. My soon to be 12 year old lab is running out of gas as a retriever. He has earned his retirement.  Did anyone look into wet acres griffons in Wendell, Mass. or Ore bank Sporting dogs in Spring Grove, PA?

[steelie]

Love this thread, been watching it since it began. saw my 1st one this summer, owners were shocked we knew what It was. Lost my chessie this summer, just not ready yet!! When we are, this will be It! Our Kids loved the one we saw and the dog loved the kids, + + . Keep up the pics, thanks guys!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Tg8]

i cant tell you how people friendly they are. soo amazing

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[WoodieBoater]

A friend of a friend has a dog out of Ore Bank. I've never met or seen him but I know he does a lot of hunting with that dog. Other than that I cant give you any more info on them. As far as Wet Acres goes, I did speak with them a couple of times and talked to a couple of breeders about them. I formed the opinion that they are more into breeding "breed standard" show dogs than they are hunting dogs. They're very active in the show ring and not very active in the field. That just wasn't what I was looking for. On another note, if you want to get one of their pups they require a face to face interview at their kennel in mass. or at least they did when I talked to them.

 

I will send you some info on those breeding's in a P.M.

 

Steelie I'm sorry you lost ur dog. Its hard when there's just memories and pictures left.

 

And yes. short of labs I think they're the most people friendly gun dogs I've ever seen. Dutch goes into every store that will let him and hell love up on anybody that's interested.

 

Edited January 4, 2018 by WoodieBoater

[dawsonscreek]

I think I read earlier that he will point ducks? How does that work, jump shooting near creek/rivers or something. Sounds pretty cool!

[WoodieBoater]

I cant remember if I posted here that he'd point ducks or not. I'm sure there's the potential for him to do it and yeah it'd probably be in a jumping situation. He may have pointed a cripple once, I've seen buddies dogs do that frequently but I wouldn't call it the norm haha. hes pointed mosquitos on my wall, its just instincts

Edited January 4, 2018 by WoodieBoater

[dawsonscreek]

14 hours ago, WoodieBoater said:

I cant remember if I posted here that he'd point ducks or not. I'm sure there's the potential for him to do it and yeah it'd probably be in a jumping situation. He may have pointed a cripple once, I've seen buddies dogs do that frequently but I wouldn't call it the norm haha. hes pointed mosquitos on my wall, its just instincts

Cool, I grew up with a GSP. She never hunted, but I remember, as a pup, she would always be pointing moths and birds in the backyard. Dad started training her, but never got her on live birds. Sometime down the road I can se myself with a bird dog, and from this post, a griffon is gonna be the first ones I look at!

[WoodieBoater]

yeah its definitely rewarding but its a ton of time as well. every moment of a dogs life is training. And they have limits, which I always have to remind myself. I hunted ducks today and left him in the truck... its just too brutal of a day to have him in and out of water and in the wind.

If you decide you want to start looking P.M. me I can point you to a lot of kennels that I've talked to and can give you info on.

[onion]

They are great dogs. We are having a fun first year. Archie is almost 9 months and I'm amazed at his capability to learn. He's great in the field and the house.





Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[WoodieBoater]

Well it's officially official.

Were heading out to Wisconsin at the end of March to get a pup for my sister and her boyfriend.

This one will be out of the same parents Dutch is out of. It'll be interesting to see how a pup out of the same breeding progresses.

Ill keep everybody here posted. Other than that the end of grouse season has been awful slow. Gotten out to do some planted birds here and there but that's about the extent of our luck

[WoodieBoater]

Good lookin puppies

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by WoodieBoater

[Tg8]

those puppies are awesome. did you trim your boys head hair for a purpose? just curious

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[WoodieBoater]

I actually never trimmed his hair. I never even brush him hardly (except to remove burrs). He hunts through thick cover so hard (lets be honest he's a bit clumsy sometimes) that he actually rubs it all off and it doesn't grow back fast enough to grow into long traditional furnishings. Below ill post a picture of when he was about 6 months old and had never really busted brush vs. a couple pictures after a week of hunting hard in Maine. You'll see what I mean. He's never been a super hairy griff anyway. His furnishings and coat are on the short coarse side. The female he's out of looks exactly the same so I'm wondering if its somewhat genetic

 

And I feel terrible when he gets so raw. I do everything I can to try and prevent it, Vaseline on his brows, trying to slow him down in cover, but he just gets beat up after a week straight of hunting. Its not like its even all day every day. its just so many days of hunting in a row in thick cover I think that tears him up

 

Edited February 27, 2018 by WoodieBoater

[Tg8]

wow thank you for the info. i believe it takes two years for their full adult coats to come in. My pup is 7months and her second softlayer is the only thing on her head right now, so i bet it will rough up soon.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Lake Ontario United mobile app