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What you favorite breeds??

eloucha

Member
479
26
Columbus Ohio
Ok. I would like to get some opinions on what is the best breeds of dogs u like and how easy to train them. ? All serious opinions and experience welcome duck, pheasant, deers , coyote,wild animal ....
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
I'm biased for sure... But in my humble opinion, a Labrador Retriever is without a doubt the most versatile hunting dog available. Upland birds, waterfowl, tracking, companionship... They can literally do it all and do it very well when you find the right pedigree. Overall they are generally very smart and easy to train. And generally make excellent house/family dogs.
 

5Cent

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
12,291
212
North Central Ohio
Also a lab fan after having them as a little one and 2 as an adult. 2nd would be a weimer but be prepared for a lot of crazy energy. More so than a lab if that's hard to believe.
 

hickslawns

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Supporting Member
39,721
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Ohio
I have a GSP. He is a fine dog. Most don't get fat and lazy as they age. That would be my fear with labs if one wanted to work them. Maybe this is where "from a good line" falls into place. Then again, as our dogs age we tend to let them work at their pace. Fat, grey haired, doesn't matter. We still love them.
 

Sgt Fury

Sgt. Spellchecker
Rescue dogs are the best! They seem to know what you’ve done for them and show unconditional love. These are not hunting dogs, just companions...part of our family. Both are pit bull mixes. Bella is the black one and Cassidy is the tan one. The last pic is us celebrating Cassidy’s birthday!
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Big H

Senior Member
4,104
151
Medina
The original question was what we thought was a very versatile hunting dog. I threw German Shorthairs out there because my dad used to raise them when I was growing up and I know that they are used for multiple hunting applications. Labs are a great option and are very popular.

That being said, I wanted an intelligent, smaller, versatile breed and after quite a bit of research and phone calls eventually decided to go with a Boykin Spaniel. There are two (2) hunting breeds developed in the United States, Chesapeake Bay Retrivers and Boykin Spaniels. The Boykin had somewhat of a cult following in South Carolina for a number of years and are extremely intelligent and versatile. They are actually the state dog of South Carolina and are referred to as "the dog that doesn't rock the boat" since they were bred for duck hunting out of smaller boats and canoes in the swamps of the Carolinas. I have one that is turning 14 soon that I didn't get a chance to hunt with much due to my wife being very sick for a number of years, and she basically turned into a family pet. We picked up a young female last year that is about 14 months now. These little browns dogs make great family/house/companion dogs and are a bundle of energy. Boykins are used for ducks, upland birds, doves, fall turkeys, shed hunting, blood trailing game, and they are actually used in box turtle research for several Universities. I really don't ever see myself without a Boykin Spaniel in my home and that is why the Boykin Spaniel gets my vote.
 

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If I could only have one breed of dog and or single dog it would be one of the many types of Curs. There are many different breeds of curs and there is quite a bit of varance within each breed. These small to meduim sized dogs were bred on the frontier to be general purpose do everything type of dogs. Its not uncommon for single cur to be trained to herd livestock, tree game, and track a blood trail. Curs tend to be pretty territorial so they make nice little guard dogs. A trait that was disirable for those living on the frontier. Socailzation as a puppy is really important with these dogs. They keep nicely in the house and normaly are pretty quite. (The catahoulas are a little noisy but not as a hound or beagle) There are Catahoula curs, mountain curs, blue lacey curs, black mouth curs and canadian curs to name a few. Like i mentioned before there are a number of lines within each breed. Most lines are more baying, hunting or herding centric than others. I have owned a mountain cur named Saber from squirrel treeing lines. A black mouth cur named Bell from treeing lines. A Black mouth cur from herding lines named Georgia. Finally my current dog is a catahoula from herding and baying lines named lacey. Lacey will tree raccoons and squirrels however we have only tried it a couple of times in Washington state. She is trained to track human scent trails and we have dabbled in blood trailing. (Its illegal to recover game with dogs in WA so there is little point in that.) I herd with her a few times a week and compete in trials from time to time. During the winter time i go skijoring with her pulling me on backcountry skis. I have also used her flush grouse in the mountains. Of my three dogs she is my favorite to take backpacking and hiking in the mountains. You can really train these dogs to do anything.
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Saber
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Bell
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Georgia
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Lacey