German Wirehaired Pointers input

I came across a couple nice litters of German Wirehaired Pointers and was curious if anyone has hunted over them? I've always been a lab guy and he died earlier this year. When I purchased him, I primarily duck hunted (coast/rivers) with some dove hunting. I have since relocated to North Texas where I do more dove, quail, and pond/rice field duck hunts these days. As such, I was thinking a more versatile hunting dog might fit the bill. I've looked at several of the versatile hunting breeds (GWP/GSP/GLP/PudP/Viz/BI/Brittany/Pointers/Griffon) and prefer the GWP and Pudelpointers for how I hunt over the others. They shed less, can take the colder duck hunts, point, and retrieve larger game, and seem to be pretty calm and intelligent dogs.

Seems there was a thread about them on here recently. I'm sure the real dog guys will chime in here soon.

This past spring we showed our lease to a young man that's done quite well financially and is mostly a quail hunter. He brought along a GWP puppy he'd just received the previous week. He said the best breeder he found was in AZ, if I remember correctly. He and my friend, who acts as the lease manager, rode in the high rack and I got drafted as the jeep driver. The pup was allowed to wander around "downstairs" with me. Going up one ridge I heard "whoa,whoa!" and stopped. The pup had gotten stuck between the spare and the body as he was falling out of the back. No real harm done. The pup seemed fine. The owner seemed fine. Then he told me what he paid for it. 'Don't usually do this, but for the rest of the "tour" I made sure that pup sat in my lap and I steered around him! We became quite close. The next morning the pup was minding me better than his owner; kind of embarrassing.

Get another Brittany. They'll do anything a Wirehair will and you'll still own a pretty dog.

Go for it.

Thanks for the input.

I have a 8mo old drathaar. And up to this point only had labs. Maddie (drathaar) is the most intelligent dog ive ever had. i say that with the love of my life being black lab female that was stolen and only by a small margin. Her ability to pick up things is amazing. It doesnt take long at all. Now the flipside of their intelligence leads to their downside imo. I think of labs as eager to please dogs, and drathaars not nearly as much. They are very smart and have a very strong drive but not eager to please if that makes any sense. Also, labs have what i call a stupid intelligence. Which imo makes them easier to train. They arent as loving as other breeds. Mine is starting to be dog sharp. It showed last friday working with some gsp pups last friday. I was workiglng with my local breed warden. He told me that can be an issue as ones with a high prey drive exhibit that trait. She has a high prey drive. All in all they are great dogs, and beautiful. coming from only labs its been a learning curve and adjustment. Dont know if id have another one, but the ones ive seen are impressive.


Go to the VDD-GNA website and look up the breeders page lots of info and reliable source to vet breeders. Just dont say GWP, the Drathaar guys swear there is a genetic difference. I have a Drathaar and other than the breeding standards i dont see a difference. Granted i am a newb to the draht/gwp game. They get pissy when you saysay GWP referring to their dogs

Well now that's not a very nice thing to say (I'm a DD puppy owner)

I"ve had 2 of them -------- I did everything possible to get good blood lines-- etc. on a 1--10 I"d rate mine as a 5 or 6. Like all dogs you might get a good one or you might not. Dont expect to get a super dog,,, I"m sure they exist , but if they were the rule instead of the exception, everyone would have one.

Just a joke. If a friend had a good litter of GWP's, I'd get one.

Jorge,

Your Maddie looks awesome. I love that black color.

Thanks, I appreciate the input and pics from everyone. Any comparison on how their drive to retrieve drive is? I know all dogs vary to a certain degree, and I am sticking to what should be a well bred pup. I would expect them to be a little slower than a lab. My last lab spoiled me, he was always ready to train or hunt. He'd actually sulk for several days when I went on hunts without him (occasionally let friends bring their dogs in the duck blind).

Nice pup

Am guessing by slow you mean speed to retrieve?

I would expect a well bred GWP/DD to have a tons of drive. Drive to hunt, retrieve,track, point, etc. Labs vary so much so I don't think many if anyone here can say how they compare to a GWP/DD minus a couple of dogs or two that they have seen. I have been around a few labs in the blind, some with what looked to be good pedigrees. Others were backyard bred but did well while hunting. I have not noticed much difference in retrieve drive. I think the biggest difference is prey drive and that is where the DD/GWP will shine as well as nose.i have not seen any fire breathing field bred labs but I think common sense is that the DD GWP is not a specialist like a lab so I would not except them to have the drive to retrieve as a FT lab.

If by "slow" you mean how fast to go out and pick up and bring back, I wouldn't expect much difference but keep in mind they are built differently. There are lots of fat arse labs that are about as graceful as hippos.