Hi everyone, im looking for a good, family, upland and a little waterfowl, hunting dog. Im looking for a good companion dog, and a good dove/quail dog, and maybe a little duck! Please give me your best feedback!

Although I have owned Brittany's for many years, and consider them very versatile upland bird dogs that make fantastic family pets, I could never imagine them sitting still and quiet for me in a duck blind.

Maybe a lab or other retriever breed?

It sounds like you're not really wanting a lab and you upland hunt more so than waterfowl, so I'd look at the Vizsla's and the German Wirehaired Pointer, in no particular order. Both very versatile gun dogs, loving companions, and very intelligent. They both need a ton of exercise though.

I waterfowl and upland hunt with a vizsla.
When he was real young it would have been hard for him to sit still for long periods of time. With a little maturity he has no problem with it. You could also look at the Deutsch Drahthaar and the Wire hair vizsla.

this is a double post.

Boykin Spaniel

GWP, GSP, Vizla, Boykin, (deutsch drathaar or deutsch Kurzhaar if you want a little more reliable) then if you are looking for a dog that can waterfowl retreive but doesnt specialize in it, Britanys, springers, or even cockers. Labs can be used upland, but retreiving is their game.

Hey Joe, you rode that brace Sunday, when the GWP pointed five birds. What did you think of him as a pointing dog?

Still wish I had the money to get my own. That is the dog breed I was hoping for before I got these pups, had decided on a shorthair due to prices. I only saw him good on 1 point and he was steady as a board. Only thing he did somewhat bad was he kept trying to go into the other fields.

Vizsla (again)

If you are going to use the dog as a retriever the Boykin is hard to beat. They can retrieve as well as a lab and upland like just like all the other spaniel breeds. But their retrieving is what sets them apart from the other spaniels. The Boykin is as much a retriever as it is a flusher if you want more info let me know. I believe they may be the most versatile dog there is as they are used as waterfowl/dove retrievers, upland flushers, blood trackers, squirrel hunting, turkey hunting and can be trained to point and flush on command if that's what you want.

How do you turkey hunt with a dog?

I know of bird dogs that will run rabbits and some that will tree squirrels, but these types of hunting can be taught to nearly any dog and are not natural to boykins or most bird dog breeds. I've seen a beagle point a bird and retreive it. It doesnt mean that a beagle is a bird dog, it was just trained to do it.

Well big joe, squirrel hunting is natural to the Boykin they have been doing it for over a 100 years. My Boykin has never been trained to hunt squirrels but he trees every one he sees and then barks up that tree to alert me. This has never been trained he just does it naturally. As far as turkey hunting with a dog, the Boykin started its working life in South Carolina in about 1900 as a turkey hunting dog. The market hunters of the day would use the dogs to bust up flocks of turkeys so they could call in single toms to shoot. That's how you turkey hunt with a dog. Like I said I believe the Boykin is probably the most versatile breed there is. Are they bird dogs...your damn right they are and they are better retrievers than any of the other versatile breeds.

Some states it is no longer allowed, but there are a few left that allow fall turkey hunting with a dog. After losing a shot Turkey one hunt and then seeing a TV hunting show that featured a Lab used by a hunter as a catch dog on spring turkey hunts, I started using mine for the same thing. She sits behind me on behind me on every spring Turkey hunt I do. And she is by my side on some fall hunts as well if I am not also deer hunting. As long as it is legal for the place and time, the sky is the limit in ways to utilize a versatile dog.

reread my post and found it sounded critical, I hadn't intended it to be. I have never even heard or thought to take a dog turkey hunting. I have seen people drive deer with them, but turkey seems an odd choice of needing a dog for. If it works I say go for it.

As for squirrel, eh it was mainly an example. I have seen dogs of all types pick it up nearly naturally, but it isn't what they were bred for. If you were looking to breed your Boykin to someone elses, the qualification of if it will tree a squirrel or not is probably not coming out of your mouth. Then again modern GSP's and GWP's are supposed to be bred for bird and rabbit, but I've never heard anyone advertise a GWP with "and she runs a rabbit like a beagle."

How about a pointing lab? Best quail/pheasant dog I ever had was a lab, he was also an incredible duck dog.

Many Vizslas are natural Fur and Feather dogs. For a time in history they were used by Falconers. It was expected of them.
Blaze has always tracked and pointed rabbits. (texas quail purists reading this are agasp right now) I was hunting rabbits with her starting at 6 months old. But for squirrel it did take some work to get her to start looking up when she got to the base of a tree.

My Dash on the other hand has it in him bad. He trees squirrels naturally. Though I don't encourage it, I don't discourage it either. At some point in his future he will used for that kind of hunting when called for. But for now I avoid exposing it to him as much as I can because of the tests and trials.

At the hunt test last weekend, As he hunted I saw him look up and check in the trees a time or two and I know all too well what he was looking for. I chanted to myself, "please don't be a squirrel in that tree, please don't be a squirrel in that tree", because if there was one, his lock on that tree would have been so beautiful it would have made a houndsman cry. Well, a birdman too, but for different reasons.

At a trial last weekend I heard a handler say OH NO all the way across the field. His dog was on point, and he went into flush what should have been quail. Its was baby rabbits.

Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla

That was by a tallow tree sprout. We put orange flags on the tree. Everyone knew it was there. That had to be a bold mother rabbit.

Also, I'm sorry I missed you. You are one of my favorite members on this forum.

I hunt with my wife's pet Vizsla, Marta. She has a great nose for putting me on birds but I haven't trained her well enough to retrieve for me, my bad, she thinks retrieving is a game for balls in the park, not work.

I don't think Marta would be a good duck dog as she only wades into water up to her ankles. Without underbelly hair, these short haired pointers get cold pretty easy. Most upland game guides I've hunted with use GSPs as they are more hearty that Vizslas. That being said if you want a pet that will hunt I'd go Vizsla.

A v will duck hunt.

Really, I did not know that. Glad no one told my dogs this.

Sniper, Sniper, Sniper, you're going to have to quit using facts with these guys.

You and me both Sniper.