I am thinking of getting another dog, I have a german shepherd, but she's around 9 years old. My question is, can german shepherd make great hunting dog for tracking and retrieving. There's videos of them displaying soft jaws when picking up kittens and they have a prey drive. also I have a soft spot for the breed. What are your thoughts on german shepherds.
Hunting dogs
- Thread starter HuntFSD
- Start date
My grandfather took me hunting and fishing as a kid. He had a family German Shepard that tagged along with us and along with his well trained Brittnay and Springer dogs. The GS never really “got” hunting any of the bird varieties but for whatever reason did occasionally ok on pheasants. GS are great dogs but not for upland or waterfowl hunting IMO.
Sounds to me you have made up your mind. Get a GS. Do not get a hunting breed if you don't plan on taking him/her hunting.
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I guess it depends how you define "great." A great hunting dog comes from great hunting lines and takes commitment on your end.
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
I train hunting dogs for a living and none if this thread makes any sense to me. You might be able to train a dog to do anything (BIG Maybe) but if you are looking seriousely at getting and training a dog to perform hunting tasks you really need to look at the breeds and bloodines. Dogs have been bred over thousands of years to perform a specific task. Don't be foolish and think you can train a dog with no hunting backround bloodline to become a great hunting companion. It might happen but you are stacking the odds against yourself, I live it everyday and can tell you it is a tough trail to become a good bird dag