What is your favorite breed of dog for bird hunting?

I am looking for a dog for hunting pheasant and sage grouse. I prefer larger dogs but I will take any suggestions.What is your favorite breed of dog for bird hunting?
Really depends on what you want the dog to do, where you plan to work it, how close you want it to work with you, how fast or methodical you want the dog to be, etc.





Some sporting breeds are more versatile than others. If you want a dog that can do pretty much everything (track, point/set, flush, retrieve) then you should consider Spaniels, the Brittany, German Shorthaired Pointers. Spaniels are more versatile over land and water versus the German Shorthaired Pointer, which CAN do water retrieves, but not as well as a Spaniel.





Most Pointers and Setters do as their name entails, they point/set and retrieve, but lack in other areas. Labs have been breed selectively for their retrieving drive so they are great if you want a dog that you can work at long range and doesn't really excel at anything, but retrieving.





I've always hunted with Spaniels (english cocker, english springer, and field) so of course I'm partial to them. I like how they pack so much potential and power in such a small package. In your case I'd suggest the German Shorthaired /longhaired/ wirehaired Pointer or maybe even the Pudelpointer. They are larger, versatile dogs, that are known for working closely with their humans.What is your favorite breed of dog for bird hunting?
Do you want a pointer or retriever? You can get ones that are trained to do double duty. German Short Hairs, English Pointers, Labs, Springer Spaniels, English Setters, not Irish Setters. Really any dog can learn to hunt given the chance. Are you going to train it or buy it already trained? Go to your local bookstore and check out the hunting magazines in their ads section, many top name kennels, not puppy mills, are listed in them. Also, contact Pheasants Forever at pheasants forever.com, they can point you in the right direction to a good trainer or kennel near you.
For 20 years we had golden retrievers which we bought from breeders who bred champion bloodlines. Both dogs were incredible on their own with little or no training. We now have a 5 month old English Springer Spaniel whose lineage is not what the goldens came from but he shows great promise. His father is astounding to watch in the field %26amp; his mother has a great nose for tracking.





I enjoy both breeds.
English Pointer most defiantly we have one and she is a gorgeous,smart, loving dog we have also had labs and over all our pointer is much better here is some info on pointer


http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pointer.htm
A Brittany Dog here is a picture very good at hunting if trained to.





Picture


http://tycobbrittanys.com/sitebuilder/im鈥?/a>





Infomation


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany_(d鈥?/a>
For retrieving, a golden retriever or a lab.


I've heard airedale terriers are all around hunting dogs, meaning they can flush the birds, retrieve them, point the birds out.
I'm really partial to German Short-haired Pointers, but then, that's the only breed of dog I've ever *gone* hunting with, so I might be a touch biased. ;-)
For bird retrieving I assume you mean? Maybe I assume wrong but working springer spaniel every time for me!
cocker spaniels most deff.


those are known for bird hunting; i have 2 [=
spaniels are supposed to be excellent bird dogs, as are pointers
german pointers, definitely.
english springer is my fav
Why do you feel the need to murder innocent birds?