BakkenRoosterMan
New member
Hello all. I was wondering if I could tap into your collective wisdom to answer a problem that has arisen as it pertains to my acquiring a bird dog.
After three years of living apart from my family, I am finally moving my wife and kids up here to North Dakota to live with me. What's more, we are finally going to have a living situation that is conducive to owning my first hunting dog. We had plans to pick out a pup next spring (2017), and add him to our family. However, a problem has surfaced. My wife has voiced a concern that she might not be ready for a puppy that soon. We have three young children from 11 months to five years, and she feels that a puppy might overwhelm her. And in all fairness, she does have a valid concern. I work 60 hours a week, thus the burden of house breaking the pup would fall largely on her shoulders.
My question is this; how feasible is it to get a started dog as a compromise? I've pretty much got my heart set on a pointer, specifically a German Wirehaired pointer. How common is it to find a started dog in that breed and how do I go about finding any breed of started dog, let alone a GWP? Or would it be best just to wait until my wife is ready?
Any insights on this problem would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
After three years of living apart from my family, I am finally moving my wife and kids up here to North Dakota to live with me. What's more, we are finally going to have a living situation that is conducive to owning my first hunting dog. We had plans to pick out a pup next spring (2017), and add him to our family. However, a problem has surfaced. My wife has voiced a concern that she might not be ready for a puppy that soon. We have three young children from 11 months to five years, and she feels that a puppy might overwhelm her. And in all fairness, she does have a valid concern. I work 60 hours a week, thus the burden of house breaking the pup would fall largely on her shoulders.
My question is this; how feasible is it to get a started dog as a compromise? I've pretty much got my heart set on a pointer, specifically a German Wirehaired pointer. How common is it to find a started dog in that breed and how do I go about finding any breed of started dog, let alone a GWP? Or would it be best just to wait until my wife is ready?
Any insights on this problem would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!