Dog predicament. Any solutions?

B

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!
 
BakkenRoosterMan said:
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!
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I would visit with a few pro's once you decide on a breed and see if they can help you. As far Labradors go, a quality started dog is going to run around $3000-$4000 depending on the level. You can check out the rft forums for started dogs. However, if your wife is not ready for a puppy, I would probably advise against any dog. A dog, especially a new dog, is going to require lots of bonding and it needs to bond with you. There is nothing worse than for someone to get a dog only to let it sit in a kennel run most of its life.
 
Oh bonding will not be a problem. We are definitely looking for a family member first. We are dog people. The concern is that she may not be ready for the challenges accociated with a puppy while our youngest is not even walking yet.
 
wait and i would not spend 3 or 4 K on any dog!..........put that kind of money in a 529 for college.
 
Any "new dog" of any age coming into your homewill require a period of adjustment and training by you and your family. No one else can train your dog to mind you. Sure a professional can train your dog to mind him, but unless you are also his pupile for a bit your dog will revert to your dog in about two weeks. I think I'd advise waiting until the Wife is ready and don't pressure her. Sounds like she has a load right now. Young ones and moving and reestablishment of home is a large undertaking. Personally I have always had a much closer relationship with my dog raised from puppyhood as I want to do. , yet I will admit I have seen some get tight with a new owner quickly. Since you cannot take the same dog and test it both ways I cannot be sure of the results of either way, but I suspect that puppyhood up in the family is best. In the meantime get some training books and read them B 4 getting the dog, and get your lady to read them too, in her "spare time", what ever that is. It will get you both, err all three, off to a better start. Moving will be a a complete upheaval for her and all her support group will be left behind except for yourself, so cut her some slack. Sorry to spill over into marriage counseling, but in the long run a dog will be an additional challenge. Get everyone's feet on the ground and adjustments made and then get the dog. There is plenty of time. Agree with hunter 94 too!
 
I actually presented the idea of a started dog to my wife last night after I turned off the computer. Not only was she okay with it, but she was quite enthusiastic at the idea. She wants a dog too. Out last dog was very comforting for her to have around with the kids. His puppy phase happened before we had kids. So thats why she voiced the concern of having a puppy. We've raised or helped to raise a dozen dogs, and I'd like to think we're pretty good at the basic training of well adjusted dogs as all them have turned out to be awesome. This will just be our first go at a hunting dog breed. In addition to that, the move happens in 4 weeks, and we won't be getting any dog, puppy or started, until next spring. So adjustment shouldn't be a problem, though we've both agreed to have an open mind to be flexible.

I guess the main point of this post was to find resources that may lead me in the right direction in finding started german wirehaired pointers so I determine how feasible it really is.
 
BakkenRoosterMan said:
Oh bonding will not be a problem. We are definitely looking for a family member first. We are dog people. The concern is that she may not be ready for the challenges accociated with a puppy while our youngest is not even walking yet.
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Bonding will be a problem for you not the dog, the wife, and the kids. Not to come off as rude but you asked for advise from us. If you are working 60 hours a week then I don't think I would put the responsibility on your wife to take care of a dog. That dog needs to be with you!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have raised a dozen dogs then why ask us? A hunting dog has many different needs versus a pug or a bulldog. A labrador needs to be in the field at least 3 or 4 days a week running marks and blinds just as a pointer needs to out quartering, finding planted birds, and having birds shot for it. Then you need a bird pen or access to birds. They are more than just pets. I have sold quite a few started dogs over the years. All were obedience trained, collar conditioned, force fetched, quartering in the field, had birds shot for them, steady on the line, etc. But all those things were done under my control and a new owner had to learn them and then translate to the dog for the dog to obey the new owners.
 
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You've gotten some good advice so far. I'll add one piece... If you go with a started dog, just research diligently and see the dog a few times before making up your mind. Then you'll know what you're getting into. I'm not really sure how many started gun dogs are house broke though.

But now the rest is up to your family.
 
I understand your concern. Reread my posts, and realized I didn't include enough information.

The house we picked is out in the country. We will be living right next to hundreds of acres of habitat chuck full of wild birds no one is allowed to hunt, but I am allowed to hike through them. I can literally walk out the door, and have my dog sniffing out birds a hundred feet from my doorstep. We picked this house largely for this reason. I am also friendly with an owner of a pheasant reserve out here in northern North Dakota, who will provide me more opportunities to do some more refined training.

60 hours seems like a lot of time to work in a week, but to me (having pulled 80-100 hour weeks in other jobs) is a perfect amount to balance home time and work time. I'm home by six every night. That's plenty of time to get some good daily time in with the dog. We're an active family. My wife trains for 5k runs all the time. The kids hopped in the triple stroller and our old dog ran right along with her. In addition, I work on a rotation schedule where I have every fourth week off.

My wife ans i have talked at length about this. Raising a dog will be a family project. I have plenty of time to do it properly. My wife's only concern was the potty training. Our old dog was trained so well (by us) that all we needed to do was open the back door and he would run to his "potty spot" in the yard and he'd let himself back in and close the door. There's no doing that with a pup. Those of you who have raised pups will know that getting a dog to that point is very time intensive, and not easy for a lady with three small children to do, even if I were only working 40 hours a week.

I'm sorry that I came off as flippant about this, but I can assure you that we have thought this all the way through. The potty training was the only concern that arose out of many hours of talking this through as a family.
 
mnaj_springer said:
You've gotten some good advice so far. I'll add one piece... If you go with a started dog, just research diligently and see the dog a few times before making up your mind. Then you'll know what you're getting into. I'm not really sure how many started gun dogs are house broke though.

But now the rest is up to your family.
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It has been good advice. Research is something I'm not unaccustomed to. To me, it's half the fun!
 
I think started dogs are a great alternative for some people. I have had 2. As for your ability to make time for the dog only you can answer that.

An option that I have used personally was to acquire a started dog on a breeding contract. I agreed to finish the dogs training put a Senior title on her (she ended up with a Master) and in return the original owner got a litter of pups from her. He handled all the health clearances as well breeding and whelping. This type of deal requires a lot of trust from both party's. But in the end I got a really nice dog at a time in my life where a puppy was not possible. And the breeder/trainer got about $6000 worth of pups less costs. Probably $3000-4000 profit.
 
I think your best solution with 3 young kids is to make friends with someone who has a couple dogs that you can hunt with.
GWPs crave a lot of attention. Working 60 hours a week means that your wife had better be on board with this. I'd wait for a couple years until the oldest child can help with the pup. It gives you time to do a lot of research and some of the better breeders can have 2 year waiting lists.

I'm not sure if it is all of them but it seems like a lot of the started dogs I have seen are kennel dogs. I'd hate to have to housebreak an older dog.

Tim
 
I agree with Tim. Most started dogs are older. And started on hunting birds. But That has nothing to do with house breaking. I think an older started dog would be hard to house break. Depending on the dog. Some are more hyper than others. But a puppy around toddlers is tough too. I would go with the puppy. Waiting till your wife is ready is probably smart too, but my wife has never been ready and she gets over it. They change a little when they see the puppy!
 
I would opt for a puppy versus a started dog for a lot of reasons. Not for sure what your occupation is but I always advise taking a new puppy to work with you everyday. Instead of placing the responsibility of crate training and socialization on someone else, taking the pup to work with you everyday builds a bond for life. My wife is never pumped up for a new puppy but I never ask her to take care of it when I get one.
 
My last two dogs came to me as "started" six month old dogs, and both are better than I deserve.:thumbsup: One is a GWP, the other is a Brit. In both cases the breeders kept them with the intention of trialing them, but determined the dog wasn't right for it. The price on both was very reasonable, not more than the cost of an 8 week puppy.

I put "started" in quotes, because other than some bird exposure and the very most basic obedience, they didn't have much training when they came to me. Both of mine bonded quite well with our family, especially with me. Daisy (GWP) was knocking my socks off from the first field I ran her in. Junie (Brit) was much slower to come along, but she had a breakout season last year and held her own in every regard.

Dogs of this nature are reasonably easy to come by if you are patient and keep an ear to the ground. Both of mine were deemed "too soft" for the pro trainers, but are a great fit for a guy like me.

Another alternative that was not mentioned would be a rescue dog. People give up great dogs all the time due to financial or health reasons. I see pointing dogs of all kinds on the rescue sites, many of them with info on whether they have hunted before. A lot of the sites will give you some insight into the personality of the dogs too, like if it is good around kids or shy or avoid cats or hyperactive, etc..

Anyway, good luck to you. Hopefully getting an older dog will help you fill the void in your home without driving you crazy.
 
Vdd gna

Hi. I see you'd like a gwp. Check out the drathaar, the true German wire hair. There are quite a few breeders in northern South Dakota you can find them on the vdd-gna.org website. Get in contact with them they can reach out and find you a started dog with the traits you desire.

I went to the dd after a springer. This dog is smarter 1 day to potty train, very calm at only 1 year of age. There is also a testing system that guarantees parents hunt and are trainable. Get the best I'm extremely happy I did.

Tom
 
Human sharpness is a fault and those dogs aren't bred. We have a 3 month old it's nothing but licks. Not that our kid can do much yet. Proper socialization should weed it out. Talk to a drathaar breeder. They don't breed to just make money they are trying to improve the breed. They can address any questions better than me and I'm sure they'd love to help you out we're all dog people.
 
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