Who has a good hunting "mutt"?

S

Sapphire

New member
Just curious... I grew up hound hunting and any hound breed crossed with another (Black and Tan, Plott, Redbone, Walker, Bluetick, etc...) never turned out anything worse than a pure bred cross...

I have an old springer/GSP cross that was a great companion, but I never hunted him. I have no doubt he would have been good though!

What do you have? Just something I was thinking about. :D
 
Sapphire I now own Small Munsterlanders, but.

I did have owned a number of different breeds of dogs. I my opinion. Almost any dog can hunt.
I have a hunch your cross breed would have been a good hunter, I once had a pure pound puppy mutt that was a great huntin dog.

So with that all being said, the only reason I use a pure breed is because I feel the odds are better that I will have a quality hunting dog, not guaranteed but maybe better.

Lots of mutts have been used to hunt and they've done darn well at it too.
:cheers:
 
Live2Hunt said:
Sapphire I now own Small Munsterlanders, but.

I did have owned a number of different breeds of dogs. I my opinion. Almost any dog can hunt.
I have a hunch your cross breed would have been a good hunter, I once had a pure pound puppy mutt that was a great huntin dog.

So with that all being said, the only reason I use a pure breed is because I feel the odds are better that I will have a quality hunting dog, not guaranteed but maybe better.

Lots of mutts have been used to hunt and they've done darn well at it too.
:cheers:
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Nice post. It all depends on what your standards are, and what you want your dog to do!
 
So, if you could... what would be an interesting cross??

My springer/shorthair never once ever showed any signs of wanting to point.. but he's built like a GSP...

Wonder what a Goldie/Springer cross would do? Both great flushers, both long haired... be wild to have a springer sized dog that was all blond like a goldie!

Any two, good, proven hunters crossed should make some sort of useful dog!
 
why thinking any hunting cross would be interesting and should hunt- imagine for a second- what would you see in the litter at 7 weeks

a guy bought a real blood line ES(proven parents) as a 7 week pup- wanted to breed to my male Britt at at 2 years- I smiled- nope

turns out his male Golden got to that ES

he asked me to come take a look- said pick one and see if it'll hunt- some goofy looking pups at 7 weeks- I was laughing as he said "surely you can train one, might be as good as your Britt"- left and that was the last time I saw him
 
My friend had (recently passed away) an outstanding hunting lab. That dog was just super in the upland field and duck blind, and was a sweetheart as well. Just an intense hunter though. I mean, really intense.

About 2 years ago, a GWP was making the rounds in the neighborhood, hopped his fence, and... Well, now my friend has a GWP/lab.

It's a sweet dog, but I swear it is the oddest looking dog I have ever seen. It has a build somewhere in between a lab and wirehair. Coat is all black, with the length and texture somewhere in between a lab an wirehair. It's got a beard, shaggy feet, and shaggy tail. I think he should have docked it, but it doesn't really matter because...

My friend figured it would be a good hunting dog of some kind, so he took it hunting many times. It is his only dog now, so he figured it didn't matter much if it pointed, flushed, or just kinda-pointed birds. Well, it turned out to be "none of the above". It is an absolute turd in the field. Shows no interest in hunting whatsoever. It just follows along and watches the other dogs hunt, watches the birds... It just kinda trots along, happy to be with his master, but not interested in participating.

Anyway, I'm sure 100 people can post 100 stories about all the outstanding mixed breed dogs they've hunted over, but my friend is stuck with a real misfit. By the age of 2, you would think the dog should have showed SOME interest at least once if it was ever going to come around.

So I'm not trying to rain on anybody's "hybrid super-dog" parade, but I would suggest that a lab/wirehair is probably a bad cross...
 
I've seen photos, posted here in UPH I think, of a little Jack Russell afield retrieving a phez.
 
I have a friend in Albert Lee who always tells the story of how many pheasants he shot with his beagle- he picked up his first ever pointing dog- a well bred female Britt at 7 weeks after choosing his pick from the litter- problem was- he sort of worked that Britt like he did with his beagle- would track and track and track- all over the field- mine would point- I shot roosters over the years hunting with him- he'd maybe get one- count on me to fill our limits

I had a friend up in Minn who had a good Golden and a good Irish- somehow they got together- short of it was- he wanted me to pick a female at 7 weeks and see what i could do with it-

glad to say- at 11 months she was a sure fire retriever- we'd work her with a real good black lab off the shore, out of a blind, and just plain have the lab teach her- wasn't too long before mine regularly beat the lab- lab sort of gave up- that fall- the lab didn't like getting beat to the downed ducks

dad thought she was awesome- shot quite a few ruffed grouse with her and I- wasn't very hard to teach her to range 30 yards to both sides and 20 out in front-

short of it was- she was plain good on ducks out of a blind, pothole jumping, and ruffed grouse

was I lucky, was she just one of those that had it- was the rest of litter capable- don't really know- she was good- as good as we'd ever seen- just was a sweetheart and a great family dog-

so yes- mixed 2 hunting dogs could turn out real good- but it's a crap shoot
and what does one do with the rest of the litter if nobody wants to chance it
or there are just some weird pups- as can be expected

you mix up a couple good dogs- have a litter- keep a couple, sell a couple, give away a couple-

the cost to keep one pup it's entire life is quite a bit- if you care to properly care for, checkups, worming, shots, injuries- and everyone is responsible- why mix up and try something when there are so many good bred pups out there- a careful person sometimes can get one that isn't choosen out of a litter for nothing- I know of a couple who did just that- but 13 years later- they still had spent quite a bit on that free dog

say if you got on the list- put up a deposit- got a first pick out of a real good breeding- and even at $500.00- it's really nothing compared to what can be expected you'll end up paying for the many years ahead

so- get a "mutt" or get a well bred dog
would seem a silly question
 
LOL, brings back painful but at the same time fun memories. I owned several mixed and matched freebies years ago, but never again. Pretty much all were worthless at hunting in the sense. Yeah they would try, maybe bring a duck or two in , but none were true gifted canine athletes. I too started with hounds. :thumbsup:
 
I have had some friends that have had mixed breed dogs that they took hunting. Some of them have been decent hunters.

But there has been a benefit to the hundreds of years of breeding in the "pure breed" lines. That benefit is gradually increased hunting skills from generation to generation.

But if you have a dog that is part of the family, and you want to take him hunting you should. You both will have fun, no matter what the breeding.
 
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mutts for hunting dogs thats like oboma for president sure the idea is there with unlimited posibilities but such a let down
 
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