Thanks guys! I just order the George Hickox video as well as Gun Dog!

Hope to see you at PGCA function too, Sheepherder. As a matter of fact, I hope to see all of you at the PGCA annual meeting in September!

Mills, awesome looking pup. Reminds me of my Brittainy Hank who just turned one. IMHO Britts have enough get up and go but no so much to get up and be gone. Good luck with training.

Mills,

Woltors wrote three of them and they have some of the same components along animal psychology, but training a gun dog is different than a retriever, water dog. In addition to Gun Dog he wrote Water Dog and Family Dog. Great reads and more like manuals to refer back to. I think in Water Dog he even mentions staying away from S named dogs. Learned that one the hard way though.

Good luck and have fun.

There may well be something better than a birddog pup, but it would be a damned short list. The boy and the pup will learn a lot about many things together.

Congrats Mills, Just imagine all the fun and memories about to fill that young mans life. Pups are the best. :)

Not to be argumentative Todd but I've trained my last 4 retrievers (Labs) to be gun dogs. My male might not have the grace of a setter on point but he can, and often does, go from retrieving ducks in the morning then working upland birds in the afternoon and doing it with a purpose that produces birds in the bag. He's got great style and he is my meat dog.

Mills, Great looking pup. Do yourself a favor and train him to respond to a whistle. All those books mentioned are great resources but concentrate on obedience first then if he has good genetics put him on birds, plenty of birds. He'll figure it out in no time.

Already have a friend who owns a bunch of bird dogs offer to help training. Things are coming along

More photos

Great pics! Oh man, those two are going to be as thick as thieves! :)

What Daryl said........! I had Britts years ago. Good luck, Mills!!

Its a valid point you make and don't believe you are being argumentative at all. Some breeds like lab and Brittanies are great crossover dogs. Believe you and I talked about this and pointing labs once before and how utilitarian they can be. Are labs the best on upland compared to setter or brittany, no; but because they like to please and have drive and maybe a nose they can be decent and some will even hold a point for a bit. Is setter good as water dog, no not when its cold water, but have knocked down a few ducks on some ponds and had a setter that was a dang good swimmer that would go get em with some coaxing. Are Brittanies good retrievers, can be and they can take cold water better than setter but not as good as a lab.

Labs are also good in colder upland game climates. Living in SE it is tough to have a lab to hunt quail or even for put out pheasants. That fat layer around them can really work on em in the heat and it puts too much strain on them in our climate. I will say this though what I like about Brittanies and labs is that they will tend to hunt close to you than some setters and most pointers.

Actually in Mills case if all he could have is one dog to potentially do it all in the SE, Brittany is definitely the best all round choice. If he takes to retrieving just get him a camo vest for flotation and little extra warmth and you'll be in goof shape. Duck hunt in the morning and quail hunt in the afternoon.