How big is your gun
dog? Regardless of
whether you hunt with a pointer, retriever, or flusher of any
particular breed, there are often considerable differences in
size between individual dogs of the same breed. For example,
I have two English pointers. One of them weighs close to 60 pounds
and the other dog is closer to 30 pounds and physically is about
half the size of the bigger dog.
Given equal ability and temperament, would you take a dog that
is on the larger size of a particular breed or want something
smaller? Or does size really matter? Some would go for the larger
dog with the thought that it would be better able to bust through
heavy cover. However, others would counter that argument by suggesting
that smaller dogs can effectively get down into tight places.
Health issues and dog food costs could also come into play here
as well, but in reality they comprise only a small part in the
overall picture.
To get a feel for what gun dog owners thought about the dog size
issue, I asked a number of them for their opinions on dog size
and, as expected, got a variety of answers. |
One said, "Size sometimes matters.
In rough country a dog that is too heavy breaks down faster and
can't go the distance. For example, I've seen a few people hunting
chukars with Labradors. Within an hour the dog would be at heel,
exhausted. They are just too heavy for this work. On the other
hand, I have a leggy, lightly built, setter that can and does
go for hours in this rough country."
A second gun dog owner said that he likes the smaller dogs, but
he added, "You can get too small." He indicated that
he liked his female pointers to run 40-45 pounds and his males
about 50-55 pounds.
Another hunter, who pursues both upland birds and waterfowl,
says, "Smaller dogs slip through the heavier grouse/woodcock
cover with less effort. Also, in a small duck boat more dog means
less |
room for decoys, a critical issue when
you hunt divers." He adds, "For the way I hunt, my
36 pound English Springer Spaniel is plenty big."
"I like the smaller frame, longer legs of the French Brittany,"
proclaims another dog man. "These dogs can get into brush
that the larger dogs pass up on a regular basis. Being small,
they also seem to stay closer to the gun, which is what I want
in a bird dog.
A hunter who favors English Setters claims that he like his females
to weigh between 30 and 36 pounds and the males to weigh in between
38 and 42 pounds. He admits, however, that he has no scientific
basis for preferring these weights.
Other hunters like heavier dogs as indicated by the fellow who
told me, "Certainly, there are all types of dogs bred for
individual tastes, but I prefer females around 40 pounds and
males no more than the low fifty's." He went on to say,
"In most instances a pointing dog is better off to not be
a heavily built dog. Dissipating body heat is generally a prime
concern. A more lightly built dog generates less heat and has
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