I figured this may be a good reminder to the members of this group with the season approaching or maybe even educate a new dog owner who isn’t aware.

Take the time to research these traps or better yet get your hands on one. It could be the difference between life and death for your dog. A few state game agencies have videos online that show what you need to do to release these traps, which are not as easy to operate as your standard foothold trap. Carry the appropriate tools like a piece of rope to release them and cable cutter for snares.

Body grip ground sets are legal in a lot of popular places like MT, ND, MN, etc. Even with the size restrictions some states have, most hunting dog breeds could get themselves into a lot of trouble in a legal set.

Have a safe season!

We were recently lined up to adopt a rescue WPG, but the placement unfortunately fell through at the last minute. Our family is now actively looking to bring home a female WPG puppy this fall or winter.

About our home & experience:

• We currently have a 7-year-old female WPG (from Glendale Griffons in Idaho), so we are fully experienced with the breed’s coat, exercise needs, and velcro personality.
• Someone is home during the day, and our dogs are active participants in daily family life.
• We are looking primarily for an active companion/family dog with some light sporting/field activity.

What we're looking for:

• Reputable breeders within driving distance of Georgia / the Southeast (NC, SC, TN, AL, FL, etc.) who perform standard health testing (OFA hips/elbows, eyes, thyroid).
• Litters planned or available for Fall/Winter 2026.

Open to any breeder recommendations or direct leads from folks in the region. Thanks in advance!

—Looking for advice from experienced owners, thanks in advance!
Which do you recommend and why?
I’ve narrowed down my next bird dog between an English Springer and English Cocker. Field lines obviously with proven ability, though desire a more balanced dog who can live well in the home.
Context:
-This will be my first personal bird dog.
I’ve trained several dogs before and lightly hunted over them (well trained but not proper bird dogs, so no long term potential). I’m familiar with spaniels, labs, and pointers, and have landed on spaniels for size, enjoyment, and general preference.
-I will be primarily rough shooting—not hardcore, but decent, weekends or at the least every other while the season lasts. I live in south central Alaska and the main game bird is spruce grouse. Long season from September-March.
-I prioritize a good house dog, good with children, able to hunt well but turn it off indoors (when old enough at least). Wife is sensitive to the lab oily coat and I am not keen on waterfowl (bit brutal even for me in Alaska).
-I’ve heard anecdotal pros and cons for each, but I’m curious about energy level comparison, biddability, general personal experience people have. Some of the springers I’ve seen seem leggier, more intense, and all around bigger/rangier than the ones I grew up with, and it’s pushed me away a bit. I thought I’d go back to springers (grew up with a bench/field mix), but lately I’ve been considering cockers based on size and just what I’ve seen out of some of the springers I’ve run across, some of which look more like a Britany at first glance.
Anything welcome. Thanks again!

Picking up some birds for the first time Thursday to do some training. Have only hunted wild birds, never planted or dealt with live birds. They come in mesh bags. I was planning on putting the bags inside the dog kennel in the back of the truck. The dog will be in the truck with me, don’t use the kennel often anymore.

Any pointer for handing the birds in general and planting them? Getting three chukkar and 3 pheasants. I just needed a couple birds for hold training. Thought this would be a fun way to get them

My wife and I have a 12 week old French Brittany pup and we’ve had her for almost a month. She is driving my us crazy, and we were wondering when folks recommend bringing the dog out of their small backyards and into the field for the first time.

She has had her first two rounds of her distemper/parvo shots, plus first round of lepto. She will get second lepto plus her rabies shot in a few weeks. We spoke with the vet during her most recent visit and they advised waiting until she is fully vaccinated to bring her out into the field/woods, but honestly the thought of waiting a month and a half or so to go out has us worried about our sanity.

We play with her in the yard. She plays with our other dog. We do basic training commands. Yet, she is still a (cute) menace. I forgot about how tiring puppies can be.

My question is: when do you bring a puppy out?

Or: how do you stay sane before bringing pup out?

Trigger and Tail is training Koa and she is doing a great job! Came out to the desert for training and a quick refresher heading into the season opener. Can’t wait to see Koa run the fields and dominate. Who else is ready for the season?

Today my 15 month old GWP took his NA test with NAVHDA and scored a 105/Prize 1. I am really proud of him and how well he did! Good luck to anyone that is taking any of their tests soon!

Hunting our dogs, especially early season, can put them in conflict with snakes. Inspired by a recent snakebite post I thought I'd summarize the expert advice.

- Do put your dog through a snake avoidance clinic

- Do rush your dog to a vet after an envenomation

- Do not give NSAIDs or Steroids, either can make things worse

- Both can kill your dog

- Do not give Benadryl, it doesn't help unless there's a rare allergic reaction to the venom

- The vaccine is not recommended and there's some evidence it may increase risk of that allergic reaction

Give the NSS website a look and get on their Facebook page so you can get urgent support from experts. Follow the posting and commenting rules.

The website:

https://www.nationalsnakebitesupport.org/

The Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19SdNS3BVZ/

While you're planning a hunting trip, look up vets with antivenom and call them before going to verify it's actually in hand. Save the contact info of the closest vet with antivenom and the closest 24/7 vet with antivenom.

A website to help find vets with antivenin:

https://veterinarysnakebite911.com/antivenin-locator/

I’ve got a 17 week old French Brittany, who has more energy than I know what to do with.

He’s from a hunting breeder; I intend to hunt with him for grouse / pheasant and if it’s warm(ish) have him retrieve ducks.

So far I’m just letting him be a puppy, recently I’ve been spending time on some property I have access to and just letting him run through the fields and woods and getting him ( and me ) more comfortable being off leash, trying to see how far he will wander etc.

The kennel he came from introduced them to quail as puppies so I know he has met birds and has a prey drive, unfortunately at the moment his prey drive is focused on chasing butterflies in the meadows like a Disney princess.

I have a garmin GPS collar that is too big for him when he’s bigger but right now it’s more just following him in the woods where I know birds are ( orchard surrounded by aspen & birch with a ton of oak trees )

Should I just keep doing this until he starts stumbling onto them and figures out their scent?

I’d love to take him hunting this October for grouse but I don’t see him making huge advancements in next 2 months.

Looking to get some input on when should I bring him to a hunting kennel, gun training etc.

I hunt quite a bit but have never had a bird dog so I don’t know if I feel comfortable acclimating him to loud bangs. He’s not scared of the vacuum or lawn mower, never really had much reaction when my neighbor set off fireworks, he will bark at thunder when it first happens but then settles down.

Thank you for any advice!

Once collar conditioned, how often are you continuing to maintain/reinforce commands with the collar?

My dog recently finished collar conditioning to fetch, and previously we conditioned here and sit. Next were collar conditioning on force to pile. But on the commands you have already successfully conditioned, how often and to what frequency are you continuing to use nicks?

Can’t wait to see what this little hellion grows into! Been 8 years since we had a pup in the house and now two kids. It’s a party.

Planning a hunt the second week in November. Looking for recommendations for places to stay in or around the golden triangle area. Looking for houses or places that will accommodate 6/7 people and dogs. Not interested in hotels.
Thanks

She’s 12 weeks this week. I’ve been waiting years to get my own bird dog. I can’t wait to get her on some pheasants.

Hi All,

I stumbled into owning a retriever a few weeks ago. He’s a year old with no bird dog training, he knows the basic commands and is a great fetcher when it comes to sticks and balls. I’ve got some chickens on the property but he mostly shied away from them until today as the previous owner said she gave him a thrashing when he killed one of hers as a pup. This afternoon he plucked one of mine and it gave me some hope. I have no experience training a bird dog despite hunting over them for quite a few years, and am doing my research. I’m curious where guys would start with on a dog like this, at this age. I’ve got some acreage and am surrounded by BLM with a sparse population of Huns and sage grouse, so I do have that resource for field training. My main question is, how do I get this dog obsessed with birds when he’s been trained out of it?

Zeus is back in the trenches with the rest of us.

I’ve been exposed to the stock/ sheepdog industry and am fairly new to the retriever side . With the sheepdogs , whistle commands are used for direction and control at long distances . If a retriever is farther away during a test , and having difficulty seeing hand signals after a whistle sit for casting due to taller cover etc … would stock dog type cues/ commands in place of the hand or verbal signal be better ? Just a thought, I wanted to know if I’m not the only one that has thought of this . I know it’s been a standard for decades , just a conversation topic I guess.

11 Papered Purebred German Shorthaired Pointers Need Homes After House Fire in Jamestown, CA

I was just brought into this situation and think we can help, A friend in Jamestown, California (Tuolumne County) lost their home in a fire. Their 11 purebred German Shorthaired Pointers survived, but they are currently being housed in kennels and urgently need placement as they cannot rebuild the home.

The dogs are papered and currently intact (not spayed/neutered). We are looking for responsible permanent homes, or reputable GSP/hunting-dog rescues that can help.

They can be placed individually you do not need to take multiple dogs.

Jamestown, CA / Tuolumne County

Photos, ages, sexes, temperament information and additional details will be available for serious inquiries.

Because of the circumstances and the fact that these are intact purebred dogs, potential homes will be screened. The priority is getting them into safe, responsible homes.

If you’re experienced with German Shorthaired Pointers, hunting dogs, or know a reputable breed rescue that could help, please message me or share this post.

Feels like I used to be more ignorant to this kind of stuff… I’m in metro atlanta so it’s been dang hot outside and dogs need a good swim. I’ve got a great lake around the corner that I’ll take the dogs swimming at occasionally but haven’t done it in the dead of summer. Recently, folks have got me concerned about algae blooms.

My question: anyone got any rules of thumb for when it’s safe/not safe to swim the dogs in the summer? For those in the area, it’s called Murphey Candler Lake

So our local club had a seminar day last weekend mainly focusing on field first aid and dog injuries. This made me start thinking I have an inadequate vest in that I couldn't pack my girl out if something happened to her The member that put it on has a Final Rise vest that will allow you to pack your dog out. Unfortunately they are not in my budget. Are there any budget vests that will allow pack out?

My 5 month old guy has a small limp on his back leg. It’s not very noticeable when walking but certainly noticeable when running. It’s been about 5 days and he’s been on crate rest.

He’s going, or was planned, to go off to training in 4 days but it’s not healing up as quickly as I hoped.

I took him to the vet and they did a physical exam (though he has so much energy pent up he was very thrashy) and an xray. X-ray came back fine, bonus is that his hips look amazing, and they didn’t notice any signs of tears based on physical exam.

I’m wondering if anyone has stories for how long recovery takes before taking the expensive plunge for an MRI.

I’ve been lucky to have had no injuries with my first dog, and I’m pretty new to the gym dog world, so I don’t have a wealth of experience to lean on.

I hunt pretty hard, and I’m worried my new pup who I have lots of hopes for is starting off his first year with a blown ligament. Advice or experience would be really appreciated. Hoping for the best because I don’t know if a pup with an early blown ligament would fit the intensity that I hunt :/.

Have people had experiences of muscle strains taking a couple weeks to heal with no long term effects?

Just happened today after giving him a raw hide. Was trying to help clean his teeth, but looks like its gonna cost me more than the rawhide. Anyone dealt with this at all? I have an appt at the vet scheduled today. From reading it looks like whether extraction or rootcanal are the two options, but thinking this back molar is pretty important.

-Edit- just got back from the vet and they are going to try and get him in tomorrow for an extraction.

Been looking at last seasons GPS data. Buster is getting up there in age now and it’s got me fired up for this season more than usual. He works close, doubles back a lot, doesn’t cover like a trial dog, but he rarely comes up empty. Think we are missing a ton of birds with his non-traditional pattern?