German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[Keith]

I have two wirehairs I hunt right now. The only thing they have in common is that they are the same breed. They are from two different kennels. My female is obsessed with hunting. She never quits, never. Her whole life is hunting. She is suspicious of strangers at home and will bark at them. In the field she will ignore them or cautiously approach them and smell them. She is the first wirehair I have owned that learned on her own to sit and watch for ducks. She knows if she sits there long enough and watches the sky a duck will show up. She has never refused a retrieve no matter how severe the conditions. She will also dive down and pull a duck out of the water. She is a very active dog and always on the go. Quail hunting she finds a lot of birds. She also tracks a lot and finds a lot of her birds this way. But she will also run with her head up to find birds. My male is a much calmer dog. I used my female this year almost exclusively for duck hunting because I didn't want to mess with two dogs. I only took him on one duck hunt. He didn't know what was going on. He acutally fell asleep in the duck blind. She was outside the duck blind scouring the skies looking for ducks. When hunting he will always want to play with her when first let out of the truck. She likes to play in the yard but is all business in the field. This was his first full hunting season and by the end of the year he was finding almost as many birds as she does. He rarely tracks unless it is a hot scent. His retrieving instincts are very strong and he has a knack for finding the birds and bringing them to me before she finds them. Many times this year I had both dogs bringing back birds at the same time. He will bring me other animals too. This year he has brought me 2 live possums and one dead skunk. On the last hunt he also brought me a half eaten gadwall that he found. He is a real sweet dog that loves everyone he meets even at home in his own yard. I never really used him for duck hunting this year because I had her and just wanted him to learn how to hunt and find upland game. He also learned how to back her. On our last hunt she found a wounded mallard in the half frozen water. She took out after it. She swam out of sight but I didn't worry about her because it wasn't on the main lake and she could reach the bank whenever she wanted to. But he just sat there and watched her chase it. This really worried me so when I got home I took him alone out to a pond. When he was walking by the edge of the water I shot my shotgun and threw a dummy as far as I could. He went right in and retrieved it to me. He always did good in the water during the summer when I worked him. I don't know why he didn't join in with her and the duck. I think without her there he would have done fine. I don't know which dog I like better. I think the average person would like him better. He is a very calm dog. But in the field he hunts hard and ranges well. He is the first wirehair I ever owned that never fought the leash. Not at all. He would just stand there. She is so full of energy that I don't think the average person could handle her. She would be to much. But I like her obsession with birds and hunting. I like her never say die attitude. Forgive me for rambling on but I was just sitting here thinking about my now closed hunting season and thinking about next year.

[Patsy]

Your two sound alot like mine. Maybe your male was simply honoring by not going in the water after the duck. It sounds like she is the ALPHA and he is just respecting her.