Heading dog x Continental pointer?

[Wales1234 5,490]

Just from only ever having one gun dog and that’s a pure gwp , id not be with out her now , she will find anything anywhere he nose is like a on dog pack of hounds , she speaks when she finds which is handy , she’s not a bushing dog as such because i hunt hills and moors she more of a finder for me but will keep up with the lurchers while hunting shes even turned a few foxes for me shes not slow and she’s 8 , my lurcher is a gwp x aswell I love the breed there just work focused and hard to go with it both don’t back down from anything 

[Aled 476]

Thought i'd mention this, my mongrel is a New Zealand Huntaway  x Labrador, he wont win a field trial but he's a perfectly acceptable rough shooting and wildfowling companion.  

[gnipper 6,426]

2 hours ago, Aled said:

Thought i'd mention this, my mongrel is a New Zealand Huntaway  x Labrador, he wont win a field trial but he's a perfectly acceptable rough shooting and wildfowling companion.  

Can he herd too?

[Aled 476]

No gnipper, perhaps if i'd trained him he may of...his Dad does though! 

[Neal 1,857]

I've had an interesting email conversation with a lady "oop north" who breeds Hungarian wirehaired vizslas. She said that, as I've worked kelpies for a quarter of a century, an HWV should be no problem.

[toolebox 1,529]

On 13/06/2024 at 00:39, gnipper said:

Can he herd too?

That's a common cross here in NZ, at times it's a lab x heading dog or with a hunt away. It's excepted by most that when the very first border collies arrived in NZ they were mated with labs as the landowners were looking for a big steady dog with a huge bark and can they bark it's huge in the deep tone and volume. The bigger types can be found on the north island, huge raw-boned things that are on the edge of real ugly. Most heading dogs seem to be a lot smarter as a hunt away, and come in 5 points white, that's all 4 legs, chest, tip of the tail, nose and collar, they can be tri colour with tan on the cheeks and above the eyes, the rest of the body is black. The breed can be very highly strung and don't like a heavy-handed owner.

[gnipper 6,426]

I've seen a few huntaways over the years on tv and online, would you say people still keep them because they are more useful for certain jobs than a more common herding type or is it just to preserve the breed? 

[Aled 476]

Thanks for that post toolebox that's really interesting. My dog was a unplanned cross, a true mongrel. However he has a cracking temperament, he loves people, and has a fan club in the village who are very fond of him! On top of that i have been really surprised as to how he has taken to gun dog work, he loves it, he sees the gun and cannot wait to get out to the field. His bark however....yes it is pretty impressive! Basically he's a pet dog, who does enough gun dog work to allow his master to go rough shooting and wildfowling! As an aside a good friend of mine sadly no longer with us, was a great gundog man and worked top labs on many good shoots (he stopped shooting and only worked gundogs for 20 years) here in Wales. As an apprentice plasterer he could not afford to buy a top quality black lab pup, so he got a "free to a good home" Lab x Border Collie, he said it was one of his best ever gundogs, and boy he had a fair few!! 

[toolebox 1,529]

3 hours ago, Aled said:

Thanks for that post toolebox that's really interesting. My dog was a unplanned cross, a true mongrel. However he has a cracking temperament, he loves people, and has a fan club in the village who are very fond of him! On top of that i have been really surprised as to how he has taken to gun dog work, he loves it, he sees the gun and cannot wait to get out to the field. His bark however....yes it is pretty impressive! Basically he's a pet dog, who does enough gun dog work to allow his master to go rough shooting and wildfowling! As an aside a good friend of mine sadly no longer with us, was a great gundog man and worked top labs on many good shoots (he stopped shooting and only worked gundogs for 20 years) here in Wales. As an apprentice plasterer he could not afford to buy a top quality black lab pup, so he got a "free to a good home" Lab x Border Collie, he said it was one of his best ever gundogs, and boy he had a fair few!! 

Yes, I have seen a number of Collie x labs, who have been trained to do a huge number of tasks, and they do them very well. Without doubt, all I have met have had an outstanding temperament. A couple that spring to mind were under my ownership & used within a pig dog pack.  Scamp, was my lead or main dog. He had a very good tracking nose and would go some distance to find a pig, once he had it cornered or stopped he would stand-off and use his huge barrel bark to signal where he was. He was no hero & would bail a 30lb piglet all day long , but he had enough bite and balance to leave a pig alone if it stayed put, that made him a very valuable dog. His booming bark came from some collie blood on his dam's side. The other dog  "Nig" who was 50% black lab 50% collie, who didn't mind mixing it with a pig up to about 100lbs, if it was any bigger, he was happy enough to stand-off and bail. He was killed in the line of duty after a friend took him for a hunt up into the mountains to an area known for fast fighting boars. Another close friend at the time, also owned a collie x lab bitch which he used as a all-rounder, a gun dog on the local river, a possum trapping line dog, and a pig dog. All of the above dogs were highly valued not only as  good hunting dogs but  as lovely family pets.Aled ,I'm sure your dog fits this bill as well.

[Aled 476]

Nice reply toolebox, i enjoyed reading that. Shows that not all good working dogs need to be pure bred. Cheers. Aled