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By Julia Heidbrink
It's time for me to speak my mind a little. If this does not pertain to you,
I am really glad. If what I am about to say affects
you or someone you have seen or know... please take it to heart and think before you leap!
The German Shorthaired Pointer is a sweet natured bundle of energy. Your dog is chewing up the house or
being destructive to the point of exhaustion of its family, right?
This is a frustrated dog most of the time! Once they neared AKC Top Ten status (they are currently
number 9 on the list), it seemed everyone wanted one for the family.
It is reputed to be a great family dog and quite trainable and it lives up to that reputation all over the world.
BUT, if you think this dog will fit into your family, you are sometimes dead wrong. And I see those dogs all over
Facebook much too often. Rehoming our GSP for a myriad of reasons...
Rehoming fee (sale price) is required. After all, you paid good money for this too active, crazy acting pointer...
The GSP is a great hunter. It is also a great family dog. According to AKC "The German Shorthaired
Pointer (GSP) was developed in the late 1800s in Germany.
Breeders were trying to create a dog that would perform many different hunting-related tasks, based on instinct
rather than training. They wanted a dog that could hunt prey of any size,
both furred and feathered; point out game to the hunter; retrieve the game that had been shot;
and track wounded game. And all of this needed to be carried o
ut in dense cover in the field or forest and in the water. As if that wasn’t enough, they also
wanted a dog that would be an excellent family companion.
They achieved their goal in the German Shorthaired Pointer."
It is not a terribly old breed and its hunting instincts are finely tuned through the
process of developing the breed. It will point birds, squirrels, deer, l
izards, butterflies... anything that catches its attention!
It is an active dog and it needs training and this is where the GSP gets into
trouble! Consider any athlete. The energy level can be, and sometimes is to
the rest of us, off the charts. If your GSP is not getting enough exercise or is
bored to tears trying to fit into some families, it is going to get into trouble.
That is a fact, not a guess. Boredom often goes along with
not enough to do. This breed likes to have a job!
I know one person that has a houseful of GSPs and all of them are happy, well
adjusted dogs. No, she doesn't live on 100 acres +/- and she does not hunt.
She does love to watch them pointing critters and bugs and lizards that come into her
normal sized yard. I love to brag on her and how she handles her pack of GSPs....
along with the other dogs she owns. She understands their needs. She accommodates their
need of exercise and discipline. Her dogs love her, and they don't tear up anything.
My point is.... before you tangle with a GSP, figure out if you can deal with a high energy,
highly tuned hunter because that's what that cute puppy is going to
become in a few months! Beauty is only in the eye of the beholder, and beauty fades quickly
when you have learned the hard way that you are not the right family for a GSP.
And... don't even get me started on color, or on breeders who
sell cheap pups and give you no help down the road...
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