[Chukarchaseroliver]

I was wondering if any had done waterfowl hunting with their english setters or anyones opinions on it.. my 4 year old English setter does upland hunting aswell obviously, but we thought having him retrieving waterfowl could be helpful. He loves to do retrieves and he loves water, but the only thing I’d worry about is him being cold. He swims in cold water often but I do notice him shaking a bit when we get out and we usually leave pretty quickly after that.. he is clipped down for hunting and he is very lean so I worry about him getting too cold.. opinions?

 

[Rick Hall]

Had one that worked ducks from Lake Erie to within sight of the the Gulf of Mexico, but mostly from the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers in the days prior to the advent, or my knowledge, of neoprene dog vests, And we got by until the water started to slush with a couple wool Army blankets and letting him run in circles to shed water and warm up after each retrieve. Between retrieves he'd lay on one folded blanket and be covered with the other. But a properly fitted neoprene vest would be today's solution to your issue - though you'd still want to use good judgement about saying "when".

 

[California Sprig]

I’ve been waterfowl hunting for 50 years and have had labs the entire time. Yes I’m a little prejudicial but that doesn’t really apply here (I am not recommending a specific dog). Don’t know where and in what conditions you hunt waterfowl but English setters are not built for cold water retrieves or swimming strong currents. They do not have the coats and undercoats for cold and cold water like labs and chessie’s. They also do not have the heavier musculature and the adipose tissue (fat) that protect traditional waterfowl dogs from the cold and cold water. My primary concern is the dog suffering from the cold and potential hyperthermia. If you duck hunt in moderate conditions and don’t hunt big water like bays with strong currents and tides the dog may do ok. Yes a good well fitting neoprene vest will help keep him warm but isn’t the ultimate solution in making him into a cold weather waterfowl dog.
My biggest concern is hypothermia. I once saw a guy whose dog suffered hypothermia and it came on fast. He ran to his truck carrying his dog and made it to the vet in 15 minutes. The dog barely survived. It was not pretty.
So while you can duck hunt with your 4 legged buddy I just don’t think it’s a great idea. I wouldn’t do it but it’s your decision.

 

[Rick Hall]

Sprig, I'm with you on using good judgement, re: hypothermia, with any dog. A whooole lot of Labs and, yes, even some Chessies, lack meaningful undercoat. (How woolly is your boy's belly? And if he's fat enough for it to provide meaningful insulation...)

You would, however, apparently be surprised by what strong swimmers pointing dogs brought on to it can be. My theory being that lighter bone structure may help them ride higher in the water, and my observation has been that the dogs riding highest in the water have been the fastest swimmers. Last Brittany, Kie, was nearly twice as fast in the water as the first of my Chessies to share his time, albeit one of my noticeably slower two, and replaced him when we hunted marsh. Kie could hang with the third Chessie of his time, Peake (aka: "the coyote") which had to be one of, if not, the fastest of my five to date. Don't recall how Kie fared against the second of his three "brothers," which cancer took at 22-months, and never raced one of my previous pointing dogs against retrievers, per se, but the pertinent point is that they were also fine duck dogs, aside from the same weather concerns I'd have for my retriever's, per se.

Hoped I had a photo of that last Brittany Kie swimming with one of his "brothers," but the best I could do was him assisting the second, and ill fated, Blue's, maiden voyage:

Hard to tell there's a few feet of water in that duckweed choked boat slip, but this open water shot shows more of his buoyancy advantage over heavier boned dogs:

Little fart could scoot on land and water, and it tickles me when one of my hunters from that time period brags on dog work that turns out to have been my "spotted Lab's".

 

[HNTFSH]

I guess cold is the thing and depends where the OP hunts too but imagine there needs to be some good training behind making a 4 year old upland dog and now serviceable duck dog. Steady is one of the hardest thing I've seen upland breeds have to go through that weren't trained it from the get go.

 

[Rick Hall]

I guess cold is the thing and depends where the OP hunts too but imagine there needs to be some good training behind making a 4 year old upland dog and now serviceable duck dog. Steady is one of the hardest thing I've seen upland breeds have to go through that weren't trained it from the get go.

That strikes me as a more "interesting" issue than whether a pointing dog can swim strongly, or be conditioned to. But the OP says his loves retrieving, and it could be they're already doing that from a steady start. Or it could be that he'll end up hunting waterfowl with a dog no steadier than most retrievers one sees outside the trial or test grounds.

 

[HNTFSH]

That strikes me as a more "interesting" issue than whether a pointing dog can swim strongly, or be conditioned to. But the OP says his loves retrieving, and it could be they're already doing that from a steady start. Or it could be that he'll end up hunting waterfowl with a dog no steadier than most retrievers one sees outside the trial or test grounds.

Well, there is that. Pretty sure I hurt a friends feeling asking him to leash his pointer in the blind so as to not further tempt my retriever. Pointer was steady on point/shot with upland birds but a small gaggle of noisy, circling Mallards not so much.

 

[ohio mike]

Heck,I've found most people to be the same. I'm sure Rick has had more then one blind full of bobble head pointers. Most are vocal when they point. "LOOK DUCKS!" Seems the norm. And to the op I say go for it, ain't nothin better then teaching your best bud a new skill.