Which do you prefer as a family pet? and to do light deer tracking? mostly just as companionship tho.

been leaning towards a Lab or German Shorthair Pointer.

open to other suggestions

Beagle for what u want Penut rolling feildtrial blood

I have a jack russell that's very calm, has a great nose, a lot of drive and is very good with my kids. He has found 5 deer this year 2 of witch wouldn't have been found without him. When I go fishing he rides on the bow like a hood ornament. A lab or a gsp are great dogs for both needs but be careful,a lot of hunting dogs don't make great family pets from my experience.

More considerations need to be made. How much land does the dog have to roam? Do you plan to exercise them daily or does the dog need to exercise themselves? Big breeds with lots of energy like the two you referenced need lots of exercise, without it, they'll exercise themselves doing things you may not like. Smaller breeds don't require as much. Buy a dog book and read it. You may find a breed that you hadn't considered. Retrievers and spaniels are natural hunters as are several other breeds. For companionship, a livestock dog is hard to beat. They are great at keeping a watch over kids.

Unless youre just dead set on a tracking dog get a mountain feist. Im sure they could be trained to blood trail though

I'm a fan of big dogs. Never been much on small dogs. He'll have about 2 acres to roam and when we go to my parents right down the road(which is nearly everyday) he will have about 27 acres and other dogs to play with. Also the reason for consideration of Lab is because that's all I have ever had since I was about 4 years old and we had at one point 5 Labs at the house.

I have always like the looks of GSP and could never afford one until now and thought I might try one out.

I've also had bad luck with livestock dogs killing my parents chickens and turkeys and I don't want to just be visiting and the dog kill some of her chickens now. They have enough problems with coyotes and fox killing them they don't need my help to.

When considering a dog which is best male of female?

do A LOT of reading on a gsp before you try one out. I`m on my 3rd one and my grey hairs have multiplied drastically over the past year. love the breed but damn they can be work.

get a gsp, I wont ever own a different breed

I own both! I have an 11 year old lab (she may not be around much longer) and she is by far and way the best dog I have ever owned. She loves my 2 young kids, she has chased down every dove I have ever shot and she has tracked a few deer for me. She use to chase tennis balls until I couldn't throw them anymore. My 12 week GSP has been awesome up to this point, everything that I've taught her, command wise, she has learned almost immediately. I am working on training her to track deer and so far so good. She also adores my kids and follows their every step. GSPs are more hunters than labs but labs are way more retriever than the GSP. Both are awesome dogs, the GSP IMO has more energy and needs more room to roam than the lab, both should train fairly easy and be wonderful family pets. I went with the GSP this go around because I don't think I'll ever be able to own another lab and not compare it to my Sadie.

I'm a retriever trainer and train mostly labs but have trained 6 gsp and here's what I can tell you gsp need more exercise are for the most part more nose driven meaning little more
Stubborn. Gsp are are hard to force fetch even though I've seen labs that are very hard to ff also. There very active and if your looking for just a pet I reccomemd a lab.

I think I have came to a decision. Im getting a lab, im going to stick with what I know and have always had. That being said, does anyone know a reputable lab breeder, and or pups for sale? and would you get male or female?

I have my female being bred now. Her grandfather was Pachanga Magnum Force. The sire is a Cajun Roux Pup. If breeding takes pups will born around mid March.

Where do I look up pedigrees of labs? or dogs in general?

Hunting lab peidgree contact me , Jonathan Watts 256 996 4256. I can put you on what will fit you

Or go to my kennel page bear creek retrievers on facebook

check AKC and CKC. But Jwattsmojo can point you in the right direction.

okay! will do!

I pm'd you Volfan

Did you get your Lab?

no. I didn't DeltaRuner.