I had to put my German Shorthair Pointer down a week ago, and now I'm thinking about another dog. My GSP was a good bird dog but I live in a suburban area (Northeastern Massachusetts) and most of my woodcock and duck hunting spots have now been developed and I'm not a too big a fan of stocked pheasant. So for my next hunting dog I would like a dog for squirrel hunting, blood trailing and rabbit hunting, in that order of importance. Any recommendations for breeds and breeders?

Don't know about all three.
1- Feist--squirrels
2- lab -- blood trailing/shed hunting/ awesome all around companion
3- beagle -- Bunnys. wouldn't want my beagles treeing squirrels or trailing deer. Here that is a no go.
They could all make a good companion honestly.

Sorry about your dog. There should be no reason why a German Shorthaired Pointer could not work perfectly on squirrels and blood trailing. They would even flush rabbits to the gun for you. I have a good friend who raises gsp's and he is a big duck, sharptail, pheasant, and shed Hunter. He has trained his dogs to do all. If you like pointers, a small female could be perfect. Check out the North American versatile hunting dog Association, and YouTube videos. Pointers can be trained to do it all!

I have a larger jack russel that trees squirrels and loves to run rabbits. Besides deer she hates anything with fur on it with a passion actually. Her partner in crime is half jack and half rat terrier and will fit down a 5" hole- have taken more coon than I can remember with them in barns over the years. If not careful that jack/rat cross will find a fox hole and go in after it, either chasing it out or dragging it out backwards. She has taken on more than a couple badger in her time too. Never have tried blood trailing with them because from the day they were brought home deer were always a no no. I can have 6 deer eating in the front yard and let them outside and they wont bother them.

may want to check out a Cur. Original Mountain Cur is what I am going to go with. I have seen them sq and blood trail. Not sure about Rabbit but they seem so versatile that I think may be possible.

A well bred feist will do all three and do them well, if you put the time into training them. I have used feist to squirrel hunt, rabbit hunt, blood trail, coon hunt and to kill vermin.

Keith

My GSP Annie did blood trail deer, point rabbits and was from NAVHDA lines. But I never thought to try and train her much on squirrels. She retrieved a few that I shot while bird hunting. But she never showed me that she had any instinct to tree.

I'm thinking that a little dog that doesn't range to big but loves to hunt would make a good squirrel dog for the small 20-50 acre woodlots I hunt.

If these is what your after is a short range dog defiantly go with the fiest. i know of a few guys that bay hogs with them

We have a Feist that is a pet, not a hunter, but trees squirrels and cats hard in the yard. Not big on barking treed but will not leave the tree. I am confident that if he had been trained hard, he would be a great hunting dog. As a side note, he is very easy to maintain, very loyal to us, doesn't care for strangers, doesn't carry crap in the yard and doesn't chew things up.

Get a squirrel dog as that is most important to you on your list.A beagle would be a poor choice to squirrel hunt with.

A good feist is a real joy on a squirrel hunt. Don't shed much you can keep them in the house. Most guys break squirrel dogs off rabbits. If you let it run both you'll be hunting both every time your out. Seen several that were decent coon dogs also.

http://www.americantreeingfeist.com/

Most squirrel dogs tree by sight.Beagles use their nose to trail and are not naturaly bred and trained for treeing.

Sounds like you are going to have to get two dogs, both a Beagle and a Mountain Cur. My father actually had beagles, walkers for raccoon, various bird dogs, labs for duck hunting all at the sametime while I was younger. I've never owned a Mountain Cur but have hunted with some really nice ones, and I currently do not own a dog but a Mountain Cur I will someday. I just do not like to own a dog if I do not have time to run it.

Good luck on your choice....