IMHO, a big disservice to a hunting breed of dog is to not allow it to hunt. Hunting is bred into hunting dog breeds. I see yuppies leading all kinds of hounds around the county parks. Shoot, 20 years ago you could still take your pet hounds to the bear pen and test them out. But hunting dogs became pets when people forgot to be a dogs master!

My labs are waterfowl and bird hunters but also house dogs for pets and protection in the home. all of them that I have had will hunt hard. My rabbit dogs have always been outside and will always be outside. and they get plenty of attention petting and such. The hunt is in the dog not where it sleeps. Besides everyone one knows with rabbits hounds the music and chase is better with at least a pair or more of hounds, could you imagine trying to keep 3 or 6 rabbits hounds in a house LOL

NO! One ornery, hard-headed beagle to torment my labs was enough. LOL

I've got some french brittanys for upland game hunting and they are a bird's worst nightmare. They bond better with me inside, and we are a team. That said, they don't sleep in our bed, and they don't eat from my dish as I have seen. They're dogs. Not fur babies as I've also heard them referred to.

My "pets" routinely hunt themselves bloody.

This pic is from the end of a long day of chasing grouse and woodcock through nasty cover. The dog is tired and beat up but you can tell by the look on his face he is ready for more. This dog belonged to my daughter when she lived at home but I took him to camp and hunted him every chance I got.



I swear they dive into the first thorn bush they find whether there's a bird in there or not.



I'm going to have to get a pair of googles for this little savage, when he gets a nose full of bird no brush is stopping him from a flush.



They live inside but are not allowed on the furniture and don't sleep in human beds. They are taught manners and how to be gentlemen at an early age. No crotch-sniffing, food-begging, face-licking, jumping up on humans, rushing out doors or up/down stairs in front of humans...

They have the run of my property and can go outside to swim in the pond or lay in the sun whenever they want. There is almost always a human home with them so they have almost constant interaction.

I love hearing their nails clicking off the hallway floor late at night s they do their rounds checking to make sure all is okay.

I think my dogs live a pretty good life and I don't think it detracts from their hunting ability at all.

So, unless it's a pack of hounds, I don't know why anyone would want to isolate a good hunting dog outside away from humans.

I think a bigger issue is the lack of discipline and training that some dog owners exhibit.
Nothing worse than a hunting dog that does not listen and runs wild.
Whether its kept inside or out has little bearing.
I have however seen a correlation with owners that pamper and talk to their dogs like they are little children and poor discipline and training.

We got a couple german shorthairs, they both live in the house. I'd rather them be in here than some people...

Lugnut those are good looking labs. Tough dogs for sure. Rowdy is the same way, he will hunt through anything from blown pads to barbed wire lacerations.

Hunting dogs started to be pets when the breed (no matter which hunting breed) began being sanctioned in the National Dog shows.The genetics and instinct is still in many breeds/strains of but it has taken a 2nd to the looks, confirmation, temperament and "show-abilty" of the breed standards. Establishing a hunting or working breed in the earlier times meant just the best were allowed to reproduce and those genes not conforming were eliminated from the "pool". Aggressive culling and inbreeding of young dogs was the norm until a desired product was established. Bloodlines were a lot more critical in breeding. I'm sure all the dogs and posts above are legit but when you go through a lot of dogs (hunting) you will find more that DON'T cut the mustard than do. And that is due in part to more dogs are being raised in a non-hunting environment (for the puppy money) so other genes are ok there. Why do you think we got the eyes, hips and a host of other problems that the hunting canines have today? Part of a dog's "hunt" is between their ears and evaluating that for reproductive success is non existent in an urban life. Blame the Show Ring................ my take............. the mike

Only working dogs here.....

I agree to a point Wife. The AKC has ruined lots of good hunting breeds by encouraging breeders to selectively breed for a certain physical standard while overlooking desirable traits like intelligence, temperament and hunting ability. Irish setters were one of the first breeds destroyed by those practices. Back then a certain breed becoming popular with the non-hunting, general public usually spelled doom for the huntability of future generations. The golden retriever is another breed destroyed by being selectively bred for the show circuit (decades after the Irish Setters).

Fortunately there were and are conscientious breeders that care about keeping the desirable traits in many popular breeds. It can take a bit of research and a good amount of time but they can be found. They offer eye and dysplasia certifications for the breeding sires and dames in their kennels, something the show breeders don't care about.

There is still good hunting stock from most breeds.

There has been many a mongrel Dogs that hunt hard the same as there are many papered hunt dogs that are not worth the paper to register them. And I have a male lab that is not papered hunt, came out of show, that will hunt harder than most dogs he is around. Discipline and training is control and behavior .(that is human responsibility) Hunt is the drive in the dog, The more a dog bonds with the handler the better the team. the same as with horses and the human. but the human has to be in control not the dog. that happens no matter where it sleeps.

When they became the chauffeur .

Tired old myth that house dogs don't hunt as well as kennel dogs.
If anything, they hunt harder and cooperate better.
Frustrated, bored dogs hunt for themselves, not *with* you.

The more time spent with any dog, the better.
Impossible to spend more time with a kennel dog than a house dog.

Just another day at the office

I hated to see the AKC start registering more coonhounds besides just the black and tan. Now there are tons of people that own hounds just as pets. People living in freaking high rise apartment buildings with redbone coonhounds. Sorry, but that's not fair to the dogs, or the neighbors, lol. That said you can still find plenty of hunting coonhounds. Just stay away from the AKC and look for UKC or PKC registered hounds. You would think (maybe there is?) someone would create a kennel club that catered to bird dogs.... Start working on getting those hunting genes back in all the setters, spaniels, weimeraner's, etc.