Congrats MAArcher!

ScottW: I have a K vom Kennedy as my current draht and had a "D" before her.

Well said AaronProffit and a few others who actually understand drahts.

If the dog doesn't listen, needs frequent corrections, crunches game, fights other dogs, etc... 99% of the time it is the ***OWNER'S*** fault. No, drahts are not for everyone. You have to know dogs and spend the time. Else you'll have nothing but frustration. German breeds are meant to have enough independence to get the job done on their own and just enough cooperation to work with you. Versatiles out do all other breeds on EACH task. Like having hound, pointer, retriever, terrier, herding and guard dogs... but with only the food and poop of one dog.

For those looking for a dog to do literally everything and ALL of it at the HIGHEST level, nothing else comes close to a "Do it all Draht".

Best versatile dog I ever spent time with. Trained one. Super smart. Wouldn't fight unless a retrieve was being contested. I was training a chessy at same time. They duked it out in the water over a pigeon. I swore the chessy was gonna drown him. Both were supreme upland and water fowl dogs. We would take the DD trapping and he would carry the coons to the truck for you. I've raised and trained Brittanies for 26 years. Never had a nipper or biter. It's not tolerated towards me or anyone else.

Was just revisiting this thread and thought I'd ad some more pics
Fight with a muskrat

The result of an epic evening of coyote hunting that ended by following an amped up Draht into chest high cat tails with a flashlight and a 22 pistol to finish off the second one

Next day recovery for a friend

Howlin' just for fun

Good looking dog, I'm glad you are enjoying him!

I was fortunate to watch the first ever Drahthaar obtain his Hunting Retriever Club finished title this past spring up in VA. He absolutely hammered the test.

I have a buddy that has two of them. He is a big bird dog man and also has a French Brittany, a couple English Setters, and a couple GSP's.

The Drahthaar is the only dog out of all of those that can go to the duck blind and the quail field.

That being said, I have yet to see a Drahthaar that can challenge a field bred lab when it comes to duck hunting. And that includes the one I saw get his finished title. He was done swimming for the day after that short test

I watch my Draht swim with other dogs and he looks like he's always just about to go under. I think its just that they are so densely muscled and without the coat of lab, they don't float that well. I bet in cool weather with a neoprene jacket to add buoyancy and warmth a Draht would compare much better.

If pointing quail and retrieving ducks are the jobs, I doubt you could find a better dog for it than a GSP out of Merrymeeting Kennels in Brunswick, Maine. My Annie was a better dog than I ever could have imagined and certainly better than I deserved. RIP sweet girl.

Can’t believe I just read this thread!

I’ve never owned or been around a Draht, but they sound like an hunters dream dog.

I’ve owned Labs and they have a special place in my heart.

I’ve hunted over Brittany’s and they were all the most gentle dogs I’ve ever seen. In fact, they were the only quail dogs I’ve ever seen that rode in the front of the truck with the hunters, lol.

The plantation recently acquired a GSP and didn’t know how it would compete with pointers while hunting off horseback…always associated them with walking type hunting. Not only did that GSP compete, he was Top dog on points at the end of season. Now the plantation is looking to add more to the kennels.

I have never been bit or threatened by any upland or waterfowl dog. In fact, I even have a few at the kennels that won’t enter their kennels until you give them a good scratching and rub down, lol.

The cockers that are used for retrieving are basically house pets, but perform flawlessly.

I've had two. Both were affectionate and great pheasant and grouse dogs. Problem with one was when you let him out of the truck on a pheasant hunt for him it was, "See ya later!" And he was gone. He was great at flushing pheasant 100 yards away.

As has been said before most training (or not training) issues are the result of the owners poor response to a situation. This applies not only to versatile dogs but most breeds.

I can now say if you want a good dog to track a wounded black bear into a thick swamp at night, a Draht's a good choice. Wes squared up between me and the bear when he came after us and let him know he'd have to get through him before he got to me! Startled the bear long enough for me to put a final round into him. He went down in some thick brush and grass so we evacuated and went back in the morning to get him out. We found him right where we left him.

Was a great track with the dog doing a real good job of unraveling the trail that was criss crossed with old bear scent and the added distractions of lots of deer and coon tracks. We probably tracked a good two miles before ending back up not 300 yards from where I first shot him (bad shot, too far forward).

Not a big bear, dressed 120lbs, but its my first and had a good time with the dog getting it done. Pretty fur, going to get him tanned and make a blanket.

I am a novice when it comes to training a dog to hunt & retrieve game . I have had a few dogs that where good enough hunters that i was able to find and kill more game. because of the dog .One thing I read about the subject some time ago is "There are no such things as bad dogs just bad owners ."Some dogs learn quicker than others .Some are more independent Others are more eager to please .The trick is to figure out what makes your dog .click .In my situation my dog is very eager to please When I first got her home at 6 weeks I spent hours a day just socializing with her Just talking to her and rubbing her forehead .If she would misbehave I would say Bad Dog and put her in her crate and leave her by herself for a while She learned that she did not want to be by herself .Now in order to get her to stop doing something I don't want her to do all I need to do is say Bad Dog .

Nice bear Great story on your hunt.

I have dk's. Always wanted a DD but I'm not sure I would want to deal with the burrs on one. They are very neat digs though

Ya, pulling burrs out of the beard is little bit of pain in the (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman), no doubt.

Awesome

I don't buy a Corvette with the intention of hauling lumber, they're not made for that. I don't want my grouse dog running rabbit or bloodtrailing deer, I want him pointing birds. I don't even care if it retrieves.

I've hunted over a lot of dogs over the years and have seen a lot of breeds. That's what I base my opinion on.

No, it's not. While I totally understand why many people go with the versatile breeds, and they are the right fit for many people; I've never seen them be able to compare with the specialized breeds at the thing that specialized breed is bred for. As you state in your next post, many people don't have the room for a kennel full of different dogs for different tasks, and frankly, even if they have the room, if they have a bunch of dogs for different tasks, none of those dogs are going to get enough exposure and experience to excell at their task, because there simply isn't enough time in most peoples schedule to to train and work four or five different dogs on four or five different tasks. Heck, most people don't spend enough time training and working with one dog on one task for the dog to excell. This is why the versatile breeds are popular and why they are the right fit for many people.

None of which negates the fact that they don't performed specific specialized tasks nearly as well as specialized breeds do.

"The ones I've seen do all things okay but nothing really well."

"None of which negates the fact that they don't performed specific specialized tasks nearly as well as specialized breeds do."

Neither of these statements are reflective of what's available from todays versatile breeds that come from kennels that breed and train under the German systems or NAVHDA. If you start there, you don't have to look to far to find a versatile breed who will point with the best of English pointers today and rival the best of labs at the duck pond tomorrow. There's a lot of variation within all breeds and it would be easy to find one dog better than another, but if we're talking about dogs operating at the highest levels, the gap between versatile's and specialist breeds is actually pretty narrow. I don't know what's available to you in Idaho, but if you were in New England I'd direct you to Merrymeeting Kennels in Brunswick, Maine or On Point Kennel in Deerfield, NH. You could go visit and watch their GSP's lock up like statues on grouse one day, then take hand signals retrieving sea ducks from the frozen shores of the Atlantic the next and track down a wounded big game animal the day after that, and do every task not only "really well" or "nearly as well" but "exceptionally well."

[/quote]
I don't buy a Corvette with the intention of hauling lumber, they're not made for that. I don't want my grouse dog running rabbit or bloodtrailing deer, I want him pointing birds. I don't even care if it retrieves.

I've hunted over a lot of dogs over the years and have seen a lot of breeds. That's what I base my opinion on. [/quote]

You're missing out. Bird hunting over a dog that can point with the best of them and is a tenacious retriever is just a joy to hunt behind. Who wants to crawl under a tangled blowdown to retrieve a bird when your dog should do it? And with a little training you can "trash break" a dog from messing with non-target species, but if chasing rabbits is really bothersome to someone, its probably the most legitimate reason to avoid a versatile breed, trash breaking just adds more work that you may not have to deal with if you start with a different breed. But I love rabbit pot pie as much as I do grouse pot pie, so if I can add a limit of rabbit to my limit of grouse, that's no down side for me there!

I agree completely that hunting any kind of game is more fun that not having a dog .You wll get more chances at game and have fewer cripples get away As far as what kind it is a personal preference Some years ago I was at a youth field day event here in PA It is an all day event where kids ages 8 to 14 can go and be exposed to all types of hunting trapping fish and different types of methods such as archery Iwas there all day with my pure breed flushing hunting dog and at some point a lady stopped and was talking to me about my dog She wanted to know if it was a pure breed .And I said yes it was and she spent the next 30 minutes telling me how terrible it was of me to get a pure breed dog She had rescue dogs and anyone that did not should be ashamed of themselves according to her way of thinking .I say get what you like and be happy with it so long as you have made a fair effort to train it to hunt with and for you .