GSPs

[Hotfeetcoldfeet]

Me and my partner have been thinking of getting a dog for about 7 years and think the pros are tipping the cons now. We like GSPs and have found some local litters for sale on Champdogs, which seems reputable. The breed sounds great but I think my main concern is if we can’t fulfil their exercise requirements. We’d be able to walk it three times a day for maybe 20/30 minutes and longer some days and weekends. One of us would be home each day as we do hybrid working and I think having a dog would get us away from our computers and out walking on a lunch time. I’m just concerned that the breed might be too high maintenance for us and we’d have massive regret so I’m feeling quite cautious. Would love to hear from GSP owners as to what they are like, their personalities and exercise requirements. Would this amount of exercise each day be sufficient to keep them happy and healthy?? We have an 11 year old daughter who has been asking me for a dog every day for the last 11 years!! Thanks in advance

The ones I know are lovely but hard work and have required a lot of dedicated time and training. Before getting our working labs we looked into the breed and decided they would likely be too much for us as a first dog.

Walks three times a day for 20 minutes would also not be enough exercise imo.

I’ve taught a couple agility. Highly intelligent but also sensitive. Powerful and need a lot of physical exercise as well as mental.

Lovely dogs but agree with others that they need far more exercise than that. And they also need to have quite a bit of free running time to burn off that energy.

3 x 20-30 mins won’t be enough for working breeds. GSPs are also not really novice dogs due to their intelligence and need to work. Your exercise commitment is more suited to a much smaller dog not from a working background (maybe a bichon frise, papillon, miniature poodle) and you will all be much happier together with a dog that can suit your lifestyle.

Thanks for your responses, that’s really helpful. I’ll have a rethink about the exercise and how we can up the time.

If you can only offer three short walks a day then you really need to be looking at companion style breeds, not working gun dogs. If you don't give a GSP the exercise it needs it will destroy your home - and I'm not talking about chewing the cushions or the chairs. They can eat through walls and sofas if they're bored enough.

I would also say that if you can up the exercise significantly, I would then consider a Labrador or golden retriever over a GSP. Similar size and build (and same category, gundog group) but much more biddable than GSPs and much better for first time dog owners. It’s said often on here but bears repeating, lots of people make the mistake of thinking they want a clever dog when they really want a biddable one. Labs and goldies are still clever, but they are much more biddable and therefore easier to train. There’s a reason they are used as guide dogs, whereas you don’t see many GSPs fulfilling that role. I’d steer clear of Vizlas for the same reason if they’re also on your list.

Three 20 minute walks a day will not be enough. The people I know who have them all do canicross/lots of hiking or work them as gundogs/do “pet gundog” training.
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With an hour a day or so you are essentially asking for a bored, stressed and large dog. Which is a recipe for quite serious behavioural issues.

If an hour a day is all you can offer you really need to look at companion breeds

I’d say GSPs like collies are bordering on the “not really pets”. They’re gorgeous and affectionate but intense and needy and clever.

the greatest challenge is their innate prey drive which means recall is often at best patchy. Put that together with a need to be able to run (and run and run) and it makes it quite difficult to provide a fulfilling life for them in a standard family home

People get hung up on x hours or x walks a day. What dogs need are quality walks. Not quantity. They need to be able to fulfil their natural function in a safe way.

Most trainers I know with high drive dogs (myself included) don’t exercise their dogs for hours every day but they do engage their brains in appropriate ways and make sure they have quality enriching walks.

A good hour or so would be ok for a pointer but they need to run and you’d be looking at doing some heavy brain work and classes multiple times a week. A city or town park won’t cut it.

TLDR: not for the faint hearted!

I've had almost 20 years experience of the HPR breeds (the breed group GSPs belong to) and currently have 2. They are a wonderful group of breeds, affectionate and capable of chilling indoors but they need physical exercise and mental stimulation.

Ours get about 35-50 minutes in the morning and another 40+ minutes in the afternoon, as either one walk or two, and almost all of that is off-lead. Included in that almost every day is a 10-30 minutes training session: basic obedience, retrieving (including directional work, memories and blinds) and hunting under control. They also get occasional longer walks - every week or so we'll be out for an hour plus.

They have serious prey drive, and they are bred to range wide from the handler, so if you don't understand that you have a long-range hunting machine you will have problems. I've worked hard with my two and they will now stay by me off-lead and watch a deer away, but I keep tabs on them all the time, every walk. They can wind a pheasant from 100 yards. They are happiest in work.

There are lines that have been bred with a strong focus on show and none on work in GSPs, short-coated Vizslas and Weims, and you could expect a puppy from such a litter to have less hunting drive and possibly just be an energetic pet who likes chasing squirrels. A good 95% of the dogs with working test or field trial winners or champions in their pedigrees are fantastically driven. They are eminently trainable (though by general agreement harder work than labs and spaniels), but you need commitment, dedication and a good gundog trainer (and probably the support, advice and encouragement of a club) to bring the best out of them.

Would I have another? Yes, absolutely. Was I prepared for what our first one needed? Not at all. Do I regret that dog? No, because I love the breed group.

Should you get one? Only you can make that decision, but they will eat time for the first 2-3 years - they are wild puppies and hyperactive adolescents. PM me if you have any questions. I am involved in a club and if I can't answer you, I'll be able to find someone who can.

Again, thanks all. I’m so glad I asked on here. I’ll have a chat with my partner and see if we are prepared for that level of commitment as I don’t want an unhappy dog and thinking of other breeds might be the best way forward for us. Thank you!