Is there any such thing as a dog like a Pointer, but lazier or with less prey drive?

[RubaiyatOfAnyone]

Stupid title i know 😄
i posted this accidentally in The Litterbox before helpful posters pointed out that a Pointer was an unlikely sort of cat, so i’m trying again.

i’ve slightly fallen in love with my friend’s German Pointer. He is a lovely dog. I’m a bit concerned about the obvious prey drive for this sort of dog, and possibly also the sheer amount of exercise it would need to be happier.

is there any sort of breed or known crossbreed that has the looks and family-friendly temperament of a pointer, but a bit more chilled out? Thank you!

“To be honest I do not think the OP should have a dog at all ”

🏅peak mumsnet pet thread comment.

i must have accidentally given the impression i’m intent on getting an unsuitable breed with the intention to beat it into submission to act like another, or to neglect it when it won’t bend to my evil whims.

I thought i was literally asking what breeds fit the rough description i am looking for in a dog. Surely that’s how everyone starts their pet search? with some research and conversations? There are hundreds of breeds out there, internet descriptions are fairly generalised, and i assume the size of mumsnet means that many of you will have different breeds and experience. it is interesting to hear anecdotes.

My previous dogs were a Boxer and before that an English Mastiff. If anyone wants anecdotes about a dog that never grows up, or one that has a 2-tonne draught-excluder in its ancestry i’m happy to contribute.

I think the issue is there's so much variation between individuals within a breed so whilst generally you'd say that say a pointer is going to have more prey drive than say a working lab, there will be some working labs with a much higher prey drive than some pointers.

And re: dead things. I have two labs, the one with the high prey drive is all about the chase, she has never picked up anything dead. My other has very little prey drive, but loves to bring me back dead things that she has found!

What is it about your friend's pointer that you like?

I’ve got two GSPs with completely different levels of drive. The older one has prey drive off the charts, she has to be made to switch off… if there’s a critter in the garden overnight she’d stand by the back door until dawn terminator 2 style. Recall from chasing took a lot of training. The younger one is lazy by comparison, she’ll do anything I ask her to for food and she doesn’t engage in prey chasing. She was quite an anxious puppy though and it’s been a year of hard work getting her more confident in the world, but we are getting there. She’s never going to love an off lead dog charging up to her, but she can ignore polite dogs with no issue. They are both very intelligent, completely goofy and so loveable.

They get somewhere between 60 to 90 mins off lead running a day in one walk. The older one does agility, the younger one does obedience- that’s one class a week with a bit of practice in between and they’re satisfied with that. The struggle is separation frustration/anxiety that’s quite common with GSPs. I crate trained and practiced separation from day 1, I can leave them home alone for 2-3 hours max. So someone has to be around or my dog walker has them all day if no one is going to be home during the day.

Not sure if any of this helps, research the temperament of the parents if you do go for it, both of mine are carbon copies of their mother! The older one has a German grandparent, and a German “import” within the immediate family is supposed to be a good indicator of high drive. They don’t need loads of exercise, they just need a job

Our first HPR was a vizsla. He was a wonderful, empathetic dog, but he had a lot of prey drive. HPRs in general are known amongst people who work gundogs as being a different ballgame from labs and even spaniels.

@schloss
A previous post about the people changing their whole lifestyle to fit in with a GSP - I wonder if they have put in the effort to find suitable training for it - walking an HPR 3 hours a day without any mental stimulation is just asking for problems.
I wondered the same. A bored HPR will be an absolute pain in the arse. My two (both out of working parents, one out of trialling lines) get between an hour and 2 hours+ off-lead time each day. Almost every day, anything between 10 minutes and an hour is devoted to training.

It keeps them both happy and fit.

Our daughter has a Lab/Pointer cross.
She has the best of both breeds, she is the nicest dog I have ever known.