Tell me about Spinones

[pinkcantaloupe]

Exactly that! I’ve just lost my beloved dog at the grand old age of 15 years old and while I’m not ready for another dog yet, in the future I would love a spinone.

I’ve met a few spinone over the years and I love their nature and have had a good chat with their owners. I’m used to gun dogs with work and I have also looked after my friend’s pointer. Please tell me how you manage with all the hair, mud and drool! I am outdoorsy and happy to go for walks in all weathers but my husband is rather house proud! I am also toying with the idea of a staffy but I’m not sure I can handle the high energy, as soppy and lovely as they are!

If anyone could also recommend breeders to me that would be hugely appreciated as I know I will need to get on a waiting list.

Thank you 😊

Spinone's are far higher energy than a Staffy!

Lovely dogs (I see a lot of them through my showing), but I wouldn't classify them as being lower energy than a Staffy. Tbh I'd say they are higher energy than show-line labs/goldies most of the time!

The only thing I would really say about them is their coat's are a nightmare to groom! Not like a Goldie where you can just run most brushes over them and it's all fine - Spinone's coats take an age to go through. But they are beautiful, kind dogs!

I'm sorry for your loss, it's awful to lose a dog. 🌺

Oh sorry for the loss of your dog. Sorry to clog up your thread as I have no experience of Spinones but 3 live near me and they are GORGEOUS.

Please post pictures when you get yours

When you say ' I’m used to gun dogs with work' do you mean working gundogs? I you handle working gundogs a lot of what I'm about to say you will already know, so I'm sorry if it sounds patronising.

The spinone is one of the HPR (hunt-point-retrieve) breeds. As a breed group, the working lines are clever, active, very prey driven and extremely full on. They are much harder work than working labs, and a different kettle of fish from spaniels - and (English) pointers. They are bred to hunt at a distance (50-100m) from the handler, so you have to work very hard on control at a distance. And they need a breed-appropriate outlet and a decent spell of off-lead time, ideally every day. Otherwise you risk a frustrated, miserable, antsy dog, with all that entails in terms of reactivity, barking, pulling like a train and so on.

I don't know if the spinone, like many other HPR breeds, is splitting into show and working lines. If they are, and you don't want to work your dog, avoid ones with lots of dogs with working test wins and 'FTW' (field trial winner) in the pedigree.

If you can give HPRs what they need, they are fabulous dogs - I have two asleep on the sofa next to me as I type. They both get plenty of exercise, the chance to use their noses, and training sessions several times a week.

I’ve had three. The drool and muddy paws were unbelievable but tolerable as they were such lovely biddable dogs. All low energy. Could walk for hours but equally could loll around all day. Although very much bird dogs they didn’t have anything like the energy levels of other HPRs. Lovely, easy companionable dogs.

I have a 9 year old Spin currently refusing her evening walk and asleep upstairs. Yes, there is drool, and hair (SO. MUCH. HAIR), and she loves the wet, and the mud but I promise there are upsides! She’s not super high energy - she’ll walk for hours but will then sleep for the rest of the day until the evening walk, though that one seems to be revised a bit more as she’s getting older. She wouldn’t dream of escaping or running off from her people (I had a Scottie previously and he was a little shit for that), and is SUPREMELY sweet and gentle with adults, kids and other dogs, and rather wary of cats. She was house trained in a few days, once she found the cat flap, which is hilarious to think of looking at the 40kg dog I now have. She walks beautifully by my side, but is more interested in sniffing now than she was a few years ago.
Grooming wise I get her hand stripped a few times a year, and otherwise run a brush over her. Her coat doesn’t matt, though I know some do.
Downsides are that she’s hairy - I do kind of regret letting her in the sofa. I have to hoover daily, and wash blankets constantly. Also she’s large, and some holiday cottage owners get a bit funny about bigger dogs in their places, so I often spend too much time when away trying to dehair everything. I’d have another in a heartbeat.

There are two living in my village. Lovely dogs... so gentle and friendly BUT... huge prey drive! Given any chance they will disappear after deer and absolutely not come back til they are ready... the owners are great but every now and then there is a local call from other dog walkers when the naughty pair have done a runner on walks... (luckily we are very rural!)
Sadly my dog is scared of their bouncyness and size, but one day I'd love one!

@Sonolanona the HPR breeds in general are massively prey-driven - though there is more of a show/work split developing in some of them. They need a lot of training - those two spinone could get themselves killed (hit by a car, shot by a farmer, kicked in the head by a deer).

There used to be a spinone near us who would go off after deer, and how she didn't end up dead or cause an accident I don't know.

The day one of my dogs ripped a long line out of my hands and ran across a road after a hare was the day I decided I had an issue that I had to resolve...

My PILs have a Spinone, he’s 10 now. He can’t really be off lead, he has terrible recall. My PILs live very rurally and on the coast so he gets lots of walks. He’s incredibly droolly though and the main reason why I could never have one. And he has awful separation anxiety!

@mimiasovitch she is gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in real life you know!

I've never owned one though they are a couple around here - they're both very hairy, rather smelly and drool on everything. Lovely natured but very high prey drives and not really ideal for someone house-proud.