Hi everyone, and it's great to see a fellow Sooner! Okay, I may be well out of my league here, but I'm an avid lover of EPs, and I was wondering if any of you keep them as pets and not hunt them?
Let me explain. We live in rural Oklahoma, we have an acre surrounded by pasture and wheat. Two years ago my husband brought home an EP for him to hunt with. She was to be his dog. What happened was life got in the way, he didn't have time to hunt with her, I was home all day with the dog, whose name was Lily. She became a housedog, I'd let her out to run and she would never roam. I fell in love with this breed, luckily the dog can get good exercise even though they don't hunt. Needless to say, she became my dog and my husband adored our closeness.
We lost Lily last January, and there's a hole in my heart which will be filled in a couple of weeks when we bring home a new pup, she's an Elhew.
I know you all are familiar with the exceptional personalities of EPs, but isn't it amazing the rest of the world has no clue how great these dogs are as family pets? And has anyone seen the new commercial with the English Pointer?
Glad I found you all, even if I don't hunt. I love reading your stories.
I dont think so even though my dogs are kenneled on rare occasion one may get to come in and it takes a few minutes and letting them check everything out but they are smart enough to know what not to do.
I live in Oregon and there are very few EPs up here and with all the rain we get it doesn't slow them down one bit.
What commercial are you talking about? If its a hunting commercial cool IMO if its a show dog well....
Now about them Sooners, they are winning but not by alot they need to blow someone out.
I think the commercial was for a car rental company, I was so stunned seeing the EP I wasn't paying attention to what they were selling.
It began with an EP in a parking lot, pointing, and the guy said, "Let us point the way." Then they went on to advertise something and it ended with the dog sitting (actually it was laying like a big ole baby) in a mans lap and it closed with "who do you think we are? Hertz?".
The Sooners almost lost yesterday, and the Cowboys did lose. We're a house divided, half Cowboys, half Sooners.
StarGrace...welcome to the forum. I have not seen the commercial that you are speaking of but I'll be looking for it. Most everyone that visits this forum hunts their dogs, however Mike Grubb a visitor to this forum doesn't hunt but has had pointers for pets now for several years. Yes the personality of these dogs are extreme. It is interesting to me that some families of pointers are somewhat aloof while others are the best lap dog you could find. There are a couple of fellas on the forum, Hoyt Dennard and Justin Weil to mention a few, that hunt their dogs but keep theri dogs in the house as well. These guys, in my opinion, have a huge advantage over me in that their dogs will be more responsive to them as well as higher degree of cooperation because of the time that they are together just hanging out. It makes a BIG difference.....
Now for them SOONERS....I was glad to see they finally made some adjustments yesterday and gained some momentum against a team that seemily has had their number. I think alot of it is the fact that the coaches like playing head games with each other....I am so very glad that Bob Stoops is always in Mac Brown's head.....Yes Ed I would like to see a blow-out but if they continue to play fundamental ball with a good balance on offense, they are going to continue to shine as the defense is very capable and agressive. They really are a pack of well trained dogs!!!!
StarGrace The EP's are the greatest dog bar none in the house or out, we have to females we keep in the house and they are still first class gun dogs, both are pretty much all elhew. One of our females is named Hanna at this time she has 13 puppies, she has her own bedroom that is where she and her 13 puppies are. She is by my side at all times when im home and rides in the front seat of the truck when we go hunting. But when she in the bird field she is second to none. So all the love and affection does not hurt these dogs at all. We have four childern and Hanna will play fetch till all four are tired of thowing her the ball. We even hook a harness to her and she pulls my three year old son around the yard on his John Deere tractor. Good luck with your new puppy!
Thanks so much for welcoming me to your board. I told my husband I had invaded a hunting board and he kind of laughed because there's no one else to talk about these dogs with.
Here's a treat I found today. We get the Okla. City paper, and as I was looking at the front page, over on the side was a picture of a beagle saying on page "One C" there's a story about an Edmond, Ok. couple who are doing dog shows on PBS, that they'd highlight certain breeds. So I go to section C, and I'll be darned, in living color is this HUGE picture of the couple, plus 4 pointers! I was so excited, but here's the kicker. When I read the article, it said they had thought about showcasing Pointers, but they're only going to do the more "popular" dogs. Guess I won't be watching.
Well, I'm getting ansty about getting my dog here...the breeder said he weans the pups at 5 weeks and this is week 5 and he'd call me when they're ready. I had major surgery in late August so I hope I'm ready for this! We have a Boston Terrier, but as my husband says, "she's not a real dog." LOL
Howdy Star another Okie here. I have two of my own Pointers which are in the house when home and if my place was big enough all 10 of them would be. The Pointer is still I feel much maligned by the old wives tale of them being an aloof, hyper, non affectionate breed, all of which I find very false. One of my home dogs is bred from Bill Trabues Doublecross Slim lines which as anyone who has been around them can tell you are high powered dogs, The other is a half Elhew with Gunsmoke blood in there as well.
I train for a large kennel and out of 60+ dogs I can think of two that would fit the old wives tales. These dogs love attention when the time comes but in the field they are business only dogs, even my house hounds are that way. I am getting ready to housebreal a female from the kennel for a man who wants her, hopefully it will go as well as the other 4 I have housebroke. One never had even a minor slip. They were easier than my old Boston Terrier Butch was to be honest. They are an intteligent breed far moreso than many other hunting breeds I work with in all honesty. That intelligence IMO has made them far more trainable than many will give credit as being.
Hopefully the rest of the world will open their eyes to the real Pointer and not the one that owners of other breeds like to do their best to rundown. The real dog is a hunting machine in the field and a big old couch hound affection seeker when given the chance. I will say there is one drawback to having them in the house though, ya just don't leave breakable on low lying tables and such. That tail can clear a tabe real quick LOL.
