Companion Brittany Gun Dogs are funny and SMART!

We have 4 dogs living with us in our seasonal dwelling, a tiny house in Montana.  One thing I have learned over the years is that they are quick to figure things out.  Some of the things they figure out shows how smart they are and how cunning they can be.

Take for example the fact that they know when we are hunting vs. just doing chores.  I can get dressed … in the morning to do chores but not ready for training dogs.  Nubbin’ will watch me but will closely observe what I wear.  Should I put on ordinary clothes, say jeans and t-shirt, he just thinks perhaps I’m taking care of chores however, if I were to put on brush pants, he immediately begins to tremble. 

He doesn’t run for the door just yet when he recognizes that I’m about to go hunting.  He waits for the final sign, the jingle of keys.  THAT is the point of no return.  Even if I were to change my mind and decide to delay my departure, he is convinced I am going and HE WILL DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO ACCOMPANY ME!

It’s quite comical actually.

Should I leave him in the house and load all the dogs and start my truck, he begins to suffer a premature sort of separation anxiety.  He never has accidents in the house but if I should leave him in the house long enough to where he THINKS he will be left behind he does things to ‘punish me’.   For example, he will go poop at the door or worse yet, go to the bedroom to do it.

I had a dog named Missy in which I wrote a memorial to her on my brittanys.com web site that would do the same thing.  The difference being is that she would go to my bedroom and lay her ‘present’ on my bed pillow each and ever time!  Missy would even get me back if I left her in the truck to put out pen raised birds without her.  Each and every time she would leave a ‘present’ right smack dab in the middle of my front seat!

Are dogs vindictive?  After observing this type of behavior in American Brittanys over the years I am convinced that the Brittany will punish their master if they feel they are being cheated on a good hunt afield!  No other time does this behavior surface.  What does that tell you?

It’s like I tell friends and clients.  A choice between their favorite treat vs. bird hunting is  100 to 1 hunting to treats.   No respectful bird dog gives a darn about a treat vs a good day afield.  The bird IS their ultimate treat.  Many Brittanys will lose their apetite once they figure out they are about to hunt afield.  It’s the primal urge to hunt and capture.

I have clients from time to time, who have no companion Brittany gun dog experience, make suppositions.  They ask many many times why their Brittany begins to tremble when I start the process of taking them on a hunt.  I’ve had highly educated folks surmise with great concern that maybe the dog is ‘afraid’ or maybe it is ‘cold’ or some other reason.  I have to explain each time that the mere thought of hunting is so intoxicating and exciting to the average American Brittany that they are nearly a nervous wreck until they are released to do what their genetics tell them to do!

It is hard for newbies to understand the overwhelming compelling instinct well bred Brittanys have to pursue birds!  This is one reason why I don’t sell Brittanys to non-hunters.  The instinct to pursue birds is so primal and is such a ‘hard wired’ prime directive in their genes that to not hunt would be cruel in my humble opinion.

When I was a Navy Chief Petty Officer on active duty in the Navy I worked for a now retired Navy Admiral Bonnie Potter.  Her Brittany Penny would closely observe her actions.  When she would do certain things that clued her in that there was to be a hunt, Penny would run to Bonnie’s storage area and retrieve her game vest to hand!  Too funny!  Can you imagine not taking a dog like that hunting?  Penny is now departed and Bonnie and I  are both retired from the Navy.  That image of Penny retrieving Bonnie’s vest is vivid in my mind today.

Brittanys are funny yet extremely intelligent.  God knows how I love this breed and I know you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t feel the same way!

 Thanks for visiting and give your Brittany a treat for me!

Dave