With my first GSP, I bought it from a guy that told me how awesome he was gonna be......but he never told me about the mother being "gun shy" until about 6 months after the dog was in my yard. Jake eventually ended up being "gun shy" too, and I was stuck with a great family dog, but not much of a hunting dog.
I went without a hunting dog until I got Gus, my next GSP. Now he is a great hunting dog, hunts hard all day, works hard too, but does not have the manners that Jake did. I talked to the breeder and he asked me what I wanted in a dog and I told him "I want a dog that can hunt all day and I will quit before he does", he said "this is the dog for you". He wasn't lying. Gus is a hunting machine, he was out working, pointing, retrieving dogs that were twice his age. The more I worked with him the better he got. Do I think that this dog is the best or field trial champ? probly not, but he works for me. I don't know that I am gonna breed him either, he is still too young to see if he has desireable traits. I think that is why breeders, and I mean good breeders, are such a valuable asset to the rest of us out there. IMO the breeders are out there with their dogs everyday, working them and getting to know what their dogs are capable of doing, they are pros. If they don't like what they are seeing, the dog is getting culled. Not fit for breeding because there are some traits that they are not happy with. It is amazing that dog guys like some of the guys around here are so good at what they do. They are also very humble as well. YOU guys know who you are so I don't have to name you.
When I got Tug, from Wackmaster, I wanted a hunting partner that wasn't gonna PU$$ out on me and stay in bed on a cold day. My kids love this dog, as does my wife. I have started to train him, but I still don't think that he is half the dog that he could be if I was out there training everyday like some of the ADC guys. He is learning a bunch, but he has the natural instinct to chew on fur. He has done that since I brought him home, hasn't change a bit either. Do I think that I am gonna breed him? WAY TO EARLY for me to decide because I am not like some of the other guys around here that know that much about dogs. Like someone was saying, "they will get into the trash and eat and poop just like any other dog", that's all I know. Tug eats and poops and likes to chew on fur and loves my little girl, that is all I know for sure.