Having spent the past 9 years with a fantastic HWV I lost him in October and got a GWP.
My reasoning for wanting to change breeds was mainly based on the fact that I wanted a slightly more confident dog - the HWV was always a little nervous around other people and other dogs. I was also after a breed that was a little more hardy to cold and wet weather as the HWV really didn't like it. The rest of the traits of the HWV I loved, the nature, the pointing of feather and fur, the tracking ability, he was a true all-rounder.
So I took the plunge and the pup is now nearly 10 months old. He's from primarily Danish lines, having Bryantscroft, Mustwork and Trudvang in his pedigree.
He's definitely been more of a handful than the Vizsla so far. He doesn't have an off switch spending his entire time like a coiled spring. In the house, around the other dogs and people he doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. The wife's 5 year old cockerpoo is the boss and the german loves nothing more than a cuddle with anyone prepared to give him one, stranger or not. He's as velcro as the Vizsla as far as I'm concerned, always needing to be by my side and pining as soon as he's left. From this point of view he is very similar to the HWV, just a larger turbo charged version.
Get him outside and he's on a different level. The HWV was very easy to train as he was relatively calm, intelligent and keen to please me. He did have a good prey drive but it was very controllable. He got bored of dummies but did enough to get the message and know what was expected when the real thing was put in front of him. The German's prey drive is off the scale. I'm spending an inordinate amount of training time just stopping him from chasing. He wants to kill everything. Squirrels are a favourite sport. He's now half under control but it's taken some time. As soon as we enter woodland he drops 6" onto his haunches and stalks rather than walks. Any movement and he's on point until he knows what caused the movement and then continues stalking. If I can reliably harness this trait he will be one hell of a weapon out stalking but it's hard work, 4 sessions a day trying to harness it. If I didn't work from home it would be very difficult.
He is as intelligent as the HWV, picking up things very quickly, but easily bored and with a much shorter attention span. It's almost a case of teenage cockyness - OK, you've shown me once, Ive got it, now let's go do something more exciting. I'm constantly trying to keep training different and exciting just to keep him focussed. Given the opportunity he would rather charge around like a prat and play the jester, or go and hunt squirrels.
Have I got what I expected? So far the German is very similar to the HWV in most ways and I have answered my two faults of the HWV, he's certainly more laid back, less highly strung and doesn't give a monkeys about rain and cold. The degree of his prey drive has surprised me which will be great if harnessed but could easily become an issue if not and I think he's going to take much longer to mature than the HWV.
The car analogy is probably a good one. If an HWV is an BMW then the GWP is a Ferrari. Not as comfortable but ultimately more capable if you can drive it properly. Not for anyone who has just got their licence.
Hope this helps anyone considering their options as far as these two breeds are concerned.
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mrs trying to get a before and after - 8 weeks to a year old
I certainly got that. I had GSD's prior and frankly, a lab just wouldn't do it for me. I just find them so boring.
