Please read this before purchasing a bird dog from this Kennel. I bought a bird dog named Suzie from http://harriskennels.com/ in Kansas. This has been the worst experience i have ever had in purchasing a bird dog. We watched the dog work and listened to what they had to say about the dog. We liked so we bought her. We get her home, and she is completely not even close to what we thought she was. This dog has never been hunted/trained in tall grass, never seen a hedge row, and acts like she has never seen a wild bird, only pin raised birds that have to be thrown up. We notified the owners immediately with our concern and was instructed to give the dog some time to adjust to the change, which we agreed to do. The dog never came around and in fact hasn't improved at all. We were instructed to give her 30 days and see how she reacted, then never heard back from the kennel. I have just recently contacted them to see if there is anything that could be done, it has been 2 months since I have heard anything. Their response was nothing could be done, but they are sorry we are disappointed in the bird dog. IMAGINE THAT!! This dog is not worth what we gave for her, not even close. If you are considering buying from these people please contact me and come and see the product we got when we arrived home. I will buy some birds and take you on a hunt with her. If this is the type of dogs that this kennel sells I want everyone to see before wasting their money like we have. I will guarantee that they will not receive another dime of our business!! I AM IN NO WAY TELLING YOU NOT TO BUY FROM THESE PEOPLE, ONLY TO VIEW THE PRODUCT WE WERE SOLD BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR DECISION. Please contact me with all questions and concerns, donnie.isaacs@gmail.com. Thanks!

You say its never seen a hedge row or tall grass, so what.

What training has the dog had, that they told you? How old is the dog?

Have you ever owned a bird dog or know anything about working one, or know what the dog should do, or know voice/whistle commands, hand signals?

What are your exact specific things you thing the dog should do?

FWIW

What you need to do is put in a lot more info than you have.

Is this a started dog that you paid $1500 for or a pup with very little training and you paid $500 for? It's your responsibility to know what you're buying. Unless there is fraud involved. But the drift I'm getting is this is your first dog and you have no experience.

Suggest you expand a lot more to justify your claims.

I noticed he used the term "Product".

"...come see the product we got..."

Ive never heard any one refer to a Bird dog or hunting companion as a "product" before.

Like compareing a dog to a piece of office equipment or mechanical tool or maybe a computer robot that is supposed to perform some precise exact function.

Thats all I can decifer from his post

At this point, I feel sorry for the dog, It might be a fine hunting dog and this guy is just useing the internet to bad mouth the kennel. Maybe the only mistake the kennel made was selling to this guy.

???

I have had bird dogs all my life. This is the first started dog we have ever bought and will be the last. She was sold to us as started only needed polished to be completed. They stated she has had over 100 wild birds shot over her, NOT EVEN CLOSE! We gave over $1000 for her! She acts like she ahas been beaten, very timid. They told us to give her time to adjust and she would come around. This hasn't been the case!

It sounds like the breeder didn't follow through on his end. Trying to get an unsellable timid dog out the door. This doesn't mean the dog is useless but it will be a challenge. In this respect a decent breeder would not have sold the dog to 'just anyone' and a decent breeder will always take a dog back. Do you have a contract? My pup came with interviews and contracts, it was like adopting a child. We struggled with our dog and the breeder offered to take it back. It turned out to be food related attitude problems and diet fixed it, but I was so close to getting rid of my dog it makes me choke. And it wasn't his fault in the end, it was the food. In the end I guess its up to you to decide if you were ripped off or not. When my dog had his issues I would not have recommended the breed or breeder to anyone and looking back now i'm glad I didn't vocalize on the forums cuz it all worked out. Good luck.

Find the dog a nice home where it will be a pet and have a life better suited to it's abilities/personality. Sorry for your financial loss but there's no reason to make the dog suffer the consequences. You'll never be happy with it and the dog will be miserable and probably get worse.

PoppaW

I think about the only option I have is going to be taking it to a professional trainer to see what can be done. I am currently speaking with one at this time and will post back with updates.

You say you liked what you saw? What was different from when you saw her to what you see now? Did you look at the parents hunting? Did you do your homework properly?

If you want to give advice on what people should do before buying a dog, then by all means do so. But don't throw names of breeders and post links to their websites. This just smacks of a personal vendetta. There may be hundreds of happy owners out there that bought from the same place.

Send her out my way, I'll give her a good home...plenty of birds around my place.

I just came upon this old post but could not resist replying. I have trained more than my share of 4 legged hunting companions for myself and family members. creatures of all stripes from coon hounds, beagles, retrievers to a raft of bird dogs. For the last two and a half decades I have successfully trained bird dogs to hunt ruffed grouse in the Eastern U.S. What i will tell you is that my breeder gets about $850.00 for a 7 week old pup. In essence I'm saying that I would not expect much in the way of ability for a pup that cost $1000 no matter what ANYONE told me.

You have at least two solutions to your "problem". 1. It seems that the pup is young enough to take to training you might provide for it. 2. If you really do not want to train the dog find someone who does and will provide a good home.

In the future if you buy a dog that is anything other than a pup i.e. started, well started or finished buy it on trial and use a signed contract with all requirements and remedies outlined. If you can not come to mutually acceptable terms and remedies WALK AWAY. To do otherwise is to roll the dice.

Contrary to what most of the other respondents have said to you regarding using the kennel name I believe that if you truly believe you were agreived YOU SHOULD NAME NAMES. In the folly of my youth I was ripped off more times than I care to remember by slick dog jockeys. So when I met with an unknown breeder for a pending purchase in years gone by (I've used only one kennel for two and a half decades) I wanted a truck load of references good, bad and indifferent and not just what the breeder provided. I'm a big boy and can sort the chaff from the wheat and would expect a breeder to talk candidly about the good as well as the bad stories.
Likewise if you have a positive experience with a kennel you should shout it from the roof tops.
"BIRD UP"