- [Narrator] Dogumentary TV,
producing the best breed documentaries on YouTube.
(dog barking)
(upbeat music)
- I'm Cliff Leming, hobby breeder
of German Shorthaired Pointers
and Irish Setters, field Irish Setters.
I think there's a little difference
between an AKC, which you normally see in the field,
Irish Setter
and that's kind of my hobby.
(mellow music)
For me, I love to hunt because I love to be outside
in nature and I enjoy the dogs.
I grew up hunting all my life.
Growing up where I did in Iowa,
we were on a farm and we just had a ton of pheasants.
I mean I walked outside the house and I could go hunting.
It was a lot different back then.
This was some 30 years ago and we just had farm dogs
that would go out and hunt with
and I would hunt pheasants and shoot them,
and that was what I did growing up.
When I moved out here and as I got older,
I had raised hounds and then when I moved to California,
I had an opportunity to get my first bird dog.
Found a NAVHDA club and I started working
with German Shorthairs.
It became a big hobby of mine.
It's my hobby now.
It's what I enjoy doing.
As far as hunting goes, I probably enjoy the dog work
and watching the bird.
The dogs point at them, find birds
and the process of training them to that level
more than actually hunting and killing birds.
I started hunting when I was young.
I just followed my dad around when I was probably
six, seven years old.
I grew up squirrel hunting and rabbit hunting.
I grew up raising hounds.
My dad had hounds.
I grew up hunting Bluetick Coonhounds
when I was old enough to carry a gun,
probably 10, 11 years old.
I was hunting and Coonhoudning and raising Coonhounds.
That's kind of the way I grew up.
It's just been a lifetime hobby of mine,
what I enjoy doing.
When I started out with German Shorthaired Pointers.
I think they're an awesome breed.
They're just a real versatile breed.
If you want to duck hunt
or buffalo hunt
or whatever you want to do,
a German Shorthaired Pointer can do it well.
There's a lot of good ones.
That's kind of the first breed I really started with.
I enjoy it.
Enjoy raising them and training them.
They've done well for me.
(mellow music)
I got into Red Setters because I've been
to a few AKC Red Setter dog test.
I just wasn't impressed with dogs I've seen there.
When I was a kid, I really did some good
field Red Setters.
So I found a club called Red Setter Club of America.
I ended up finding a kennel there and I got a little puppy
and she turned out to be a real awesome field Red Setter.
There's a pretty big different between them
and what you would normally see in the AKC Red Setters.
The field Red Setters are generally,
probably a little smaller.
They got less hair.
They're more compact and probably a little more
bone to them and they just don't look like
a long skinny, hairy dog that's bred for showing.
They go out and they hunt.
That's what I enjoy doing.
German Shorthairs are a continental breed
as are the Red Setters
meaning they're one of the pointy breeds that
were developed in Europe to hunt game
and to point and hold the bird until the hunter got there
and could catch the bird and shoot the bird.
Same thing with the Red Setters.
They're another continental breed.
Of all the pointy breeds that we have today
are continental breeds were from Europe
and they are pointing dogs that point
and birds and hold them until the hunter gets there.
(mellow music)
German Shorthaired Pointers are very versatile.
They got a lot of stamina.
They definitely cover ground well.
They also excel in the water.
They've done well for me.
Water work and all the tests I've done,
the duck search portion of tests and stuff,
they've excelled at that.
As well as being able to go out and do all the field work
and find and point birds and hold their points.
They're just a really good, all-around versatile dog.
I'd say the Red Setters are more of my experience.
They're outstanding field dogs,
bred for that.
I haven't seen them do as much water work
as my German Shorthaired Pointers would do.
But that's something I'm working on
and I want them to be able to do with them also.
(mellow music)
I think in time, listening to dogs,
you get dogs that come from hunting lines
that are bred to be hunters.
They're probably going to be intelligent dogs,
whether you get a German Shorthair or a Red Setter.
You get by from a dog that's been raised not to hunt
or just a pup that's been
kennel-milled puppy-raised or something,
you're probably not going to get as an intelligent dog.
But if you find a reputable breeder that's bred dogs to hunt
and compete at that level,
then that dog is probably going to be pretty intelligent.
The intelligence of the dogs will learn to
find cover, to hunt into the wind.
You'll see dogs that have experience that will
work in the wind.
Naturally they're going to search and cover.
Part of that is learned, part of that is it's intelligence.
It's also something they learn.
But you got to have a basis for a dog to start
with, to learn and it's gotta have some
natural intelligence I believe.
(mellow music)
I like to hunt.
I've hunted in New Mexico.
I hunt locally.
I like to chukar hunt up in the high desert.
Just local quail hunting.
Primarily for me, my favorite hunting is
chukar hunting in the high desert.
I enjoy that.
It's a real challenge.
Dogs gotta be in good shape and you have to be
in shape as a hunter.
It's just a fine hunt, something I enjoy doing
just because of the challenge.
My dream hunt would probably be to go to Argentina
or somewhere where there's just a vast number
of birds and that would be fun to hunt there.
I plan on hunting as long as I live.
I plan on doing this, as long as I can walk.
I'll have a hunting dog at home.
I not only enjoy hunting but I enjoy
the companionship of the dogs.
To me, I probably enjoy training
as much as I do the hunting.
I just love seeing a puppy develop that I trained
from a puppy to a dog that I can take out in the field
and how we point and around other dogs
and see how the whole process.
Having a finished dog and watching the fields
really a cool thing to do.
I enjoy the process of training to that level
and then competing at that level
and handing over dogs that are like that.
I think it just a really cool thing.
It's my passion.
I will do this for as long as I live.
(mellow music)