My New Pup

I

IsThisHeaven?

Member
I picked up my new pup last weekend. She is a liver and white Springer. We named her Doc. I have been trying to upload pictures to this site for a week with no luck. I have tried a few different ways to do it with no luck. I have read the instructions and still have not been able to get it to work. I set up a photobucket account and went that rout and it didn't work. If anybody would be so gracious as to help out a technologically challenged member it would be greatly appreciated.

More importantly, she has been great. She is full of energy. She gets along great with everybody. She is confident enough to get into plenty of trouble. We are really enjoying her and she seems to be happy too. I have some birds I have frozen over the last few months. She is chasing and playing with a wing. She and I do a few retrieves every morning and night. She is going and retrieving the bumper and bringing it back to me. Nothing too intense or complicated, just enjoying our time right now.
 
Congrats. Would be glad to post the pics for you. Send me a PM with your email address.
 
My Pup

UplandHntr said:
Congrats on the new pooch! Tell us about her - what kennel, etc
Enjoy the ride![/QUOTE

The kennel is Breaking Cattails. It is Joe Stallman's operation out of the Alexandria, MN area. I can tell you I had a really good experience with Joe throughout the process. I am new to this whole process. Joe took the time to answer my questions. He responded timely and helped me out in any way I asked or needed. I first spoke with him late last summer about the breeding. I had been looking for a pup for about a year when I first spoke with Joe. What stood out to me was he told me about the positives and the negatives of both sire and dam, which was not normal, in my experience. I told him what I was looking for and he helped match me up with a pup.

More about the dog now. The litter was 9 pups - 7 females and 2 males. The litter consisted of tri color, b/w and l/w. I didn't care about color. I got tons of opinions on male v female and eventually just went with my gut because they opinions I got were all over the board, and they were from people with way more experience than I had so I just decided to go with my gut.

I chose a liver and white female out of the litter. She was one of the bigger females in the litter. Joe would send out a few videos of the pups every week. This pup stood out to me about week 4 if I remember correctly. She would mingle with the pups, but she would always go out on her own exploring. She was never out of control, just curious and exploring. So she stood out to me. I did not tell Joe this. My plan was to have him pick out 2 or 3 pups he thought would work out for me and then I would make the final choice. When the time came to make my pick the l/w pup was in the final three. The pick was pretty easy for me at that point. Joe agreed she was the best pup for me. I am aware picking a pup is far from a science and can be a crap-shoot. I did talk to a lot of qualified people and I read a lot from respected individuals about picking a pup. I felt I was a prepared as I a first-timer could be, but in the end, I kind of went with my gut again. I guess I felt all my research and information gathering sort of informed my gut, so my gut was about the best chance I had.

So far my gut was spot on. She has been great. I just hope I can hold up my end of the bargain. I have read a ton and I have a training program selected. I joined my local Spaniel club that has people with good experience that are willing to help me out. I will train with them regularly when we get to that point. I am a member at a preserve so I can get the pup on birds as much as I can.

I got to this point and couldn't believe how much I wrote, but this process was a year-and-a-half in the making for me. I did enjoy the process and I learned a ton. Now it's on the next phase, the real phase. My plan is to hunt the pup on everything we can get into: dove, grouse, ducks, pheasants, and rabbits. I am thinking about hunt testing with her too, but I am taking it a step at a time right now. I am spending a lot of time with the pup right now and she seems to be adjusting really well. Of course it's been frigidly cold since I brought her home so most of our work has been inside, but its been going well. When it warms up a little my next step is to get her out into as many different kinds of cover as we can get ourselves into.

I am sure you all will hear about the updates. I will likely be coming back here looking for some ideas when I run into roadblocks. I think I mentioned this. Her name is Doc.
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Here are your pictures.

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Well you are going to be very happy with your Springer pup, a man couldn't ask for a better hunting companion. You are about to undertake a wonderful journey that you will remember forever, Springers just have a way about them. They love what they do and love being with you even more. Good luck with her!

I still can't post pictures, I have my son do it. :)
 
Beautiful pup. I think the expression she has in the first pic sums up springers perfectly, extremely sweet with a streak of mischief just waiting for an opportunity to pop up.:10sign:
 
AWWWWWWWW! I want one!
 
Welcome to the journey! Springers are great and it looks like you've got a nice pup! Where abouts are you from? Maybe we could train or hunt together.
 
Great looking pup. Have fun and take your time. The bond you create will be worth it. Look forward to seeing you and Doc at training.

Brad
 
Great looking pup. Better keep your slippers put away. Just sayin-
POL
 
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