Picking out my dog tomorrow.

southernblues

southernblues

New member
8 weeks old. Decided on getting a male due to my uncle having 2 females that he wants to breed.


We get the first pick -- been talking with the owner all week. Kids are going to help pick out our new addition. So when YOU pick your pup -- what do you look for? Aggressive, passive, in the middle? Biggest, smallest? With 8 pups there wasn't a runt to speak of.
 
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Nice looking pups. Of course I'm a Brittany guy myself.

Tough to give advice on picking a pup. I once had a great article on the subject. I'll try to locate it and post here.

I think it's more about choosing the right litter (parents & grandparents) than the individual pup. Any chance you can post the litter's pedigree here?

As for breeding your dog. I have my own opinion there. I am a firm believer that the breeding should be left to the experts. They study the pedigrees and characteristics of the dogs to insure that the breed is being made better. I think too many backyard breedings results in dogs of lesser quality. I'm not saying that these breedings can't produce good dogs. It's just that the very good breeders put a lot more thought into the process. We have too many dogs being produced in this country the way it is.

Good luck with your new pup.
 
I have always had 2 criteria. One the most aggressive in the yard and at the same it shows signs of being the most inquisitive. One I want it to not be afraid to go looking for something. And 2 to have the drive to leave the litter and go looking for new things. At 8 weeks, you get them home and things change totally. Like has been said before, it is impossible. I will say if you find one that is aggressive, watch it with the kids. They are normally very gentle with children. But if the children get mean with it, it will return the favor.---Bob
 
Thanks for the advice all. THere were intially 4 males and by the time we got there, there were 2. One was very passive and shy to people and the other was all about his thing and looking for something to do. That's the one we went with -- the first 24 hrs have been all puppy expectations (although he really knows me and my daughter as we spend the most time playing with him)...likes to follow us around and trying to play with our cocker.

Next question -- over the phone the breeder gave me pedigree information, mainy that they came out of the Rebel bloodline and Tequilla's Joker. He had all the pedigree papers ready to go and highlighted all the generations who were champions, some Hall of Famers. This is my first bird dog and perception would be that all dogs are considered "champions" based on the bloodline from both parents. I haven't counted them all but best guess is that it shows 6 generations of pedigree....if there were say 100 dogs listed it would be a safe bet that 75-85 of the dogs were highlighted with champion status. Is this normal? How far back in the pedigree can people really say their hunting skills were based on their family tree?

I wasn't looking for high pedigree dogs -- something close to KC that my family and I could look at and see the parents and get the dog at fair price. The breeder actually had 4 females and 3 males he breeds, nice operation. Quail Creek Ranch out of Pomona, KS.
 
From what you have described it would sound like you have gotten yourself a very well bred pup. Tequilla's Joker is a very well known dog. Would it be possible for you to scan and post the pedigree here?

I've had hunting dogs for 35 years. Brittanys for the past 13 years. The pup I bought in January was out of Godfather Gun Dogs by Denver. She is the first dog I've had that was out of field trial stock and that had a championship pedigree. She is a line breeding of NFC Bean's Blaze and NFC Lobo's Cotton Candy. She's turning out good but she is one bold and head strong dog. If I can get all that funneled in the right direction she should be great!

Congrats on the new pup. Keep us updated on his progress.
 
Congratulations SB on the new pup, hope everything goes well :thumbsup:
 
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Congrats on the new pup. I love them at that age. One thing you have to decide, with those blood lines it could want to be a wide working Brittany. Out in front about 200 yards at times. When he is being training I would train it to work at the range I feel comfortable. In tall weeds a wide working dog can be a hindrance at times. I like a 50-75 yards dog my old legs keeps up better.---Bob
 
Good advice , Bob. I'm already seeing that in my pup. She's 5 1/2 months and already wants to show off her "wheels". The other problem I'm seeing when I have her in the field is that she is also starting not listen to me. Exercising a little independence. The last two times out she has taken off and just wants to run. I'm going to start correcting this now. From now on she will be wearing a training collar and learning that I'm the one in control and that "come" means just that.
 
Agree with Dakatozeb. I decided on Britts cause I've seen them stay in closer to the hunters vs the other pointers but having lots of Field Trial bloodlines I may have my work cut out for me.


I've attached the pedigrees of the pups Dad (Southwestern Buzz who came out of FC The Rock II and Dakota Trucker), the grandparents of the Mom (Little Annie out of Gamber's Ace and Tequilla's Joker). Let me know what you guys think -- I wasn't trying to find a specific line just good quality hunting dogs that make good family pets.

This is going to be fun!

NOTE -- I can't get my file uploaded...it's 261k and exceeds the max allowed...suggestions?
 
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George, 5 1/2 months is a little young for a e-collar. But if used very sparingly you might get by with it. Tony was the same way, but it only took once and a refresher now and then to keep him coming on command.---Bob
 
southernblues said:
NOTE -- I can't get my file uploaded...it's 261k and exceeds the max allowed...suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you have PC with windows and Microsoft office, try microsoft office picture manager open the pic and up in the menu bar there will be a icon saying Edit picture, click on that button and a menu bar to the right will open up there will be a title saying "change picture size" underneath that click on compress picture there it will give you the option to resize the picture hope this helps.

MJ
 
Posted this in another thread....thought I'd do the same here. I picked the wrong weekend to pick him up from the breeder.

Drove about 60 miles to the breeder, wife and kids followed cause they wanted to help pick out the pup. We were leaving from there to go back to hometown for the weekend....anyway we all get out and my wife's cocker (who we left in the van) jumped in front seat when she saw the horses and dogs at the farm and locked herself (with keys) in my wifes van. Nice. Picked out pup and then waited for locksmith to make a 45 min one way drive to the guys farm...needless to say I learned everything there was about my dog's pedigree and family history. His wife actually grabbed my kids and toured their farm...I would have thought their last name was McDonald as they had goats, pigs, chickens, cows (bulll named Norman that had a personality) and then all the dogs.

Well, this was Friday and the weekend went all well...until I left for business Monday AM and got back tonight. Let's just say that my wife loves me....
 
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