Spectacular Pointing Lab Breeding!!.. pups due 1st week of April, 2011.

[Zbirdman]

UPDATE: 24May11 - BEAR PASSED THE APLA MASTER TEST 2 MORE TIMES THIS PAST WEEKEND IN ALEXANDRIA, SD AND IS NOW A 4XGMPR!! THERE ARE 3 SUPER NICE FEMALES LEFT!! SOME PUPS ARE ALREADY POINTING AT 6 WEEKS!!

The pups have arrived!!! Molly had 9 gorgeous large/healthy pups this morning - 4APr11!! (2 Yellow Males, 2 Black Males, 5 Black Females)

Price = $1,200 OBO

A $250 deposit will secure your pick and hold your pup until he/she is ready to go home with you the first week of June!

If you are looking for a fantastic upland/waterfowl hunter or hunt test dog, you owe it to yourself to check out this litter! They are going to be pointing / retrieving athletes!! These dogs will not be slow, plodding type upland hunters. They will work close but waste no time covering ground!

3XGMPR HR Clouds Bold Bear if Nereus SH X MPR HR TRP Smokin Molly McGee JH

This is a very, very nice breeding between two pretty special dogs! Both Bear and Molly are great waterfowl and upland hunters, as well as, disciplined hunt test dogs. Both are instinctive/natural pointers and strong retrievers.

These are serious hunting dogs owned by serious hunters!!

Bear has been on over 50 pheasant and several waterfowl hunts in ND, SD, KS and CO in the last 3 years.

Molly has retrieved over 500 ducks, geese and pheasant in the last 3 years! She is known to be one of the best marking dogs you will ever see!

Here are some links to videos of Bear both pheasant and goose hunting (First one is almost 9 min long, but the rest are just clips that never made it inot the big video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY8ocsPNKts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBC8gID_KP4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJVgADqJMZ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jms2kLzJBV8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUE61AaUUjg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdMssoW4vQ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqy_IgPYZO0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-9SqEOL8f4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjMA3Nfp_b4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INF5MSh1YoI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqItHU7cdPc

He is as smart as they come, is super trainable, has endless energy to hunt upland or waterfowl, points like a rock, is super friendly and mellow at home.

His on/off switch is a good as it gets! Bear is the ideal hunting family dog! (He's pretty darn handsome too!!)

At 3 years old last summer, Bear achieved his APLA 2X Grand Master Pointing Retriever, AKC Senior Hunter and HRC Hunting Retriever (Seasoned Retriever) titles.

Our goal is for him to become a APLA 4X-Grand Master, AKC Master Hunter and HRC Hunting Retriever Champion by the end of this summer. He already passed his first attempt at the HRC Finished Test last summer. According to the APLA website, there are only two other dogs in history with all three titles!!!!

Seven of the current 25 4X-Grand Master pointing labs are related to Bear!!

Bear is clear on every genetic test known for labs!! (EIC, CNM, PRA, RD/OSD) and has excellent hips and normal CERF, elbows and heart!

Molly has her APLA Master Pointing Retriever, AKC JH and HRC Hunting Retriever titles. After she finishes raising these pups, she should complete her AKC Senior Hunter and HRC Hunting Retriever Champion Titles this summer.

Molly's parents are both 4X Grand Master Pointing Retrievers AND she has 5 FC/AFC field trial dogs on her pedigree too, including Ebonstar James, Lean Mac, Super PIC, MS Chief and Rebel with a Cause.

Molly is PRA Clear, CNM Clear and she has good hips and normal elbows.

The American Pointing Lab Association (APLA) just recently announced a new APLA Hall of Fame to recognize the best pointing labs of all time. Six dogs were inducted into the HOF. The pups in this litter will have 5 of the 6 dogs in their extended pedigree and 10 total occurrences of those dogs!!!

A Bit more on Bear....

Just to give you an idea of the quality of Bear's upland hunting skills, a few weeks back we entered our first run & gun pheasant hunting competition, the Colorado State Pheasant Hunting Championship (a Bird Dog Challenge event).

We entered the Top Gun true pointing division against over 30 German Shorthair Pointers. Bear's performance was flawless! His time on the first day was good enough for 1st or 2nd (depending upon the tie breaker) and his time on the second day was good enough for 3rd. Only one problem, his owner (me) was shooting for Bear that day and only bagged 3 of the 4 birds on both days! ...(and, yes, I will be spending some time at the skeet, trap and sporting clay range this summer... so, next time, I can do my dog justice!!)

OFA/CERF Info:
Sire CERF LR-56416
Dam CERF LR-56004
Sire OFA LR-186844E35M-VPI
Dam OFA LR-178045G24F-PI

If you are interested in a pointing lab, it could be tough to find a better breeding than this!!

Please call 970-215-6031 if you have any interest in this litter.

(P.S. The "war paint" on Bear's neck below is from the 19 pheasant retrieves he had that day! It amazing what shows up on a light colored dog!!)

 

[Zbirdman]

Bear does it again - twice!

Bear passed the master pointing test twice in Higginsville, MO this past weekend (April 16th and 17th). Thats six master passes in a row, so he is now a 3XGMPR. Two more passes to go and he will max out as a 4XGMPR!! There are still some pups available!!

 

[RoosterFetcher]

GREAT LOOKING DOGS Zbirdman!!! Love the pedigree and the fact that they are proven.

 

[Zbirdman]

Update 24may11

Bear passed the master pointing test twice in Alexandria, SD this past weekend and is now a 4XGMPR!!!.... which is the highest APLA title, so he is now retired from APLA events...

 

[Wheeler6]

that's an amazing dog, great looking pups. what material do you recommend to learn how to train a pup like you did Bear?

 

[Zbirdman]

Thanks Wheeler6!!

that's an amazing dog, great looking pups. what material do you recommend to learn how to train a pup like you did Bear?

I trained Bear the "hard way". I really had no idea what I was doing, nor, did I have any plan to compete in hunt tests, in fact, I really didn't even know that they existed.

Bear has had a serious disadvantage.. rookie / amateur trainer all the way.

I can't imagine what he could have been with a real knowledgeable trainer from the get-go!!

I was not even smart enough to go out a buy a good video series to follow (either didn't know they existed or was too cheap.. don't recall.)

What I did do was the following:

1. Made a lot of stuff up on my own (some good, some not-so-good)

2. Worked with Bear a lot.. from 7 weeks on. (Nearly every day!)

3. Bought Julie Knutson's book on training pointing labs

4. Pulled up a lot of free stuff on line from sources like: youtube, gundogsonline, ducks unlimited. Those and other sites have short training clips on various training techniques (i.e. Baseball, T, Double T for handling.. wagon wheel for lining etc..)

5. Did not buy an e-collar until he was nearly 3 (he's 4 now).. this was good for positive attitude.. but has caused some quirks now too.. (he tends to pop on blinds during tests.. turns and sits on his own before i ask him to.) Gotta get that fixed for the AKC MH... Will start with E-collar earlier on next pup (due in 2 weeks, by the way... his son.... one of the yellows in the pic.)

(.. by the way, Bear never, ever pops in training or real hunting.. only in tests!.. making it tough to fix!)


6. I forgot that I did by the Wolters "Water Dog" DVD early on too... shows some basic stuff.

7. Now, as I have been struggling with this popping problem, I just bought the following DVD series:

- Judy Aycock & Danny Farmer (Two sets.. Basics and Solving Problems)

- Mike Lardy (Two sets... Total Retriever Training and Total Retriever Marking

Hope that helps!

Bob

P.S. I also used a lot of positive reinforcement techniques (called lure and reward) vs the typical aversive type of training that most pros use. I really want to have a dog that does what he does out of the love of doing it.. and not out of the fear of punishment. They just look so much better. Its really a more modern operant conditioning approach to animal behavior vs the "my way or the high way" approach. There is a book called Culture Clash you may want to read on this topic.

One last thing... I never believe everthing I read.. I pick and choose what seems logical to me... sometimes that works... sometimes it doesn't. For Bear, the only problem that I think I created was this popping thing.

 

[Zbirdman]

Puppy Video

Check out this puppy pointing at 7 weeks!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-MPic1JH4I