July 2006 Archives

With only a week or two left until Abby comes home, I have been brushing up on my puppy training basics. We finally decided on our official AKC puppy name for Abby. We will call her Annabella's Princess Abigail. This is a picture of her with her dam Gambles Princess Bell snoozing on the couch. The dog's breeder was kind enough to board Abby for the last few weeks until we can get settled into our new home. We will move in on August 1st and hope to make the drive to Colorado to pick up Abby a couple of weeks after that.

A couple of things I hope to focus on with Abby is bonding with her and working on basic obedience training. It will be important for me to involve her in any activities that I can so that she will be comfortable with me as her master. She has already had some bird experience with pheasants and I hope to continue building her desire for birds and hunting. Another goal I have is to get my kids very comfortable with Abby and helping me train her. My children are often intimidated by my dog Jake and I hope to avoid those problems this time.

I also have quite a bit of work ahead of me as I prepare our backyard for the dogs. I hope to figure out a way to secure a fence around the perimeter of our back 1 acre lot that will be the playground for our German Shorthairs. There is also a lot of work to be done in the bird barn to get it ready for the quail and chukar I plan to raise for training the dogs. The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy at our new house.

I've read enough books and talked to enough dog folk to know that there are about a hundred and one opinions on how to pick out a puppy. There are a few common themes that come up frequently, like issues of health and agression. But for the most part people have many different ideas on what factors are most important. I think experienced dog people probably develop a talent for finding the pick of the litter. Others will argue that if the litter is of good quality then all of the pups will have the potential to become great dogs. Personally, I tend to follow my gut when it comes to puppies and I try to let the puppy choose me.

What do you do when the litter is hundreds of miles away and a road trip is out of the question? Ask the breeder. The dogs breeder lives with these puppies each and every day and has the benefit of watching the personalities develop as the pups grow and learn. The alpha pup is often the first puppy to stand out in the litter and some people would choose this dog every time, male or female. This is the puppy with drive and is almost certain to be a real go-getter. The next puppy to stand out would probably be the runt or the most timid puppy. This continues on and on each week until there is a litter of very different personalities and individual dogs.

When you can't make frequent visits to see these things for yourself, you have to trust in the breeder. They will be able to guide you to the right puppy for your situation and needs. Most reputable breeders will ask you a great many questions in order to figure out what you are looking for. I think that the puppy's personality is probably the single most important factor. Generally speaking, males tend to be more agressive or hard-headed and the females more docile or easy-going. The least important factor is probably the color or markings of the puppy. My family has to decide which puppy is coming to our home of the puppies in the picture above. I have narrowed it down to females but after that I am trusting completely in the dog breeder.

I think I found the german shorthair puppy I was searching for. When I started searching I wasn't sure if I could find the perfect german shorthair. German shorthairs in general are very high spirited and can sometimes be hard to train. My personality and feelings tell me that a softer more biddable dog would suit me much better than a firecracker. The trouble is that many breeders intentionally breed away from the more timid or easy-going shorthairs. Everyone wants to have a field trial champion dog. If I have to ride a horse to keep up with my dog, then that's not the dog for me. I was looking for a mild mannered family dog that could go foot-hunting with me for local pheasant and chukars. The search ended this week when I found Abby in Denver, Colorado.

Abby is the name that the breeder has given and I think I will keep it as a call name. Female puppy names are hard for me to decide on, so buying a dog that already has a name is a plus. One of the things you do after buying a puppy is to fill out the AKC registration papers. Typically the official registered AKC name will be longer and reflect the dogs parents or the kennel or breeder name. In Abby's case the breeder is a first-time breeder and both parents are somewhat unproven in the field. So I have the choice of naming Abby after her sire or dam, or simply starting from scratch with my own clever name. I have decided to include Annabella, the name of my town into the names of my dogs. I could do something clever with A's like Annabella's Adorable Abigail or something like Bell's Annabella Abigail. I have plenty of time to think about it. Any suggestions?

This past week I finally got around to sending in Jake's AKC papers to get him certified. For me thinking up a clever name is the hardest part of the registration process. I had decided a few months back that I wanted our geographical location to somehow be incorporated into his name. Up until a month ago we didn't know what town we would end up living in. Now that we are a week away from closing on our homestead in Annabella, UT I feel confident in naming Jake after our new hometown. I have registered the domain name AnnabellaShorthairs.com in hopes of training and breeding shorthairs in the future. My wife has notified me that I may have to liquidate some assets from my fish aquarium hobby if I want to get into dogs.

While registering Jake I was able to learn a little bit about his pedigree. I was familiar with his pedigree on his Sires side because I had personal experiences with his Sire and great Grandsire. His great Grandsire was Diamond Valley Toby MH out of FC Hmk's Dandi Runaway Rusty. Toby was the first dog I ever shot a pheasant over and the first shorthair I ever saw up close and personal. I was instantly hooked and Toby was an exceptional dog. It wasn't until recently that I realized Toby was one of those rare once in a lifetime dogs. In hindsite I should of named Jake after Toby which would have been much more meaningful to me. Instead I chose to name him after his great great great Grandsire FC Dixieland's Rusty who is so far removed that Jake probably doesn't look, act or hunt a thing like him. Oh well, it's too late now. My job will be to see that Jake reaches his full potential.

The real surprise was on Jakes Dam's side of the pedigree. Jakes mother is Sunfire Desert Rose. She has Field Champions all the way down the line starting with FC AFC King's Desert Rose, NFC FC Rawhides Clown, FC Jigs White Smoke, FC AFC Moesgaard's Jigs, FC Brown-L and - not bad, eh? Now of course, none of this pedigree jibberish means a hill of beans unless Jake turns out to be a good producer. Only time will tell. Meanwhile, Jake and I have our work cut out for us. We hope to hit the birds hard this Fall and get him started on his titles. Hopefully we can bring out the best in his not so terrible pedigree.

This week while I was in St. George for meetings I went to look at a litter of French Brittany puppies for sale. My friend that I bought Jake from had told me that his hunting buddy had a litter of French Brittanies. I'm a sucker for puppies of any kind but especially Britts and Shorthairs. This litter had 3 males (Orange/White, Black/White and a rare Liver Tri-Color) and 2 females (Tri-Color and Black/White). I am hoping to find a dog that is smaller, more mild-mannered and softer for easier training. Mostly so my children can have a positive experience with raising a dog. Currently they are all pretty much scared of Jake because of his hyper nature and his size.

The main problem is how to talk my wife into letting me buy two puppies because I still have my heart set on a Liver Female GSP puppy. But, my kids are wanting the smaller more biddable French Brittany. The puppy that I liked the best was the the orange and white male. He seemed to be pretty mellow and the most cuddly people lover of the bunch. The owner of the litter has named him Eeyore because of his easy-going nature. The puppies are only 4 weeks right now, so we'll go back for a visit in a couple weeks and see what their personalities are like.

Here is a really good website I found for those people who are interested in buying a French Brittany Spaniel.