Often I meet or read about a fellow breeder that is just flat doing it right. My friend Allen Davis in Wyoming is one of those guys. His bird dogs get to see more wild birds in a single season than most will see in a lifetime. The secret, he takes his bird dogs hunting every chance he gets. The results? He has some amazing bird dogs with intelligence and wild-bird prowess to spare. He hunts his dogs annually on several species across several western states. And when hunting season ends, he competes in a few field trials to see how his dogs stack up. Yep, his bird dogs (Setters and Brittanys) have won their share of ribbons too. Take a look at his dogs at Table Mountain Kennels website. He has some nice hunting photos on his website and sometimes has puppies for sale.
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The very first field trials were developed to see how dogs would stack up against each other in realistic hunting situations. There are many competitions today created for the hunting dog breeds from agility to akc hunt tests, from conformation shows to horseback field trials. The whole concept exists so you can see how your dog performs based on others. Whether comparing bird dogs to others in their own breed or competing against several pointing breeds, the events can be extremely helpful. It gives you a measuring stick for gauging your training and your dogs natural instincts.
I am a father helping to raise seven children with my wife, so leaving for days at a time to field trial across the midwest is not really an option. But, I have found something that has proven to be almost as valuable. I get together every week with a few guys who each have several bird dogs. These are usually half day training sessions or hunts where we can run anywhere from 12-20 dogs through a quail field or hunt chukar or pheasant. With enough dogs you start to get an idea of where your dogs are in comparison with the others. There are no judges or awards, but we are learning to recognize the better performing dogs and thereby make better selections for breeding or buying.
If your not able to go out and compete with a bird dog club or field trial, get together with some friends and hunt several dogs together. It won’t take long to see who the top performers are. Likely you will be able to identify and focus on some areas of dog training where you can improve. You don’t need 3 horses and six figure outfits to compete in this style. Just get together with others and run some bird dogs on live birds. The more the better. It works nearly as well and you will save a bundle in gas and perhaps even save your marriage. Some bird dog clubs even sponsor fun hunts on a Saturday where ribbons are awarded to the top dogs. Another great way to compete on a smaller scale.
What happens when a well bred english pointer female gets together with your prize brittany stud dog? Oops puppies! This definitely was not a planned event but brought up some tough questions. What is the responsible thing to do? I asked around and got a variety of responses from other breeders. Some said I should abort the litter, some said to take care of things after they were born. While still others said they would be healthy happy puppies and great hunting buddies. I didn’t feel right about aborting or culling the puppies. I knew someone would love them and take them hunting. Lucy whelped 6 healthy puppies that I am calling EPX pups. No, I am not getting into the designer hunting dog puppy business. English Britts, Pointa-Poos, YorkieHounds, yikes?! But seriously, what do you do when it happens? Keeping un-altered dogs carries certain risks and responsibilities. I feel like I did the right thing.
Annie 3 months after having her puppies
Annie had been getting a little pudgy before she was bred to Buster for her first litter of puppies. It certainly didn’t help her post-whelping recovery to be out of shape and overweight to begin with. So now we are trying to get back on track and keep her lean and fit and happy. I admit it is hard sometimes to get out of bed and get the dogs all loaded up to go for a run when it’s not yet light outside or when there’s 12 inches of new snow. But, working dogs need the physical exercise and they need it daily. It makes a big difference in training as well. I had a hunting buddy that would unload his shorthair 3-4 miles from the hunting grounds and make him run alongside the truck. The end result was a focused dog that was settled down and ready to go to work. I have had some of my best and most productive training sessions after our daily runs or a good workout. During the hunting season it isn’t quite as hard to keep the dogs in shape because between hunting and guiding we are at it 3-4 days a week. It’s when the hunting season is over that you really have to buckle down and keep the dogs active.
Just sending in Tony’s papers for the Central and Western futurities put on by the American Brittany Club. There were quite a few litters nominated with Tony’s in 2008 but I think less than half will actually be entered in the competitions. There are events for Show and Field and the events are designed to showcase and promote excellent litters bred and whelped in 2008. I am hoping to be able to attend the Western futurities down in Arizona to see Tony run in January. To see the dogs that performed well this year (2007 bred litters) you can click here for the Central, for the Western results click here and for the Eastern Results click here. It will be exciting to see how Tony and his litter mates stack up against other young Brittany dogs.
A messy part of the puppy growth and development process is the weaning of the pups from momma dog. During this important transition from the mother’s milk to solid foods there are several tricks that breeders use to make things go smoothly. Commonly, the first introduction to solid foods will be a heated mash containing puppy food, milk and water. The only problem with the popular puppy mash is that it is extremely messy. No matter what you do – the puppies seem to want to jump right into the mash and get it everywhere. This is how they learn that dog food is good to eat. But, I’ve found a way to help keep things a little cleaner.
A cool idea I found on the internet is a simple wooden feeder stall built to isolate the puppies to their very own food dish (Notice the blocker boards in the back of each stall to help keep the dish from flipping up if pup gets his paws up on the front edge of the dish). This helps to keep things a little cleaner and gives all the pups an equal chance at the food trough. You will still have to watch them closely because there always seems to be a pig in the litter who inhales food and moves on to the next food dish when his is gone. Or on the flip side, the timid puppy that may need a little extra encouragement during the transition to solid foods. The puppy feeder stalls seems like a good idea to me.
Later this Fall I hope to breed one of my hunting dogs and have a litter of puppies. With this plan in mind I have been gathering information and researching all aspects of dog breeding over the last couple years. In my research I ran across quite a few different ideas for whelping boxes to keep the puppies safe and sound while young.
This design is by far the cheapest to build and the simplest idea I have found. The whelping box is a plastic kiddy pool that you can get from Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware for less than $10. The side bumpers consist of a small section of 3-4 inch flexible plastic drain pipe. You can get it pretty cheap at Lowes or Home Depot. The drain pipe is attached by drilling holes and fastening to the pool edge with zip ties. The drain pipe should be suspended about 3-4 inches off the bottom of the pool. This keeps the puppies from being accidentally suffocated by the mother or laid on.
This is a square shaped box made out of 2x12x8 lumber. The bumpers on this design are constructed of 2-3″ PVC pipe and fittings. The whole bumper assembly is glued together and can be reomved and hung on the wall when the pups get big enough. Some people line the whelping box with news paper or blankets to make clean up easier. The main thing is to be sure the puppies stay warm enough in winter or cool enough in summer depending on your climate and season.
This is a custom hexagon design that I really liked. It is only about 5 feet in diameter and the design has built-in bumpers along the inside edge of the whelping box. You can finish the wood and make it look nice to match your furniture if your litter is going to be born in the house. This is a great design if you plan on having several litters. I like the round or hex shapes better than the square design because there are no corners for a puppy to get trapped in.
Abby is entering her 2nd week of lock-down and seems to be feeling much better about life. She has gotten her appetite back and is eating well again. She is still spending most of her time in my shop with a few carefully supervised outings each day. She likes to go with us to feed the chickens and gather eggs. The chickens don’t like it much but Abby thinks it is great fun to bark and threaten the chickens. I tie her to a post a few feet away from the chicken coop while I tend to the chickens with my kids.
When we put her back inside the shop she comes right to the window and begins to plead with us to let her out. She really doesn’t like being inside all day. She would much prefer the outdoor kennel and the fresh air, but I can’t risk any visits from fence climbing mongrels. Even though our rural Utah town has a leash law, it seems that only a few of us are abiding by the rules. Most of the dogs in town roam free all day and night. In the spring I hope to fence in a large portion of my back property for the dogs to have a little more elbow room.
Yesterday I thought it was a little odd that Abby barely touched her food. This morning I discovered the reason why she wasn’t feeling like herself. She was spotting and her kennel mate “Jake” was paying unusually close attention to her. Turns out that she was going into heat for the first time. She is 10 months old and I was hoping she would give me a few more months to get Jakes kennel finished. This morning I moved Abby into my workshop until she gets through this first cycle.
After a bit of reading and research it looks like I will be keeping Abby in lock-down for a few weeks. I hope to breed Abby when she is 2-3 years old after I have time to get the proper health checks and screenings. In my reading I learned a lot about the heat cycle of dogs and when is the right time for breeding. Ten months old is definitely too young to have a litter of puppies. Poor Jake is a bit lonely out in the kennel all by himself. For not getting along very well, the two of them sure are showing some separation anxiety.
