Lizzy whelped a beautiful litter of 10 healthy brittany puppies on Thursday, May 9th. There were seven liver brittany puppies and 3 orange and white pups. 7 male brittany puppies and three females. They have had their tails docked and dew claws removed by a vet. Note: All puppies are spoken for. Hover over thumbnails for puppy names.
Thank you to Carter Brittany Kennels for our latest addition to our kennel. Annie has been a joy since she arrived last week. She slept like a baby the first night.
She shows the drive and characteristics that we like to have in our brittany dogs. We introduced her to live birds this weekend and she did well. She retrieves to hand and shows great promise.
Bobwhite quail are one of my favorite birds to use with young Brittany puppies. Their small size make them a great choice for bird introduction. They also make a great bird noise and they prefer to run away from dogs. The chirping call and the running make bold puppies that want to chase. The idea with young Brittany puppies (8-12 weeks) is to build their confidence and encourage prey drive around live birds. This is something you just cannot accomplish with a wing on a string.
We typically introduce our young puppies to live birds around 7-8 weeks of old. We have tried it at 5-6 weeks but it seems a bit early and the results were not conclusive. We use the exercise as a way to assess the litter and which puppies have the most bird interest. Although this is not a cut and dry indication of birdiness, it can be a great early indicator of standouts in the litter. Getting the right puppy to the right home is crucial to the success of our kennel. We try to get bird dogs to hunting homes, and people dogs go pet homes.
Sis X Ty puppies were whelped on March 24th. Sis had a small litter of only 4 puppies. The upside is they are very healthy and well fed. There are 3 females and 1 male brittany puppy. Only one of them was liver/white (a female puppy) and the rest orange and white. Check back here to watch these puppies grow. YouTube Videos Note: These Puppies are all SOLD.
We were able to acquire this new brittany female to add to our breeding program. Lucy comes from Idaho and boasts some of Dave Walker’s top bloodlines including Chubasco II, DC Chick’s Blaze’n Sawtooth Sam and NFC/AFC Hi Proof Rum Runner. She has a fine coat and a very nice temperament. We took her out to pro trainer Ben Garcia in Colorado to continue her gun dog training. She will get her OFA certifications and if all goes well we will have some puppies in the fall.
This is a puppy from last year’s Sue X Luke brittany litter. She is being trained by Ben Garcia of HideawayKennels.com in Colorado. This puppy is doing well in her bird dog training and loves to point birds. Her owners live close enough to Ben’s training grounds that they can participate in Saturday training sessions. Ben likes to start his bird dog training when the puppy is 6 months old. The typical training process starts with a 3 month session working on pointing, retrieving and obedience. After that Ben likes the puppies to go home for a hunting season then come back next summer for advanced training. I think the system works well if you can stand to have your puppy gone for a few months. Proper training can make all the difference.
Sometimes I feel like dog breeding is more about luck than anything. Sometimes things work perfectly and some breedings leave you scratching your head at the end results. I try to plan our breedings very carefully and put a lot of thought into what the end goal is. Certainly having a plan is better than not. The folks that just throw a couple dogs together and hope for the best, usually end up with mediocre puppies. In contrast, we have had some pretty good luck with our planned breedings. Here are a couple things we keep in mind when selecting a brittany stud dog.
Careful Selection. Selective breeding has always brought the best results. I believe the careful and thoughtful selection of studs is crucial. If you are always breeding to the very best stud dog you have access to, the results will be mostly better puppies. This process takes several generations to get to the point where your litters have absolute consistency. The end goal being the kind of litter where you can simply close your eyes and pick one. Initially, about half the puppies will be above average and the other half will be somewhere in the middle. The idea is to locate and identify the standout puppy/puppies in each and every litter, keep them, and breed them back to other standouts. Over time the breed will be improved. This is selective breeding.
Faults and Weaknesses. Every dog has a fault or a weakness whether it be genetic or not. Many of these faults can be corrected by matching up with a stud dog who is strong in those same areas that your dog is weak. Our dog Sue was a late bloomer and didn’t get her bird sense until she was 1-2 years old. Others had written her off as a dud, but after talking to owners of similar bloodlines we knew the light would come on eventually. And it did. But, we tried to nip this in the bud by breeding her to a stud that was a fast learner in contrast. The results, their puppies were a much improved version of the parentage. Ideally the pair should compliment each other.
To Breed or Not? Just because your dog is intact and AKC registered, does not mean you should breed him or her. We have had a couple of very nice dogs that we really liked but after careful consideration, decided not to breed. They were fine companions and decent hunters, but they were just average. If you breed two average dogs you will get mostly average puppies and a few even below average. It’s called the drag of the race. Sometimes the decision not to breed is the hardest decision to make. When your female comes into heat is not the time to start thinking about locating a stud dog. Do some research before hand. Talk to other breeders and stud owners. A well planned breeding will be a better breeding all the way around.
Dave Walker is one of my bird dog training heroes. We have had the pleasure of hosting his bird dog training seminars in our area for the past several years. He is one of the most successful pro trainers and field trial competitors still alive today. He has that uncanny ability to read a dog’s body language and understand what they are thinking. This puts him head and shoulders above the rest as I think reading a dog is the most important skill to acquire in bird dog training. You have to know when to back off, or when the dog is ready to kick it up one notch. Dave Walker can do it, flawlessly.
Join us this summer for our 2013 Utah Bird Dog Training Camp. Dave Walker will grace us with two solid days of bird dog instruction and hands on classes. Dave Walker uses live birds in his training and prefers to work with you (the handler) and your dog as a team. He will save you a lot of time and trouble and can even help your through those training trouble spots. He will be going over steady to wing and shot, force fetching, backing and honoring, and introduction to birds and gun. This seminar is for all ages and skill levels, puppies to finished dogs. Don’t miss out on this chance. Click for more details about the 2013 Dave Walker Bird Dog Seminar.
We love to see our Brittany puppies point at an early age. It is important to us that our puppies have the hunting genetics. We realize that most of our puppies go to homes where they are a companion first and a hunting dog second. Part of our 8 week training program with puppies is to introduce them to birds and basic retrieving. If they will point and retrieve as an 8 week old puppy, then training is going to be a lot easier later on.
This is a white and liver female Brittany puppy that we sold to some folks in Georgia. She did really well on her first experience with live birds. The scenting conditions were not ideal but this puppy still knew how to act. I would have liked to see her tail up a little higher, but sometimes that comes as they become more familiar with birds. We use pigeons or quail for the live bird introduction.
We have some great American Brittany litters planned for 2013. We look forward every year to raising our puppies as a family. Every one helps out with the care and feeding of the new puppies. I think raising puppies in a family setting is important to the temperament and health of the dogs. They need to have daily contact with humans and kids are natural care givers. It is a perfect setting for raising well adjusted puppies.
The Brittany is one of the most popular hunting dogs for a reason. They make great family companions and they love kids. This is important because 95% of the time, your dog will be just that – a family pet. If you are looking for a pet or a hunting dog we can help. The American Brittany excels at both. We sell to hunting homes and pet homes alike. The most important factor for us is placing the puppies in the best home possible. Click here to view our 2013 litters.
