These are the qualities we strive for in our breeding plan.
Intelligence & Trainability. The Brittany by nature is eager to please his master and is highly trainable. This makes for a gun dog that is quite easily trained and very often in a short period of time. Training sessions should be shorter with young dogs and always end on a positive note. As the dog passes the age of one year old he is often ready to handle heavier training and become broke to wing and shot. This directly reflects the dogs intelligence and a smart dog always finds more birds.
Great Temperament. The American Brittany is famous for their calm demeanor and soft nature. As a father of 8 children this has always been an important quality for me in any hunting dog I have owned. The Brittany dog should love people and be well mannered around children and other animals. Many hunting dogs I have been around seem to be aloof or careless around people while the Brittany seems to thrive on human contact. Our dogs exemplify this trait and are always gentle, submissive and friendly with my kids as well as other pets.
An Excellent Nose. The first quality that stood out with our first Brittany “Annie” was her great sense of smell. Even as a small puppy she was constantly finding stinky smelly things and bringing them back to me. If she ever ventured far as a pup she would be following her nose to a bird or critter, dead or alive. As a bird dog this good nose translated into an excellent hunting dog for chukar, pheasant, grouse and quail. We breed for this trait and expect our pups to have a good nose like their parentage.
Desire and Stamina. The late bird dog great “Bob Wehle” referred to this as nervous energy. A brittany that wants to go with you and can’t wait to get into the field is a far more enjoyable dog to hunt with and to train. Our dogs know what it means to go training or hunting and they love it when they see the guns and gear loaded up. Sadie and Lizzy can nearly contain themselves when I pull up to the kennels in the dog training truck. They know it is time to do what they love.
Strong Prey Drive. Bird drive is very important in a versatile hunting dog. You just can’t have a good bird dog without lots of exposure to gamebirds. We breed for this strong bird/prey drive and cultivate it from their first weeks of life. We use a combination of pigeons, quail, chukar partridge and pheasants in our training program to encourage their natural bird drive. Wings are also used early on in the whelping box.
Solid Pointing. Nothing is more magnificent than a bird dog on point, quivering with the anticipation of the flush. A staunch point is important for hunting and for competition. We strive to break our dogs to be steady to wing and shot. Holding that solid point is critical when hunting the covey birds when you never know if there is another single around the next bush. We train our dogs on both wild and penned birds to encourage a solid point. Many of our puppies will point at 6-8 weeks old.
A Natural Retrieve. The retrieving instinct is quite natural in most versatile hunting dogs. Our Brittany dogs have a soft mouth and consistent natural retrieve and we strive to breed for this trait. While force-fetch training may be necessary or wanted for a field trial or competition dog. A natural retrieve is best with a hunting dog and family companion. This natural retrieve can be nurtured by lots of praise and letting them hold the bird for a minute before giving the release command.
Color for Visibility. Some might call this conformation but what we are really looking for is a dog that stands out. The country around here is big and open and hunting wild chukar can stretch a dog nearly out of sight. We do like a mostly white coat to help with visibility. White and liver and white and orange color combinations can be expected from our breeding stock. Since our brittany dogs are mostly white their puppies are often the same. Although individual markings, roaning, patching and ticking will vary.