How Did You Choose Your Last Puppy?

[Chukar12]

Another discussion got me pondering, how did you go about choosing your last puppy? I am not referring to picking it from the litter, rather how did you decide which breeder and or specific litter?
Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs?
Did the titles of the dogs play a part?
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory?
Local dogs?
Ad in a local paper?
On line?
Was it impulse?
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo?

[Sharon]

yes
yes..........a trial dog who I knew would also be a good hunting dog:)
yes
no
no
no
no

[mcbosco]

1) yes, wanted a del Mucrone , Epithelium or del Subasio line, was able to get all three
2) sort of, sire is a multi-year Italian field champ, but if the dogs were effective hunting dogs that would have been fine
3) Yes, careful about hips & bloat in the lines.
4) sort of, both parents were imported by breeders in NY
4) no
6) no
7) no, two years waiting

Dual Purpose, a big unfussy dog for old-fashioned hunting outings and hanging with the family. Old-fashioned meaning, getting out from the city with friends, with the dog on the backseat of the Jeep. No wives or Blackberries. I didn't even expect to go as far as an e-collar. Also needed bullet-proof temperament and something easy to handle.

[wems2371]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? Yes
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? Yes, wanted a dog with dual potential behind it
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? Yes, researching several generations of OFA at minimum
Local dogs? No
Ad in a local paper? No
On line? Right here on GDF
Was it impulse? Nope
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? Hunting, testing, showing and another clown to have around the house

[ElhewPointer]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? YES
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? YES
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? YES
Local dogs? NO
Ad in a local paper? NO
On line? NOT REALLY
Was it impulse? NO
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? WIN THE NATIONAL OPEN SHOOTING DOG CHAMPIONSHIP

[jlp8cornell]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? YES
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? Yes
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? Yes!
Local dogs? No
Ad in a local paper? No
On line? No
Was it impulse? No
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? A dog I could do high level competitive obedience with as well as NAVHDA and HTs and that would be a good companion.

[ezzy333]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs?Yes, very much so.
Did the titles of the dogs play a part?a small part I suppose
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? Not a great deal.
Local dogs?No
Ad in a local paper?No, though I often look.
On line?Yes
Was it impulse?No
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? Probably a combo. The dogs I have now are out of some good trial bvreeding but that isn't what I was looking for. Going back in time, Bamdee was the best dog I ever saw and loved not only him but what he was producing. The closest I could get back to him was throught Beans Blaze who is also a top producer and produces pups with an early and intense desire to point. Since I also insist on dual quality pups, I went for this breeding since these dogs were producing winning dogs in the show ring as well as the field. Many think I have it backwards but I want a dog that fits the standard and then need it to hunt and hunt well. I find this type of dog is not hard to find if you look for them. When we talk about bettering the breed you have to have both or we are spinning our wheels. I feel I have that.

Ezzy

[mcbosco]

"I went for this breeding since these dogs were producing winning dogs in the show ring as well as the field. Many think I have it backwards but I want a dog that fits the standard and then need it to hunt and hunt well. I find this type of dog is not hard to find if you look for them. When we talk about bettering the breed you have to have both or we are spinning our wheels. I feel I have that."

Agree 100% but breeding like that is very hard and few have the passion and patience for that. It would be nice to see a "show dog" setter running the fields again.

[Ruffshooter]

Funny thing, I have not chosen the last five puppies.

I have chosen each of the kennels. Wether it be the french brits or the GSP's

I looked for a breeder that has similar philosophy to mine as to what we want in a dog.
I looked for a breeder that truly hunts.
I looked for a breeder that would stand behind his or her dogs.
I looked for a breeder that had dogs with hunt test, or trial placements.
I looked for a breeder that others were happy with.
I looked for a breeder that works to better what they have.
I reasearched.

Won't say I understand everything, but I do know what I want and each breeder has understood and sent me the pup they thought would fit. The rest is up to me or you.

My last is Ruby: She is from Walnut Hills in GA, (Brenday and Rick (Snips here). I have been watching their dogs for a few years now. I have read Brendas posts, I have seen a couple of her dogs up here. I have liked what I saw. I alwasy thought if I ever get a pup other than an Engelhardt Pup, I would look to Brenda. Well Engelhardt no longer breeds, and I failed at getting my Mercy Bred. So now maybe a Walnut hill pup. The female I alwasy liked was Sally, bred for her last time and the son of Fritz (Gunner) was the sire . All were spoken for, so I missed then I saw someone had to backout. Well, I jumped right on the wagon. I felt very comfortable getting a pup sight unseen from Brenda and Rick. I am truly glad I did. Ruby is just what I expected. Happy, happy, joy, joy. I felt comfortable because they fit my wants with their philosophy and program and are just good folks.

Side Note: I believe each was the last of the litter.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

Chukar12,
Linage has a lot to due will all the pups we acquire, further the heath testing (HD), Bare, ect, also have a big influence on our choice. The breeders written replacement guarantee means a lot also, this must be for both health and instinctive hunting, most times for 10 year. For the SM dogs I want the Pedigree with the Parents GVP scores affixed. For the Ryman type dogs, I want to see the dam and sire hunt & set wild Grouse for the master gunning. For the US Bred Weimars I want to see the dam & sire hunt wild Pa Grouse, if they can't due the job, we will not purchase a pup. We have lots of different qualifications for purchasing a pup.
RGD/Dave

Heston our latest Ryman/Fireside pup


Heston at 10 weeks, watching Gretchen our 10 month old Weimar female. Both the pups have pointed wild Grouse at very young ages.
Grtechens mom pointed a Pa wild Grouse in less than 6 minutes to prove her genetic imprint, Hestons parents are both proven Ryman Grouse dog.



Heston pointing his 1st Grouse in the Pa woods, at 10 weeks old

[BigShooter]

My puppy 8 years ago was a gift from Wagonmaster because I knew the answers were: yes, yes, yes, no, no, no, no & must be a wild bird hunting companion first with field trial prospects second.

My puppy two years ago was a gift from Wagonmaster's brother. The answers for the stud were the same as above the dam was an outcross crap shoot with a great nose but at a year old was an unproven dam with an oops pregnancy. So far a good hunting dog .. not a field trial prospect.

[Fireside]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? YES
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? YES
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? YES
Local dogs? NO
Ad in a local paper? NO
On line? SORTA
Was it impulse? NO, I waited 3 years for this pup
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? Hunting, possibly trial, and conformation


I met Karen on line ab out 3-1/2 years ago and fell in love with her bitch. Had to wait 3 years for her to finish her championship and for the timing to be right for breeding. I'm glad I waited, so far Im very pleased with my little stud muffin!!

[Chukar12]

Ryman, I like Heston...I don't know muxh about Setters or grouse for that matter but he looks cool. How close did Heston get to that grouse he is pointing?

[RuttCrazed]

I was familiar with the breeder, had seen the litter's parents in action, felt the hunting stlye would match mine, so I let my wife pick out the "cute" one.

Rut

[BigShooter]

Come on, nobody has fessed up to being an impulse buyer without doing any research!

Is nobody willing to be ridiculed in public!

[mcbosco]

LOl I even looked for a breeder that didn't vaccinate until 9 - 10 weeks, no impulse buying pets for me.

[Fireside]

I have and "impulse" mutt at home that guards the yard and livestock... is that good enough?

A college kid was giving him away in front of WalMart. I had seen an ad in the paper for "free puppies" a couple days before, and I'm sure that was where he came from. He was probably only 4-1/2 weeks old and the young man couldn't (didn't know how) to take care of him. He didn't know what water was and couldn't eat dry dog food. He was starting down that slippery slope of dehydration and would have been in REAL trouble very soon. Sent my husband in to buy Esbilac and started him on that and gruel... he thrived! LOL Border Collie/Heeler mix.

[GrayDawg]

I found the right breeder & waited for the breeding between the two dogs of his who I liked the most.
I wanted a female, smaller in frame if possible so she would be hauling less weight. My last "want" was more
of a preference........... a solid liver head.

I got EVERYTHING I was looking for and she's a burner who handles kindly. No complaints.

Rob

[birddogger]

I saw an upcoming litter with an impressive pedigree and priced very reasonable. I put in for a male and got first pick. When the time came, I spent some time with them and ended up picking the one with markings that caught my. I am convinced though that I would have not gone wrong with any one of those puppies.

Charlie

[Ruffshooter]

[quote="BigShooter"]Come on, nobody has fessed up to being an impulse buyer without doing any research!

Okay, Okay, I had two impulse buys, both happened the same way. Me curious and dog poor with a just cashed pay check in my pocket. Both were brittanies. The first was (Dexter God rest his soul)

Dexter was an American Brittany, He weighed in at just under 65 pounds as an four year old adult. He was unregistered, He was purchased through the Uncle Henries swap guide. He was the perverbial self hunter, self saticfier, lunch hunter, meat dog. Everything he did was for him self. He was my best buddy and still my favorite of all time. He kept me on my toes. He would try to eat anything he caught, I shot or someone else shot. He was ridiculously fast. I clocked him in the truck once doing 30 to 35 miles an hour for a full mile. He even tried to catch a moose running down the road. He had the best disposition, never wanted to fight unless another dog tried to mount him. Then he turned into Mike Tyson. He went to work with me every day for 11 years. I miss that dog.

Mount Vernons Black Bart: Uncle Henries again, Just cashed pay check. I saw French Brittany listed, "What is a French Brittany?" So I went to look. Here were these little black and white no tail dogs that looked like brittanies. One Bart, was small but what drive. He was trying to dig something out from under the porch till his whole body was gone. We finally got his attention and he kept charging the other dogs, chasing the big dogs, Pointing a wing then trying to catch it. He would run at you and jump as high and hard at you as he could, bouncing off and coming back for more. I could not leave with out him. He turned out to be the absolute best Ruff dog I have had to date. He ended up at 35 pounds soaking wet, had a wicked evil look in his eyes. He was ready to fight any dog any time. He was a finished gun dog at 2 years old. He unfortuanately died unexpectedly his third grouse season. Truly broke my heart. That dog was truly a one man dog. He learned in his second grouse season to circle the grouse that were trying to walk away while I was getting myself to him. I did not first know this till I finally saw it. I had heard his bell and just thought he was tracking and pointing.
He did like to fight. He hated one NAVHDA brittany in particular HANK. Those two could see each other or smell each other from a half mile away and want to tear into each other all the time. And Bart went to a NAVHDA demonstration with me at the Orono sportsmans show. We were walking through the crowd past the rescue dogs, the ones that track people in the woods and such. Bart was at heal just as nice as could be, the Rotwiller and German Shepard just lying there perfectly content and the next thing I knew, Bart flew right to the end of the leash at the Rotty, luckily those dogs were calm and there was not enough leash, I could have pulled back just a ham hock.

Sorry for yet another long winded post, but you got me thinking.
Rick

[fishvik]

Come on, nobody has fessed up to being an impulse buyer without doing any research!

Is nobody willing to be ridiculed in public!

Hanna, my 2 yo GSP was gotten from the Idaho Falls Pound and I picked her over her sister.

Puck my 8 mos old Lab/GWP I found on Craigs list and got him from a family north of town. I picked him because he was the most curious and had the best coat.

[BigShooter]

My two year old was a gift from an oops breeding. I posted earlier, the stud has terriffic credentials. The dam was a Menards parking lot puppy. The couple's daughter worked at Menards. A fellow had cute GSP pups for sale in the parking lot. The daughter told the fellow to go to her mom's house and show her the pups. The parents already had the male GSP, a Weim, their son's lab and another son's weim at their house. Sure enough, no research to add a well researched female to the well researched male they already had - just an impulse buy.

I took the female from the oops breeding and told them I'd raise the dog & we'd see if it had any gun dog potential.

[AzDoggin]

Mount Vernons Black Bart: Uncle Henries again, Just cashed pay check. I saw French Brittany listed, "What is a French Brittany?" So I went to look. Here were these little black and white no tail dogs that looked like brittanies. One Bart, was small but what drive. He was trying to dig something out from under the porch till his whole body was gone. We finally got his attention and he kept charging the other dogs, chasing the big dogs, Pointing a wing then trying to catch it. He would run at you and jump as high and hard at you as he could, bouncing off and coming back for more. I could not leave with out him. He turned out to be the absolute best Ruff dog I have had to date. He ended up at 35 pounds soaking wet, had a wicked evil look in his eyes. He was ready to fight any dog any time. He was a finished gun dog at 2 years old. He unfortuanately died unexpectedly his third grouse season. Truly broke my heart. That dog was truly a one man dog. He learned in his second grouse season to circle the grouse that were trying to walk away while I was getting myself to him. I did not first know this till I finally saw it. I had heard his bell and just thought he was tracking and pointing.
He did like to fight. He hated one NAVHDA brittany in particular HANK. Those two could see each other or smell each other from a half mile away and want to tear into each other all the time. And Bart went to a NAVHDA demonstration with me at the Orono sportsmans show. We were walking through the crowd past the rescue dogs, the ones that track people in the woods and such. Bart was at heal just as nice as could be, the Rotwiller and German Shepard just lying there perfectly content and the next thing I knew, Bart flew right to the end of the leash at the Rotty, luckily those dogs were calm and there was not enough leash, I could have pulled back just a ham hock.

Sorry for yet another long winded post, but you got me thinking.
Rick

That's some powerful stuff right there, Rick. That little EB had HEART. Impossible to replace a dog like that, but gotta move on, I guess. Awesome story.

[redman25]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? Yes
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? Yes
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? Yes
Local dogs? No
Ad in a local paper? No
On line? Yes
Was it impulse? No

[Ditch__Parrot]

Well lets see here. I might have been drinking my morning coffee one day while cruising Gun Dog Forum when I accidently clicked on the Dogs For Sale section. Complete accident. Then when I was about to hit the back button, the mouse fell out of my hand (I'm a little klutzy in the morning before the caffeine kicks in). Anyhoo when it landed on the floor it must have clicked on something. Page had a couple scrawny looking mutts on it and for some reason I felt compelled to read it.

Now I must have been thinking that I'd had a little too much sleep the night before. 'Cause I found myself thinking that the little undernourished chocolate lab lookin thing looked to be the perfect specimen of a pillow thievin', bed hogging, pitiful lapdog. So I called the guy up and asked him if she was as much of pitiful bootlickin', momma's girl as she looked. He claimed she was, but said he was charging extra for the cat chasing instincts. Plus he thought she's be a good flusher.

So yep that's how I ended up with this pitiful lapdog.

Or maybe not.





I thought I'd come back and fill out the questions asked. LOL

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs?

Yes

Did the titles of the dogs play a part?

Yes

Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory?

Yes

Local dogs?

Yes

Ad in a local paper?

No

On line?

Yes

Was it impulse?

No

I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo?

Hunter

[BrassVols]

My 4 requirements:
Had to be comfortable with the breeder. Spoke in length with him on several occasions regarding his choices of litter sire and dam. Checked many,many references and word of mouth regarding the quality of the pups his kennel produced.

Pedigree of sire and dam. Not intelligent enough to explain what I was looking for but there was no doubt when I saw it.

Ability/traits of sire and dam in the field. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way but was determined that BOTH parents were finished gundogs. Means nothing to some I'm sure but meant plenty to me.

Health guarantee.

[ACooper]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? Yes, I tried to get a pup out of the stud two other times, I guess the third try was the charm.
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? yes
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? yes
Local dogs? Dam was local
Ad in a local paper? no
On line? no
Was it impulse? no
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? Combo

[asc]

The crazy look in her eyes . Eight months of looking ended in a 600 mile ride to look at three started dogs. Got a pup instead on the last stop. It's been two and a half years, looking forward to many more. Hunting dog.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

Chukar12,
Heston is fairly close and I was very suprised the big old Grouse let the pup invade his safety zone to the point where he did. If you look at the longer downed log that Heston is standing in front of, the Grouse is about 8' down the log on the oppsite side, sitting between the big rock and the log. After I took the photo with my small telephoto lense, I tried to get closer for a better picture, but the Grouse flushed out to the left and flew up thru the trees. Heston just stood and watched him fly away. I ran up, picked him up and made a big fuss over him. I am just ecstatic about how all this is going, looks like Lynn Dee at Fireside kennels in Vt has supplied us with exactly the kind of instinctive pup we were looking to acquire. Hestons hunting genetic imprint seems to be very high, and his conformation is outstanding, his personality around the house is just incredible. He fits in here like he was born here. I really do believe one of the big reasons our Grouse dogs do so well on wild birds is that they have the freedom on our training facility forest property, to run free and experience this kind of wild Grouse contact as pups. The PetSafe invisable fence in our forest has allowed this to happen on a repetative basis.
RGD/Dave

[cody]

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? I wasn't looking for anything specific, but when I looked at the litter the papers had some good stuff.
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? yes
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? no
Local dogs? yes
Ad in a local paper? yes
On line? Kind of a local paper on line
Was it impulse? yes
I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? both

This was just the last one, it changes everytime

[Karen]

My impulse pup....Tessa. Her breeder called me out of the blue and offered her to me...free....he'd groom her, show her, board her when she was in season. He just wanted a litter out of her down the road.

I had a 9 month old pup (Blaze) at the time....the last thing I needed was another puppy. But who could refuse! 5 generations of show champions, and a nicer bitch than I ever dreamed of owning! The breeder said we could rehome her if she didn't turn out the way he expected, but she did, and then some....went WB at her 2nd show (a 5 point major at a specialty show), Best in Sweeps at summer specialty, Best in Futurity, Best of Winners at the national specialty, shown very conservatively. She's also a classy bird dog who runs an honest horseback shooting dog ground race.

She whelped her first litter this summer (amoung them is Fireside's new pup). Tessa is getting back in shape and I'll probably show her during the off season, and breed her to Blaze (DC Britt Haven's Blaze of Glory) in the spring, 2011. Of that litter I want to keep a male and a female.

As for the last pup I bought....

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? Absolutely, I was casually looking for another pup....and was ready to buy if the right pedigree came along
Did the titles of the dogs play a part? Yes
Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? Yes
Local dogs? No
Ad in a local paper? No
On line? Breeding was announced on one of the Brittany message boards and our monthly magazine
Was it impulse? No

[KFhunter]

Another discussion got me pondering, how did you go about choosing your last puppy? I am not referring to picking it from the litter, rather how did you decide which breeder and or specific litter? I did not, I didn't know this breeder nor did I pick a litter.

Did you look for a specific lineage to fit your needs? No

Did the titles of the dogs play a part? Somwhat, I wanted something to show this dog had a good chance at being a good one

Did you consider the health credentials in the ancestory? No a whole lot, breeder had the certs and all that it was good enough

Local dogs? Yes
Ad in a local paper?Yes
On line? No
Was it impulse? definiatly not, I put a lot of thought in the breed of dog I wanted

I am curious as to what your initial purpose was as well a hunting dog, trial dog, or combo? I wanted a family dog first, this is an indoor family pet, but I also wanted a great hunting dog, and to top it off it needed to be low sheding and small framed. So I sought out a short haired, small framed (runt) Brittany with good lines and breeding and Female. I ended up with the last puppy left and half price because no one wanted her.