Hello all!
My husband and I are looking for puppy or a young started to use for upland hunting and for hunt tests.
What do we need to look for in order to find the appropriate breeder and bloodlines?
We currently have a 3 yr old yellow lab that we had purchased when he was 9 months old. He loves to retrieve and hunt however, despite some help from trainers, we have issues with him freezing on birds during hunt tests. In the field hunting he seems to be good with the birds but he does have a collar on. We had agreed that he wouldn't be a hunt test dog and we would continue to hunt underneath him, however he recently tore his CCL and will need surgery. The vet was not sure on how well he would return to hunting or how his other leg would handle things.
While we love our current dog, we didn't really know what we were looking for when we purchased him. His papers show accomplished dogs and he was cleared for hips/eyes/ etc. Now we are wanting to start looking for what we want to purchase next and hopefully find a puppy/young dog that doesn't have a breeding background with known freezers, bad knees, etc.
This what we know that we are looking for:
- We want a male- prefer yellow but would be OK with black
- A smaller dog- around 60-65 lbs
- A very stout dog that carries muscle
- One that is very driven and runs on high octane
- One with a background of being a good family dog
- Background of hunting and hunt test accomplishments
We are willing to travel to find the right dog and we don't have a set timeline to when we "need" a dog. We just want to find the right fit for us whether it be a puppy or a slightly started dog.
Anyone have any input on how to check bloodlines or which are known to be superior vs ones that carry some undesirable traits?
thanks!
My husband and I are looking for puppy or a young started to use for upland hunting and for hunt tests.
What do we need to look for in order to find the appropriate breeder and bloodlines?
We currently have a 3 yr old yellow lab that we had purchased when he was 9 months old. He loves to retrieve and hunt however, despite some help from trainers, we have issues with him freezing on birds during hunt tests. In the field hunting he seems to be good with the birds but he does have a collar on. We had agreed that he wouldn't be a hunt test dog and we would continue to hunt underneath him, however he recently tore his CCL and will need surgery. The vet was not sure on how well he would return to hunting or how his other leg would handle things.
While we love our current dog, we didn't really know what we were looking for when we purchased him. His papers show accomplished dogs and he was cleared for hips/eyes/ etc. Now we are wanting to start looking for what we want to purchase next and hopefully find a puppy/young dog that doesn't have a breeding background with known freezers, bad knees, etc.
This what we know that we are looking for:
- We want a male- prefer yellow but would be OK with black
- A smaller dog- around 60-65 lbs
- A very stout dog that carries muscle
- One that is very driven and runs on high octane
- One with a background of being a good family dog
- Background of hunting and hunt test accomplishments
We are willing to travel to find the right dog and we don't have a set timeline to when we "need" a dog. We just want to find the right fit for us whether it be a puppy or a slightly started dog.
Anyone have any input on how to check bloodlines or which are known to be superior vs ones that carry some undesirable traits?
thanks!