It Has Been a few Years

Well, I think I am going to start this adventure again.

A lot has happened and I look forward to sharing things that have happened and keeping up on all the new things going on.

We are getting ready for a litter in the near future with our girl Callie. More information to follow.

Litter Announcement

We are Happy to Announce the Breeding between Doc and Ronnie.

Check out the website for more information and health clearances.

Here is the Pedigree

Out For A Day Hunting

ronnie hunting

Ronnie resting in between retrieves. We had a great time out in the Marsh. I got to go out with Ronnie and Dave to work with Ronnie on steadiness. It is hard to work on steadiness if you are by yourself that is why Dave brought me along to work the dog. Ronnie did very good and listened to me. We ended up with 4 birds ( 2 teal, 1 mallard and one ring-neck). We were hunting in a flooded corn field so Dave brought the canoe for Ronnie and me to sit in so we would stay dry. We did an afternoon hunt. We were able to set up at noon and start hunting by one. We were finished hunting by 5 pm. We hunted in a managed unit for this hunt.

New Titles

Well running hunt test you always have ups and downs. This year was no exception. This year we were able to Finish up the season on a high note with a Master and a Senior Title.

Millet one of our puppies we sold has been with us for training. Thanks to Rick and Deb Rusz for allowing us to work with her. Millet went on and Finished up her Master and her daughter Lou (her pup we own) finished her Senior. This happen on the same weekend at the Buckeye Retriever Club hunt test in Ohio.

Lou on the Left and Millet on the Right

Millet Lou

Lets Do This!!

It has been awhile since my last post. I will be giving this another shot. I will be going back and chatting about this years activities before the New year. Lots of stuff has happened and is happening.

I will start out by saying I got a new puppy so we will be learning quite a bit with him so you can follow his antics here. His name is Ryder but more on that later.

Also had a great loss this year my beloved boy Scout has passed on. Life will never be the same but I am healing day by day. Will post a tribute post later on.

New Titles and awards.. That is always fun.

This weekend we will be having fun at the ACC fun hunt will share after the activities.

Here is a picture just for Fun

Ryder.

Picking a Breeder Part 2 or 2

Color is another red flag issue. If the breeder is breeding “for Color” or getting rare for the breed color on a regular basis you run a big risk of having other inherited issues. Some issues are physical while other are psychological. This can be said for any main points of written standard.

As the buyer you will need to decide which issues are important to you. I think one of the best questions to ask a breeder is “ How long do your dogs live?” If a dog is passing on at or after 12 years old I do not feel the exact reason is of much importance. On the other hand if a fair number is passing at 8 or less then again it may not matter why, they are still passing way to young.

Proof is in the pudding. If you are buying a hunting dog and the breeders have a suggested that they have “great hunting dogs” are there pictures of the parents hunting or after the hunt. Do they have pictures of more than 1 generation of their dogs hunting. If you can hunt with the breeder and their dogs, or watch them at a field test that is even better. Hunt test at least so the dogs have the basics for hunting.

Where are the pups whelped and raised the living area of the house or outside. The best is in or close to the living area of the house. They should be bot whelped and raised as close to normal human activity as possible. Each breeder has a different house and setup to deal with. Personally I keep the whelping area off to the side but the pups are near and exposed to normal goings on in the house, vacuums, other dogs, phones, and people. Some breeders will whelp the litter in a separate area then when weaned move them further outside. Then claim they are housed raised. It is necessary to be specific when you ask where and how the pups are whelped and raised.

If weather permits has the breeder taken the pups outside.

As you can see picking a breed may be fairly easy but picking a breeder is the hardest part. This is not a complete list of questions or a complete list of issues and concerns. Hopefully thought it will give you a general idea of what to ask and what kind of response indicates good and poor breeders.

The breeder that you pick should be someone that you can work with throughout the life of your dog.

Picking a Breeder

PART ONE OF TWO—–

First breeders will tell you the good things about their dogs and leave out or down play the bad. All breeders do not all do this intentionally but it is just like parents and their children. There is a term for breeders who only see good in their dogs. It is called “kennel blindness”.

Some of the things you want to look for in a good breeder are that they compete their dogs, preferably in a similar discipline to what you want to do with yours. If you want a hunting dog then Hunt Test or Field Trials is what you want your breeder doing; of course actual hunting with their dogs is better. In some breeds, like the Chesapeake, you can look at what others have down with their pups or what is further back in the pedigree. In labs and especially Golden Retrievers it is best to have the pedigree and competition of the breeder in your favor.

Do they invite you to meet their dogs, the parents as well as others they may have. Many times the sire (dad) will not be available due to someone else having ownership of him.

Do they only use studs that they own or co-own? Line breeding is fine but in my opinion you want to see out crossing about every 3-4 generations, to much line breeding is another sign of kennel blindness. Do they want to control your breeding rights. Co-Ownerships and limited registrations have their place, but is the breeder normally selling their pups in one or both of these ways? If so they may be telling you that they know they have big problems in their lines and want to control breeding or give themselves a scapegoat when something comes up.

Health clearances vary some between breeds. The best thing to do is if you have decided on a breed; Chesapeakes, Labradors, Goldens, Curlys and so on you should consult the National Breed Club on what clearances are recommended.

DUTCH’S JOURNEY

DUTCH’S JOURNEY ~ Well back on September 2, 2015 a lot of you know that we had to make the difficult decision to have our girl Dutch put to sleep.. That was not the end of her Journey. We had made the decision to have her partake in the ongoing research for DM with the University of Missouri. If any of you had lost a dog to DM would understand. We had a lot of help along the way. I would like to thank Dr. Joan Coates for doing the ongoing research, Dr. Briedi Gillespie for coordination with all the vets and ACC. She was a blessing. Michigan State University for preforming the procedure, The ACC Health Committee and the American Chesapeake Club Charitable Trust….There may have been a few others I missed I truly appreciate the help along the way. Just got an email from Dr. Coates that verified that Dutch had the signs of Early DM.. She was 15.. Praying her samples that were sent can help.
If anyone would like to read more about DM and the ongoing research can read the health committee report in the March / April ACC bulletin page 10 and 11. if anyone has questions I would be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

2 New Additions

In 2015 we added two new girls to our pack. Look for these Girls in the future.

The first is “Ronnie” DustyRose Shiloh Hill Eastern Rendezvous.

Ronnie is a product of a breeding we did that was Born September 2014 she just turned a year old this year. She was are Keeper.

Sire – GCH CH Eastern Waters Top Of The Mark CDX GN RE NAP NJP

Dam – Dusty Rose Shiloh Hill Habenero JH

Ronnie has 2 Junior passes we are looking forward to finishing up her Junior title and moving forward with Senior. Ronnie will also be doing conformation.