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I need a Lab. Where do I start?


sitsinhedges
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What we all fail to recognise is there are a lot of unregistered working gun dogs out there, these dogs are bred by keepers and all round shooting people and change hands for little money unlike the inflated prices of the trail world with all the tests that go with them. You could call this there own gene pool as lots of my keeper mates keep clear of the trail type dogs. The real question is are we obsessed with all these test.

Edited by E.w.
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What we all fail to recognise is there are a lot of unregistered working gun dogs out there, these dogs are bred by keepers and all round shooting people and change hands for little money unlike the inflated prices of the trail world with all the tests that go with them. You could call this there own gene pool as lots of my keeper mates keep clear of the trail type dogs. The real question is are we obsessed with all these test.

 

I'd say yes and no.

 

I tend to buy that type of dog, generally only the sire is basic tested, often they are KC registered thou.

as i said earlier i've never heard of any off these local bred dogs having hip or serious health problems, and because most are sold locally any problems u soon here about it.

30ish yr ago most of the local estates had there own distinct style of lab, often u could look at a lab at tell which estate keeper it was from and every now and again usually the pickers up would bring some new FT blood in to the area. But in those days u would never dream of travelling the length of the country for a stud/pup which is the norm now

 

 

So i think in reasonbly local breeding u can get away with minimal testing as any problems the jungle drums soon tell everyone so that line will not be bred from again. Most these folk are not in it for the money either. Plus if dogs are doing 30-40+ days a season and working till 10ish yrs old and u know 3,4,5 gens back they were still doing the same not an awful lot wrong with them

 

 

But when u get stud dogs sireing a lot of pups every year over a wide area it would be impossible to check u on them all, even with bitch selling pups all over the country.

If there was a problem developed with 1 would u ring round the other owners and tell them not to breed?

 

Thats where MyKC could come in very handy if lots of illnesses where notifiable, u could soon click on related dogs and see how healthy different lines are.

Crossing decent working dogs to a decent old fashioned FT line every few generations to get some new blood in is the way its worked here for years and years with few problems.

 

I think it is money that has spoilt it as well as using some studs far far too much, fair enough for FT bitches or good working bitches if styles/lines suit but not every local bitch that has ever chased a pheasant and plenty that havenae even done that to get more £££ on the pups

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Scotslad,

You make some valid points, that's why I wondered as there is some real rubbish bred out of some so called trail dogs they would be great in a race but not to work all day.

The very same applies to the spaniels we seem to be going backwards as far as breeding goes.

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Scotslad,

You make some valid points, that's why I wondered as there is some real rubbish bred out of some so called trail dogs they would be great in a race but not to work all day.

The very same applies to the spaniels we seem to be going backwards as far as breeding goes.[/quote

 

See I have to disagree slightly.... Trial dogs no matter how stylish and fast they naturally are will learn to pace themselves and slow down if they are working all day beating on shoots after a while, I've got two here to prove it too as I just keep them for beating :)

 

Our trialling dogs however are only worked for one or two drives and that's if we take them at all but only off lead for short periods of time as we don't want them to lose their oomph. If you see what I mean

Edited by bigbird
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Dogs on shoots DO NOT work ALL DAY. They work whilst the drive is on, or after if picking up, then there is a lull before the next drive. That is NOT working ALL DAY. A friend of mine is the head keeper on one of the most prestigious estates in the country. Last season he had sent to him one of the best ftch spaniels in the UK. He rang me after a couple of days to say " this dog is a nutcase !, it is 1000 miles per hour but it will soon slow down with the work it will get". When the dog went back , at the end of the season, I rang to ask how the dog had been during the season...." It was exactly the same on the final day as it was on the first day, a nutcase at 1000 miles per hour" !!!!!!!

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It all depends on the type of day ur shooting, a rough outside day ur dogs could well be hunting for long peroids if not all day, same on grouse some drives can last a long time and be miles long.

 

Still seen plenty of dogs carried of the hill some are FT type dogs and others are just not fit enough

 

 

I'm not the biggest fan of pure FT breeding, i think a lot of modern breeders have lost the stocksmans eye and just go for the easy option of the nearest FTCHxFTW.

 

Quite a few years ago i was picking up on hill partridges, i was sitting on top of a hill trying to mark birds down. The game cart boy has 2 of the worst untrained spaniels i've ever seen in my life, and i've seen some bad ones. When u were sitting up there watching it all and his 2 spaniels race to the fall, but when u actually watched 1 of them it worked a fantastic pattern and never missed a bird and never spat any out unlike his other dog, considering it will have been working picking up from 5 months old with NO basic training, was actually amazingly good. it would probably have been a decent dog to use despite how terrible it was trained. But unless u really stood back and ignored all its poor training u would never of noticed it

 

Back in my younger days like i said most of the dogs were bred and sold on the beating line, it made it easier to make allowances for poor training. So if a 1 dog in a litter was doing rally well u could look at the other dogs in litter and althou for the poor training and try to figure out which was the best dog out the litter Not the best trained.

 

Some of the problems now are the modern trainers are so good, if u had a litter of pups and 1 went to a FT pro trainer chances are it will end up the best trained possibly used for breeding but it may well not be the best genetic dog in the litter. When u can see and observe all the litter u can allow for poor training, but that doesnae really happen nowadays

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Scotslad,

You make some valid points, that's why I wondered as there is some real rubbish bred out of some so called trail dogs they would be great in a race but not to work all day.

The very same applies to the spaniels we seem to be going backwards as far as breeding goes.[/quote

 

See I have to disagree slightly.... Trial dogs no matter how stylish and fast they naturally are will learn to pace themselves and slow down if they are working all day beating on shoots after a while, I've got two here to prove it too as I just keep them for beating :)

 

Our trialling dogs however are only worked for one or two drives and that's if we take them at all but only off lead for short periods of time as we don't want them to lose their oomph. If you see what I mean

I think you misread my post I make mention of some of the rubbish bred from so called trail dogs.

As you know I'm the owner of FTW spaniel bitch that works all day.

Edited by E.w.
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I've a cocker for fowling and pigeon shooting,she is 7 and was in a bad way recently but is very much on the mend...elbow dysplasia and wrists,make sure that the peeps you buy from have history of dog u decide to go for because you don't want to end up like we did but then you will do anything to keep them from harm and pain,my bitch is a super little gundog and is a pleasure to watch doing her work!! PS...mine was down and out until we got her laser treatment and a beam of light fired into her elbows n wrists brought her back literally and its pain free the treatment.... Apart from on your pocket...its quite reasonable actually... Lol!! Atb with your decision bud..DT.

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