They say, “The devil is in the details” and “this is where the rubber meets the road.” I am sure we’ve all heard those sayings. The next step to picking your puppy is ninety percent of your grade in this class. The decision of the breed, sex, and our litter health investigation is in the past. The next decision we come to is the blood or lineage of our puppy. If we pick the right bloodline, we have a bright future. Today, I want one thing on your mind and one thing only. We are not picking a puppy any longer. We are picking the parents of your puppy. We are looking for parents that have attributes we want in a puppy. To list all the attributes we should be looking for in the parents, I brought in professional dog trainer J Paul Jackson. J Paul has been professionally training duck hunting dogs and competition dogs for twenty years now. He will also walk anyone through the retriever training process at his website Training With J Paul.
What size are the parents?- J Paul said, “Size does matter in the retriever world!” The size your pup needs to be can be determined by answering a couple of questions. Where will you be hunting your future pup? Will he be running trials? Let’s take the first question and get an answer. If you are hunting mostly timber, J Paul and I, both agree to go with a smaller dog for a couple of reasons. Smaller dogs fit better in boats. They are less likely to flip a boat. J Paul said, “Smaller dogs just work better in the timber. The best timber retrieving dog I ever saw was a Boykin Spaniel. She could crawl up and down logs like a coon.” When we are talking about hunting in open fields or running trials, we both agree you should look at going with a taller and faster dog. J Paul said, “I want a long legged sucker than can flat out cover some ground!” When you are talking about size, you have to consider health into size. Smaller dogs live longer and are less prone to joint issues.
Are The Parents Birdie?- I asked J Paul about what it means for a dog to be birdie and how important it is. J Paul said, “Birdiness is the dogs attraction to birds. Visible signs of excitement show it. The more birdie the dog, the higher level of excitement. Birdie dogs will forget everything when they come into contact with bird scent. Some dogs will wag their tail. Some will become vocal.”
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