Breeding Criteria

PRIMARY BREEDING CRITERIA

Selective breeding has been around for many years and as such there are many "strains" within a breed that may be as diverse or more diverse than the different breeds themselves.  When shopping for a new hunting dog, you should inquire as to the traits that the breeder selects for.  You might be surprised at the selection criteria for some breeders.  Some will be unhappy with a dog that ranges greater than 30 yards while others will not even consider a dog that hunts at under 1000 yards.

We consider the following characteristics to be primary breeding criteria.  These are minimum criteria that a dog must meet before it will be considered for breeding.  These criteria are derived from my hunting and training experience.  I have chosen the traits that I find most valuable as a serious hunter and as a professional gun dog  trainer.

DESIRE - Strong hunting desire is critical for any type of hunting dog.  Desire is prey drive for the dog, but translates to passion at work for you and me.  A dog with passion can overcome many other weaknesses and be a sound hunter. 

NOSE - A high quality nose is extremely important for a quality gun dog.  A dog that has a mediocre nose may still get the job done if it has high desire, but he will be handicapped in difficult conditions.  You cannot overcome a poor nose with training or practice; therefore, such a dog will let you down frequently.

POINTING - Strong pointing instinct is critical for those who hunt wild birds.  I often see versatile dogs that point like they are doing so because they have been told to.  This dog will let you down when hunting wild birds, or at least you will find yourself with far more difficult and missed opportunities than your hunting partners that have dogs with a strong pointing instinct.  Many breeders will overlook the importance of pointing instinct because they primarily hunt  planted birds on preserves or in hunting dog tests and trails.  These dogs will point, and the handler will flush and shoot the bird.  Fine, they do not see a problem since everything works out like it is supposed to.  The dog that stands without intensity on wild birds will frequently bump birds and the handler will find that many of these birds flush before the gun is within shooting range.

RETRIEVING - A good hunting dog should have a natural retrieving instinct.  Actually the dog is born with an instinct to pick things up and carry them around.  It is not natural that they then give them to you.  But, if a pup will naturally pack things around you can teach him to bring them to you with a combination of obedience (the recall command) and praise for correct behavior.  A natural retriever will retrieve to you because he wants to, not because he has been forced to.  As such, he will make the most difficult retrieves that many dogs will give up on, or never attempt.

WATER LOVE - Since we spend a fair amount of time hunting ducks on large difficult water ways, such as the Snake River, we  prefer dogs that love the water.  Many of our dogs will enter the water just for fun in sub zero temperatures.

COOPERATION - A friendly, cooperative dog is the hallmark of our breeding program.  Do not confuse cooperation with desire.  Sometimes a high desire dog may appear to be uncooperative; however, there are distinct differences between the two.  Cooperation to us means that a dog will hunt far or close but always knows where his handler is.  A cooperative dog will remain on point for 20 minutes without taking a step while he waits for his two-legged handler to reach the covey.  This dog will track and recover crippled game from great distances and then give it up to his master for only a pat on the head.  Hunting speed and distance, enthusiasm, and prey drive should not be confused with lack of cooperation.

TEMPERAMENT and INTELLIGENCE -  A good versatile dog must double as a companion and a member of the family.  A  solid, confident temperament coupled with an intelligent, good natured personality is important to us and our clients.  In addition, rigorous hunting and training requires backbone and brains.  We don't leave home without it.

HEALTH - All of our breeding stock are free of health problems.  We test for hip dysplasia through PennHIP®.  We look for other disorders through blood tests, and veterinary exams, and finally we breed only the most robust hunters that can hunt day in and day out. 

SECONDARY BREEDING CRITERIA

Selective breeding becomes geometrically more difficult each time you add another quality to select for.  The English pointer may not be required to retrieve ducks in 10 degree air temperatures.  The Labrador retriever may not be required to cover mile after mile scouring the countryside for upland birds.  There are many examples, but the versatile dog, by default, requires more diligent breeding practices than the specialist dog.  In addition to all of the qualities mentioned above, one must also select for coat color, coat length, eye color, size, stamina, tracking ability, hunting style, tail position, head position, height, length, head shape, ear length, and so on, all the way down to toenails and political orientation.

Since, in our opinion,  the perfect dog has yet to be born, we place less importance on certain characteristics.  Secondary breeding criteria are traits that we try to select for but they need not be 100 percent present in all of our breeding stock.

TRACKING - A dog that can put his head down and follow the scent of a crippled bird is indeed a valuable hunting partner.  We have found that all dogs will usually  learn this skill after one hunting season.  However, we prefer to have dogs that hunt with their heads high not to the ground.  The dog that follows air currents will locate more game and do so faster, in most cases, than the dog that hunts with its nose down.  As such, we definitely emphasize work after the shot, but we do not want to degrade overall hunting ability for the single purpose of tracking.

RANGE - We prefer the medium ranging dog.  Nose, desire, pointing, and so on, will determine the success of a hunting dog -- not his range in yards.  Range is simply a hunting style and is of more importance to the eye and confidence of the handler than to the success of the dog.  A closer working dog can find as many or more birds as a far ranging dog if he is equally or more talented in his primary breeding criteria.  A far ranging dog can produce just as many shots at birds if he is honest and will hold point for the handler.

SIZE - We prefer 55 to 60 pound females and 65 to 70 pound males.  We have found that the above size range minimizes the tradeoff between a smaller dog for maximum field stamina while maintaining enough size to maintain durability, and  handle difficult water work.  

COAT - We prefer a short to medium coat that is dense and harsh with a protective outer coat including facial furnishings, and an insulating under coat.  The creators of the wirehair gave us many different coats, including shorthairs, and long soft silky coats.  While we prefer a serviceable coat, we  believe that it is what's inside the dog that will ultimately get the job done.  Most of our dogs are liver and white ticked, black roan, or liver roan.  We also have a fair number of solid liver dogs and a few liver and white dogs.

TAIL - We like a high tail with a stylish point.

STAMINA - I have seen no other breed of dog that can handle such a variety of difficult conditions.  I once hunted one dog for 13 days in a row while camped in the Hells Canyon wilderness.  She never once quit or let me down.  Having said that, the wirehair generally has poor stamina in hot conditions.

CONFORMATION - For overall confirmation we prefer dogs that are slightly longer than they are tall, square in nature, high head, well muscled, not to deep or big in the chest, but solid in bone structure.