Puppies/Breeding Program

We do little breeding, one or two litters a year, but strive to produce puppies with excellent potential as competition or hunting retrievers. We have whelped at least 10 Labrador and Chesapeake Bay Retriever field champions, including a National winner (FC-AFC-NFTCH-AFTCH Overland Express) and at least two double-header winners (FC-AFC A. P. Charlie and FC-AFC Bird Perfect).

The quality of a given pup is determined by three things: choice of parents, the care and attention given the dam and pups, and chance. We feel the strengths of our breeding efforts are, first, our ability, on the basis of long experience, to evaluate dogs and the working traits they have to pass on to their offspring; second, our selectivity in bitches (we have high standards and will not keep a bitch at our own expense if she has a significant flaw); and third, our careful rearing and socializing of puppies. We only breed when we plan to keep a pup to raise as a field-trial prospect. As professional trainers, we lose a lot of money on every pup we wash out, and so always attempt to produce pups which will be worth our time and effort.

In our bitches, we emphasize retrieving desire, excellent water-going ability, and a good, persistent, smart hunt above all else. Usually true, deep desire is only established for certain after rigorous training. Other traits in which a bitch must be strong are: memory, marking, bird desire, ability to learn from training, general intelligence, and physical soundness. In selecting a stud, we look for the same traits, and a record of throwing puppies which excel in these traits. As trainers and trialers, we learn a lot about the available stud dogs by watching them work and by discussing their training, development, and natural talents with their trainers. While most of the studs we consider are field champions, titles alone are not sufficient to meet our criteria; on the other hand, we have on occasion bred to an untitled dog with excellent results. Using proven producers as stud dogs cuts down on the chance component of pup quality.

Of course we screen our breeding stock for hip dysplasia and a variety of eye problems. We keep further track of what they are producing through the use of guarantees which make it attractive for pup owners to inform us if any heritable problem should occur. Usually several of the pups end up in homes where we get a good deal of feedback about their temperament and working ability, as well as the results of hip and eye screening. If the pups prove not to meet our standards, we discontinue breeding the parents.

Care of the bitch and pups includes a high-quality puppy food for the bitch and careful socialization of the pups. We apply the U.S. Army Bio-Sensor method of socialization for young pups, supplemented by holding and talking to each pup individually twice a day. From the time they are old enough to leave the whelping box, we take them on walks over varied terrain, teach them to retrieve, introduce them to birds, and take them swimming (weather permitting). The pups are handled by a variety of people and exposed to a wide range of different sounds, including gunfire. In our experience, our pups are as well as or better socialized than any pups we have bought from other breeders. We remove dewclaws on the third day, worm the pups and vaccinate at age six and, if necessary, nine weeks. We perform temperament tests and are happy to share the results with puppy buyers, although we ourselves are not convinced that these tests have the predictive power claimed for them in books.

We attempt to breed the kind of dogs we most like to train, having plenty of drive, initiative, and natural marking ability, and regarding water as something you have to get through on the way to the bird. In Labradors we particularly like to emphasize FC-AFC Paha Sapa Chief, FC-AFC Super Chief, and their descendents, particularly Super Powder and FC-AFC Air Express. In Chesapeakes we like to incorporate FC-AFC Chesdel Chippewa Chief and his son, FC-AFC Rock Honeybear of the Yukon, also a number of untitled dogs whose careers and productivity we are familiar with.