# Sticky  picking a puppy Gonehuntings method



## Bobm

Another gem of a tip by Gonehunting I think is worth saving. Heres his method for picking pups

PICKING A PUPPY 
You'll get a lot of conflicting views on this, but I would never buy a pup without being able to pick it myself. First, the age. Pick it no sooner that 8 weeks and it's better if the breeder holds it until 10 weeks. You can really tell a lot about them then.

You know you want a female, so that's half the battle. You've gotten some horrible advice on them though. First, they are not smarter than a male. They are equal. Not stubborn........hmmmmmmmmm. Are you married? Is your wife stubborn? I rest my case. Females are temper mental dog's to train. If you lose your patience with one, you'll end up apologizing to that dog until she decides it's time to forgive you? Tough? They can be 
tougher than any male God ever created. Having said all that, I'd never own any other dog.

Before you pick the pup, you have to mark the pup. Take different color electrical ties and put a different color tie on each pup's neck. Separate the males and females. You're not interested in the males. Test only the females. They'll always fool you at this age; the females will always be ahead of the males but they'll catch up later.

Testing. Sit on the kennel floor and see which pups crawl all over you. They probably all will. Note which ones stay with you the longest and which lose interest and wander off. Now roll one over on it's back. It'll fight and squirm around. Time it and see how long is fights before it plain gives up. Record the color of tie and time. Have three puppy 
bumpers with you. Test each pup alone. Throw one bumper and see if pup retrieves it. If it does, hold the pup and throw two bumpers 180 degrees from each other. Does pup bring one back and immediately leave to get the other one? Make a note of it. Don't throw the bumpers more than 10-15 feet. If it get's two, try three. Throw them like an inverted 
T. One straight out, one to each side. Turn pup loose. See if it remembers all three or only two of them. Make a note. Now introduce a clip wing pigeon with it's wing's and feet taped so it can't move around. Throw the bird and see what the pup does. Does he go right out, grab it and return? Is he afraid of it? Does he ignore it? Make notes.

See what we've done? We've found out which one is the people dog. We've found out who is the most tractable (by holding it on his back). We've found out who's the most intelligent by seeing who remembers the most bird's. We've seen who loves birds. In a nutshell, that's it. Pick the highest scoring pup and make him a great gun dog.

Last part is this. Save every cent of your money and buy the pup with the greatest field trial lineage you can find. Expect to pay $800.00 to $1000.00 for him. He'll be worth it.


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## ndguy

I have sensitivity is not based sex it all depends on the dog my female is not as sensitive as my male. my female bounces back right away unlike my male it takes a little longer. I look at pups that want the wing or birds all the time and not scared of anything.


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## NDTerminator

My method is much simpler... 

1. Research the litter's pedigree, make sure it meets your satisfaction.

2. Spend a bit of time getting to know/researching the parents, make sure they have the personality, trainability, and performance you desire.

3. Separate out the pups that are the sex & color you want.

4. Put all the pups that meet your requirements in a group.

5. Close your eyes & grab one...

Researching the pedigree is key, the more proven performers with titles in the pedigree, the greater the chance the pups will be performers as well. Chances are the puppies will share character traits of temperament & trainability with the parents. After that, picking a pup is a crap shoot...


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## ohmymy111

NDTerminator, I think you have it dead on. Parents and pedigree are going to tell you the most. All you can really do is increase the odds of getting a good dog. Truthfully at the end of the day, most of what that pup will become is up to you.


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## beerhunter

If someone can pick out a pup at 10 weeks old and know it will be the best pup of the litter your a special person........

It is crap shoot put your hand in and close your eyes and pick one.......my last 3 labs have been the last pick and I didn't get to see any of them until they showed up to the airport.......all 3 are hunt test titled and awesome hunting dogs......that's my 2 cents :thumb:


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## dakotashooter2

I thought everyone knew that the pup picks you. It just makes you think you picked it.....

If we only chose our wives as carefully as our dogs.....LOL


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## duckp

Pick the dirtiest one.If he's(not 'she's)got crap all over him all the better. :thumb:


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## huntin_fool01

Why would you want one out of a field trial lineage? They produce the most health issues because of all the cross breeding that goes on. EIC...a lot of it is blamed on field trial breeding. Also..you cant base a puppies worth by what his grandpa or great grandpa did. There is a lot of good dogs without titles out there. I would take more away from looking at the parents of a pup rather then what happened 10 years earlier to his great great grand parents. Just my opinion.


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## PJ

My method: I just ask the breeder which one they would take, or which one THEY think will be the best hunter. They spend all the time with pups and if they know what they are doing, will be able to guide you in the right direction. The last breeder I got my current Lab from gave me this advice. He told me that no one ever asks him which pup HE thinks will be the best hunter.


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## hf4l

I know a guy that got lucky and found his dream dog when he was in his late 20's. So he made a plan; he bred that dog, and kept one pup. He is now 65 and has that dream dog from his 20's blood in his dogs to this day. He always does a crazy amount of research to ensure he is not getting a stud that has any ties with any of the dogs he's had from the start. All in all, his dogs are always amazing. I'll mention too that there is much to be said about the fact that he's 65 and has been training dog's for a very long time(as a hobby). With that though, he always knows what he's getting...It's pretty cool.


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## BROWNDOG

huntin_fool01 said:


> Why would you want one out of a field trial lineage? They produce the most health issues because of all the cross breeding that goes on. EIC...a lot of it is blamed on field trial breeding. Also..you cant base a puppies worth by what his grandpa or great grandpa did. There is a lot of good dogs without titles out there. I would take more away from looking at the parents of a pup rather then what happened 10 years earlier to his great great grand parents. Just my opinion.


I know this is a very old post BUT this fool has no idea what he is talking about, one thing I got from my grandparents was 
"* Open your mouth when you know what your talking about, keep your mouth shut and open your ears 
when you have no clue" * Untill you own and train a gun dog out of truely talented lines, don't discurage others from doing so.


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## kingcanada

You don't want to know my method! During the past 24 years, one dog was just the family pet when I decided to start hunting birds, the second was a Christmas gift, and the third was recently adopted from the shelter! All three have been herding breeds. I know, pure heresy! Yet I have had great hunting for almost all North American game bird species of these dogs. Last yearI viewed a photo in Ducks Unlimited which showed the day's take at one of the old time duck clubs. There were the shooters, dozens of ducks, and one dog- a border collie! My dad raised hounds, pointers, and setters before I was born. He told me that any breed could learn to hunt. I didn't believe him then. It didn't take long to change my mind. Intelligence is the most important thing I looked for when I searched out my current dog. I knew the dog when I found him and ceased looking any further. His intellect and desire to learn has made training fairly easy. Some breeders may hate me, but the best way to end up with a great dog is lots of quality time ( especially the obedience/control part-the best breeding will not make up for laziness of training) and exposure to as many birds as possible as often as possible. Especially wild birds. This has been proven by greater men than I. The bottom line is that things are uncertain, pick the the dog you think is best and then put in the time and mileage. It has many, many rewards.


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