Message #103940

[skoalbandett]

I want to say this... This post is not aimed at any man, breed or any particular line of dogs. Its one of those deals that if the shoe fits……
It really is this simple.. A good dog can come from anywhere.. he is were you find him. The trick is reproducing it with consistency over a long period of time, that separates the good lines from the average in the long haul There are no shortcuts to achieving that either, it takes years of work, education, culling, hunting, on and on. Most of all it takes being honest with yourself first.
Another truth is, the definition of what good is all across the board depending on each man’s opinion and criteria for what that is and what his personal definition of that is.
Another truth is, if a man (any man, any breed) says he don’t have culls, run from him as fast as you can.
One more, if it sounds to be good to be true, guess what?
 The dog world is as full of groupies as the entertainment world is for whatever reason or motive. The Internet is full of them, some wanting to ride on another mans success or reputation or to be a part of something. Others don’t really know and run with the ball. Listen to them and you hear the catch phrases and like claims made by their mentors, it aint hard to figure out where it came from and why. 
A person has a motive for what ever he dose, right or wrong, good or bad, discover what that is and you will know more truths and be better equipped with how to deal with it. Listen to your eyes, not your ears.   I can’t tell you how many times and people over the years that I have tried to go or gone to look at dogs and hunt with people, some that have been mentioned on here and been totally disappointed with what I saw or what I found to be the truth. In fact, 95% of them make some excuse and wont even take you or show you. Why? Like anything else, if you are knowledgeable enough and will be honest with yourself with what you see, you will be way down the road with getting to where you want to go when it comes to the truth.
 I did not see any of the post that apparently were removed but Dawson, I have to say I do agree with much of what I read on this at this point.  There is so many things that go into all this it is impossible to write it in one post but one of them that I agree with Dawson on is this. I have always believed, no matter the breed, if you want a hog dog, go to a man who actually hog hunts consistently and knows what he is doing and has been doing it a long time and been raising his own dogs for many years. If he can’t take you to the woods and show ya, don’t buy (forget about reputation or what you see in a bay pen, Its go find, track, stop and bay that matter in a hog dog). Same can be said for bear dogs, cow dog, bird dogs, tree dogs or any kind of working dogs. Forget the talk, the hype, the PR, the reputation, the man’s name, the breed, go see for yourself. That is, once you are educated enough you fully understand what the heck you are looking at. Don’t go once, go several times.
I also agree with Dawson on this, you bet, any man, any breed, if he produces enough dogs a year a few of them sure as heck should turn out but what about the rest of them you never hear about? What actual percentages of them actually turn out to be decent? Tell me a bout the man who is calling him decent so I can make up my mind what I think of his opinion. More over, how they heck do they really know? Truth is, they don’t. It’s the few you do hear about and turn out that keep the program alive and thriving and in some cases the $$$ rolling in.

No, we don’t sell pups, we fall into Dawson’s description of men who have raised the same line of and hunted dogs for many years and don’t sell dogs or pups. I agree with him on that definition to.
I don’t say that to mean there is anything wrong with selling dogs or pups, but, $$$ signs change people, motivate people and cloud truth to many times and that’s just a 10000% fact. Ego and power do the same thing. The truth ain’t always a warm fuzzy or kind.
Past that, what dose it all matter anyway, each feller should do what they want to, they are the one’s footin the bill.