Breeding Dogs Discussion

Linebreeding;

Quite a few of us agree that linebreeding is a good way to produce good dogs whether they are cow dogs or hunting dogs...but linebreeding can take your dogs to a higher level or even towards a lower level of performance in our breeding program dependent on our standards...

One of the first things to know is how should the dog be physically built to perform well?

We must know what a good hunting dog is as well...probably the most important thing...the reason I say this is...how could we breed better dogs if it isn’t absolutely clear in our minds eye as to what a good to great hunting dog is?

We need to know how the pups progress...at what age do they Bay, trail, wind and want to hunt? We need to know these things so keeping a log, a mental or written log as to which pup did what at what age etc...one day this information will be the deciding factor as to which pups stay and which will be sold or given away...

We need to understand the pups progression curve and cull those that aren’t on that curve...culling pups from the breeding program because they aren’t on the curve just means the pup should be sold or given away...the pup is culled from the breeding program because he is not on the curve or ahead...we want to produce pups that meet those requirements so one day as breeders they can produce more of the same and preferably a higher percentage of pups per litter that inherit these traits...the other pups that aren’t on this curve are removed but still have the potential to be great dogs...
A lot of times just knowing how the pups do on that curve will tell us that more than likely they will make good dogs when grown...

The curve can last for a year or a little longer and we should know by then for sure...sometimes we can know with a 4 month old pup...

I like to look for naturals that naturally find, wind, trail and Bay...yes we can expose over and over and train to get one to do what we want if they have it in them...but we need to know that more than likely we will raise them up and they will produce more of the same...so we need to stay away from that as much as possible...we should breed dogs to a higher standard...
I believe in feeding tracks to make a good dog better...but I also believe in not feeding a bunch of tracks in trying to make a cull into a hunting dog...I don’t have much patience for this type of dog...this dog is taking up valuable space...

If we keep them related and breed this way we will produce better dogs consistently...