Brood dogs VS Hunting dogs

I agree with most of what was said on this post, as I never believed in breeding ANY unproven dog. If it doesn't perform in the woods and do a good job...consistently, I won't breed it...ever. I have had dogs that lived for 14 years that I never bred as they may have been "okay" dogs but just didn't have what I was looking for.

On the other hand, I have hunted really good dogs too much, never took the time to give them a break and breed them, and have missed some really great chances at getting good pups.

My Dixie female is a prime example. I hunted her 3-4 nights a week year around PLUS she was with me 7 days a week at the ranch and if we saw a boar hog just the two of us could handle, he became a barr right then. I mean I hunted her whether she was in heat or not as there were no dogs except around for miles.

Problem was, when the ranch sold and I figured I better get some pups from her, I couldn't get her bred. She was about 7-8 years old and had cancer. Up until then I just never gave her the time off to raise a litter.

Now she is a "yard ornament" along with her brother. But, to me they earned their retirement. I would rather feed them until they die of old age than give them to someone who may not take as good of care of them as I do. That would be an injustice to do that to a dog that took care of you for so many years.

So my feed bill runs pretty high....At this time I have 9 cur dogs, three males, rest are females and only two of the females here have ever had a litter and they were both five years old (and hunted all their lives) before I bred either.

Monkey, my yellow male dog is 4 years old and has been bred twice in his life so far. Rock, who is 11 years old, was only bred 4 times in his life.

I don't believe in "brood" dogs. I prefer to breed good performing dogs to good performing dogs and hope for the best, but thats still a crap shoot. You just never can tell what the cross will produce until you hunt the offspring.

If you never hunt them, how do you know what traits the dog has or may produce??