Timid dog

I would never breed that dog if it does come around unless it comes on quick. Some people say gunshy bird dogs are not born but made. This is not true. A buddy of mine kept telling me how great this bitch was that he owned. Only problem was she was gun shy. He bred her and never shot around the pups. We were running one of the pups and it pointed and I waked in and killed a bird right in front of it. That dog headed for the truck. Then he gets mad at me and says I gun shyed his dog. I told him that he should never have bred the momma because like begets like.

You don't have anything in the dog so you could afford to fool with it a little. However, you got to figure your time, gas money, and dog food. A guy that I used to train with that was a pro said that in lots of cases it would be cheaper and smarter to buy quality pup out of proven dogs and start from there.

I had a male bird dog one time that was a direct son of a national champion out of a direct daughter of a national champion. I just knew that a dog with this pedigree had to be great I just had to put in the time. Not true. This dog could have set pointers back 50 years with selective breeding. His sister was bred to a champion that I know produced good bird dogs. The pups my friends bought were just like their momma--a crazy run off dog that did not care what planet you were on. Watch out because it has been my experience that the bad traits seem come out in a dog easier than the good ones.