for me the best time to breed brother and sister is early in the breeding program...this is to tighten up the gene pool and cull out some of the obvious bad traits...then I would keep the pups I believe to be the best...keep as many as possible...keep an eye on all the pups...test them and socialize them...gunfire, winding ability, trailing and ranging...as they get older cull down as needed...if they are early starting dogs you should be down to 4 pups at 5-6 months...hang on as long as you can to them...take them out to lakes and creeks and see who swims, strongest swimmer etc...etc...you will learn what type of body style will make the powerful swimmers...also take them out and see who ranges out and leads the other pups around...once you see a natural leader leave that one at home and see which one will step up on the next time out...if all pups follow one pup at a young age that is a good sign...stage a few hunts and see how they do...bay pen work is good to see what each pups is made of as well...as they get older cut down some more but at least try to hang on to three pups if at all possible...four is better but I would keep two as a minimum...I would then get one of the pups and breed back to the best side whether it is the male or female and repeat the culling process...or keep the best female and male pup and breed them to each parent...I would look long and hard at each parent and decide which side is possibly the best...does not have to be parents but an aunt or uncle will work...especially if they have some good breeding behind them...keeping the very best for hunting and breeding...for me that is the best way...it is possible to get 100 percent turn out at some point in time...from good to great...
I look for natural ability first and as often as possible...natural ability begets more natural ability...if you choose pups that make a round the first time they are turned loose in the woods and hit the slough like a lab then you have a pup that will make you proud...genetics is driving and that is what you want to retain so that you will raise the chances of getting more of the same...keeping a dog for 3-5 years just to see if it will make it might be ok for some...but one that turns on at 3 years I will never know...at least not in my yard...because dogs like that begets more of the same...when one knows dogs we see a progression as the pup develops and it is up to us to decide if the pup is on that curve...their is no doubt the more tracks we feed a dog or pup the better but a well bred dog can be kept in a kennel for the first 2 years of its life and in a few hunts be a pretty good hunting dog...in my opinion there are many sorry dogs out there because people set the bar too low and make excuses for their dogs...we have to call it like it is and make adjustments accordingly...
I meant to say the grand parents and aunts and uncles...and breed the pups back to where you see something you like and breed in that direction...analyzing the dogs heritage and then choosing a direction is very important...I place as much importance on that as I do choosing the pups as best I can...The goal at some point in time should be to have every dog in the back yard worthy of consideration to be part of the breeding program...that is if one wants to breed their own line of dogs...at least it should be a consideration...
