Hog Dog Mike, are the majority of good bird dogs heavily line bred or do most breeders breed best to best?
Some are and some are best to best. The only thing that I know for sure is if you make a definitive statement about a dog along will come an exception. I started in the 60s and really got onto it heavy in the 70s. I had to pay my bird dog dues in money, time, and miles.
When I first started I didn't really know anything but figured that field trailers were the ones that do. It is like everything else in that some do and some don't. The trailers I got some dogs from were the wrong ones and it set me back years. They had some dogs that were bred in the purple but were just not very good. I bought a dog off of one of them whose sire was a National Champion and the dam was a direct daughter of a National Champion. It don't get any better than that but the dog was worthless and it cost me about 3 or 4 years trying to bring him around. The trailer kept telling me he needed more work. I hauled the dog miles and miles and worked him over pen birds, pigeons, and wild birds. Finally I culled him.
I got with a sure enough trainer that knew more about dogs and horses than anybody I have ever seen in my life. He took me to northwestern Oklahoma where we worked dogs in the summer. Then I got to go to the King Ranch with him in south Texas in the winter. I spent hours and hours in the saddle watching dogs. I spent hours watching dogs in front of trucks on the King and listening to my friend tell me about dogs.
One trip shortly after that was to south Texas down around Crystal City. Lots of birds. No excuses there for any dog. When I got back I kept one dog that was 14 months old and culled the rest. I got a couple of pups off of my friend and acquired another female and shortly had 4 scorpions. No holes in any of them. Wound up getting two more dogs to give me 6 that could run with anything, anywhere, anytime. Once you know what you are looking for cull anything that does not cut the mustard. A cull will eat more and live FOREVER.
You got to watch the dog jockeys because they will ruin your program. They do their best work in a bar or coffee shop. Seems that always the great dogs are either dead or not there. I have to run the ones in my dog box.
It is the same situation with labs, hounds, or squirrel dogs too.
