You’re reply was slightly hard for me to follow (you’ll have to excuse me, I’m kind of slow sometimes lol). But from what I’m gathering is that you were breeding dogs slightly younger than most people do, in order to speed up the process of getting to more consistent/better dogs? In essence you wanted to get to where some people get after 15 years, but in 5?
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You hit the nail right on the head with this paragraph...
My success rate was very high but I cannot put a number on it on account I didn’t have a way to track the all the pups...but the ones I was able to track were good dogs...every pup I kept made good dogs...
If you go back and read the old mans posts about his early starting pups...that is how I knew which females to keep and breed...early starting them and they showing me that they had what it takes...
This program has been named the ten step program...lol
In my older age it is kind of like losing weight...we know how to do it but don’t get on the diet as we should but I at least do the bare minimum...and same with obedience training...I could train my dog’s for it but I only train for minimum requirements...
The “Ten Step Program” evolved from the old German bird hunters who had a bada$$ testing program for GSP’s and drahthaars but I just built something very simple based on their program...no rules or regulations just doing a few things here and there...
It is very useful when we have good dogs but not the consistency we want...why take the time which is over a year and almost 2 years from the time of breeding to find out you have a cull or that you didn’t pick the best pup when you can test them and select based on that...and up your chances of picking the better pup...
If we already have a consistent bloodline it will still work...but not as necessary because the strain is more or less consistent...
We can always improve and fine tune the bloodline even when we think we have excellent dogs...
One example below...
We can look for those natural winders...many good hunting dogs brains do not click when there is a weak hog scent in the air...and their are a few that do...those few are born with it and that is why they react to it the weak hog scent...so why not select the pup that is born with it so that that trait can be intensified in the breeding program...the more of it in the program be higher the chances of getting it passed on to the pups...
As I already mentioned... it is common sense logic that tells us the more well rounded the hunting dogs are that are used in a breeding program that they will produce more of the same...
It was a pleasure sharing information and thought processes on here by everyone...
Hopefully I am done with this thread as well...