I am starting to see a trend in our breed that I hope does not continue. I am talking about the "brood bitch" syndrome. You know, where a bitch may not "have it", but she has nice paper, so she'll make a good brood bitch.

Somebody please explain the logic to me, 'cause I just don't see, if a bitch doesn't "have it", how can she pass "it" on to her puppies? This applies to show or field or what-have-you, but since this is The Brown Dog, and our FT lines are very thin on the ground as it is, I will confine my diatribe to the FT bitches.

Pups get half of their DNA from their dams. That means the bitch has just as much pull as the sire, genetically. If a bitch does not measure up in the field, then she simply does not have field ability genes to pass on. She may have a star-studded pedigree, but that does not mean she inherited good genes from those ancestors. She may have inherited all their weaknesses, and THAT'S what will get passed on to her pups. It's elementary, my dear Watson.

Yet, I am starting to see litters advertised as FT or "working" stock (whatever that is), where NONE of the animals in the bottom line of the pedigree has any titles, not even a WD. It may be that the bitches have talent, but never got trained. This, in itself, raises a question in my mind. How can someone who does not work their dogs be qualified to sell FT or "working" stock? Pedigrees are only as good as the living dog they represent. If the dog is no good, then a red-lettered pedigree is only so much window-dressing to sell pups with.

I'll use an example from outside our breed, so nobody will think I am pointing fingers. My trainer just washed out a nice Lab puppy. I was shown the pedigree, and it is awesome, even by FT Labtrador standards. I noticed something and pointed it right out to my trainer. NONE of the bitches in the bottom line of the pedigree had any working titles. There was a pattern throughout, of breeding a no-qualifications bitch to a name stud, keeping a pup from that, breeding her to a name stud, and so forth, for many generations. Basically the breeders had bought bitches as brood stock, never even breaking them out, based entirely on pedigree. This little guy was wahsed out because of inability to be forced. He is a severe clammer, something that often times runs in families. Had these bitch owners even bothered to FF their dogs, they would have identified the problem early on, and not bred those bitches, generation after generation, cementing this problem in their line.

I think Chessie trialers need to keep on working our bitches, to avoid this trap. If we fall into the paper trap, we may find that we have a line, like the one this Lab was from, that has a major fault in it, that we just can't breed away from. Then we lose a FT line from our already dwindling gene pool. Catch the rot early and prune it out, root and branch, before it gets too set and we can't breed away from it. The only way to do this is to train, test and trial ALL our breeding stock, not just the stud dogs.

Lisa

Lisa,

I am so happy to see your comment on selling
the paper and not the product. I agree with you
100% We should make a honest effort to breed to
bitches with the credentials to strengthen our
fine breed.
Sincerely Tom Wilkins

I have see pedigrees that both sire and dam where
FC/AFC and some dogs in thier litter have been washed out.
On the other hand, it dosen't necessarily mean a dog or bitch with no titles can't produce and excellent litter.
When looking for a stud sometimes i breed to a dog with titles and sometimes not. If the owner of the stud dog with no titles, tells me that his dog is a hunting dog and retrieves 200+ birds a season.
Whats wrong with that?
When I make up the 5 generation pedigree on the litter i write (GUN DOG) behind the name.
This is to show people that the dog has no titles but has the natural instinct and desire to retrieve.
Again I think it comes down to getting all the facts, information and referances.

valerie wemp

I think a lot of poeple aren't pursuing these titles because it takes a lot of time and most people that own "hunting dogs" are busy hunting in the winter and working the rest of the year. If you go and meet the bitch (and owner) and she retrieves to hand, runs blinds, marks well, has all the health certs, comes from a decent pedigree, retrieved several hundred birds over her life do you leave because the owner didn't have the time or inclination to pursue a title?

Val & Mike, you are both missing my point. If a person is TRULY working their bitch, then that bitch IS being tested in real-world conditions! I am not talking about these dogs.

Rather, I am talking about people who buy a bitch with good breeding behind her, then do NOTHING with her, yet sell the pups for top dollar because she has "working" or "titled" lines. AKA "She's a brood bitch". It doesn't take many generations of this kind of breeding to lose what working ability the line had.

As far as time and money, I don't have gobs of either one, and the same can be said for many in this breed. It doesn't take tons of time OR money to prepare a dog for the basic titles of JH or SH.

I stand by what I said, it takes BOTH sides of a breeding to produce top-notch pups, and you need to know that BOTH parents are bringing something to the table. Beware the paper tiger.

Lisa

Lisa,

Thanks for clearing that up. I totally
understand your point. When I was searching
for a chessie pup, I answered an add. This breeder
had four brood bitches with outstanding pedigrees.
He thought this was good enough because that's
all he had to offer. The four brood bitches were
never worked with. They were just kennel dogs. So
he was relying on the parents of the brood bitches
and the stud dog. As you know, even with a great breeding there is no guarantee.

Tom Wilkins

Lisa
I agree would that having a female for the sole purpose of breeding is bad. I personally think anyone who owns a chessie and doesn't hunt or compete with it should give that dog to someone who will.

Lisa,

Great Post. I've noticed this trend as well. Owning a kennel full of brood bitches gives me the appearance that a person is attempting to make profit off the efforts (trials, tests, and training) of others.

Another trend developing in our breed is that breeders appear to be breeding to PRA A males without having their females tested.

BVM