What is Line Breeding?

A recent email from Aaron:  Paul, my long time hunting buddy is getting old and I need to get a puppy this spring.  A pointer kennel I’m looking at advertises many years of conscientious line breeding.  What is line breeding?

Your author is not a veterinarian or genetic scientist; however, I can give a layman’s answer to this question. Animal breeders typically talk about two types of breeding: in-breeding and line breeding.  Let’s look at each.

In-breeding is something we’ve all heard about at some point in our lives; it’s incestuous breeding between two immediate family members such as parent-child or between two siblings.  In-breeding prevents genetic diversity.  This means that a puppy could inherit an identical, but undesirable, gene from both parents.  If only one parent has the undesirable gene, there is much less chance of the gene becoming dominant.  The technical term for inheriting two identical genes from the same parent is homozygosis.  The result of close in-breeding could result in many diseases and health issues including hip dysplasia, poor immune system, both male and female sterility, sight problems…and much more.

Line breeding is, amongst purebreds, an acceptable form of in-breeding.  Since the initial genetic pool for purebreds was small, the probability that two copies of any given gene will be identical, within a purebred strain of dogs, will be high.  In fact, the whole concept behind line breeding is to breed good genes into a litter of pups.  Line breeding is the foundation for selective breeding which has given us chickens with large all-white-meat breasts and cows that produce more milk.

For dogs, good breeders have been striving for years, through line breeding, to produce puppies with correct standards, good temperament, and, for sporting dogs, animals that have better scenting ability, locate more birds, stay staunch on point and retrieve reliably.  Of course, harnessing all these wonderful characteristics can also mean harnessing undesirable genes.  So, how does a responsible breeder help ensure that his line breeding captures as many of the good genes as possible but avoids the undesirable genes?  The first step is to make sure the sire and dam are in very good health.  This is crucial to good line breeding; it helps avoid the unwanted health issue gene.  The second step is to breed to healthy dogs that have the trait you want to introduce or strengthen in your line of dogs.  Here is additional information for good line breeding.

The United States, with all of our sophisticated technology, has, in my opinion, lagged behind in helping breeders with smart decisions for line breeding. My father was a veterinarian.  We had a kennel full of English setters and beagles.  Beagles, however, were what we bred and raised for both brace field trials and rabbit hunting.  My father used to talk about an in-breeding coefficient; a method of determining the relationship between sire and dam.  A low coefficient meant very little relationship and a high coefficient meant a very high relationship.  However, the “in-breeding coefficient”, if I recall, was only used in Europe.  Dad said that we didn’t have the record keeping in this country to use the “in-breeding coefficient”.

Here’s the formula my father used.  He felt that there should be at least three generations of separation for line breeding.  He liked five generations or more, but felt three was satisfactory.  Dad recognized that maintaining a good line-breeding program with five generations of separation would be difficult...too many years to reach your objective.  So, my simple answer for Aaron:  check the pedigree of the sire and dam producing the litter and watch for repetitive names in those pedigrees.  If you find repetitive names within three generations, I suggest you look for another litter.

Here’s one final comment on line breeding.  Genetic research is progressing dramatically every year.  Within a few years, I’m sure that there will be a simple and inexpensive method of checking for unhealthy breeding in a sire and dam.  We’ve all seen the ads on TV that say “Show me the CarFax.” This document reportedly lists any accidents in which a used car has been involved.  Someday soon you’ll say to a breeder “let me see the CanineGeneFax”.

In simple and layman’s terms, I hope this article has been helpful.  And, although he’s been gone for years, I want to thank my Dad for allowing me, as a young boy, to sit and listen to his adult conversations with fellow dog breeders.

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.

Correcting Unproductive Points & Creeping

This month’s column is about correcting two common faults with pointing dogs.  

The first fault is a dog that has too many unproductive points.  An unproductive is simply a good solid point but there is no bird.  The most common cause of the unproductive point is that a bird has just left the area…either by flushing or running.  A strong scent cone is still in the air, which causes the dog to point.  An experienced dog recognizes the fading scent cone and will relocate.  No harm here since, for a hunting dog, this is very important.  A dog, however, holding point several times a day over stale scent will cause much frustration for the hunter.   Here’s a good training tool too correct excessive unproductive points.

My good friend Calvin Robinson recently took me to meet the dean of New England pointing dog training…Bob Paucek.  Bob has been training pointing dogs for almost 60 years (he’s 83).  He’s seen it all.  Bob’s technique for correcting excessive unproductive points is fairly simple.  For this method to work, however, your dog must have a release queue such as a whistle to move forward or a verbal release command.  Bob takes a large bird such as a pheasant and will rub the bird on the ground in two or three places and then actually plant the bird.  When the dog points the scent from the first rub, Bob will whistle the dog forward.  The same drill is repeated when the second and third rub are pointed.  When the dog points the actual bird, Bob praises the dog while coming forward for the flush.  The dog soon learns the difference between stale scent and fresh scent from a pinned bird.  Give Bob’s technique a try.

The next fault is that the dog creeps or what many of the old-time trainers call cat-walking.  Some folks confuse creeping with relocating.  They’re two completely different actions.  Creeping is when a dog establishes point, has the bird pinned, and then attempts to stalk the bird rather than stay staunch and wait for his hunter to come up and flush the bird.   Creeping is absolutely forbidden and must be corrected immediately.  Creeping will result in flushes long before the hunter has had an opportunity to locate their dog on point.  This will cause much frustration for the hunter and his guests.

For many dogs, creeping will naturally go away once the dog realizes he can’t catch the bird.  Er Shelley, the original Godfather (1920s) of all pointing dog training, said that if a pointing dog were allowed to run freely on a farm (with plenty of wild birds) during its first year, it would be 90% trained without ever encountering any formal training.  Shelley’s application to the creeping issue is that if the dog is exposed to enough wild birds, he’ll quickly learn that there is no value in stalking a bird.

Very few of us have access to a large farm, with an abundance of wild birds.  So, how do we correct creeping in today’s world?  There are two training drills that must be completed prior to correcting creeping.  You must have a dog obedient to the “whoa” command, and you must have a dog that has been carefully introduced to the e-collar. If your dog meets those criteria, then here’s how to correct creeping.  Put a modern e-collar around the belly…with prongs touching the belly. We use the belly rather than the neck because we’re working around birds.  It’s worth interjecting here that many pro-trainers still feel that an e-collar should never be used when a bird is on the ground.  However, many other pro-trainers have developed an all-around application for the e-collar if used with care and thought.  The care part being the use of low stimulation and the thought part being that we simply move the collar away from the bird…from the neck to the belly.  If you stimulate from the neck with a bird on the ground, the dog may associate the stimulation with the bird and then become bird-shy.  By placing the collar on the belly, the dog will associate the stimulation with a briar scratch or biting fly…but not the bird.

When the dog begins to creep, apply a low stimulation and then quickly give the “whoa” command.  As soon as the dog stops, release the stimulation button.  Then go to the dog, pick it up and return it to the original point location, set it down and then say “whoa”.  This process may take a few repetitions but it will work.

Folks, this is June.  Depending upon whether your hunting season begins in September or October, it means you’re getting short on training time.  Make sure you’re on a schedule to ensure that your dog is both physically and bird ready for opening day.  The investment in time will provide much more enjoyable hours afield this fall.

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.

Puppy Selection

“Make sure the sire and dam have proven hunting experience.  If possible, try to watch one work in the field.”  How many times have we heard or read that advice pertaining to selecting a breeder for that new puppy? You hear it frequently and often in this column.

The theory is that we want to select a puppy from a bloodline of hunters.  If we do that, we increase our chances of bringing home a pup with the prey drive necessary to become a good hunter.  Is this true?  Let’s take a look at behavior and how it develops.

Since your author has no training in this area, I’m going to keep this very simple.  Animal behavior is shaped by both genetic and environmental influence.    Genetic behavior is the result of evolutionary responses by previous generations.  Nature has also allowed behavioral changes due to environmental influence.   Rather than taking thousands of years to develop an instinctive or genetic behavior, an environmental behavior can develop simply in the lifetime of an animal.

For our purpose, we’re dealing with genetic behavior.  All animals have genetic behavior that has developed over hundreds of generations.  How easy is it to lose genetic behavior?  From breeders of hunting dogs, I’ve often heard that a sporting breed bloodline that has most recently been used in the show ring, has most likely had the hunting instinct “bred out”.  A few years ago, a good non-hunting friend called to tell me that he and his wife had just bought an English setter puppy.  I commented that he should bring the pup over to the house in a couple of months and let’s run the little rascal in the fields.  His response: “that won’t work; our breeder told us that there are two distinct blood lines of English setters…hunting and show ring.  Our pup is a from a show ring bloodline.”  “Although I remained a gentleman and didn’t want to embarrass my friend, silently, I said “hog wash.”  The prey 

drive has not been bred out of this dog. 

I believe it was Delmar Smith who said that he could teach any dog to point…it’s instinctive and not that hard to accomplish.  Delmar’s point was that practically all ground predators hesitate before they pounce on their prey…it’s an evolutionary response passed on from generation to generation that has become genetic.  To “breed out” that evolutionary response from a pure bred line of sporting dogs would take hundreds of generations. 

Genetic behavior is not limited to just sporting dogs.  Three times in my life, I’ve watched non-sporting dog breeds grab a snake and shake it so hard that it split into pieces.  That’s genetic behavior.  Each of those dogs had instinct that told them to kill the snake before it killed them.  That behavior evolved over thousands of years but may not have been used for several generations.

What’s the conclusion and how does it affect our breeder and puppy selection?  I think that the old advice to select a puppy from a known hunting bloodline is still valid.  Although it may take a millennium or more to breed-out a pro-hunting genetic behavior, the stronger those genes are, the better.

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.

Battle of the Sexes

Should I get a female or male puppy?  I get this question asked, on the average, once per week.

The battle of the sexes is as active with dogs as it is with humans.  Ask a dozen professional trainers and you’ll probably get a 50-50 split decision.  Here are some thoughts.

Dave Duffy, a well- respected and long-time gun dog writer, often mentioned in his columns that he felt females were easier to train than a male dog.  He also thought they made better house companions.  With the greatest respect for Mr. Duffy, your writer feels that there are too many variables to simply choose a female as the easiest sex to train.  Most experts feel that dog behavior is more a result of a puppy’s breeding and how it was raised and trained.  Personally, I’ve never read or heard of a scientific study that proved one sex to be easier to train than the other.

Let’s take a look at our two dogs.  In our home, we have a three year old female German shorthair and an eight year old male German shorthair.  Let’s look at each as they’ve grown. As a puppy, the male dog was much more destructive.  He chewed and ruined everything he could get into his mouth.  Right from a puppy, he was bird crazed.  As his pointing instinct developed, he would rather jump on a planted bird than hold a point.  He chased deer, turkeys and porcupines.  He eventually, at about three years old, became a very good field dog; holding his point and staying steady to wing, shot and drop.  He has also become a perfect house dog.  He no longer chews, chases and is lovable and gives you his love.  He was neutered at seven months so he has no desire to roam the countryside in search of a girlfriend.

The female in the house has never been a chewer of shoes, electrical cords or any other household material.  She was not as bird crazy as the male during puppy time and had less interest in pointing as a puppy.   Her pointing instincts simply took longer to develop.  This past fall, at 2 ½ years, she had numerous grouse finds, points and pinned birds which resulted in flushes and good shooting.  She is also a better retriever than the male and delivers with a soft mouth.  She is more prompt with recall but took longer to learn “whoa” than the male.  Once having learned the “whoa” command, she’s more compliant than the male. Our female, as is the male, a wonderful companion and house dog.

The bottom line between these two dogs is that the female took longer to learn about pointing and birds, however, once she grasped the desired action, she has been more predictable.  Overall, however, and it may just be experience; the older male will find more birds than the younger female.

From a hunting point of view, your author has had the good fortune to either watch or hunt over many breeds; both females and males.  Some of these dogs have been amongst the best pointing dogs in the country.  I would give a very slight edge to the females.  I’ve seen them locate and pin more birds than their male counterpart.  But, that’s only a slight edge…not enough to sway a potential puppy buyer.

The best advice on this subject is to buy the puppy that makes you happy without regard to sex.  Of course, be sure to do the standard pre-buy checklist; are the sire and dam accomplished hunters, are they well-behaved house dogs (if that is your plan) and they are free of disease.  Once the puppy comes home, the future for your new friend is mostly in your hands.

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.

Wild Bird Training In March

March is a very exciting month for the pointing dog owner.  It’s the month we’ve waited for all winter…the month we celebrate the return of the American woodcock.

Nothing is as important with pointing dog training as wild birds.  And the return of the woodcock gives us a solid dose of wild birds for a good two to three weeks. Every pointing dog owner should take advantage of this opportunity. 

Your author lives in Southern New Hampshire.  Depending upon snow depth, we typically see our first birds toward the end of the first week in March.  If there is total snow cover, it might mean another week.  If there are seeps, with a little grass showing around the seep, you’ll have birds.  Since the birds need some soft ground to find food, you won’t find birds without seeps.

The returning woodcock are on a mission…to get to their homeland, which, for your author’s area, would be New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.  Once arriving in their homeland, they begin to mate.  The continuous flow of migrating birds gives the dog’s fresh scent almost every day.  How much better can it get?

Nature has purposely staggered the migration to ensure survival of the species.  Frequently we’ll have a good flight of birds go through and then suddenly get hit with a March snow storm.  These spring storms produce high mortality for the early arrivals.  Fortunately, Mother Nature ensures survival with more flights coming through.

Let’s get back to locating the birds.  We mentioned above that seeps, or small pools of open water, are necessary.  These areas may not be your typical woodcock cover.  Even in fairly open cover, if there is water, you’ll find birds.  If the woods still has heavy snow cover, you’ll often find birds in a ditch right along a road, between two houses in a heavily developed area, in an industrial park next to a city, in a town park; be creative and always on the lookout for potential rest areas for Mr. Timberdoodle.

There are some simple rules to follow with spring woodcock training.  First, don’t follow-up a flush.  These birds have a great deal of stress in their lives at this particular time and continuous follow-ups are not good for the bird.  Next, pull your dogs out of the woods in early to mid-April.  Let the birds enjoy mating season without dog interference. And, be sure to check with your state fish and game department regarding running game during off-season.  You may need a special license.

Make March your number one training month.  That young dog you have can make great strides in a short amount of time.  Have fun!

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.

What Age to Begin Training

Your author receives training questions via email on a continuous basis.  That’s exciting to me because it demonstrates that dog owners are interested in a better performance from their dog.  The entire hunting dog experience is so much more enjoyable with a well-trained dog.

By far, the most frequent question always relates to “what age” to begin training.  It’s a difficult question to answer without knowing the dog.  The issue is “pressure” and how a pup reacts when under pressure.  Put too much pressure on a young “soft” dog and you could create long-term damage.  Other pups might be hard as nails and able to absorb substantial pressure.  Although the trend is toward younger and younger training, my approach seems to be going in the opposite direction.  I’m becoming more and more old school.

Old school training says that training on birds doesn’t begin seriously until your pup is one year old.  This gives your dog an opportunity to mature and be able to handle the pressure involved with learned behavior.  Learned behavior is the opposite of natural behavior.  For example, it’s natural for a predator to chase their prey.  However, we don’t want our dogs to chase prey.  We want our dog to point and stay on point until they’re released…this is learned behavior.

For the beginner or amateur trainer/dog owner, here are my suggestions for training a young pup.

Enroll in a puppy obedience class.  A good obedience class instructor will not put undue pressure on your pup.  The pup will learn basic obedience and have fun doing it…and you’ll have fun bonding with your pup.  Keep the training going.  If all goes well, enroll in the next obedience class.  As with all training, obedience training is a step- by- step process.  If the pup doesn’t respond well to a step, then start over again until everything clicks.  It’s like building a high-rise tower; without a foundation, you can’t go any further.

There are two commands that are not routinely taught in obedience school that are important to a hunting dog.  They are the “whoa” command and the “kennel” command.  I’m unsure why because both are important to any dog…house pet or advanced hunting dog.  Ask your instructor to work with you on each of these commands.  Both can be taught at six months.

Okay, you’re anxious to see the pup’s reaction to birds.  That’s fine, but don’t force it.  Allow your pup to develop the natural prey drive by chasing song birds, butterflies, etc.  There is no need to introduce your pup to game birds…that comes later.  Put pressure on a pup around game birds and you could be heading for serious trouble.  Don’t be tempted…it’s not worth the negative results.

Besides basic obedience and permitting the prey drive to develop, there are plenty of other training measures that can be taken to make for a better companion.

Early in the pup’s life, introduce the little guy (or gal) to the automobile.  If you’ll travel to your hunting grounds, this is very important.  Another important training step is to allow your pup to tow around a check cord.  Start with just a normal lead and then a longer cord.  When serious training time arrives, your dog will already be accustomed to the check cord.  Introduction to water is important at an early age.  Let them have fun in the water and they’ll learn quickly to swim.

Another under-one-year-of-age exercise is training to the gun.  This is very critical and must be done correctly.  If you have never worked with gun training, you may want to work with a professional trainer.  If you chose to do it yourself, it’s a step-by-step process…the same with all training.  When your pup is chasing a song bird in the yard, begin by banging some pans together.  Make sure your pup is occupied before making any noise.  If all is well, go to a 22 pistol.  Then, at 100 yards, shoot a .410 gauge…then a 20 gauge.  Take this slowly and always make sure your pup is occupied before making noise.

Folks, that’s a guideline for training a puppy.  Always remember that all training is step by step.  There are no short-cuts.  Good luck!

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.

Understanding Natural Ability & Trained Ability

The distinction between natural ability and trained ability is a question I often hear when presenting a seminar.  It’s a good question because each ability is distinctively different and requires different training methods.

Let’s begin with natural ability.  Natural ability is inherited.  That’s why it’s so important to check bloodlines before you buy a puppy.  You need to buy a puppy from a respected breeder who is known to breed dogs for the qualities you require in a hunting dog.  Field champions are born…not made.  Through outdoor exposure to scent, birds, etc., you can help your dog develop his natural abilities…but you can’t teach them. The number one natural ability inherited from a blood line is a nose.  You can spend thousands of dollars on professional training; however, no one can improve a dog’s nose.  I learned this very early in life.  My father and I had both English setters and beagles.  Setters for birds and beagles for rabbits.  An outstanding beagle had a nose often twice as powerful as the average beagle.  The same is true of bird dogs.  

In addition to a dog’s nose, prey drive, handling the scent (stay steady or relocate) and learning to hunt into the wind are all examples of natural ability.  None of these abilities are taught; they are allowed to develop throughout the first year.  And, they can only develop if the pup is exposed to multiple wild bird species, changing scent conditions and changing seasons.

Natural ability is the foundation for a good bird dog…so buy wisely.

So, what then do we call trained ability?  Trained ability is often a behavior that violates natural ability.  Trained ability includes remaining steady to the flush.  Natural prey drive makes a dog want to chase the bird when it flushes.  We don’t want that for a few reasons.  One is for safety of the dog.  Shooting at birds that are flying over a chasing dog results each hunting season in hundreds of dogs taking lead.   It’s sloppy and unsafe hunting.  Another reason is that a chasing dog will frequently flush another bird which will be out of sight or range for the hunter.  There are too many things that can go wrong when a dog chases on the flush.  We correct that by teaching the dog to stay steady during the flush.  That steadiness is a trained ability.

Other trained abilities are some of the obedience commands such as recall, whoa and heal.  No dog has a natural instinct to perform any of these commands.  Compliance with these commands is taught.

There are two abilities which are border line between natural and trained.  The first is the honor , which is backing another dog’s point.  This is a much debated subject.  Some breeders claim that their bloodline is known for natural backing.  I believe that today’s modern bloodlines do have some tendency to honor another dog’s point.  The centuries old training of the versatile breeds to be a one dog show make me feel that they’re the least likely to develop honoring as a natural ability.  I’m sure it might exist in some of the versatile blood lines but it’s not an easy natural ability to develop. 

The second ability which is border line between natural and trained is the retrieve.  I’m referring to pointing dogs and not the retriever breeds.  This is an ability which I feel the versatile breeds, due to centuries of training, might have more “natural” than “trained” in their blood.  I’ve watched amazing retrieving skills, on both land and water, by many of the versatile breeds.  I personally feel that retrieving develops a little harder for the traditional setter and pointer.

That’s an introduction to the difference between natural ability and trained ability.  Buy from good blood lines for your natural ability and work hard with the trained abilities and you’ll have a true “brag dog.”

Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program.  Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.