So we settled on Fritz - I know not that creative but alteast is sounded German - somehow it seemed to fit.  So Fritz it was and it was Fritz who taught me what a bird dog should be.

Not that the Elhew pointers and Grouse Ridge Setters were bad dogs, no not at all.  But Fritz was different.  He had a need for human interaction and human contact.  He was the first bird dog I had ever been around that didn’t try to avoid your stare.  He would look me right in the eye.  As if to say “What do you want me to do?”

From Fritz I learned that the German Dogs were much more bidable than the English dogs.  At the time I didn’t know why but I knew what I was seeing - and I liked it.

He was poor but he had done a good job of living off the land.  And while he was friendly there was an undercurrent of distrust.  All in all nothing a little extra food and a little extra lovin’ couldn’t fix.

He was a small for a male German Shorthaired Pointer especially compared to some of the overly large strains in those days.  Dark liver and roan patched – a truly classic looking coat.  But to someone who grew up with English Pointers he looked like some kind of a coon dog with no tail.

So in picking a German Shorthaired Pointer Stud Dog look deep into the pedigree to see what is behind him.  If he comes from the same line of dogs he is more likely to be able to throw the traits that line is famous for.  Why else would you be breeding to him?

In the area I grew up it was not unusual for people to have “dropper” pups on purpose. It was believed that the pups from two purebred dogs were not so hyper and easier to handle.  Remember in those days people didn’t have electric collars so dogs being out of control was much more of an issue than it is today.

Most of the time at least one of the dogs used would be a pointer or a setter which were considered to be the only “real” birddogs.  I can’t say I ever saw any really good dogs come from these crossbred litters but people generally believed in the concept.  For me all it did was cement the idea that a purebred bird dog was the way to go.

Maybe their reading and writing lacked some but boy could they ever trap and shoot.  They were forced to live off the land when they were growin’ up.  And the Quail were abundant.  I remember old homesteads that helds 3 to 4 coveys per 80 acres even when I was a kid - which was at the tailend of the Great Quail Populations.

These good ol’ boys knew their bird dogs to say the least.  They would raise a litter and keep only one pup.  The other’s made the ‘bone pile’ behind the barn.  And when they talked about how to bred the best bird dogs they would say “Yah gotta have lots of rear crosses to the same ol’ dog” 

They couldn’t pronounce homozygosity let alone spell it but they knew what it meant.  They knew that linebreeding on the get and grand-get of a great dog kept the greatness around.  And they had great dogs.

You can read more about how knowing The Ol’ Pointer Guys has influenced the way I breed German Shorthairs today by using the link in the blogroll section.

Boy was that different …

Over the coming posts I will give more details on how this first German Shorthaired Pointer changed my life.  Or you can just visit my site - it tells all about what people now call Westwind Kennels.