bwahahahaahahahahaahahaha....
kris, you're a smart dude.......................but, as they say on EPSN'S NFL pre-game show - COME ON MAN!
breed for "retrieving instinct"? next you're gonna go off on a tangent concerning "natural sitting ability", "bringing birds back to hand naturally" and "soft mouths". and, the whole health thing is rapidly loosing aLOT of merit as well. lab health checks have come a million miles since i started running hunt tests. in fact, in the last 4-5 yrs, concerned parties have tackled more than one of the common lab issues and created test for such, aiding in breeding practices - EIC and CNM come to mind first..............again, a 300 dollar lab from "great hunting stock" is something i'd shy away from like genital warts - finding proper breedings for any animal is just TOO EASY with the internet.
boykins, water spaniels, or whatever the "off" flavor of the week is, if that's what you want, more power to you....different situations affect dogs differently - but i doubt seriously, one should take the word of anyone concerning a bad situation (that was most likely embellished) and i'm a bigger doubter of a "breed wide" dislike for children.
if a dog is raised from puppyhood on in a situation in which the bounderies for everyday living are defined AND followed, that dog (rotweiller, pit, or yes, the ferrocious boykin) will grow up to be a proper and respectful citizen. same for sitting to shot, bringing birds back to hand, not munching, etc etc.........ALL OF THESE issues that creep up are MAN MADE. period. they were either handled wrongly at jump street or standards were allowed to wither, creating that little monster.
i train a good bit with sam milton, owner/trainer/handler of 15 time national qualifier FC AFC Fordlands Bored Out Ford (ford for short) and also 8 time qualifier FC AFC Soupy (RIP). now, i personally watched ford pick up 8 (EIGHT) birds in a marking setup - that's 2x's a quad, so i guess i'll call it an octuplet. the marks range from a tad bit over 400 yds, to a serious memory wiper that was a flier in fords face. a couple of the marks retired also. when the dust settled, he remembered every last bird, and front footed them all..........in the 5, 6, or 7 yrs i've been out there training (ford's been retired for most of those) i've seen folks come from as far as canada to breed him, and he's sired an AWFUL lot of pups.............ford not with-standing, some of those "instinctive retrievers" with quite a few letters in front of and behind their names. and, in that time, i've trained with probably 2 dozen ford pups.
wanna know how many caused me to raise an eyebrow? less than 5. you simply can't "breed to retrieve", that's a ludicrous statement. and, since we have a "less than 1%" statement out there.......i'll make as wild and random of one:
more than 95% of todays labrador owners who hunt with their dogs have NO (zero, zilch) problem w/ that whole "instinctive retrieving" bit......................they just want the stupid sumbitch to sit still.
i've trained with a couple boykins, one was a bad little sucker from alabama that could flat out GO - i mean bad to the bone, would be proud to own him.......and, the other wasn't that great. in both instances, i fully believe that the owner and the training methods in general were as much to blame as the "breed". i say that b/c i've trained w/ some sorry azzed labs, goldens, and chessies in my time to.......and some that are, in fact, bad to the bone.
get the boykin, heck, get whatever you want.............it's your dog and in the end, it's gonna be your issues you have to clean up.
regards, justin
justin
