Texas Hunting Forum

Brittany

Posted By: Goldenboy30

Brittany - 01/20/14 09:17 PM

This is a really broad question that may have already been addressed but can a Brittany be a good waterfowl dog, primarily for ducks?
Posted By: Warrior Poet

Re: Brittany - 01/20/14 09:41 PM

Yes
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: Brittany - 01/20/14 11:53 PM

Yes, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
Posted By: MS1454

Re: Brittany - 01/20/14 11:58 PM

Originally Posted By: bill oxner
Yes, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
Posted By: Indymac

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 09:58 AM

I couldn't imagine my dogs sitting still and quiet in a duck blind.
Posted By: Goldenboy30

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 12:48 PM

What would be y'all's first choice be?
Posted By: CCBIRDDOGMAN

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 01:35 PM

We have 7 Brittanies and even as much of a Brittany guy as I am, a Brittany wouldn't be my first choice either if Duck hunting was going to be my primary thing. But if you are set on a Britt., I would look into a Good french Brittany breeder & find a started pup that has had some water dog training & is showing the drive for it. Out of our 7, only two of them would make a good duck dog. Just my opinion.
Posted By: changedmyname

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 01:54 PM

Originally Posted By: Goldenboy30
What would be y'all's first choice be?


scratch nidea
Posted By: MS1454

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 02:12 PM

A Brittany breeder that test in navhda would be where I would look
Posted By: Bigjoe8504

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 02:20 PM

Originally Posted By: Goldenboy30
What would be y'all's first choice be?
Labs or Boykins would be the popular choices. Seeing as how they were bred for that purpose
Posted By: WileyCoyote

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 05:11 PM

My French Brit came from a breeder in Ardmore Oklahoma. He imports strictly euro bloodlines for brood stock, and 8 years ago when we bought ours had about 6+ males and 10-12 females in his breeding program at the time, and is a fulltime breeding kennel strictly for FB's. I'd buy another one from him without hesitation, as mine is true to her TAN Standard of Breed to the letter in temperment and conformation.

The name of his kennel is Rolling Red Prairie...or in french..."de la Savanne Rouge". Try Mr. R.L. Dalrymple, 2640 Springdale Rd, Ardmore.,OK 580-223-8782. You will need to reserve a spot on his waiting list, as we did, and he ships nationally in the US.

You can also find him in Google...and the next nearest FB breeders I considered were in Iowa & South Dakota at double the price or more.
Ron
Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Brittany - 01/21/14 08:29 PM

Originally Posted By: WileyCoyote
My French Brit came from a breeder in Ardmore Oklahoma. He imports strictly euro bloodlines for brood stock, and 8 years ago when we bought ours had about 6+ males and 10-12 females in his breeding program at the time, and is a fulltime breeding kennel strictly for FB's. I'd buy another one from him without hesitation, as mine is true to her TAN Standard of Breed to the letter in temperment and conformation.

The name of his kennel is Rolling Red Prairie...or in french..."de la Savanne Rouge". Try Mr. R.L. Dalrymple, 2640 Springdale Rd, Ardmore.,OK 580-223-8782. You will need to reserve a spot on his waiting list, as we did, and he ships nationally in the US.

You can also find him in Google...and the next nearest FB breeders I considered were in Iowa & South Dakota at double the price or more.
Ron


Was that bloodline known for retrieving ability. I spent three years looking for my first Vizsla partly because of that.
Posted By: WileyCoyote

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 12:25 AM



Just a response to CCBirdddogman's suggestion to the OP to find a good French Brit breeder, for a resource on a scarce breed from when I was looking. This was the only FB breeder anywhere in Oklahoma & Texas that was listed in the French Brit Breeder's website when I was shopping for a dog 8 years, when I was was willing to travel or have a dog shipped to me to get what I wanted.

Mr Dalrymple makes no claim on the habitability of his French Brits, but does hunt them as regularly as possible on quail in west Texas.

My dog was acquired in lieu of a planned small framed Lab specifically as an under 35lb Companion Dog 1st and foremost as required as part of her Standard of Breed, that had the possibility if I was going to survive the medical condition I moved to the Lake Texoma house to determine. After numerous medical procedures over an extended period of time and am still addressing to some extent, obviously I am still here. The FB I bought however has never been given the opportunity to exercise her bloodline heritage of hunting both both fur & feathers completely, not because of any shortcoming on her part, or her breeds part, but because of my ongoing issues.

She hunts fur aggressively, pointing and flushing on command naturally -this is a Spaniel we are talking about & not a At Heel Retriever, retrieves naturally and answers voice and hand commands with my self taught minimal training as well as any Do All field dog I've been around. My dog also is totally biddable - not aggressive or looking to fight - in a crowd of strange dogs and people as required by her Standard of Breed. She also is one of the best guard dogs I've ever had, responding 24/7 to strange cars, people or animals not recognized as neighbors, which vital in the sparsely populated waterfront lake community where we are located adjacent to Corp Land, as required by her Standard of Breed requirements. I've never had a breakin or theft but have had numerous trespassers back when the COE park in front of us was active with the illegal drunken crowds common to uncontrolled/unpatrolled areas of Lake Texoma. Every occupied house around me has dogs, some are super sound sleepers like a neighbor behind me who had all his tackle stolen off his front porch and both of his yappy rugrat Chiwawa's and his Lab were sleeping soundly just inside the front door...while mine was yelling her head off inside my front door about 65 yards away. Too bad I can't see my neighbors front porch, as I had stepped out on the back porch with a shotgun stoked with 3" 000 and heard the thief run off with my dog sounding like she was the baddest dog in the world at my back fence. My neighbors dogs never woke up.

I agree French Brits are not my #1 choice for a pure water fowl dog either, IMO a Chessie or Lab would be better no question.

French Brit's were bred for several hundred years as the French Peasant's dog that had to live inside with the family so they had to be a smallish animal but large enough to get the jobs done of: protect the house, chase off intruders, tolerate the children & farm animals without damage, and hunt fur and feather equally well to feed the family. Mine fulfills that bloodline requirement completely, which is a good thing since my lifestyle closely resembles that of a French Peasant....except for the subsistence hunting they did not being allowed on the Corp property in front of my house.

But I ran Michigan/Canadian bloodline Golden Retrievers for some years as a do all family companion & hunting dog, and am at least a little more than passingly familiar with puddle duck hunting for over 30+ years. I've never hunted Geese, except as a DIY pass shooter or big water decoy sets like Texoma except in Michigan from drift boats for Diverducks, but concentrated on smaller under 50-100 acre lakes with under 50-60 decoy sets in East Texas or that drew flocks from Tawakoni, or on the east end of Tawakoni from the Dam to the 2 mile bridge, or the LBJ Nat'l Grassland lakes since the early 1960's or the Red River in Fannin County where I learned to hunt ducks.


Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 03:02 AM

Always enjoyed your posts in the dog forum. I have owned, raised, trained, and hunted a brittany too. One of my favorite breeds and they do have a wonderful history don't they. When I went to Vizslas I knew in advance I would be using them for retrieving waterfowl some of the time. Not something many do with them, so you can imagine it was a big consideration in what breeder I went with. So I was just curious why that breeder. After I posted my question I remembered how French Brittanys are larger than American Brittanys. I figured that was going to be the reason. And if I were wanting to have a Brit double for some waterfowl retrieving I would look for a French Brittany breeder. The breed being so involved in NAVHDA events it is certainly a versatile breed. But I agree with your response to the ops question. A lab or Chessie would be a much better choice if that is mostly what the dog would be used for.
Posted By: WileyCoyote

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 05:00 AM

Actually the Standard of Breed for an Epagneul Bretton aka French Brit I beleive to be a tad smaller than a the American Brit..but then it's been so long since I owned an AB I can't be sure. I'll try and find my FB S of Breed or TAN paperwork and confirm but FB's I think are 28-32 lbs for the females and 32-35/6 lbs for the male, and both are approx 14-16"s tall at the withers.

An old customer of mine in El Reno, Gene Sears Sr & his son Geno ran ABrits that were HUGE, as tall and heavy boned as Pointers and heavy at pushing 50+ lbs, back when I was running skinny long and lean Shoot to Retrieve foot hunter styled Setters. Those Oklahoma dogs were twice as big as my FB, even as fat as she gets if I am not careful to pull the winter weight off of her in the Spring, that comes from being spayed, and me not being able to run her couple miles a day anymore.

Did you ever know Lee Spencer (Hunter Bradlee Sporting Goods on Nwest Hwy at Preston Center) and his buddy Charlie Tippit ( the Carrollton restaurant guy on Belt Line ) that ran American Brit's competively in the '70's & 80's?
Ron
Posted By: CCBIRDDOGMAN

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 01:45 PM

Yeah the FB's are typically smaller than the AB's. I don't know why, but the FB's just seem to like the water alot more, but like I said, I would not just go buy a 6 week old pup & hope for the best.
Posted By: WileyCoyote

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 04:49 PM

Didn't read the whole thing, but the NAVHDA Tests are very interesting on several levels,with respect to the Breeds Accepted. They also look familiar with regard to the FB TAN field performance tests taken at 2 years old, as part of the Full FB Certification as I remember the procedure, but don't address the conformation & crowd biddability I was so impressed by at the time in maintaining a super tight control over breeding true representatives. I absolutely hate being around a hackled up male hunting dog always trying to assert his dominence in a crowd, and have lost friends over that issue who thought it was funny until a real problem erupted and blood was spilled ... I offered to Fix the Problem Permanently.

Our 1st dog of our married life was a great representarive of a Golden Retriever I bought from a backyard breeder in Dallas, not knowing what the GR's were REALLY supposed to look like and be able to do. Later I found a professional GR breeder in Farmers Branch and was appalled at my dogs appearance and learning capability...didn't mean we didn't love him any less but taught us a valuable lesson.

My 2nd GR, bought in the far western 'burb's outside Chicago was the real deal...except for conformation - skinny at 70lbs & 90-100lbs at full term pregnancy - @ 2 yrs old and tall as a male Pointer is NOT what a GR is s'posed to look like. She taught my youngest son to walk by allowing him to grip & pull on her upper lip & off ear while stomping on her feet with his hard soled "Walkers" and dragged him around the house that way for several months until he learned to walk on his own...and hunted as hard as any dog I ever saw in the adjacent mega sized corn fields 2 blocks from the house on ducks and pheasant, protected my randy Siamese tomcat like the 1st GR had done with 'his" 'mese Tomcat, but treated both my 18 month old son AND the tomcat as her brother's sleeping together even in sudden driving "lake effect" snow storms out in her doghouse, or keeping both of them safe from being terrorized by my oldest son who is 3 years older.

Meanwhile, I'd encourage anyone interested in their Euro bloodline dogs to get into a chapter of the NAVHDA, especially if they have interest in breeding. If/When we get another French Brit I'll get involved, but my dog is now 8 years old and just now beginning to slow down a step but prolly needs some "grooming" to score well at her age.
Ron
Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 05:39 PM

You would enjoy the Texas chapter of NAVHDA here in north texas. Friendly group that is not cliquish. They generally try to have a group training day at the grasslands every second Saturday where you can work on whatever you need to with your dog. I am not as involved as I would like to be because of some goals I have for Dash to finish in other venues that take my time, but I highly recommend the club and the NAVHDA program.

Oh, and my recollection on size was obviously flipped between american and french lines. hammer up
Posted By: JCB

Re: Brittany - 01/22/14 09:59 PM

I had a male FB for 13 years. He loved the water as much as my Lab. Still would not go with a Britt as a primary water dog though.
Posted By: reeltexan

Re: Brittany - 01/27/14 02:31 PM

It could happen with a Brit but for me it would be a Lab. No question.
Posted By: Bigjoe8504

Re: Brittany - 01/27/14 02:41 PM

If you want something smaller than a lab but a primary water dog, get a Boykin.
Posted By: Charles Smith II

Re: Brittany - 01/29/14 01:19 AM

They have the heart, but it's pretty tough on them. I would opt for a Boykin.
Posted By: AlanH

Re: Brittany - 02/03/14 01:04 PM

I am new to this forum and this is my very first post, so I hope this works...I have a four year old FB from Rolling Red Prairie. He is a fantastic versatile dog, and I would get another one from the breeder in a heartbeat. I use him for 90% dove retrieving and 10% duck hunting. We are still working on pointing. He has a better water entry than most labs, but he gets cold fast. He has a vest, but still gets cold fast. Did I say he gets cold fast? Nothing quite like bringing blankets for the dog to have in the blind after he gets wet. I would strongly suggest that the breed is just too lean and lacks the coat needed for consistent duck hunting, and you would be much better served with a small framed lab. Good luck and happy hunting.
© 2024 Texas Hunting Forum