Why we plant seeds and expose young French Brittanys to birds.

Let me tell you about a really special Orange Roan male French Brittany we named Squirrel. 

He was born here 04/10/2023 and we dubbed his litter the “410” litter and loved taking pictures of them with our various .410 shotguns, one of my favorite bores.

He was placed as a young puppy, but only after we had laid the right foundation steps for him.

He was born from a French import sire who is an incredible bird dog, and Ginger a second generation dog from our breeding program who is also dynamite in the field and in the home.

She is affectionately referred to as my “mistress” since she is usually found up on the bed with me or wherever I am. 

As a young puppy we introduced squirrel to walks in the woods, fishing trips where he decided he loved to retrieve trout, off leash recall, motivation retrieves with quail, finding birds etc. All of this before he left us for his new home. 

As is often the case, life changed for this family and they weren’t able to follow through with their plans for him, and he made his way back to us at just over a year old. In his first home he wasn’t able to get the training and exposure that was planned so we were starting mostly from scratch when he got back to us. 

This is why we do so much with them as puppies. 

We reintroduced the leash to him, off leash recall, and house training. Then we reintroduced birds to him as well as asking for the retrieve that he had learned as a puppy.

When he first got here I took him fishing again, and he promptly picked up the fish and carried them around just like when he was a puppy and brought them to my hand.

We reintroduced quail to him which he also brought back to hand with some coaxing and patience.

Then we introduced the bird launcher and gunfire to him this last week and he amazed me. All of this with no training in the last year, and only his great genetics and puppy foundation. He has a good clean find, and a nice retrieve after a gunshot which doesn’t phase him at all.

This is why we do what we do the way we do.

Here is looking forward to a great fall with Squirrel as he continues to learn and experience more birds, more species and more terrain! 

Start them young!