Crossbreed pups are often the best option

Bit of a turn up for the books: Alf ’s rather well bred black lab Tippet has had eight puppies. All of this came as a bit of a surprise to Alf, our sporting companion, who thought he had been overfeeding her. It finally dawned on him that food probably wasn’t the problem and the vet duly pronounced Tippet to be pregnant. The father has been identified as the brown and white collie from a few fields away. Now Tippet has given birth in what can only be described as the most palatial whelping parlour built into her kennel by Alf with pig lights, insulation and carpet and a sort of shelf from which Tippet can watch over her brood when not feeding them.

There are five black pups and three brown. Three girls and the rest boys and no casualties so far. Of course everyone he meets says they are sure they’d like one.

But my experience with Crumpet, our late working cocker, is that when it comes to the point all the people who were mad keen for puppies suddenly remembered they had to go skiing or had bought a new carpet or some equally hopeless excuse. I have firmly said no, so far. I’m very happy with Waffle who has a few years on her yet.

But as working gun dogs I imagine Tippet’s pups could be brilliant. The father is goodnatured and biddable and like most collies, bright-eyed and willing with generations of inbred natural intelligence.

Tippet may have been a bit on the young side at 19 months to have puppies but the last time we went out at the end of the shooting season she was doing all the things a lab is meant to do. And one or two they’re not meant to do.

But she’s heading in the right direction as far as obedience is concerned. Certainly crossbred gun dogs have become increasingly popular in the past few years. And I don’t mean labradoodles, a mongrel by any other name.

Poodles may have been working dogs in the dim and distant past but I wouldn’t bank on one bringing much common sense to the party. But a lab collie cross should, in theory, come with the best attributes of both breeds and with a bit of luck avoid the worst problems associated with pure breds: dodgy hips, cataracts or just plain barking mad.

It rather depends if you want a perfectly shaped Crufts look-alike worth an absolute fortune or something bonny enough that costs a quarter of the price and does the same job but possibly better.

A keeper I know on the west coast says his best dog is a lab whippet cross. Not exactly a looker, admittedly. But a serious goer. ■