To the litter end
Breeding from your bitch may be satisfying but it is also a big decision, says David Tomlinson, highlighting the issues that you need to consider
YOUR dog has just performed the best retrieve of her career, watched by all the shooting party. As you walk back to the game cart, proudly carrying the cock pheasant that she has found, one of the guns wanders over to have a word. “Great retrieve. If you ever breed from your bitch, let me know as I’d be really interested in having a puppy.” You had long thought it might be good to have a litter of pups, but such a comment makes you consider the possibility more seriously.
Breeding a litter of puppies from your much-loved shooting companion can be hugely satisfying but at the same time nerve-wracking. It will certainly be hard work, while the experience will be memorable, if not profitable. I write with the experience of having bred a trio of litters from three generations of my springers. I may not be an expert but have experienced the highs and lows of puppy breeding.
Before planning anything, take a long, critical look at your bitch. Is she a goodlooking specimen of her breed with pleasing conformation? Is she of sound temperament? What age is she? (I would hesitate to breed a first litter from a bitch over the age of six.) Most important of all, is she fit and healthy? Sadly, many of our gundog breeds suffer from a variety of genetic complaints, so don’t even consider breeding from a labrador, for example, that hasn’t been scored for hip dysplasia. Buyers will want assurance that their prospective puppy comes from healthy stock, but remember that DNA tests and screenings for your bitch may well cost you several hundred pounds.
If your bitch passes all the suitability tests, then the next decision is selecting a suitable stud dog. A few minutes of research on the internet will give you an idea of what dogs are available where, and at what cost. The general rule is that the stud fee should be the equivalent of the price of a puppy: expect to pay around £750 for a FTCH labrador that has had all the health tests. The Kennel Club (KC) has an invaluable free tool on its website called Mate Select, which provides all the facts you need about Kc-registered dogs. Don’t breed without consulting it.
There’s the possibility, even probability, that you are not planning to produce a litter of potential FTCHS but just want puppies that will grow up to be family pets for 350 days a year, shooting dogs on the other 15. If there’s a dog on the shoot that has caught your eye, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use him as a stud if his owner agrees. It’s a timehonoured system that has produced more puppies than any other, and it’s one that has worked well for me.
The next item to consider is arguably the most important of all: what are you going to do with the litter of puppies your bitch produces? Finding good homes for all the offspring can be a formidable challenge. My advice is to never go ahead with breeding a litter without several firm advance orders.
I’ve never forgotten a friend who didn’t like any of the potential buyers for his litter of springers so he kept the lot, not something to be recommended.
Looking after a pregnant bitch is straightforward. She needs the best food you can provide and to be wormed daily after day 40 of the pregnancy. The gestation period is just 63 days, so that’s just three weeks of worming.
Prepare a roomy whelping box well before the due date, too, so that the bitch can become accustomed to it. She will still want to have her puppies in the garden, or your bedroom, but you can move the family to the whelping box once they have all been born.
Most gundog breeds whelp easily without human assistance but always be prepared for the worst. The first litter I bred was a near disaster. The bitch produced the first three puppies without any difficulty but the next one got stuck. She was rushed to the vet for an emergency caesarean; her first three pups were put on a hot-water bottle in the airing cupboard. The vet did a great job and five hours later she was back with four more healthy puppies, while their siblings were none the worse for their enforced separation. However, the cost of the operation ruled out any profit from puppy sales.
After their birth, the first three weeks of the puppies’ lives are easy as (in theory, at least) the bitch looks after them. All you have to do is feed her. From then on the hard work begins, for a litter of puppies requires a great deal of effort. You can be sure of numerous visitors, as everybody (and especially children) loves puppies. It’s good to encourage anyone who wants to meet them to do so, as puppies benefit from socialisation.
Puppies at four and five weeks are so endearing that it’s difficult to think of selling them, but just a month later they will be more than ready for their new home. The bitch will want little to do with them now, while they are all bent on mischief and destruction. To see them depart for their homes may be sad but it’s an emotion mixed with both satisfaction and relief.
Puppies at four and five weeks are endearing but a month later the bitch will want little to do with them, while they are bent on mischief
THE sun is shining, the Usk valley is that vibrant lime green you only get in spring, bluebells and milkmaids surround the house, the orchard is in full blossom and the muchneeded rain has finally come, so the smell is sensational. I was brought up on the Usk and am incredibly lucky to have had sporting parents. My first trout at four, perched on Mum’s knee in the middle of the river; my first day’s hunting at eight; first bunny at 12; first grouse at 14 – a Welsh one; first stag at 15; and my first salmon at 16 on the Spey. Mum and Dad encouraged us to have a go at everything.
I hunted with the Beaufort for 28 seasons but stopped when I had our boys and then my back was chopped open. Fishing was always there but now, in my fifth decade, it is the love of my life. I hope somewhere here you will find the inspiration to pick up a rod and find not only sanity, peacefulness and calm but also huge excitement. The Tug!
In 1994, my best mate, Pedro, asked me to come and fish the Spey. The water was low and it was boiling hot but the river was heaving with fish. I had 11 salmon in three days, of which two were 21lb. We had had 53 fish by the Wednesday night when I had to go back to work. While wading the river one could poke the salmon with the end of your rod to move them out of the way. Pedro and I decided to break away from the floating line and Ali shrimp to experiment. We tried everything we could to see if it would work. Dry flies, hitching, trout rods under bushes; just the best fun in the world. As I left the Spey with a heavy heart I thanked the river gods for such a wonderful time. I wish I had known then what I know now.
Two years ago, I got the dream ticket, the invite to Mecca: the Alta in Norway, the place to catch the fish of a lifetime. It was quite an adventure, staying in a tent on the riverbank on ‘The Association’ water. It was 30 degrees the night I arrived. Could this be possible within the Arctic Circle? Thermal vests and waders were rejected for a T-shirt and we started fishing at midnight, surrounded by majestic mountains and forests, huge shingle banks with a powerful current even though the river was ‘empty’. Norway was experiencing a drought and all were despondent – not a fish caught for two days.
But not this old bag. I had dreamed about this place. Having waited my turn (we were in rotation with the other 16 rods camping) I grabbed my chance about 5.30am as everyone else was having a kip. My big Dee Monkey swung beautifully under the bridge and wallop, I was hit by something big. Never in all my years fishing have I felt anything so powerful. Off went my reel at Mach 10. Half an hour later, with me fighting tooth and nail, my first Alta salmon was in the net. It was the most stunning salmon I’ve ever seen, almost translucent blue with a silvery tinge and black spots around its head, At about 24lb it was ‘a minnow’ to the Norwegians but the largest fish I’ve ever caught. I thanked him and waved him off, total elation running through my veins. Over the following 48 hours I landed two sensational sea-trout and then a 23lb hen took my whole reel off, with me running down the bank like a lunatic. I netted her in front of a group of camping Norwegians, who raised their coffee cups and cheered. I then sat on the riverbank with them and had a long chat on salmon conservation and why I had released her.
Iceland holds such incredibly happy memories, too. My beloved and I celebrated our 50th birthdays five years ago with a family team on the Laxa in Kjos, from our youngest aged 12 to Grandpa, 85. Everyone caught a fish. The magical moments were getting one person her first three fish on night one and watching the boys help Grandpa to a place where he could cast a fly, having not fished for 20 years, then cheering like mad as he played one. There is something very special that fishing does for all.
When clients come and stay, I know that screaming reels are the end goal, otherwise it’s just ‘dull’. But to get a seven-year-old watching the kingfisher fly past, the dippers bobbing about in the riffles, to hear the plop of a trout taking a fly off the water and to feel the water rushing through your waders is pretty special. If they return to the river I have achieved my goal. To feel that tug is really the best drug in the world.
Email Tiggy at: tiggy@atlanticsalmontrust.org