Hopefully a springer litter due January!

I have bred "Grace"
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To Elvis (He was selected as the son of "Brick" most like him in stature and temperament and drive.)
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This is a deliberate line breed to "Brick of Ballyblack" a very highly regarded hunting, trial and stud dog I had the pleasure to follow for 14 years.
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I have orders for some but we have no ideas at the moment how many she may have. I haven;t even had her tested as this point, but she is showing all signs of being in pup.
Just floating this as there will be a demand for this litter of this line so I am just putting this out there for folks to put their hand up if interested.
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Pups should whelp the first week of Jan and be ready for new homes in Early March. Several puppies will be retained for full training.

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Whelping Suite all set, Bitch installed now the wait... Seven more days if the dates are right... Will be a nervous week.

Good luck, I hope it all goes well.

Tell me about 'Shot of Ballyblack' - it seems she could throw a good'un, given they were with different sires and limited matings. Is her direct female line still alive?

Not that I'm aware Jim, One of the reasons I have specifically sought to breed back to her is Jim Clarke rated her so highly and was adamant the double combination Cortman Lane (Which of course is the link to the virtually essential "Druid" influence) in Brick's pedigree was the essential component to his success. Because of those two dogs I researched quite widely to find the right dog in both genetics and type for the mating. Some good dogs were rejected but I am confident I have the right mix of genetics here to breed back to the Ballyblack "type". Time will tell.

Pups on their way, three healthy ones delivered so far, one stillborn. Only been going an hour or so, so I'm guessing/hoping we have a few more expected.

Very exciting, I've trained hundredes of dogs before and owned stud dogs but this is the first litter I have whelped.

keep an eye on the room/box temperature, can tire the bitch out if she is too hot...bit of a balancing act keeping her happy and the pups warm during this stage, we use a lamp on one half, if she has finished tearing the paper up move her onto an old blanket to finish her whelping, saves her from covering the new borns up....bit of a nervous time with a maiden but they seem to work it out in the end.
looking forward to the final count.

It all seems to be going to plan so far, though she is five days early. I am a novice having never whelped a litter before... trained hundreds, owned the Stud Dogs, never bred a bitch, all seems to be good so far though and we do have an ideal whelping area. I got everything crossed... We have her on a Duvet for the whelping and will change to a duvet, covered by a tarp and filled with paper when she is done. Still going!!! https://www.facebook.com/HonkyTonker...8/?pnref=story

You might have to "Friend" me on Facebook to see the video, hope that's not to hard for some of you! :D

Hope Grace and the puppies are doing well...she may not eat solid food for up to 48 hours after whelping...this is perfectly normal and she should not be forced to eat as she is just as likely to vomit...but when she is over her postnatal fast, feed her heaps...rather than using a heat lamp, I use a puppy pad, a little electric blanket which is alot safer than a light in my opinion...go well, Grace:)

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Originally Posted by EeeBees

Hope Grace and the puppies are doing well...she may not eat solid food for up to 48 hours after whelping...this is perfectly normal and she should not be forced to eat as she is just as likely to vomit...but when she is over her postnatal fast, feed her heaps...rather than using a heat lamp, I use a puppy pad, a little electric blanket which is alot safer than a light in my opinion...go well, Grace:)

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Way too hot here to use heating. She actually had a feed between p[up 4 and 5 with condensed milk in it as recommended by Eugenie Clapham. No isse, not sure if there's more, but bonny looking pups. BTW, you should see the lovely Brittanies I have here too!

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nice:cool:

exciting times ahead seeing them grow and develop into gun dogs

How are they and you going? Eyes open and noisy yet? A couple of photos would be nice if you had time.
Cheers Joe.

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Originally Posted by stingray

How are they and you going? Eyes open and noisy yet? A couple of photos would be nice if you had time.
Cheers Joe.

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No mate, still only eight days. I could post more photos but it'd just be more of the same. Once they can see and are a bit more mobile I will definately post more pics. I will keeping one male for myself so you'll get sick of the photos over the next 14 years anyway :D

All eyes now open... just!

Looking really good. Very happy.Attachment 44846

It will be very interesting to see how these pups turn out. I remember her having a whole lot of go when I saw her. In fact I wouldn't have thought that she would have sat still long enough for Elvis to get a leg over:D

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Originally Posted by Andrew46826

It will be very interesting to see how these pups turn out. I remember her having a whole lot of go when I saw her. In fact I wouldn't have thought that she would have sat still long enough for Elvis to get a leg over:D

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Not as funny as it sounds... had to put her on a lead. She has a ton of drive alright. Jamie Payton, who owns GFCH Keepersmoor Sage Wood (Her Father and son of Brick) believes her, Brick and Bracken (Sage Wood) have the highest drive levels of all the dogs he's seen, well he said that a year agio... might have seen something else by now LOL.

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Originally Posted by Andrew46826

It will be very interesting to see how these pups turn out. I remember her having a whole lot of go when I saw her. In fact I wouldn't have thought that she would have sat still long enough for Elvis to get a leg over:D

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I'm confident that these will be very highly driven easy to handle pups. There is little element in the pedigree to produce much else and as it is reasonably condensed genetically it would be surprising to get much from outside of those parameters. I think the success of these pups will be more handler orientated but as three are going to people who have already made up natural game champions i think their future is bright.

but then, i would say that! :D

If I had my own house/was allowed another dog I'd be all over one of these pups like a rash!

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Originally Posted by Andrew46826

If I had my own house/was allowed another dog I'd be all over one of these pups like a rash!

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They were all gone before trhey were born, I had homes for the two that didn;t make it, Only time I have ever buried $3000 in 2 minutes :(

I will repeat the mating 12 months from now.

I wish English Setters sold like that !!!