it's been 12 years now since i had a hunting dog of my own... been some rough years along the way, with one job closing down, and starting a new career in heavy construction...
and i'm on the road a lot...
one of the dogs we had a while back was our chessy bitch, Rio... always wanted another like her...
found a litter early this summer, but i was tied up with gutting and remodeling my bathroom... i waited too long and they were gone...
i found another guy, a month ago, with 4 left from a litter that had all been sold when they hit the ground... tough times for many and several buyers backed out...
the pups were 3 months old when i first contacted the breeder... i couldn't get there til today and the one male pup he has left is nearly 4 months old...
the breeder is a one man show... a single retired guy, who specializes in english setters...
he also keeps a pair of chessies, and these were the sire and dam of the litter...
before i went through his gate, i started wondering if the guy had more dogs than he could handle...
i was disappointed to find that the chessie pup, kenneled with a setter pup of about the same age, had apparently not been socialized well...
he was not afraid of us, but we spent an hour and a half there, and the pup would not come to us voluntarily until we were almost ready to leave...
at first, he would stand quietly and allow himself to be handled and petted, but we had to catch him to do it...
he was not shy about having his feet, mouth, and tail handled and checked... he just seemed to quietly ignore it...
when the breeder called him to come, he usually came, but it was apparent to us that the pup had not had much attention given to him...
a couple of times, right before we left, pup decided that it was worth coming to us to get his ears stroked...
he had not had his dew claws removed, nor had most of the dogs in the kennel...
my wife quietly asked me if it was a puppy mill... and i had to think about it...
i think instead that it is a retired guy, widowed or divorced (just guessing), who has let his passion for fine dogs overwhelm him...
he has pictures of a bunch of buddies that he travels to the dakotas to hunt with... and i'm sure that, if i were retired and hunted as much as i want to, i could find a place for a few more dogs...
i'd like to have this pup... both the sire and dam were good looking dogs... they were well trained and socialized... friendly, enough, especially the female... the male just a tad standoffish, maybe...
it's the wrong time of year for me...
i'm gone, sometimes for weeks and months, in the fall and winter...
i had all summer to start a pup on his citizenship merit badge... summer is about done...
thoughts???
