one too many?
 

this is a spin off on Harold's puppy post-

he - in his chewing frayed house coat is thinking about keeping two of his pups, I was wondering how many people have kept and raised litter mates?

George Bird Evans kept litter mates once- OH Feathers and Shadows- he recommended against it after that- the dog bonded and were brothers first- eventually adventures lead to tragedy when the dogs got out and went exploring on their own - and killed a chicken each (just not done in a rural area) Shadow returned home 30 hours later with a bullet wound near his spine, but a vet saved him and after searching for 5 days - he found where someone had buried Feathers. He said Shadows never came into his own until Feathers was lost.


sad and extreme tale - i am sure someone has a brace that excell

as for me - I stagger the ages - and only once ( and unlikely to again) had three

http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=8051

I did it once. They were not litter mates but I but I got them within a few days of one another. The dog that had the greatest potential was suppressed by the other's dominance. She never realized her full potential. I would never do it again.

Rick, I do remember GBE's story on that, believe it was in "Troubles With Bird Dogs" book. I am well aware of the potential problems, and really don't even need 3 dogs at this time , let alone 4.

We kept a pair of sibling Shorthairs (1 male & 1 female) from a litter we had but, there was circumstance surrounding the way it came to pass.

We kept a female from our litter (Layne) and a good friend ended up with one of our males (Squid). Our friend went through a divorce and that sort of chaos placed Squid in a pretty unhealthy environment. Plus, some moving around was likely to occur. My buddy had the good sense to know that it wasn’t good for the dog so he asked & we agreed to bring Squid back home, without a moments hesitation.

We didn’t let any of our litter go to their new homes until they were ten weeks. Squid was gone for maybe a year and a half. From the reports that others have shared, it sounds like the autonomy afforded both dogs during formative yrs made the difference. I say so because, Squid and Layne were wonderful and there were no dominance issues whatsoever. They were only so-so in the field but, that was my fault. No matter what was going on - where there was one, you would find the other. That said, the two siblings + their Sire and Dam put four dogs in the house for a period of time..that’s not likely to happen again.

We miss Squiddy and Layne terribly. Our only dog now, Kansas is kin to all of our dogs past. Kansas is dear to us beyond what words could ever begin to describe.

Squid and Layne

Kathy and I know that feeling very well with Grace - it is beyond words.





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I had GSP littermates once, a male Sturm and a female Greta. Sturm turned out wonderful and Greta was gun shy. Same training method she was just hyper sensitive and down the road she went.

I hope to hear all about your history with GSP's sometime Rich.

I've had a GSP or three for over 30 years. There will be a started dog coming the end of April. My wife wants to call him Charlie and I like Ike. Any bets on who wins?:whistle:

i think that was copyrighted

I'm sure Charlie will be a great addition to your household and will hunt as well as if you got your way and he was named Ike.





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