Scott Linden Outdoors

What does a breeder look for in an owner?

[Recent correspondence from a friend … Read my response, then ponder: how would YOU answer this?]

Question – one of my sons is in the market for a Griffon and like yours he wants a hunter and not a “show dog” – maybe they are one and the same but I’ve always had better luck going with a breeder who actually hunts their dogs vs. a breeder who is only showing their dogs. Anyway, wondered if you knew of any local breeders? I also seem to recall that a couple of your friends (you introduced me to one couple in Fields) actually had a Griffon too. Local could be the state of OR, ID, WA or northern part of Northern CA. Believe you told me your current dog is your second or third Griffon and that it is from a kennel back east.

Answer – My guy’s a German Wirehair but I can address the question nonetheless, at least in part. Griffs are a bit unique in that there are actually two breed clubs in the U.S. Philosophical differences separate them, but more practically, both monitor their breeding/sales pretty carefully. They want certain types of new owners and I’m not familiar with the current criteria but likely they include willingness to show, test and cooperate with their breeding system (which sometimes means not breeding your dog, or breeding it to dogs you may/may not like).

That said, the other, more pertinent question to your son is how often he will hunt the dog? Any good breeder of hunting dogs of any breed will want to send his pups to “hunting homes.” Many will require at least puppy-level testing within NAVHDA (www.navhda.org) or AKC, or the breed club. If your son hunts a lot, he’ll have a better chance at a good dog from a good kennel.

So, let’s just say your friend is an avid hunter, willing to test the pup, and is looking for a Wirehair. The kennel I know best is the one I got Buddy from, and am getting Three Devils Linden’s “Wingman” from (new pup arrives June 13). Send your friend here: www.threedevilskennel.com (Nampa, ID) to get a feel for the process. And remember, the price of a pup is the least-expensive part of the process. Also, at this level “German Wirehaired Pointer” is a different animal, literally, than “Deutsch Drahthaar.” The DD world is hard-core German from birth to testing to breeding and not for the faint of heart. Three Devils breeds both.