Litter mates

Litter Mates and thoughts from an Old Dog Trainer;

Well, I have been asked a couple questions about litter mates lately. First some background. I have been training dogs since the 1980s and professionally since 1999 I have been the advisor to Whiterock Kennels in the breeding program since 2006 and because of this I have had the opportunity to train several littermates from different litters - too many to recall but I have 3 sets of littermates from different breedings here at camp and thought I would share some observations, as well as several pointers - but will stick to the llewellin setter littermates for now

Dolly and Stubby- These are 3 yr old littermates from Polly and Tanner. Both of these dogs are heavily marked tri colors - Dolly is a Chestnut tricolor and Stubby a black and white tricolor. These dogs have had roughly the same training and time on the

prairies. Stubby is a big going stylish and serious dog - and shows ability to just be around birds - While Dolly is not so big going, but has outstanding style, is considerably less serious than Stubby - both of these dogs would be rated as above average to excellent bird dogs and competitors. This is a repeat breeding that produced Diva and Knikki. I would call this a consistent and predictable breeding

Callie and Taz - These are approximately 2 yr old littermates from Polly and Jakey. Both are chestnut tricolors. These are long leggy dogs with extreme speed and range, Taz is more stylish of the two dogs but Callie has better endurance and speed. Style on point is above average and both have shown the ability to be around birds consistantly and have very good noses - However, Callie has more up side than Taz does I believe because she is just now truly hitting her stride and although Taz is well advanced of his littermate in training - she is fast becoming his equal and takes training well. This can be explained because Taz is owned by a person that consistently can get him into training and birds. Taz has a slight crouch in pointing stature while Callie doesn't. Taz has a ground beating gait while Callie floats over the ground.

Rick and Teeka - These are approximately 8 month old littermates from a breeding of Dolly and Jakey - Both have excellent noses, style is very good, both find birds, and have a sense of where to go to find birds - and have consistently found and pointed birds from a very young age (8 to 10 wks) Ricky is a chestnut tricolor and Teeka a black and white tricolor. These dogs have been pointing wild birds since a young age. Ricky has a very stand up style while Teeka is crouchy in style - Ricky hits his birds hard while Teeka feathers into a point - but at a much longer distance - in other words Teeka hits her birds farther out and points very well when she reaches her threshold of scent - while Ricky hits his birds closer but immediately points - indicating that Teeka has a much longer nose but has a less staunch point. Both have a long gait which leads them to being somewhat dead tailed and have less class running.

Brunie and Bright Eyes - These are approximately 8 month old littermates from a breeding of Mali and Mac (Whiterock Mac Windem) Brunie is a chestnut tricolor and Bright Eyes is a black and white tricolor . This is an amazing study - when we started working this pair of littermates - Brunie has a longer gait but Bright Eyes has a super attractive gait and class running - Brunie has more speed but Bright Eyes has more snap. Both have amazing bird sense and noses - Bright Eyes at first was less than impressive - but now after 4 wks of running wild on the prairies is an amazing dog and one to watch - in fact, probably the best of the bunch - I watched her point 5 different bunches of pheasants and sharptails today - some with other dogs but she was always in the mix - sometimes first impressions are not the correct ones