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Braque du Bourbonnais

panhndlpoke

Heisman Candidate
Sep 6, 2006
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I have one of these coming late May. Combo family pet, bicycle chaser, and hunting dog.

Been a couple years since I’ve had a dog and I’m ready for a buddy. My kids are too. My wife...less so.
 
I'm VERY interested in how this dog works for you. Send pictures.
I'm buying from a guy in Oregon who used to be a German Shorthair breeder for 20 years. He got out several years ago because his life got too busy but said he got back in a couple years ago to help with his kid's college tuition. He said the BdB is basically a GSH on Valium.

He hunts a lot of geese and said his GSH would sit in the blind an shake and whine the whole time. His current BdB dogs just relax. They don't have quite the same drive and focus that other pointers have, but they're much milder mannered than them, too. Of the three he has, one pointed from 8 weeks, one within a year and the third not until about 18 months. All do well pointing and swimming for retrieves, but they're not labs. He said 2 of his dogs are indifferent to water and one you can't keep out of the pool. One of the three he had to send to a buddy to force retrieve. The other two were naturals. He said the dogs naturally work pretty close to you rather than getting further ahead.

There were several breeders nearer than this guy but none had a litter planned with available spots in the time frame I wanted. I wanted the dog at the beginning of summer for the kids and I to play with all summer. I expect the dog in late May.

One of the major downsides of the breed is price. Because of the rarity, they're pricier. They supposedly make much better family pets than most pointers because of their milder nature. For example, he lives on a ranch and the dogs don't take off hunting the moment he lets them out of the kennel. He said they'll hang around the house as long as he's at the house, but as soon as they see a gun, they get very excited. Most pointers I've been around will bolt if they're let out of the kennel and need to run about a mile before they calm down. He said his are good to go from the first moment they hit the field.

I'll post here when I get the pup, and I'm hoping for a male. He does ask 2 things: don't fix the dog and you can't breed until he has proof the dog will hunt. I think all his dogs came from Sioux Ridge or Voyagers Point kennels.
 
I'm also very interested in your experience with this breed. Same size as a GSP?
In general yes.

After WW2, there were very few left and no "pure blood" BdB left. There were, however, several local dogs to the area in France they were from that exhibited the traits and physical characteristics of the original breed. They gathered several of those dogs and bred them with some other pointers like the GSP with the traits they wanted in the BdB to get the foundation stock. They've been breeding them for a while and now are recognized world wide, even if the breed is pretty rare.

Basically, its a crossbreed dog that attempts to mimic the dog which was lost. Males are 40-50 lbs and females are about 35-45 lbs or thereabouts.
 
Yeah. It's been a couple years since we had a dog and the neighbor got a puppy a couple months ago. They're ready.
 
Got the pup a week or so ago. He's a shit ass. He's already been sprayed by a skunk which is probably going to ruin him for life.
 
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So the pup is 20 weeks, and about 35 lbs.

He knows sit, stay, and here. I’m about to start some blank training so I can hopefully take him to hunt doves soon. He’s going to have to get better at stay for me to be willing to take him with anyone else and he can’t show any fear of gunfire either. Otherwise, he’ll have to wait until quail season which should be pretty good this year.

He doesn’t much pay any attention to birds yet. Every once in a while he’ll notice a bird and freeze up. He doesn’t quite “point” but he’ll stop moving and focus very hard on them. That doesn’t happen often. His dad didn’t start pointing till he was much older. I also just got my pigeon trap so I can start trapping pigeons to help him stay focused on birds.

He’s pretty affectionate and a little rough for the kids. He doesn’t jump up so much anymore. He does still bounce around like a pogo stick and he’ll smooth take out a 40 lb kid in a flash.

All in all, I wish I had been better able to get going on his training earlier, but my wife is sick and I had to do a lot more for her and the kids back in May and June and just got started late. He’s very eager to please and doesn’t respond super well to negative training. He really enjoys positive feedback and I haven’t even begun with collar training. I’ll use vibration for a long time before I’ll use any stimulation. I just don’t think he’s going to respond as well to “punishment” as rewards.

He’s a pup and is still very easily distracted. I don’t think I would take him with another dog unless it was very steady and tolerant.

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with him. It’s been well over 10 years since my last pup and I’d forgotten how much of a handful they can be. I’m pretty excited for him to get a little more age on him and to get him hunting. Hopefully it will happen this fall/winter but I’m not going to push it and ruin him. My brother has a pointer he pushed too hard and now she’s gun shy. She’s completely ruined.

There’s been some pups available from some top breeders this summer. If you’re thinking about a pup, I think everyone got them last year during Covid and this summer some breeders are having some trouble getting rid of the new litters. It might be a great time to pick up a dog.

If you have any specific questions, I’d be glad to answer them, if I can.
 
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