Breeding Program
Mike and I are very serious about our hunting and breeding program, to combine the two takes time and dedication to do it right.
We consider ourselves more of a “hybrid” kennel, somewhere between a hobbyist and a professional breeding kennel. We have more dogs to select from than the hobbyist, but less than the professional kennel, some of which are simply puppy mills.
Each of our Sires and Dams are our personal hunting dogs and family members. Taking the time necessary to train, evaluate and hunt our dogs has become an investment in the future of the breed. We are proud to say that the litters we produce will come from proven grouse and woodcock dogs.
Producing litters merely to fill waiting lists or to help increase numbers of the Bourbonnais is not what we are about
Our Breeding program requires that all of our dogs must be:
FCI (Federation Cynologique International) registered
2 “wild bird” seasons to prove abilities
Aspen Ridge Evaluation
Completely healthy and free of genetic defects
At least 2 years old
Dams are NEVER bred more than once a year
Puppies’ are health guaranteed for 2 years for genetic defects
Since our first Bourbonnais we have developed an Aspen Ridge Evaluation Program for our hunting dogs. This evaluation is ongoing from 8 weeks old until the dog has reached 2 years old, by that time we know if a dog is going to be kept for hunting or moved on a non-hunting family. This may seem cold to some people but, if a breeder is truly trying to improve the breed, they must be realistic.
Let’s be clear we are not talking about producing “Crazy” bird dogs. Breeding "excellent" to "excellent" is the only chance you have to consistently produce "excellent", a well balanced dog for the field and family.
Breeding “nice average” to “nice average” equals "below average" in a short time.
While you may get lucky and produce an excellent dog from time to time breeding this way, in our opinion it is no way to move the breed forward.
Not every dog has what it takes for breeding, no matter of the dog's origin, natural tail or pedigree. Breeders, who allow their emotions or cash flow to dictate breeding’s, develop what we call "Kennel Blindness". This has led to sires and dams producing litters at young ages (6 - 12 months) and dams being bred every heat cycle. To be realistic about your dogs is a very hard thing to do, heart breaking at times. But, these hard choices should be made when working with such a rare breed.
We encourage you to follow the dogs in our program as well as the dogs at Elk Run Kennels. We work together with Lonn to improve the hunting Bourbonnais here in the United States; it takes a village to selectively breed the highest quality dogs available. If you are interested in securing your next hunting partner from proven wild bird gun dogs, please contact us.
If you decided because of the rareness of this breed that the Bourbonnais is not for you, Piney Run Kennel offers 1 – 2 Top Quality Brittany litters a year. For those of you who truly want a versatile dog (fur & feather) we can point in the direction of breeders who selectively breed Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and German Wirehaired Pointer.
