Hunting Dogs

I get asked all the time if our dogs make good companions being that the focus of the kennel is one of hunting.  My best hunting dogs are also my best companions. This is because a dog who will submit his will to his owner in the field will also submit his will in the living room. Hard-headed dogs make poor hunting partners and poorer companions dogs.  When the focus of selecting breeding stock is done with a hunting perspective first, the quality we look for is trainability. These dogs tend to have pups who also submit their will easy and are a snap to train for hunting or the house.

Socialization

Socialization of puppies is the most important job I have as a breeder. Puppies that are highly socialized are more confident, happier, and easier to train than non-socialized puppies. A puppy handled since birth is excited to encounter his world and suffers from anxiety much less than an unsocialized dog.  Every breeder owes it to his or her customers to deliver a puppy that has been highly socialized. Here at Power River Sporting Dogs we start our socialization program at two days of age for our puppies. They are handled for 30-60 minutes daily and exposed to many different  sights and sounds. Our puppies are excited to see and greet people. We pride ourselves on delivering a puppy to you who is honestly excited to meet you and accompany you to his or her new home.

Micro-chipping

Micro-chipping is done to help you recover your dog should it be lost or stolen.  It can be a very effective tool in the recovery process. However, there are some concerns with microchipping that people should be aware of. Microchipping puppies too young can and does cause some problems in some puppies. The chips can migrate around in a puppies body sometimes settling in uncomfortable areas in the pup’s body. It is better to wait until the puppy is 6 plus months old to microchip him or her. This allows the pup’s muscle mass to develop enough to help hold the chip in its place of insertion. Now that microchippings has been around for a number of years we are beginning to see the long tern effects of inserting foreign bodies into our dogs.  There have been many reports of dogs developing hard lumps around the chips. There are multiple reports of dogs developing cancer in the lumps around the microchip. For these reasons  Powder River Sporting Dogs doesn’t microchip our puppies before they go to your home. The kennel advises its new puppy owners to do research on the effects of microchipping their dog and decide if the benefit is worth the risk.