Brittanys and patterdales
 

I have a male Brittany he is 2. I am looking to see if there are any people in the Missouri area that know of any breeders or people that own a Brittany. I want to breed him or get a female. And I would like to know of any people in the area that have them. So that I could contact them and see what is best. I am also looking into patterdales but it will be some time before I get one I am just searching for some breeders anywhere in the U.S. but preferably in Missouri or near Missouri. I would love to talk to the breeders and people that have owned them. So I make sure I am making the right decision to get one.

If you've never had a Terrier before be prepared for another sort of dog. Sure there are differences dog to dog but most have some of the same tendencies.

Dogs are basically domesticated animals, genetic selection. Most Terriers are a little less domesticated than most dogs.

Many Terriers aren't particularly sociable, four main tendencies, prey drive, fighting, killing and sex. The male/male, female/female and who is the alpha thing seems stronger in most Terriers. In fact many are born convinced they are an alpha with any other dog or you. Many seem to have no size sense whatsoever. Antidote: We had the task of getting a sounder of Hogs out of a giant Corm field. The Hogs ran a pack of around ten dogs ragged and were still in the Corn. We decided to try Terriers thinking they were smaller and could navigate through the Corn stocks easier. The Terriers left the Corn field, attacked a bull in a pasture, a half dozen latched onto the Bull and refused to let go. The Bull broke through the fence trying to escape and ran through the center of town.

Pound for pound they are impressive. Mine are around 20 lbs. I doubt there is a Fox on the planet that can outfight one, even with a considerable size advantage.

A couple of antidotes. One of mine killed a full grown German Shepard, damaged his throat so bad he died two weeks later.

A friend had one that caused an estimated $1500 of damage to his living room.

A lot of people get a Terrier and give up in short order.

I have heard of things like that. That is why I wanted to get a feel for what they are like and talk to some breeders. It will be probably a few years as I train the dog I have/get him to listen better and get him out hunting on his own before I add another dog to the mix. I also have to save up for one because I want to make sure I am getting a good one form a respected breeder and I am making the right decision. The reason I want a patterdale is that I would like to work it with my Brittany. And use them both for rabbits and squirrel. But I would also like to have the two or three patterdales so I could hunt coon and fox with them. But I would start out with just one and working it on rabbits along with my Brit. Also what kind of terriers do you work/have.

I've got a Plummer Terrier (nose dominant) a Jack Russel (ear dominant) and Russel/Plummer mix that is a born earth dog.

The earth dog loves tight places, she actually craves fitting her body into the smallest possible area. She has a really flexible back, where the Russel and Plummer are kind of stiff in the middle.

The Plummer is a stone killer.

The Russel brought the wife a freshly killed 8 inch (without tall) Rat the other morning. She sat there with the Rat in her mouth, very patiently, waiting for the wife to finish eating breakfast. Or maybe she wanted to trade some Rat for some eggs. :)

With a Terrier around you don't have to worry much about rodents in the garden, they don't last long.

Terriers can be hard to socialize, they tend to be fighters by nature. It is always better to work them with a Dog of the opposite sex, it helps avoid conflicts.

My gun dog by contrast is a coach potato, until you get him out into the field. Terriers tend to be high energy all the time, they also tend to bark a lot.

I know some guys with Patterdales, the ones I've seen tend to be more antagonistic than a regular Terrier (if that is possible).

Most of the Brittany Spaniels I've know are lovers. not fighters. Good family dogs. Some seem a bit over bred and a bit neurotic at times.

So what has been your experience with the patterdales. Like how they hunt or would you recommend them. And my Brit is a good dog but stubborn at times that is what I am working on with him. He is a really clam dog and the minute he goes outside he is hunting he points rabbits though the fence all the time. And will not budge he will point and sit there for what seems like ever until the rabbit hops off. Do you think if i bought the patterdale as a pup and trained it with my Brit do you think they would work good together?

It is going to be a little different dog to dog, most have a strong prey drive. If they see it, the go right after it. Kind of the polar opposite of a pointer.

We sometimes work up to thirty dogs together, mostly retrievers, pointers and general gun dogs. A Terrier or two is nice to have along, they are really good at flushing game, stay busy, stay motivated and can get into tight spots in the brush and thickets. The down side is they mess with the Retrievers and constantly try to steal the game from the Retriever. Calling them off of a hot scent or a chase is pretty much an exercise in futility. Many suck at at coming when they are called and tend to wander back when they feel like it, not all, but most.

You can avoid a great deal of grief if the Terrier is the opposite sex as your dog. Mine in particular (the two females) and others I've seen tend to hold a grudge which can last years (forever). Male female match ups tend to work better and fight less.

Been my experience any dog can be trained, Terriers are harder than most to train in general. They can be really stubborn and are prone to being independent.

One of the biggest complaints I've read on some of the Terrier boards is "my dog won't come when I call it". I trained mine with cheese. Some people have to lay on the ground and play dead to get their dog to come back.

A buddy of mine has a Patterdale or Patterdale mix, it killed a 50 lb. Doe in nothing flat. Doe decided to hunker down and hide instead of running away, big mistake.

That is actually the problem I am having right now with my Brittany he picks up on everything else really quickly and has gotten better but I still have trouble getting him to come when called. And lots of that is probably human error on my part. But I hope to get that fixed soon and get him out hunting. And thanks for the info.

One thing I've tried and seems to work for me is teaching your dog to stay. I get them to lay down and stay, then increase the distance a little at a time while holding my hand palm out and saying stay. Then a treat reward.

When you can get them stay from a distance, say 20-30 yards, you got it beat. I eventually throw a whistle into the mix and get them to stay with voice, hand signal or whistle. Many times when heal doesn't work, stay does, which is better than nothing. Wearing them out a little before training sometimes helps.

It may work easier/better than heal (come back and sit by my non gun side).

Hey you come here or I'm going to kick your ass most always works.

I will definitely try that out thanks for the tip.

I had a Patterdale, she was a chainsaw on legs! She was about 22-24lbs and could kill a 35 lb coon. She was the most athletic dog I ever saw, in a hole she wouldn't quit. very human friendly but she developed a problem of being dog aggressive towards some females. I'm sad to say she got loose once when we were gone and killed my 45lb Airedale :( That was the end of her. Speaking of rats Mudderchuck my boy had 2 pet rats in a cage, well on a cold night i let my Patterdale in the house. She made a line straight upstairs, i thought to play with the kids. Instantly I heard a loud bang and the kids yelling. She tore the top off the rat cage and killed one rat and was going for the other b4 the kids grabbed her, she hated those rats. If you get a Patterdale you got to be training and on them all the time, I trained her not to kill the pet cat but it was a challenge and i would never fully trust her around cats. The 2 breeders i know won't sell them to strangers, they trade them or give them to other hunters they know.