English Springers (questions)

[TeacherMan]

We are looking at getting a new pup, a little female tri colored english springer. We have a 2 yr. old male that is liver and white. Both are registered dogs. They are both english springers, do people cross the tri's and the liver and whites? Is that kind of like a yellow and black lab? Should we wait for a liver and white? Pups are hard to find in AK  We are wanting to raise pups in a couple years so our girls can have the experience, plus it will help build their college fund.

thanks for the help.

pics of my male below and the female pup we are looking at.

[wildweeds]

How does the male you have hunt?Easy to train?Retain the training without a bunch of heartburn?Papers are papers I've learned that just because the papers look good in a lineup situation........your not guaranteed a diamond.You'll also need to evaluate the female and jot down her excellent,good,and mediocre/poor qualitys,same with your male before you breed.What your going to get is a mix of the two,so it's good to have some doubling up in the excellent areas.And if you think that pups are a moneymaker.............your in for a rude awakening.I have a litter now that was 10 years in the making,I discounted 4 females before I found the right one.I've sold two pups and am in the hole at least another 3 pups worth.I've never talked to anyone that has made money selling pups it's really a labor of love,you never will if they are raised right.It takes up alot of time,it's been 6+ hours a day here since about 3 weeks of age.

  As to your color question................Black is dominant,If your liver male had black/white ancestors he will carry a black gene.20+ years ago I had springers,I bred a black/white male to a liver female(god I miss her,she was really good) and got several Tri's,one that looked like a welsh springer(orange majority) and one that looked exactly like the pup in your picture.

  Unless your a vet................Factor in Tail/dewclaw removal, 2 series worth of shots,and in this day and age............call around and see if their is a vet that will even knock the tails off.My vet is the only vet in his office that will dock tails............there are 4 DVMs in that office.I do the tails/dews myself,I've done at least 200 pups over the years,mostly for freinds with GSP's,GWP and Britt.I did 2 litters worth of springers for myself.

[TeacherMan]

He is a great bird dog, best I've ever had. He is very quick, understands hand signals and even wistle tones. He is the only dog I've ever had that I can tell to sit or lay down and walk away and come back 15 minutes later and is there waiting. Loves grouse hunting, loves to chase rabbits, if I let him (great way to get energy out, we have hundreds of rabbits in my area). Growing up my mom and uncle had a kennel (labs) so I grew up with pups and learned a lot from it. As for money makers thats a loose term. We would only want to breed her once for the experience for my girls. I can tell you that Springers are going for around $750 in AK, even the dogs are more expensive in AK  thats if you can find them. Charlie is from a litter of 14 and the little female is one of 12. I appreciate the info on the genetics behind them. My male would have to be homozygous recessive but the female could be heterozygous making it so she could have anything including liver and whites. If she was homozygous dominate she would only have black and whites. Since she is a tri I wonder if that means she is heterozygous since the liver color is showing, could be a co-dominate trait? Anyway science nerd coming out in me. Thanks again.