"....this sort of profiteering, or whatever you choose to call it, has been going on in one breed or another for decades, perhaps centuries. In the 1930s ,when Rin-Tin-Tin movies were popular, the German Shepherd went  through a surge in popularity and back yard breeding damaged the breed extensively. The next victim breed was the Cocker Spaniel through the 40s and was totally destroyed as hunting dogs. Of course the most famous exploitation was that of the Weimaraner in the 50s. Irish Setters in the 60s. For the past thirty years, both the Labrador and Golden Retriever have been victims...and continue to be.
Happily, after the fast buck breeders move on the conscientious restore the damaged breed. Happily, also, during the frenzy of fast buck breeding in each of these breeds, anyone who wants a decent represenitive of the breed has always been able to find one.
I am sorry that it is the German Shorthaired Pointer that is going through it now. It is a wonderful breed that has been kept quite clean from the start.
I have written extensively about how to select a good puppy in books and countless magazine articles, as have many other dog writers over the years. We hope to do some good but, we can't help anyone who doesn't want to be helped...."
James B.(Jim) Spencer

As trainers that specialize in German Shorthair Pointers we get to see and train a lot of German Shorthairs.   The dogs that people bring/send us for training were usually gotten as puppies. They 
get their puppies from anywhere and everywhere. They might have gotten him anywhere from a well known kennel to their brother-in-law. Next door neighbor or maybe even a news paper add. I have trained a couple that people actually got from the dog pound. We had a dog once that the people had ran over on the highway and took it to the vet. The vet informed them that they had themselves a bird dog. They had never hunted in their life but since they now had themselves a bird dog they decided they would take it up. And of course the dog needed to be trained....

We see a lot of German Shorthairs that are good ones.... but we also see a lot that are mediocre at best and hard to train. It is hard to train a dog with little or no pointing instinct. Maybe show dog breeding, no natural desire to retrieve, insufficient nose, lack of desire to hunt, not inteligent, unbidable and unsound temperament. These are common problems.  Bad conformation... sway backed, hump backed, yellow eyes, snipey head, flat feet, bad tails, crooked legs and no telling what else. Chicken breasted, out in the shoulders, cow hocked and pigeon toed. You name it. These are common problems.The bad part about it is that someone sold that mediocre at best dog as a puppy and chances are that someone else will decide to make a little extra income and breed that dog to some other "pure bred" German Shorthair Pointer and peddle those puppies that can't smell and are hard to train to someone else who will do it again. Of course they are all "responsible" and "knowledgeable" "breeders" and may even have a web-site.... Since this is my web-site and I do know the Publisher pretty well, I can say what ever I want to say about things that bother me. One of the things that bother me a whole lot is the exploitation of the German Shorthair Pointer. Literally everyone and their dog is peddling German Shorthair Pointer puppies....

The internet has opened the door for anyone and everyone to compete for a slice of German Shorthair Pointer puppy pie. I call them "moonlighters","puppy peddlers" and "puppy mills".They all have the best and they all have some ploy  to be attractive to the potential buyer. Theirs are "farm raised","champion bred", they are a "small kennel that only raise two litters a year" and of course they all have a "outstanding pedigree". Web-sites with pictures of children playing with puppies, pictures of puppies romping in wide open spaces, pictures of mother dogs with their litter nursing, family group photos with everyone holding a puppy. These are all just marketing strategies and they want you to beleive that since they are so convincing and reputable then therefore their "puppies" must be "good ones". They all say the right things; current on shots, dew claws removed, wormed and vet checked. Buying contracts, guarantees, replacement and refund options. These are credibility building tecniques that are intended to attract the potential buyer. Waiting lists, first pick, breeders contracts, etc. are just smoke and mirrors. The truth is that puppy peddling is a profitable business and everyone wants to "cash in". All of these puppy "breeders" will take all the  money they can get from their puppy peddling and the market is wide open because the internet has opened the door for anyone from the Hunte Corporation on down to the free classified add submitter and news paper advertiser to make a buck. 
                                                                                                                                       
The truth is pups born out in the country are not any better pups than pups born in town. The truth is that a marketing strategy does not mean that the  puppies being peddeled are "good ones".   Asking for a purchasers application to qualify as a buyer that will give the puppy a good home is a joke. Who would they refuse? How about a Club, preserve or guide...."I'm sorry I can't sell you one of my puppies because you hunt to much" how about a Chukar hunter from Idaho...."I'm sorry I can't sell you a puppy because you hunt where it is to dangerous and I don't want one of my puppies to fall into the Snake River Canyon". Breeder contracts are just a ruse to gleen an extra buck. They are not concerned about indicriminate breeding. Thats like the pot calling the kettle black. A puppy peddler claiming they are protecting the "breed". The truth is those famous field champions they are insinuating their puppies to be little clones of are probably three generations removed and the dogs they are breeding the puppies out of have never even been trained or hunted. My great Grandpa was half Indian of some kind, but that don't make me no Cherokee.

No matter what approach they are taking to sell puppies, no matter what price they are selling them for.... all the people exploiting the German Shorthair Pointer are just freeloading on the popularity of the German Shorthair Pointer today. In the 60/70's it was the Irish Setter. In the 80/90's it was the Wiemaraners again. Today it is German Shorthair Pointers. There is a market.... and many well meaning entrepreneurs looking to make an extra buck are looking for a slice of German Shorthair Pointer puppy market pie. A few years ago a lady scheduled a seminar here with us. She was retiring from a career job and had bought a pet boarding/grooming kennel and wanted to learn the popular "bloodlines" in German Shorthair Pointers from me so that she could know what "breeding stock" to get as she was going to also sell German Shorthair Pointer puppies along with her dog/cat boarding/grooming business. She is still advertising German Shorthair Pointer puppies for sale and alot of you reading this would recognise the name of her "kennel".... It is no wonder that half the Shorthairs in the country can't smell and don't hunt! The other half are doing fine.... In NSTRA this past year the German Shorthairs won more winning placement points than any other breed!

• don't buy a dog off of the cassified adds that have cropped up all over the search results for German Shorthair Pointers. They are online pawn shops and not only are alot of those dogs stolen but they are all dogs that someone is wanting to peddle for extra money and.... if the dog was a good one it would not be there for sale. People "git rid" of dogs where ever they can and this internet classified advertising has opened the door for anyone to peddle a dog and they can literally say any thing they want to say about the dog. I hear those stories all the time about how when someone actually goes to see the dog it isn't anything like how it was described.  They are betting on selling the dog without showing the dog. Most of them don't even have a place or the birds for you to actually watch the dog perform. These kind of dogs can have any number of "holes".... false papers, false age, health problems, mean, fighters, eat stools,hard mouth,nasty in a kennel, on and on.

• if  these "kennels" only have puppies for sale and do not have trained dogs for sale they are a puppy mill. It makes no difference what ruse, ploy or credibility building agenda they employ they are people who have made selling German Shorthair Pointer puppies a business. If the "kennel" advertises  "trained dogs", "started dogs" or "training" but have no trained dogs for sale (or no dogs at this time)but do have puppies for sale they are simply putting out a smoke screen. They  are just one of the many exploiting the German Shorthair Pointer.

• a web-site means absolutely nothing about how good the dogs are that the people are trying to attract a buyer for. Dogs are not like cars or trucks that have standard features and options. Dogs don't come in models with standard features. Because someone has a web-site developer they have paid to design a web-site for them does not mean that they have good dogs that have all the characteristics that make a good dog good. A pretty dog that can't smell is never going to be a top notch bird dog.

• no one buys a car/truck without driving the vehicle first. No one beleives what the seller says about the vehicle without seeing for themselves. Don't beleive what anyone tells you about a dog/puppy without seeing for yourself or talking to references. Because the seller is close to you is no reason to trust the seller. Because the seller has a website is no reason to trust the seller.If the seller does not have facilities to show the dog/puppy perfoming on live game birds they are not reputable. A dog that you will have for many years should be honestly evaluated before you trust the seller. Just remember that the seller wants to sell you a puppy/dog and will say whatever needs said to sell you. The following are some questions that will help you determine a reputable seller: What is the age of the Dam? What is the age of the Sire? Is this a repeat mating? Can you give me references that have trained dogs from this mating that they are hunting with? If I come look at your dogs/puppies do you have the facilities so that I can evaluate the dog/puppy with live game birds? If you can not see/watch the basic characteristics that are needed to be "good ones" demonstrated then don't consider buying the dog. Nose, desire, bidability, intelligence, stamina, athletic ability, style and conformation are all genetic qualities that can and should be evaluated before making the decision to buy. These are all genetic issues that can be evaluated at any age. A reputable seller would be happy to demonstrate these qualities.... 
  

We are in the bird dog business full time and primarily train/sell trained dogs but we do sell puppies for those people who like to raise/train their own dog.  We don't take deposits and we don't sell "first pick". We don't have breeder contracts and we sure don't want you to fill out some questionaire. 


 We sell our puppies two ways:

1. you can buy a puppy and come here to pick it out or we can pick it for you.
2. or you can buy a puppy as a trained dog and we will train and guarantee the dog to be a "good one".

  MUDDY CREEK KENNELS
German Shorthair Pointers
Craig Burns
1-800-777-8254
Jasper,Missouri
email muddycreekgsp@aol.com