Started Dogs

WHAT IS A BSB STARTED DOG

If you ask ten different professional trainers, “What exactly is a started dog?”, chances are you’ll get ten different answers.  This text is not an opinion on what the term “started dog” means as much as it is a clarification as to what any hunter and/or field trialer may expect when making the lifetime commitment to purchase a Big Sky Brits Kennels, LLC started dog.

As with any significant purchase, the price should be reasonable with respect to the quality of the product.  Therefore, Big Sky Brits Kennels, LLC takes into consideration the following criteria when pricing a started dog:

1. Training (both specific and non-specific) - Specific training with a pup/young dog is any training that involves only that dog with a given stimulus.  Examples of specific training would be quartering with a check cord, lead and obedience training, whoa post, varmint breaking and any bird work.

Non-specific training is ongoing and may or may not involve the trainer.  No dog in our kennel just sits idol.  Our dogs are athletes and therefore are conditioned every day.  They learn from and become competitive against one another.  This is what we consider non-specific training.  All BSB dogs travel to field trials, socialize with children and other dogs, smell game birds and hear shotguns blasting.  All Big Sky Brits also come in the house and learn quickly to behave accordingly.

2. Experience - In addition to a pup or young dog’s training, is its life’s experiences up to the point it is sold as a started dog.  This may include a hunting season (or two).  One thing all professional trainers do agree on, is that there is nothing that promotes the potential of a bird dog like wild birds.  Even if a pup isn’t in the field hunting, it is still learning.  Fun trials, group training and seminars are all ways our started dogs gain experience.  Big Sky Brits’ started dogs are carefully introduced to pressure situations in a controlled setting so they will be better prepared to handle what will be asked of them down the road.  

3. Age - Started dogs may vary in age from six months to two or more years.  During this time, they are being fed, receiving veterinary care, traveling to field trials or hunting honey holes.  From a fiscal point of view, as the started dog gets older, the breeder’s investment in that dog grows.  Therefore, the older the dog, the higher the price tag in order for the breeder to cover its costs.  Age also has an obvious impact on the amount of training and experience a pup or young dog may receive.

If a BSB pup or young dog is being looked at as a potential candidate as a started dog, it must be of the highest quality.  After all, these are the dogs that will best reflect to our clients what our dogs are capable of doing in the field and in the home.

If you are interested in purchasing a started dog from any of our available or future litters, or any of our posted started dogs, please contact us for details.