Bird Dogs Forever http://www.birddogsforever.com and C & C Outdoor Adventures www.huntingandfishingtheoutdoors.com have joined together.

Bird Dogs Forever is not just another website sporting twenty-five thousand (25,000) hunting dog kennels and hunting lodges, it is also a TV show airing on My Outdoor TV focusing on hunting dogs working in the field and doing what they were bred to do.

We are going to remake the website and give it a different look but maintain the same logo with podcasts, training tips, articles, pro's pointers, forums, etc. and hopefully by next spring will be starting a Bird Dogs Forever hunting dog tournament program like no other event in existence. If there are any like this we haven't seen them yet. We would really appreciate your ideas and suggestions to make this a unique tournament that is fair for everyone.

It will be based on rules that are absolutely NOT left to interpretation in any way, shape or form. I know many people who quit field trials, hunts tests and other dog competitions. They didn't quit because it was too hard to title their dogs, they quit because everything became so political and wasn't fun or even fair anymore. We don't think there is any place for this behavior and there will definitely not be in our competitions. This will be a fun and friendly atmosphere but also a serious gundog series to prove he quality of your dog and the genetics it carries.

Our upland portion of the competition is unlike any I have seen to date. There are some similarities but for the most part this is a different format and one which I think most people will enjoy. We are still working on the retriever portion of the competition but have some good ideas with a lot of things already worked out and are hoping for some more excellent ideas from you. The most important things for us are maintaining a 100% fair format that is not left to any interpretation from judges and good payouts so people can make some money, or at least recover their expenses.

We will not move ahead with this project unless all of these criteria can be achieved. Fairness, good payback percentages, sponsor assisted paybacks and a fun and friendly atmosphere are absolutely required for us to move forward with these events.

If you are interested in a tournament being put together for next season or have some ideas we could utilize in our program, please by all means go to the forums at C & C Outdoor Adventures www.huntingandfishingtheoutdoors.com in the dog competitions section and let us know your thoughts and any ideas you may have. We don't have our forums active yet on the Bird Dogs Forever website, this is why we are using the C & C forums for now. Discussion and your ideas will help make this the success we are hoping it will be. If you are interested in hosting an event you can contact us at birddogsforever@nvc.net.

We would like to start this tournament in several states in the beginning and expand from there in the next few years. We think we already have the sponsor support to at least do this but we will try to get as many more sponsors as we can to make these events something special and something you can do for fun and make a little money at. We are more then aware of the problems and issues a couple well known hunting dog competitions encountered and would like to think we can both avoid and prevent these issues from occurring in our program.

We have already talked to several sponsors who committed to coming on board with us so hopefully we can turn this into something special we all can enjoy for many years to come.

Our initial thought is to make event scoring based on a few different bits of criteria. The number of entries in any event of course will make a difference on the amount of points earned. Dogs will be allowed to run more then once if so desired by their handler. Also a couple events would allow for extra points accrued then the normal competitions and of course we will set these events up to payout a lot more money then a normal event to get more dogs entered. We also have a few other ideas but would like to wait until we release all the rules and regulations if there is enough interest in the program. Of course we will run these by people and see their reactions over the next couple months on boards before we set any rules in stone. We want this to be a competition where the competitors have a great deal of input in the programs rules and regulations. At some point we would like to put together a board of competitors to act on everyone's behalf, get their input before meetings and assist in any changes or additions that may need to be made.

This is by no means just another bird dog event with no imagination and an overload of rules that no one can keep straight, but is one we are certain you will enjoy. Winning, placing high in an event and/or accumulating enough points will qualify you for the National Tournament or a field title. Simply winning a couple events will not qualify your dog for a field title but we also are realistic when it comes to dogs earning hunting titles and fully understand what a great gundog is and should be.

As we stated, titling a dog in this program will not be an easy challenge for any level of gundog. We want to make sure that is a dog titles in our program they are certainly a superior hunting dog. These are not going to just be a simple paper title that anyone can achieve if their dog can run around in the field and retrieve a bird here and there. We want these titles to mean something to people so our competitors, advertisers, and their future customers all get something in return for their dollars spent supporting this program. Whether it's a company's advertising dollars, a competitor's entry fees in the competition or the purchase price someone must pay for a well bred puppy, started or finished dog either from our program or are offspring from titled dogs from our program. Your dogs are going to have to be sound, without genetic defects or spayed or neutered.

We don't agree with many aspects of AKC events, but by no means interpret this as we are stating nothing would be similar in any way whether it is a pointing dog or retriever competition. We are here to help produce fine field and hunting dogs, not field trial dogs. These are two different things entirely.

We are also not stating you should not invest in a field trial bred dog because some produce very good offspring that are great in the hunting field. I have and do purchase my dogs using field trial criteria and information as one of the key factors when I go ahead and buy a new dog for myself or customer. Right now these dogs are the cream of the crop so I use their genetics to purchase the best dog I can in my opinion. Really though lets think about it, if I want to base my choice on a well educated decision and crunch genetics from achievements the parents where the parents had to perform very well to get what other choice do I have but the field trial world. I am surely not going to the show dog world to find myself the best hunting dog I can and many of the kennels out there producing fine gundogs but are not using field trial lines. What information do I really have about their parents as far as genetic stability is concerned, what kinds of progeny does my puppies parents produce, what problematic issues do these particular dogs produce in their puppies that I should know about. I guarantee if there are any problems you are not going to hear them from the breeder.

Many of us that were in the field trial world for many years, and this is some time ago now were told that a certain national field champion did not throw puppies with muscular myopathy. Well folks, this was before the test for it existed but it was known that both parents had to carry the gene for this disease to be passed to a puppy, I can tell you for a fact that this dog carried the gene and the owner knew it when I had to put down several puppies from a litter sired by him. I know of at least a dozen other people that had to do the same before me and each of us reported this to the breeder and owner of this dog. The same thing happened with a female I bought a puppy out of and about two weeks later I had to have this pup put down and in neither case would these people back up either the stud fee or the price of the puppy. All I got out of the situation was a lot of money spent and both of my little daughters crying their eyes out when the pups just disappeared on them. For some reason they figure out in a hurry that dad didn't either just sell all the puppies or give them away.

These are the types of things we want to help avoid in the hunting dog world as well. Thank God there is a test for myopathy now but there still are many other things out there that effect our field dogs, especially in the retriever world. Fortunately our pointing lines are still pretty clean but the more popular breeds like German Shorthairs and Wirehairs get the more chance problems are going to start showing up. More backyard breeders will have more litters to either try and make a quick buck or my favorite is "WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR THE KIDS!!!" and will breed a lot of negative traits into these breeds because they have no idea what they are doing when it comes to breeding dogs. Breeding a quality litter that is uniform and of superior dogs is not easy and a lot of knowledge is required, not just anyone can do it and be consistently successful at it but there are those breeders out there that are great and really know there genetics and also have a keen eye for a dog. Breeding is as much of an art form as it is a science and if you are not excellent in both areas you are only hurting the breed. Sorry, just my opinion.

I have been in the field trial game for many years, owned many field trial dogs that both competed and I hunted with. Almost every dog I have ever owned whether it a retriever or pointer was from field trial lineage. Come to think of it I cannot even remember one that wasn't but then again, when worrying about genetics and having the ability to research a gene pool what other option does a person have right now, especially in labs.

Field trial dogs are bred on different criteria then good hunting dogs. I have not seen a hunting dog breeder yet trying to concentrate on marking ability at four hundred yards and the ability to consistently take pressure. It is a pity when a person buys a dog of great lineage in the field trial world because they had very few other options if they wanted a dog from quality genes, sends this puppy to a pro trainer or train it themselves if they have the ability only to find out he can mark a downed bird at great distances with the best of them but couldn't find his own food dish in the upland field if he had to use his nose.

This is why it is so important to us to do our best in turning this program into one that a person can rely on when it comes to finding out information about other offspring, parents and three or four generations back when purchasing that new puppy or older dog. Believe me people, several generations back DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!

Right now we are not releasing all the ideas and rules we are considering because we really want your input. We don't think a missed bird by a handler is any reason to hurt a dog and/or warrant deductions on the dogs performance. We have thought of other criteria to separate yourself from the competition.

These will be timed events but we have provisions in place for missed birds in the upland field. We also have what we call the waterfowl competition for retrievers or any dog that a person wants to enter. NO THIS IS NOT like a AKC field trial. It has a few things the same but many differences. This is not going to be an easy event for your dog to walk through no matter what level of training or what titles he has accrued. There will also be a combined upland and waterfowl event for the retrievers and also a combined event for the pointing breeds that does not include water. We have something a little different in mind that we know no other program has implemented in it's competition yet. There will of course be age groups as well but these are going to be puppy, started and gundog divisions. They have clear cut guidelines for their age groups so you will need your dogs registration papers. In the event you do not have registration papers for your dog you can still compete but will need to compete in all gundog divisions. If anyone has a better idea on this by all means please post it on the forums at the site listed above and below.

We want to make this competition good enough so everyone has some fun, you gain some information on dogs you may want to breed to some day and handlers have the ability to put a title on their dog that actually means something. We also are going to make sure there are some very good paybacks or we have no reason to move forward with this competition. It will just turn us into the problematic program that some of the others are experiencing right now. We think we can avoid this and make it a good situation for our sponsors and competitors.

Again, until we have our Bird Dogs Forever website redone and have the forums up please use the dog competition section on the forums at http://www.huntingandfishingtheoutdoors.com.

We are definitely looking forward to getting your ideas and moving further along with this program. We already have a great deal in place but we want to cover all our basis. Please help us out with your ideas and let us take care of getting more sponsorship dollars for you to win in these competitions.

Thank you and we look forward to meeting each and every one of you next year at the Bird Dogs Forever Gundog Trail.

Sincerely,

Bird Dogs Forever and C & C Outdoor Adventures
http://www.birddogsforever.com
http://www.huntingandfishingtheoutdoors.com
birddogsforever@nvc.net
ccoutdoors@nvc.net