French pointers

The Braque Francais has a great desire to learn and an even greater desire to hunt. The dogs develop their skills at a young age and retain them well. They have a very strong, natural pointing and retrieving instinct. This breed is easy to train because of it's high intelligence and eagerness to please. The Braque Francais is a close to medium working hunter and makes a wonderful dual purpose dog. If you are looking for an unusual, beautiful, obedient family pet and hunting dog that thrives on companionship, this may be the right breed for you. If you are a rookie to the world of pointing dogs or do not want to spend all of your free time training a dog, the Braque Francais will evolve into a fine hunting companion with the teaching of some basic commands and exposure to birds. The best training for the Braque Francais is field experience. We train all of our dogs to be steady to wing and shot. Although this is not a natural act, it does come easy to them. One thing to remember about this easy going, sensitive breed is that they require an owner that uses gentle training methods. This breed will not handle the heavy handed training procedures that some breeds are better suited for. Once they understand what it is that you want them to do, they will do it just to make you happy. That goes for in the field as well as in the home. All of our Braque Francais are house dogs. You would be shocked at the transformation from couch potato to bird hunting machine at the sight of a hunting vest and a shotgun.

Angie is9 years old and was our first Braque Francais. She gave one litter of very nice puppies, but has now been retired from our breeding program. She came to us pointing pigeons at 10 weeks old and is extremely intelligent. She is one we will never forget. Angie has perfected her skills as an excellent tracking dog and when not tracking a blood trail, you'll find her sleeping on the bed.

Mia is now 8 years old. The conformation judge in Canada scored her with no physical faults. Her NAVHDA NA test gave her a Prize II. She is a very calm dog, steady to wing, shot and fall, retrieves on land and water. She finished her Field Dog Junior with the CKC 3rd place all breeds in Canada. The following year she obtained her Field Dog certificate and placed 8th all breed in Canada as a finished dog. She is the first generation of her line to be born in North America and truly a remarkable dog. She is a grouse and woodcock specialist. We would like to thank M. Martineau of Quebec for selling us this wonderful dog. Mia has been retired from our breeding program and will now just be our wonderful bird dog and trusted friend.

We were lucky enough to have first pick of the litter and got a real gem with Rose. Both her parents were born and bred in France. At 8 weeks old we picked her up in Quebec and with very little work, at about 5 months she was pointing woodcock in the upper peninsula of Michigan.. She even retrieved a few after a victory lap or two. Rose scored 96 points a prize III in her NAVHDA NA test. Rose has turned out to be a lot of dog in a small package. 35 lbs and 18 inches at the shoulder and all heart...

We bought Chase as an 8 week old puppy in Canada and have found his progression as a bird dog to be very enjoyable. The first few months we did lots of fun preschool and when he showed he was ready to get serious we moved to bird work and before he was 1 year old he was steady to wing and shot and a real gentleman's gundog. With a very strong desire to hunt, Chase is a pleasure to take to the field or woods. He always gives you a full days hunt with out any problem. Chase has had 3 seasons in Michigan on grouse and woodcock and is an expert at our local semi-wild pheasant preserve. Both his parents come directly from France.

Chase, Mia, Rose & Aimee are first generation Braque Francais born in North America. They all came from Canada. We visit our French Canadian friends a few times each year and have been able to not only see our pups parents, but also siblings from earlier litters, half brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. This really helps us to identify the qualities we are looking for in our breeding stock. Evaluating a pedigree is very important, but there is no substitute for seeing the gene pool in the flesh and at work. The CBFQ members continue to import top notch dogs from France to keep diversity in the breed. All of our dogs have had their hips radiographed and evaluated with either the OFA or Penn Hips, and their eyes tested by a veterinarian ophthalmologist for genetic defects. Our dogs are registered with CKC, NAVHDA and or FDSB..

Fern turned two in July and is a natural. She did well in her first real hunting season. She is a beautiful dog with a strong nose and great desire. She is natural retriever and this dog will run all day if need be. She has been a dream to work with over the summer and we couldn't be more happy with her. Mike and I would like to thank Alan and Judy for selling us this terrific little girl. We look forward to seeing her run in the north woods in October.

Scout was our breeders pick from Mia's last litter in 2008 and she turned 1 year old in September. She is showing all the skills and behaviors that we like in a pup. She reminds us very much of her Mother and that is definitely a good thing. Scout is showing a lot of interest in birds and will start some puppy training this summer. She has a good instinct to point so I'm sure her progression into a bird dog will be an easy one.