Hi guys,

Just thought you would like this interview of Lane who runs Cerca Trova Canile, the United States' most popular Bracco Italiano breeder.

The full interview about how they breed their dogs is available here but I think they are doing it right. The way they approach their breeding activity is great, perhaps the "i don't live with my dogs" part is not ideal but otherwise, it is pretty well built. Especially when you consider how unknown the Bracco Italiano is and was years ago!



Hope you find it an interesting read!

Your post reads more like a ad than anything else.

I looked into the breed, and breeders a couple of years ago.
I found there are ones that campaign the dogs in show, and hunt tests. Even spoke with a couple of people that had their dogs (different breed)at Hasting Island at the same hunt test to get their opinion of the Braccos.

I found nothing that confirmed the breeder you mentioned above has campaign his dogs in any way. Some people just want a dog, but some of us want a dog out of proven stock.

Kindall, it is not an ad although I run the website. Internet is made of links so let's not go crazy every time there is a link going somewhere, especially when related to the overall field here.

Little rectification, Lane lives with her dogs at home, my mind must have been busy with other stuff at the time.

I may have been a little sharp, without going in to why.
Your title Super interview with hunting dog breeder
Most of us hunt our dogs, and want dogs out of proven hunting stock.
The title would lead a person to believe, that would be the case with this breeder.
Other than a word or two on the website, there is nothing that shows their dogs really hunt.

From their webpage
We do not want AKC recognition for the Bracco and feel that we can do very well without that questionable umbrella. As an alternative, we feel that NAVHDA (National Versatile Hunting Dog Association) is a wonderful asset that Bracco owners should introduce themselves to. NAVHDA is both a registry and a hunting organization, promoting owner and dog training for beginners and experienced handlers alike. Due to our strong disagreement regarding the direction for the Bracco’s future in the US, we left the BICA (the United States Bracco group) several years ago (see the “Why we Left the Club” page.)


NAVHDA keeps very good records, and they only show 1 dog back in 2008 that ran a NA test.
LANE CONRAD # 021886 Bracco Italiano
SIRE: ASTOR DEL MONTE ALAGO
DAM: LOVELY FLORA DI CERCA TROVA Litter Whelped : 10/26/2007
PROGENY TESTED NA REG # CHAP DATE AGE N S W P T D C Points Prize
000107 MIC 06/01/08 0 -7 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 95 TEMP-Normal II Not Gun Shy
HIPS: PENNHIP LT.24 RT.28 27MO
CERCA TROVA ARTEMESIA NICOLETTE

Their dogs maybe great pets, but I can find nothing that shows they are proven in the field.
What first hand knowledge do you have of their dogs, or are you just promoting them because you make money running the website?

<golf clap>

Agree.. Everything I see is just about Breeding, how to get in the business & how Lazhar makes a living on the internet

He's just pushing his breeding website

Robby

I did a some research on the breed a while back, because I was interested in them.
Not many in the US breed them, and even fewer compete with them.
I love the hound dog look, and that they should be bred to hunt different species.
A person I know and trust, was running a vizsla at Hasting island hunt test. Hidalgo (breeder I was researching) was going to be running their Braccos at the same test. My concern was the Broccos wouldn't have the range I wanted in a bird dog. They are a closer working dog, when compared to other pointing breeds. They can also have some heath issues too, so I would pick a breeder wisely.
I didn't see anything that impressed me about Lanes dogs back then, and I still don't today.

As an owner of the "other" Italian pointing breed, I did find the article interesting. I have been around a few Bracco but I have never been able to hunt with one. I find the breed quite fascinating but like the others, would want to have some proof of hunting ability.

While Spinoni have been more active in AKC hunt tests and NAVHDA, I find the best way to find out about hunting ability in these dogs is to actually hunt with them. I have done NAVHDA and hunt tests in the past, but many owners are not interested in these types of events. Many great dogs out there being hunted that will never "prove" themselves with hunt titles and are overlooked as breeding stock.

I do find it interesting that a Vizla owner calls the Bracco a close working dog. I don't have any experience hunting with the Bracco but the Vizla I have hunted with worked a lot closer than my Spinoni. And yes, my Spinoni are not big running dogs.

ETA: I lived in Colorado for 17 years and was active in NAVHDA, AKC hunt tests, and dog shows with my Spinoni. I don't ever remember seeing a Bracco in Colorado.

Why must a great hunting dog have to have a title to prove themselves? My proof is my dogs ring my bell in the field while hunting. When I take two dogs and can point 20-25 coveys a day with them, you have to prove to me you can do the same. I have hunted with many trial dogs, one being a National Champion, and more than held my own with all of them. Trial dogs always seem confused in normal grind it out hunting scenarios.

You are exactly right. I've had meat dogs out perform my trial dogs. Most of the time I didn't want my trial dogs having too many finds. Too many chances to screw up. Sam Joe and Bozo were my best meat dogs ever. They didn't run pretty enough or hard enough nor have the best tail set but they were bird finding machines.

Nothing wrong with buying a pup, out of dogs you know, and have hunted over. Or even someone you know was impressed with the way they hunted. Without that, I would want some proof.
Why tittles?
Otherwise I just have Joe Blows word in another state about the dog.
While he might be very honest, not everyone is.

Spinone
I agree that a good many vizslas are closer working dogs.
There are some that are medium range, and a few bred for bigger range.
I have hopes my next one will be a bigger running dog, so the bracco wouldn't fit the bill.

So you are buying titles instead of bloodlines? All my meat dog's bloodlines go back to top trial stock and I break my dogs to a field trial standard. I just don't trial anymore. I enjoy hunting too much to trial. A 20 covey day is equal to any championship I could win in my mind. I have at least 4 breedings scheduled for my male stud dog this spring for people that have seen him perform on real bonafide wild birds. Two of them will be to trial gyps that have already won derby stakes. I don't play and win titles on pen-raised birds. I think that is the biggest farce ever known to the field trial world. If a title is awarded, make it real under real hunting conditions pointing wild birds in every conceivable condition. 90% of the titles today are awarded on liberated birds. What has that proved?

I don't understand why you feel it's necessary to argue apples and oranges. Trial titles are about the competition. You watch the dogs do what you have worked so hard to refine through committed training and are ranked against set standards you either achieve or fall short of. In the field, or blind, it's not about the competition. It's about the birds, and enjoying the dog work. It's about shots you do or don't get. Birds lost, recovered, retrieved. Same kind of committed training goes in but different ways of measuring success and different rewards.

They don't have to be in conflict with each other.

So you are buying titles instead of bloodlines?

No. In vizsla I have bloodlines that I'm partial to. I've also hunted over some very good dogs, and you would be hard press to find titles in their pedigree. So yes I would buy a pup out of one of them.
Not schooled as well on Bracco's. It was easier for me to get a outside opinion on the ones that are competing, and start narrowing down the bloodlines. Not going to fly/drive to look at different dogs, unless I became serious on purchasing one. I was just in the research stage, when I looked into who was breeding them in the US.

On the breeder in question, I didn't see much on their dogs being hunted, and only 1 had ran in NAVHDA years ago. I just don't understand how you can honestly say your breeding hunting dogs, if you don't hunt or compete with them.

Wonder why haven't we heard anything from Lazhar defending anything in this conversation

Cause he's only selling his pitch. Look at his post history.