Richard Hale Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 I never attached rules to the setter pups I sold and never entered into any entanglements on the pups I bought. I feed it I make all the decisions. Link to post Share on other sites
Chukarman Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I am unaware of any 'rules' that specify what size a setter must be to be bred. Some lines of setters have females that average quite a bit smaller than the males and in some lines both males and females are predominantly smaller dogs. If you want a litter of pups and your bitch is talented and you have access to a solid stud dog, I would breed her. The dam of the best setter I ever had was small but won 8 or 10 cover dog/walking shooting dog championships... Keystone's Red Ryder In my unsolicited opinion, the ideal field setter female is 37 to 40 pounds and the male is 44 to 48 pounds. Link to post Share on other sites
tut Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 When I went to my first NASTRA field trial about 7 years ago, there was a petite little setter bitch there that weighed 33 lbs. She did very well. No idea if that was considered to small to breed, but it was obvious that she was the smallest dog entered by a good bit. Link to post Share on other sites
SLR Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Size has a fairly high heritability value. Thus if one has a quality dog, but the size is too small or too large for the breeders goals, one can breed to bring the sizes back to the average desired by appropriate mate selection. It helps to know not just the two that are to be bred, but something about the trait in the pedigree of both sire ad dam. https://wiki.groenkennisnet.nl/display/TAB/Chapter+10.2%3A+Compensatory+mating Johnny Crocket was a small male setter. After winning the Natl. Ch., you better believe he was used for breeding. Link to post Share on other sites
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