puppy nose

[cjhills]

Had a guy call about a puppy the other day. He was looking for NSTRA prospect. the very well bred NSTRA litter I know of was to tightly bred for his taste.
He told me all he was interested in was the nose he could train everything else. How do you judge the nose on a puppy? I know some dogs find more birds than others. But, is it more what the dog does with the info he gets through his nose or is the nose better? Does a dog with a good nose point farther off or more birds? Do you want a Nstra dog pointing 100 yards off? It can get really hard to find the bird when time counts.
How do you tell if your dogs have good noses? They find birds, some better than others and that changes from one day to the next. I didn't have a lot to offer this guy.
Also thought my dogs had too much muscle. His thinking is you can't put muscle on a smooth running dog because they don't need muscle to run. I'm wonder if the NSTRA people really care about the run on their dogs for a 30 min run in a small field and I would think you would like to be fairly close when the dog points so you get there quick .
Since I have bred my dogs for conformation and natural point,honor and retrieve have I wasted all these years.....................Cj

[DonF]

Because of the format and the time in the field, a dog that runs can be a detriment. I have seen guy's take a dog around a field several time's before time was called. In NSTRA your really much better off with a dog that hunt's fairly close, a hundred yards or so. As for nose, how does anyone know what a dog smells? When you see one dog seemingly miss a bird the dog behind it get's, did the first dog miss or did it not get into the scent cone or could the air current's changed just enough the give the second dog through the edge. I haven't a clue! There probably is dog's that have better nose's that other's,m how do you really know? I don't thin k the guy you're talking about really knows what he want's.

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

I don't really think there is all that much difference in the noses of dogs but I do believe there is a difference in how they learn to use them & how they do use them.
JMO

[Quailcommando]

I just spent some time at winter camp and there are dogs with good noses but There was a great nose also, If it comes down to the way they process the scent she was a heck of a lot faster processing then the other dogs. After seeing that it would be hard for me to believe all noses are equal.