A Perspective on Puppies

The following was written by Dr. Cristina Arrigoni Martelli,  who grew up with gundogs and hunting in Europe but for many years now has been a grouse/woodcock guide and hunter in Maine.  She has always run Brittanys but now has her first ryman-type setter puppy, “Frank”, and wrote this to me in a recent email exchange discussing buyer referrals.  She captures and describes the development and nature of her ryman pup beautifully and compares it with other breeds she has owned, and with her permission I thought that you all would enjoy it as well.   I know that I will keep her perspective in mind with my next pup.

Edit: Perhaps I should have added that Cristina became hooked on rymans last fall when one of her guiding clients asked if he could run his 5-1/2 month old ryman setter pup since they were getting into woodcock.  Pup bumped his first two birds but went on to point several more and retrieve the birds shot.  So although she believes in letting pups develop on their own schedule and on wild birds only, she has also seen proof that the old stereotype of rymans being slow to develop in the field is not accurate.

Having had Frank around for a few weeks now, you guys SHOULD feel 100% comfortable before you hand such a creature out to anybody. Not because he is mine (I am inclined to think they are all more or less like him), but the meaning of “soft” “sensitive” “super intelligent” and “thoughtful” all have a new meaning in doggie context having met Frank. It is difficult to explain the feeling in words, but what I am trying to say is that if you are used to (or expecting) a “soft” any other breed (including Brits, which are soft, but quite different) or, your standard GSP, you are going to hurt, if not downright quickly ruin, a creature like Frank. He is special, he is slow in a thoughtful, profound way, he needs time for his moments of absolute tail thumping, wiggly joy, needs to not be PUSHED with training, even the kind that involves baby stuff like “sit.” He is on his own schedule, not because he is going to thus become an untutored brat, but because, in a strange way, he has it all, it just need to be unpeeled, like an onion, slowly, when and only when, each layer is ready to go, then he absolutely shines and a) there is nothing any “training” can do about this or do to create this, and b) and there is nothing I or anybody can do to speed up the process. You just try your hardest to watch him and facilitate it. That, I realized very quickly, was my job here. To just facilitate certain things to happen IF and WHEN they need to. And not get stuck on a certain type of picture or performance or anything. 

OK, that said, and being a dog trainer somewhat professionally, most people that I know have a pretty good chance at not getting this right. People are busy, they have plans, they want what they want when and the way they want it. They want too much, and they, apparently, do not want to have, or give, the most important thing in the world: Time. Who cares where the other creature is at, that is just not as important to them. We are not a pretty species that way when it comes to that.

I am not saying this because I am especially smart or anything. Frank (and I believe most of your setters and I) are perhaps just a really good match. He is exactly what I always somewhere thought and dreamed and FELT a birddog should be like. Just someone you quietly do things with, from picking berries, to meeting the guy at the gun store to going for walks, to taking the trash out, to whatever. ALL is special to Frank, which is a fantastic thing to learn from him. No training, no hollering, a perfect PARTNERSHIP where his ideas count and work as much and as well as mine and should have a space to grow (so that mine can grow, as they have). Frank at 17 weeks stops (literally) and clearly thinks. Then he acts. He has packs of all sorts of emotion, they ripple through his eyes and something about his demeanor seems to suggest that deep inside his Frankness there is a conviction on his part that he is entitled to these emotions, that they matter, as they obviously do.  It is powerful stuff.  Having had multiple Brits, none of them have been quite like this from the get-go (although I think I have and have had some good ones) because a lot more effort goes into getting them to the spot where Frank already, naturally is. He is a Ryman prince. There has been no work whatsoever involved with his puppyhood (OK, peeing first thing in the morning). All you do with Frank is that you exist with him and he exists back. It is just amazing…

So, at the end of this rant, I am glad I am not in your shoes, having to place puppies like this. And having strong references is the least you can do