Hi

I am looking for a flat-coated retriever puppy but am struggling to find any litters! Please let me know if anyone knows of any litters anywhere in the country!
Thank you,

Emma Winlow.

Hello,

Flatcoat breeders do not advertise puppies as a rule. We register all our puppies for sale with Mrs Shirley Johnson of the Flatcoated Retriever Society. Her contact details are available from the Flatcoated Retriever Society web site or the Kennel Club.

Unfortunately for you, it is now the shooting season and as most flatcoats are worked, there is always a period between September and March when there are very few litters of pups born as the bitches are being worked. My friends bitch holds off her season during this time of the year. Last year she was due in season mid October, but held off her season until March!

You might have to put your name down with abreeder and wait until there is a litter with puppies available. If you would like more information about the breed then do email me. foxpath4@hotmail.com

Regards
Polly & Foxpath Flatcoated Retrievers.

how do you mean "holds off her season"?
do you mean she uses drugs to suppress the bitches natural cycle?

Although bitches "should" come into season every 6 months, some don't!  (I'm waiting for one of mine at the moment !)

Margot

Many working bitches can some how hold off their seasons until such time as it suits them to come into season. How they do it is a complete mystery. Richard was really hoping his bitch would come in but she didn't, I told him as soon as the shooting season is over she will come in season, he did not believe me, but sure enough she did, a month later. All through the shooting season he kept saying "We probably won't be here next week, as she is over due coming in season". Richard like myself would not interfere with a bitches cycle by using any kind of drug, as this can lead to other problems, one such which springs to mind is pyometra, which some bitches can get after having a delayed season due to drug usage.

I assume it is the same as many other animals which can control thier seasons. The seasons being linked to events, inlions a new male will kill the old males cubs and then even though it is not time for the lionesses to come into season they will do so and conceive the next generation for the pack. In wolves it is only the dominant bitch which has seasons and therefore produces puppies. I assume it is the same thing.

Polly I wish your statement that most Flatcoats work was true.

If it were then I would not have had the problems that I have faced as Field Trial Secretary this week.

Another reason that people do not breed at this end of year is because they do not as a whole want puppies over the Christmas period.

Emma - contact Mrs Johnson on 01638 718231 -she will let you know of available litters.  There are long waiting lists because this is not a numerically strong breed compared to Labradors.

Good luck with your search

Becky

Well I'll rephrase that then.... :-) Most of the flatcoats I know work, I expect there are a lot of pet flatcoats and quite few show bred ones too. I would agree with Becky however a lot of people don't want winter litters.

i love winter litters they sleep alot beacuse of the dark evenings,not like the summer litter i had where they are wake at dawn to dust,you cannot control heat,fly.wasp flying around,
winter litter are readly to start their traning in the spring,

I prefer winter litters as well, however in an ideal world I like them born in Jan/Feb.

Lots of people think summer litters are more preferable.  It is easier to house train a puppy in the summer - imho!

Becky

I prefer winter litters, and as Becky, prefer to have them in Jan/Feb. However it isn't always possible.

Think it is called a perfect world!!!!!

We are waiting for Sasha to come in season.  Both Mum and I had hoped she would be in and mated by now because we wanted her to have the pups on Xmas day so we could wiggle out of cooking christmas lunch!!!!!  However, in typical fashion she is showing no sign!!!
Becky

Polly,

Where can I get one of these fantastic bitches that hold off their season to allow for the shooting season? I dont think I've ever had a bitch that didnt come in season, just when I needed her most! Perhaps there is an advantage to having flatcoats over labradors after all! ;-)

I was wondering that.  Nothing happens when you want it to.  Last year Chloe came in late so that was fine, then she came in early just when it was really inconvenient.  Goodness knows what she will do next.

Becky

I don't think it is restricted to flatcoats..... wish it was!  As I have been a picker up short for two weeks as her bitch came in season for our fist two shoots. However it is not unheard of that bitches will hold off a season. Now everyone all tell me your bitches don't!!! lol

Funny how bitches seem to hold off the season that you want to mate them on!

Amazes me how people get by picking up with only one dog, mine get run into the ground working in a team of three or four. Greatly depends on the shoot I suppose.

Tell me about it!!!  I work 3 at a time and so does my father.

Only prob is that we sometimes swap dogs depending on how many days a week we have got.  That works fine until one of my more stupid males forgets which one of us he is working for and inevitably takes the bird back to the wrong one of us!!!   I spent 5 minutes last weekend wondering where the heck he had got to when my father appeared from the other side of the hill with the dog and the partridge.  Sigh.

Becky

I have a very obliging Labrador bitch who comes into season regularly every six months, June and December. Just as we are getting into our busiest days she goes AWOL and I have the unenviable job of phoning our keeper to tell him he's lost her for three weeks. Last year he had me behind the guns, dog less, retrieving what I could by hand and marking down all those I could not get to. One gun was very considerate and dropped a bird within two foot of me. I felt the draft as it came down!

Regards, John

I'm fascinated by this topic.  I know a farmer with a female working border collie who, after the first couple of seasons, does not appear to have had a season again - she's coming up to 8 ish now.  He also has a 18 month old bitch who also hasn't had a season. As I live on the farm with an entire dog, I would have thought that he would have noticed even if they had 'silent' seasons (having said that, he is totally uninterested in bitches who are in season!).  Is this normal in working border collies?

Before I had flatcoats I had ISDS  working border collies. I always had bitches, which always seemed to come into season but usually with very long gaps between. Certainly they went longer than six months between seasons, but that could just be their line.

emma where abouts are you in the uk,is it a boy /girl pup,black or liver,you want,

for a pet/showing,working,

is it your first fcr.

Hi

I am in Northwich in Cheshire, but have no problem with travelling to collect puppy. Would prefer a dog pup, black or liver. It will be a family pet, not for showing or working. I am at home full-time, so he won't be on his own.

Forgot to mention on previous reply - it is my first flatcoat, but I have had a dog before, some years ago now, a labrador cross. I have read alot about flatcoats, and have met some, and they sound, and seem, lovely. Temperament is the most important thing to me, as I have three children

1 thing they are called the peterpan of the dog world that they never grow up happy lively dogs to the end.