I've been thinking about it and it's not enough to just tell you what's not wrong with Brutus.  Time to tell folks what's right.

Like the rest of the litter, Brutus is one of the calmest puppies I've ever seen.  Don't get me wrong, he's an excited little guy when he meets new folks or it's outside time.  But when it's quiet time, he's a quiet dog.  He's sitting on the couch watching me type this right now, because that's what he wants to do.  He sat in the sun today watching my futile attempt to spruce up a little patch of mud that we call our front yard.  But when I went for a walk in the snowy fields and woods, he was right with me.

I bred Brutus to be a top-end hunting dog and Versatile Champion prospect.  There's no reason he won't be if you put the training into him. 

Brutus is incredibly biddable.  I think training him will be easy compared to most of the dogs I've dealt with.  He's also a bold pup.  I've taken him in some pretty weird places and had him with a lot of people.  He's not afraid of anything, in fact he throws himself into new experiences.  I bred to Luke hoping to get some of this.  Maybe I got it all.

Nobody likes to admit that looks are important, but to most of us they are.  Brutus is going to be a stunning boy, I think.  He's ticked like his mother.  His conformation is good.  Brutus looks like he'll have a blocky masculine head.  He's always had substantial bone and I think that will be one of the first things folks notice when looking at him.  However, a lot of "bone" dogs tend to look houndy.  That's due to round heads, low ears, long jowls, and loose skin.  Brutus shows none of those features.

Brutus has good odds of being BIG, I mean really big.  Dove is 65 pounds, Luke is 75 pounds.  Brutus has always been big for this litter, and much larger than the pups from my last litter.  I know big GSP's aren't everybody's favorite, but I like them.  If you like dogs big enough to go over obstacles instead of around them, here's a prospect.

He has really nice feet.  Might seem odd to talk about, but he has large, but tight and round feet with solid nails and deep webbing.  In horses, they say "No hoof, no horse" and the same is true in hunting dogs.  Long toes and splayed feet contribute to foot injuries.  If you have to put your hunting dog on the shelf for a couple weeks during the season for ANY injury, you might be costing yourself 10% of the hunting time you will ever get to spend with that dog.

Brutus will be 9 1/2 months old on Opening Day.  If you are looking for a dog to hunt in 2007, it's getting late.  I started looking for a hunting dog this time of year when I found Colt.  He was only a few months old on his first hunting season and I didn't get to go.  At over a year for his first hunting season, he was a bit old.  The timing of this litter wasn't ideal for getting the breeding done, or for selling pups (lots of folks not looking in January and February) but it is ideal for getting your dog trained and actually killing birds over him his first season.

A lot of pups over 8 weeks are living in a kennel outside.  Not Brutus.  We're raising him in the house, with the other dogs.  We want Brutus to be "family ready" the minute you pick him up.  We're house breaking him.  He's chewing our shoes (and learning it's better to chew on toys).  He gets looked at by a veterinarian (our resident Dr. Amanda) every day and is up to date on his shots, which include rabies at this point. 

Brutus is a terrific pup and I'm looking forward to placing him in just the right home.  He's the last to go because he's the last to go.  I think the others went basically on this (over simplified) criteria:  1 - Female, 2 - Solid liver, 3 - Medium size and temperament, 4 Solid head.  Leaving Brutus, the dog I thought would be the first to go.