Our Story starts like many others who find their way to the Braque Francais. In early 2016, we had to put down our beloved 12-year-old Brittany, who was a staple of our family. He was a one-of-a-kind with a great personality and had been with us through our big life events – marriage, 3 moves to different states, and the birth of our Twins. My wife wanted to take some time off from pet ownership, so I took the next 6 months researching breeds. I knew I did not want another Brittany as I did not think one could ever live up to the standard of the previous one. My wife’s requirements were – Good Family Dog, Good with kids, calm in the house, medium sized. What I wanted out of a dog was a dog that would be good with our 3-year-old twins, a great hunter, not as high strung as our Brittany, and a breed that was unique and not what “everyone else had”.
My initial research pointed me towards the Small Munsterlander and we were in line for a litter, but we ultimately decided that it looked too much like the Brittany. I also too a hard look at the Picard Spaniel (too rare) and the GSP. It was at that point that I came across the article in Gun Dog Magazine on the Braque Francais, which characterized the dogs as “Friendly, sociable, gentle, and submissive” and is best suited to “the person who wants a family pet and companion, while also being a dependable hunting dog”.
From there I spoke with any Braque Francais breeder that would talk to me, including Brad Boisen who is mentioned in the Gun Dog Article and the President of the Club Braque Francais North America. I eventually found a litter that was to be born in late fall, and Gertie was born on September 23, 2016.
We picked Gertie up the weekend before Thanksgiving and instantly fell in love with our new pup. Our then 4-year-old twins fought the whole way home on who got to hold her, and Gertie loved every minute of it.
At 11 months we ran Gertie in the NAVHDA NA test, and she passed despite only getting a 1 in the track part of the test. Scenting conditions were not the best as the temperature rose above 90 degrees. It was after that we knew we wanted to breed her and share this great breed with other.
My wife was skeptical at the beginning, a hunting dog could be calm in the house, but now admits that everything we read online about the breed is true, a great house dog, calm, good with kids, and a natural hunter.