Bracco Italiano USA - Cerca Trova

  • Home
  • Bracco Italiano USA - Cerca Trova

Bracco Italiano USA - Cerca Trova We breed the Bracco Italiano, a rare Italian bird dog We started breeding the Bracco Italiano (Italian Pointer) almost 23 years ago.
(19)

Since my husband, Dan Koon, and I had both been "in dogs" for years, we wanted to find a rare breed and have some control of its outcome and progress in the US. To that end, we made a commitment to place our puppies in hunting families only, to further the work that Italian breeders have done for hundreds of years. We choose not to show in conformation (just can't do the traveling required) but ha

ve purchased only breed-quality Bracchi (of Italian breeding) which closely conform to the Italian breed standard. Our dogs are intelligent, beautiful and mentally solid - they'll do anything that we ask of them, and much more; for instance: water birds, shed horns, blood trail, scent track, rabbits, coyotes and more. Our puppies are born with "bird" in them and have made their owners extremely happy - in fact, we have several people who own more than one Cerca Trova Bracco. We intend to continue breeding these wonderful dogs for the rest of our lives. update: 3/3/22 - my amazing husband and dad, Dan Koon, died in august, '21...... after a long illness. it was the right time, and it was the right thing. His son Radigan Koon will continue breeding in Colorado, and i'll do some in Texas, which is where i'm moving to in roughly September, '22. WHY are we different from other breeders? First, we've been breeding for 21 years, so we're pretty much the breeders with the most experience in the US. Our dogs all live in our home, and our puppies are all born in our living room, which means that they're far more socialized than any puppy raised in a kennel. Being behaviorists, we start when puppies' eyes open with teaching connection to humans, trying out new objects, and socializing with our own dogs and our boarding dogs. We also start them at 4 wks old with feeding and cap gun training, in the house. just like with their grandfather, Eros,
they associate loud noises with a party. Last, and not least, we answer our phone! We're told that we're much more involved than other breeders people have spoken with, and that our website (www.braccousa.com) is the one people look to for all the information it has. We like to stay in touch with our puppy owners and really want them to ask any training or medical questions that come up. Also - we picked them as owners, which means we already like each other, so keeping up is great!

04/07/2024
01/06/2024

our internet and phones are really wacko for the last several days. i guess tornados will do that.....

Look who just won BOB at Westminster! This gorgeous boy is Rowan, the grandson of our Eros (of Cerca Trova)
14/05/2024

Look who just won BOB at Westminster! This gorgeous boy is Rowan, the grandson of our Eros (of Cerca Trova)

03/05/2024

sorry i've been pretty quiet over the last while.... i'm happy in texas, but but billy and i decided we'd be way better good friends than anything more or less. we are terrific roommates! i think i'll have another litter in November, but we'll see how it all goes.

30/04/2024

Well I just heard tonight and saw our first peeper frogs in our pond and the one next door which are newly full of a good deal of rain. I also saw 8 or 10 fireflies! I also heard a Chuck Will's Widow, which is like a whippoorwill only a different sound. Wow!

24/03/2024

Just want to let you all know that I cannot get my email at this moment because we got struck by lightning pretty hard the other night. But for whatever reason, Facebook works just fine..

hard to imagine (right...) but here it is!
10/03/2024

hard to imagine (right...) but here it is!

A new report argued the Jan. 6 committee suppressed an interview detailing the Trump administration called for National Guard presence in 2021.

and Kate's mom just sent me more photos!
18/02/2024

and Kate's mom just sent me more photos!

i am so pleased to show you Kate, owned by b. wendling in maine. she was Holly, the puppy you'll see below (and no dou...
18/02/2024

i am so pleased to show you Kate, owned by b. wendling in maine. she was Holly, the puppy you'll see below (and no doubt fell in love with) we learned a great deal from this girl!

12/02/2024

Are your notifications acting stupid and weird? Well mine are too. Just so you know.

09/02/2024

this is from 2017 and we're still doing it (and always will.).

Hi, dog lovers -
I have heard recently of a number of gunshy braccos, and i would like to talk about how we start our puppies off (although this works with adult dogs as well.) As we tell all our puppy owners, we start out with a kid's plastic cap gun just when the pups start eating. After putting down the food, one of us stays with the pups to observe, and Radigan goes at LEAST 3 rooms away from the puppies. If there's no reaction at all, we know that is a low enough noise that the pups can handle it fine. This distance is non-stressful, and we will come closer and closer over a period of several days, carefully monitoring the puppies' reactions until our goal is reached and we can fire the gun in the same room. If, at any time, we find puppies starting to show fear, we reverse the process until we're again at a point of no reaction..... then we repeat the entire process, but more slowly. We also praise the entire group when there's no reaction, or even a bit of excitement from them.
So now we fire the cap gun, again at feeding time, in the same room. we'll also do it outside - and ultimately, we'll fire the gun while they're playing, with us getting very excited with them - that is: when the gun is fired, something GOOD happens!
When the puppy is placed with his new family, it is critical that this process is continued - in many different scenarios. What the pup has learned applied at our house, but he has to learn that the same process is equally good at the NEW house. Regular loud noises and bangs and shots (especially in a home that may be pretty quiet) are very important to continue as the pup gets older, since if he's NOT exposed to those regularly, he'll forget about them, and will become scared again. The same excitement and happiness should be used with other loud noises, such as firecrackers, thunderstorms, avalanche bombing, etc., always remembering that SLOWLY getting pup used to these will have the best long-term effect. Many puppies, however, can handle a rapid escalation in "loudness" - and it all depends on the individual puppy.
Another common mistake is to take the pup out for his first time with a real gun, and fire that gun way too close to him, which can literally leave him completely panicked. The right way is to repeat the original "getting used to" routine - yes, it may take some time, but you'll have your ultimate goal, which is to have a happy pup who goes bonkers when he sees your gun come out.

03/02/2024

And another best of breed for Gianni!

02/02/2024

Address


81431

Telephone

+19707293243

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Bracco Italiano USA - Cerca Trova posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Videos

here's a darling video of Reina Dinser, in Michigan.

Mr. Black
Mr. Black

miss pink
miss pink

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Telephone
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Videos
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?

Share

Our Story

We started breeding the Bracco Italiano (Italian Pointer) almost 20 years ago. Since my husband, Dan Koon, and I had both been "in dogs" for years, we wanted to find a rare breed and have some control of its outcome and progress in the US. To that end, we made a commitment to place our puppies in hunting families as often as possible, to further the work that Italian breeders have done for hundreds of years. Having said that, we’ve also placed pups with owners who are ready to teach their Bracco in tracking, search and rescue, blood-trailing, finding shed horns, and other activities where the dog gets to use his mental skills and accomplish.... since this is what this breed, and numerous others, require to be happy. We choose not to show in conformation (just can't do the traveling required) but have purchased only breed-quality Bracchi (of Italian breeding) which closely conform to the Italian breed standard. We appropriately health-test our breeding dogs and have placed any of them that did not pass those tests. The results of our health testing are freely given to our puppy owners, but as far as sharing those results with clubs or health data bases, we decided long ago that the best avenue was to keep our own council. Our dogs are intelligent, beautiful and mentally solid - they'll do anything that we ask of them, and much more. Our puppies are born with "bird" in them and have made their owners extremely happy - in fact, we have several people who own more than one Cerca Trova Bracco. We intend to continue breeding these wonderful dogs for the rest of our lives, and our sons are actively involved as well, especially Radigan. We also know we’re breeding good dogs since a puppy we bred was named Best in Show in the only Bracco Italiano specialty show in the US in 2015. She is also an accomplished bird hunter. WHY are we different from other breeders? First, we've been breeding for 20 years, so we're pretty much the breeders with the most experience and medical knowledge of Braccos in the US. Our dogs all live in our home, and our puppies are all born in our living room, which means that they're far more socialized than any puppy raised in a kennel. Being behaviorists, we start when puppies' eyes open with teaching connection to humans, trying out new objects, and socializing with our own dogs and our boarding dogs. We do not ship our puppies, since a little puppy will go through serious trauma, just like a baby human would. We also want to meet our puppy owners when they fly or drive here to get theirs, and we feel strongly that they should see our “breeding operation,” aka “home.” We do not want our marvelous breed to become AKC recognized, since this will bring in many breeders who are not in breeding to produce better dogs, simply MORE dogs. We’re the longest-running breeders in the US, and most other breeders started with one of our dogs. We have the most knowledge about bracco health here too..... simply by learning as we’ve had problems occur. We’re in the United States, and give a contract, ensuring that you can have recourse if there are problems with your puppy. Speaking from experience, when we’ve had problems with a dog or a puppy from overseas, there is no recourse at all, unless you have a good breeder who understands the responsibility we think breeders have.

Last, and not least, we answer our phone! We're told that we're much more involved than other breeders people have spoken with, and that our website (www.braccousa.com) is the one people look to for all the information it has. We like to stay in touch with our puppy owners and really want them to ask any training or medical questions that come up. Also - we picked them as owners, which means we already like each other, so keeping up is great!

11/2018 This is a sad day for the Bracco Italiano. The US breed club, BICA, has gone to the AKC for breed recognition status, and now the Bracco is listed as the 3rd best breed for children in the AKC roster. This means that the average suburban family will want a bracco...... never considering that this breed NEEDS to hunt, very much. This means, also, that supply must be increased...... meaning that "industrial" breed operations and individual breeders which do not take the needs of the breed into account when placing puppies, will produce more and more puppies. The true reason of BICA's wanting the Bracco recognized (and i've been told this by many BICA officers) is so the breed can be shown in AKC conformation classes. In the UK, about 80% of breeders do not hunt, and we look forward to this being the case in the US in a relatively short time. We predicted this almost 20 years ago when we were involved with BICA (my husband, Dan Koon, was club president.) We left the club when it became apparent that club officers would not work with club members (or the club president) in keeping the breed as true as possible to the Italian standard of use......a 2000 year-old endeavor. In fact, the wording on the BICA website talks about the Bracco being a hunting dog (TWICE. Two short sentences in the text.) Truly amazing when you think about what an incredible hunting dog the Italians have created. There is virtually no discussion of this breed’s intelligence, desire to learn, and desire to impress its owners. We have, of course, been targeted by certain officers of BICA for our negative opinion of this direction and have been accused of doing plenty of things wrong......and since there ARE plenty of rumors out there about us, if you want to know the truth, just ask US.

We will, naturally, continue breeding the Bracco Italiano as we have for many years - adhering to the breed standard and placing our puppies in hunting family homes - with marvelous results. Please feel free to check out our website, which has quite a bit more detail about our dogs and the breed in general: www.braccousa.com