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Pointer Potpourri

May 23, 2011

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update , , , , Leave a comment

Sue making friends at the Bark for a Cure Cancer Walk

On Saturday morning, Sue and I hosted a booth at the Bellevue, Nebraska Bark for a Cure Cancer Walk.  It was nice to meet and visit with other local dog enthusiasts.  Sue did a great job meeting and greeting.  The Great Plains Pointer Rescue http://www.greatpointers.org/ also had a booth and they occasionally come across local Wirehaired Pointing Griffons in need of assistance.  In the future, I will be posting any available griff rescues from them and work to spread the word in Griffondom.

Deborah and Pete out in Nevada sent some great pictures of Whiskey getting ready for his NAVHDA natural ability test.  Whiskey is from last year’s “A” litter and recently turned one year old.  He has a new baby “brother”, a lab puppy by the name of “Ruger”.  I’m sure they’re having fun getting to know each other.

Handsome one-year old Whiskey!

Whiskey swimming

"I got it, Dad!"

"Woo hoo!!!!"

Many thanks to Pete and Deborah for the photos and the update on how Whiskey is progressing!

While we’re talking progress, BB is doing fabulous at 11 weeks.  I took her out for her first hour-long hike late last week and she kept up with the big dogs.  No whining, fussing or laying down at all.  She’s getting pretty leggy too!

BB at 11 weeks old

Charles is taking some time away from work coming up and the kids are out of school for the summer starting on Wednesday, so I’m sure we’ll cook up some good dog adventures.  Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

Spring training!

May 16, 2011

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Trap and Skeet Shooting , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Happy First Birthday, Bluestem “A” Litter, on April 30th!!  Here’s Winston’s 1st birthday picture, he lives on an acreage outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Thank you to Kelvin and Nancy for the picture!

Winston from our "A" litter at 1 year old

I also received some pictures from one of my new owners of a “B” litter puppy.  “Roxy” (formerly known as Bess) lives out in Utah with Randy and Pam.  They are very happy with her progress and surprised at how fast she is learning.  Once again, many thanks to them for the photo contribution:

Roxy of our recent "B" litter checks out the wing

Roxy on retrieve to Randy

Roxy points the wing

Roxy on water retrieve

While we’re talking water, Monday and Tuesday of last week were 95+ degree days here, so I took the opportunity Monday afternoon to take the big dogs out for some swimming practice and see if we could get our new puppy “BB” in the water.  Water practice is not only fun, it is vital for the dog’s desire to water retrieve waterfowl during hunting season.

Sue and Sam take a dip

BB takes her first swim

BB heading back to shore

The water was still pretty cold even though the air was warm, so our time in the water was limited.  Swimming is an instinctual behavior for dogs, therefore you can’t introduce them to water too soon after picking up a puppy from a breeder (weather permitting).

As a follow-up to the wing work that we’ve been doing in the house, BB got into her first live chukar on Saturday.  I used the same technique on BB that I just used on the litter of puppies.  I put the chukar on a bird harness attached to a leash, I then used my puppy training pen (a 5 ft. x 10 ft. area that I created with metal fence posts and snow fence) to get the puppy to focus on the bird.  I first hold the bird in my hand and put it into the puppy’s face, then slowly give more and more leash, until the bird can move about pretty freely (run and flap) within the confines of the pen and my leash.  Naturally, at first the puppy is apprehensive about this strange new creature, but the scent from the training wing made it somewhat familiar.  By the end of the 10 minute session, BB was chasing and pouncing on the bird with vigor!  This is a good first step to get a new puppy excited about birds.

BB a little apprehensive at first

It didn't take long for BB to get aggressive with the chukar

Spring training isn’t only something for the dogs, it is important for humans too!  When it comes to upland hunting, we have to do our part to ensure success also.  Dog training and handling are very important, but the hunter’s shooting skill and physical fitness are also key.  We’ve been spending a few weekends a month at the local skeet range tuning up our skills with the shotgun, in preparation for hunting season (which is only 3 1/2 months away).  If you can’t hit the bird, then the dog doesn’t have anything to retrieve!

Charles walking back to station 1 to start a new round

Charles smashes the high bird on station 7

Those are the happenings over the past week at Bluestem Kennels!  We will have a booth at the Bark for the Cure Cancer Walk on Saturday, May 21st from 9 AM -12 noon at the Lied Activity Center, 2700 Arboretum Dr. in Bellevue, Nebraska.  If you would like more information about the walk or would like to register for the walk please see their website at https://sites.google.com/site/rflthunderingherd/bark-for-a-cure-cancer-walk  We will be there to talk Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, versatile hunting dog training and just for some good canine fellowship!  Hope to see you there!

Welcome CKC/NAVHDA Bourg-Royal CB Bluestem

May 6, 2011

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update , , , , Leave a comment

Charles holds "BB" following the pick Friday night

A week ago today we flew from Omaha into Quebec City, Canada to begin the process of picking and bringing home our new female puppy.  We arrived mid-afternoon, did a little walk about in Vieux-Quebec (Old Quebec City, where we stayed), then drove out to nearby St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, the home of Renee Fortier and Gilbert Tremblay.  Renee and Gilbert hold one of the six Wirehaired Pointing Griffon kennels in the province of Quebec, where their shared language with France facilitates the importation of fresh bloodlines from champion European stock.  The reason that we chose a puppy from Renee and Gilbert is that their dogs hold both show conformation titles, proving their structural soundness, and NAVHDA hunt test titles, proving their hunting instinct.

Charles and I picked our puppy based on energy level, curiosity, nose-to-the-ground and attentiveness to the bird wing.  Her registered name with the CKC and NAVHDA will be Bourg-Royal CB Bluestem, recognizing the names of both kennels.  Following registration with the CKC, I will be able to transfer her registration to the AKC.  It is interesting to note on her pedigree that even though her sire, Cyr, is a French import, he shares a common ancestor with my current female, Sue.  Both Sue and Cyr have Hudson de Rives de L’aure three generations back.

BB Pedigree

Flying with a puppy in the cabin was not as traumatic as I expected it to be.  The flight attendants allowed me to sit her in the bag on my lap, with just enough unzipped so that her head could stick out.  I had an international health certificate and vaccination record, so customs wasn’t a problem either.

My cute carry-on

We thought that “Bea” was going to be her call name initially, but over the last week it has developed into “BB”.  The focus of this week has been on bonding, physical exercise and nutrition.  She was just shy of 10 pounds when I took her to the vet for a physical the day after our arrival home and I’ve been working hard at putting muscle on her.  This consists of her exercising and eating three times a day.  She had no problem with going on runs with the big dogs and kids, but getting her to ramp up her eating was a little tricky.  I tried wetting down the dry kibble with puppy formula, adding canned food and then finally I tried different bowls.  Her intake is finally up where I want it, so I’m feeling good about that small victory.  Here’s some photos of her out exercising:

Check me out!

Partners in crime: BB and Caleb

Intensity

Like a typical puppy, she sleeps most of the day, but her energy level is increasing daily.  She’ll get up and play a little with toys on her own during the day and in the evening her friend the cocker spaniel gets to come back into the house so that they can play together.  I put the cocker out during the day so that she can have time away from dogs and totally solidify her bond with people.

I don’t want to put too much pressure on her right away, but I don’t want to neglect my goal of having her ready to hunt by grouse opener September 1st either.  I brought out a pheasant wing a few days ago and let her check that out:

BB with the wing

Charles introduced her to a live chukar yesterday when he transferred some of our training birds from the transport box into the holding pen.  As I get to call all of the puppy conditioning shots when it comes to our own litter, I’m going to let him decide how he wants to continue with the bird exposure.  Also, we will be doing NAVHDA training with this puppy and I’m planning on taking some AKC conformation show handling classes with her, so she’s got her work cut out for her.

Welcome, BB, the next generation of Bluestem Kennels!