Bluestem Kennels

Sounds like Winston (Male 3 2010 litter) has been enjoying the big snows up in Minnesota.  I received this cute letter from him, along with a video and some stills from the video.

Winston on point, with Kelvin

Winston and pheasant

Winston reporting in as promised – it might be a little slow in coming, but that seems to be part of my new family (Dad at least). I have been having a great time since getting to my new home in Minnesota back in June you saw some pictures with me and my new sister Stella (German Wirehair) everyone thinks we look a lot alike. Living on 20 acres and having lots of run time is wonderful. I did go through a little obedience class that Mom took me to -what a snap that was – just doing what they ask and there were treats at the end.
Other than that it has been some simple stuff for training, just being a real puppy for a while. Boy did that change last weekend as now I know what Stella has been telling me about. Just because I have out grown her at 7 months and she has about 5 years on me she really knows this hunting game well.
Dad took us both to southern Minnesota for some pheasant hunting with friends John and Jeff and we were joined there by Ken and Scot Dad explained I was along for the experience and he wasn’t expecting much since I did not have much specific training to date, but everyone was excited none the less.
Stella and I started out in the field by ourselves since we knew each other best. They dressed her up in some orange cloths to protect her chest as she is a girl so I just chased her around for a little while trying to check out her orange vest. Dad thought enough was enough as there were birds to hunt and he hooked a silly cord to my collar. After dragging that around and getting tugged on a couple of times I started thinking I should pay a little more attention. By this time we were joined by Poker (English Springer), now things started getting exciting as he and Stella were getting down to business.
I was eager to see what they were doing but knew well enough not to get in there way when they would stop and point – which usually meant bird, flush, shot and a chase. As Stella and Poker went about their business I decided to do a little hunting of my own and found that was the way things were to be done, we were all working on our own but still hunting together and helping out. I also got to lose that silly check cord. We all had our own way of telling everyone when we knew there was a bird to be shot and sometimes we would all 3 point the same bird – that was fun.
Seeing those birds fly and fall I figured out real quick a good way for praise was to get to the bird quick and find it, mind you I was not as quick as they were most of the time, but they let me have some fun too. Poker wasn’t as willing to let me help retrieve as sis was, but she has learned to put up with me and seems real willing to help teach me along the way.
Dad was especially pleased when I pointed a bird that the other dogs had gone by but they hung around to see what was up and beat me to the down bird (Dad actually caught some of that action on video).
Not sure what to expect, but Dad was mentioning a little E training in my future. Something about very happy with what I showed on my first trip but needed to work on a few details that he thought would come with more specific training on his part. I guess that is how Stella got to be so good in the field and I think I will be real lucky if I get to keep hunting with her.
Got home in time to beat the snow and it really snowed filling up our kennel run so Stella and I stayed inside except when Dad was out shoveling the snow – I really like playing in the snow.
I will check in later.
Winston