Bluestem Kennels

Tomorrow the magic of joining the puppies with their new families begins!  This week has been chock full of adventures to ramp up their little hunting brains.

Monday we took a trip over to Willow Creek Recreation Area in Papillion.  I knew the terrain to be varied, with a pond and a tallgrass area, so I thought it would be a good spot for us.  Last year when I took the puppies to this location, it was completely empty.  This year there were many people there enjoying this little bit of the country in the suburbs, and who can resist puppies?

Everybody in Nebraska loves hunting puppies

Yet even with the constant attention, we still managed to get some work done: a little water and waterfowl exposure and some tallgrass practice.  Check out the video of what we did and saw on Monday at Willow Creek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QWvmxkcNqc

Swamping!

At this point, I emphasize that there is no pressure or scolding involved in any of these sessions, so that is why I call it conditioning instead of training.  Keep in mind in viewing the videos that this is the first time for the puppies to be exposed to any of these conditions or situations.  Hesitation and trepidation are completely normal responses and will naturally be overcome with continued proper exposure and training by the new owners.

Also with these videos, I use profuse amounts of verbal praise for the puppies, in a very baby-talk voice.  I found myself muting the sound in my final stages of post-production, so I apologize if you find the audio annoying (guess I need to start downloading some country music to dub over).

Tuesday morning had us on the “back hill” of my property in the new puppy training pen that I built out of plastic snowfence and metal fence posts.  We began our feather work by playing with a pheasant wing that I pulled out of our freezer and thawed out.  Here is the video of our play time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ottTY3N6O4E

From the back hill looking towards the house...things are getting greener!

Ready to retrieve!

Tuesday afternoon we ventured to the veterinarian for first shots and final health clearances.  The pups are weighing between 12 and 14 pounds and all look great!

Wednesday was sort of my “final project” day for the puppies.  We spent a few morning hours on terrain work (once again including water, waterfowl and tallgrass) on some private land along the south bank of the Platte River, about a half mile west of the confluence of the Platte and Missouri Rivers.  Here is the video of our Platte Valley time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjc_OXceE60

The boys have no trouble keeping up with my running, even through tallgrass

The afternoon was spent back home on live chukar exposure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8aKm9T_BR0

Throughout the week, we have also been working on crate conditioning.  They’ve driven in town, on the highway and a bit of light off-roading crated up and none of  them have gotten car sick or made a mess of their box, so I consider that a success.

Cruising in the dog box

What a week it has been and I couldn’t be more proud of this group of pups.  I am confident that they have everything that it takes to be productive hunting companions as well as delightful family pets.

A week from today, the puppies will be going to their new homes!  I know I have some excited new owners out there, so I thought I had better get an update on for today.

This week we were able to work on pair crate conditioning.  This is where I take two of the puppies and place them into a crate, then take them for a ride in the car for a half hour or so.  Once we get home, they then spend an hour in the crate.  Everyone did fine, there was no car sickness or excessive crying.  Today we start on individual crate conditioning, where one puppy takes a ride with the people, but by themselves in the crate.  Then they spend two hours in the crate by themselves.  My final step in this process is once everyone has had their individual conditioning session of 2 1/2 hours, at the end of the 7th week they do 6 hours in the crate.  They are provided with food and water during the 6 hour session, but potty breaks are only before and after.  It is a stressful process for all of us, but very important in starting out a traveling hunting companion.

I was going to pick up my chukar today, but we had a big rain yesterday and didn’t think I’d get out to working to pups on it until after things dried out, so I’m heading out to the bird farm on Sunday instead.

The pups have thoroughly mastered getting around the property with mom, so next week I plan on getting them out for a run away from the property and without mom.  I was going to do it this week, but they weren’t quite aggressive enough yet on running my area with mom and I wanted to get their confidence built up before I took the next step.  Here is the video that I made this afternoon of the puppies running wild in the forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQGzhjcS0Pk

The final countdown begins to their new lives and we’re working hard to get them ready!

The older the pups get, the busier things are around here.  This week was the beginning of individual conditioning, which consisted of four steps.  The first step was to take the pup out of the kennel by himself/herself and place a collar on.  I then carried the puppy to the back of the property and had him/her follow me back to the house.  Next, the puppy and I went out to the front yard, where I placed a leash on the collar and had them drag it around, just to get used to the feeling of the leash.  Lastly, we went into the house where I did some housework while the puppy stayed with me.

In addition to the individual conditioning, we are also getting out as a litter 2-3 times a day.  Yesterday evening, I was finally able to get the whole litter to walk from the kennel out to the back hill with me and then back to the kennel without having to carry anyone to goad them along.  I will manage to get this on film before they go home, but in the beginning, just working the dogs is difficult enough.  Charles has been contributing to the puppy conditioning by firing off a children’s cap gun while we are sitting around on the back patio.  It is near enough to the kennel that the puppies can hear it, but far enough away that it is just another noise to them.

There are a few videos that I took this week.  The first one is just of the puppies getting out of the kennel and playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_au1MH33HI There are a couple of videos of pups showing off their natural retrieving abilities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-79m48wvndk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FQGO8XQ5QY.  There’s also a crazy video of all of my dogs, the puppies and my kids on the loose (which consists mostly of me getting after a kid or a dog, but may be amusing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMPoValFiCM

Here are some photos from our individual time outside:

Barb at six weeks

Bart at six weeks

Ben at six weeks

Bess at six weeks

Betty at six weeks

Buster at six weeks

All of the puppies are doing things the way that I want them to at this point and are all creeping up on the 10 pound mark.  This week we will be beginning crate conditioning and will try to take our first adventure away from mom and the home turf.  I’m also going to be getting in touch with local game bird breeders to see if they have any immature birds that we can work with.

For those of you shopping for a puppy, all of these have homes that they are going to, but it isn’t too early to get a reservation for next year.  I will be taking six reservations for the 2012 litter and have already taken two firm reservations with deposits, along with several seriously interested parties.  If you would like to complete an application for puppy placement of our 2012 litter, e-mail us bluestemkennels@cox.net.