Bluestem Kennels

Bluestem Kennels 5th Anniversary

Happy 5th Birthday to our “A” Litter, including Whiskey in Nevada!  Thanks Pete and Deborah for this pic with their daughter, Andi, Whiskey, and some birds that they brought home.

Andi, Whiskey, and birds

I had no idea what I was doing when I let Sam breed Sue in late February 2010 when Charles was traveling to India on business.  I figured I would sell a few pups out of the newspaper just to see what it was like.  But the Omaha World-Herald cost $50 a Sunday to advertise, so I looked for something cheaper.  I settled with gundogbreeders.com and was trying to figure out a way to better communicate with my new puppy owners rather than sending pictures through e-mail.  So, in May of 2010 this blog was born and later on spawned a YouTube channel.  At this point, the blog has had 370,000 views from all over the world.  Some of what I have posted has been flat out dumb.  Some people say that I don’t deserve the attention since I don’t have an alphabet soup of titles tied to all of my dogs names.  But here is what I do have: a love of this breed, a love of hunting, and a love of sharing through writing and photography.  Even though the pressure of the attention on top of my family and work responsibilities makes me want to go and live under a bridge sometimes, I don’t see me changing anything any time soon.  I know that there are people that get bored at their desk jobs and guys overseas who are just homesick for any news from home.  I’m glad that I get to help entertain you.  Of course there are the fun new puppies every year, hunting trips, and good news from our puppy owners that keeps me going.  I have had a very busy semester and have not been the greatest ambassador for the breed or sport lately, but soon that will all change and my schedule will open back up so that I can again be available for phone conversations.  I’ve missed my hunting and dog phone chats!  This whole thread has gone on for way too long and it is time to move on.

Puppy homegoing

Here are this week’s videos:

I will ship one of the puppies to North Dakota via Delta Pet First/Air Cargo first thing Friday morning, then Friday evening the rest will begin their journeys by car.  It will be a weekend-long labor of love.  I’m looking forward to meeting many of my new owners for the first time.  If you have not yet set up a time to pick up your puppy, please e-mail me at bluestemkennels@cox.net.

Instead of re-posting the puppy pics with their owners listed, I simply put the owner’s last name and the state in the captions of the photos in last week’s post.

Here is what you need to bring for a car trip:

Small collar (12-16 in. adjustable), leash, a towel or blanket if someone is holding the pup in the car, a crate if there is nobody holding the pup, paper towels in case of an accident, food and water dishes if the ride is longer than 5 hours (I will give you a baggie of food). And of course, the remainder of your balance for the pup (see e-mail).

Here is what I will give you: a puppy, a bill of sale, a 3-year health and hip guarantee, vaccination record, microchip information and the NAVHDA registration paperwork.  It looks like the AKC paperwork is running behind schedule and I will need to follow-up with that by mailing it to you.  The litters are AKC registered, we just need to get our puppy forms in the mail.

Right now the pups are eating Purina One Smartblend, but feel free to use any high quality puppy food.  Also purchase a liquid de-wormer to administer a day or two after returning home.  Even though the pups will have been de-wormed before I send them home, I want them to be parasite free.  Since they have been living outside and running in the woods, there is a higher risk.  You’ll also want to give your puppy a bath with puppy shampoo when you get home, since they play in the dirt quite a bit.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with additional questions about pickup.

Pupdates

Congratulations to Sal and Bluestem Winchester “Chester” from our “C” litter in 2012 between Sam and Mae.  Chester is now an AKC Senior Hunter!  Great job, gang!

Sal and Chester

Susan bought the GoPro Fetch harness, which I have also purchased.  I’d like to see if I can manage to put the Hero2 that I currently own on the Fetch harness, then get either a new GoPro (rumor has it that the Hero5 comes out in October, but I might not wait that long) to wear on the chest harness, then film the same hunt from both angles.

So here is Susan’s video of TracHer in North Dakota, who is actually Chester’s “C” litter sister:

I thought that this was a funny picture that Jimmy down in Oklahoma took of Zoey from our 2013 “E” Litter between Sam and Sue.

Zoey and the Camel

Time to prepare for the adventures coming soon!  See you in a week and a half with puppy homegoing photos!