I know that I have a couple of emails in the inbox asking about 2023 litters (I promise that I will respond by Monday), we are planning a litter for the Fall/Winter 2023 as our next. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com for further details.

It’s tough for me to believe that it’s been two weeks since these bird exposure photos were taken and a week since the puppies went home. I’ve been avoiding making this post a little since it is a bit sad to see them go. But knowing that they are making their new owner’s lives happier makes it all worth it.

The setup that I did this time for bird exposure is having a chukar in a wire crate down by the barn, then the dead quail on a string in an exercise pen in the backyard. I took the pup out of the kennel and put them on a leash for the first time. It was a bit of a rodeo as usual, where they want to tug on the leash or bite it. They get the hang of it pretty quickly though. So we walked through the yard down to the chukar in a wire crate and let them look at it.

Then we walked back up to the backyard and I took them off of the leash and put them into the exercise pen for the dead bird exposure. This was a quail that Charles had trained the big dogs with and shot, which we kept in the barn fridge for this purpose. So I put the dead quail on a string and dragged it around a bit to get the pup’s attention. They all either chewed it a bit, picked it up and ran with it, or a little of both.

Although it isn’t a complete training for the field, it is a good start to making a Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon.

Sebastian, male pup:

Simon, male pup:

Samson, male pup:

Simi, female pup:

Spokanne, female pup:

Sue, female pup:

And here are the pups going home, in the order that they left:

Samson is Bill’s second Bluestem puppy (also an “H” Litter male) and flew home to Nebraska
Lee took Simon home to his son on the South Carolina coast
Rocky took Sue home all the way back to Texas
Tonya, Ian and the kids took Sebastian to the north side of Charlotte
Haley and Dalton took Simi to Charlotte
Luke took Spokanne up to Hickory, North Carolina

I am so thankful for these loving families to send the pups home with! I hope to see some of them again and maybe get a pup out of one of those girls.

While I was home with puppies, Charles was out chasing birds with Obi, Sally and Duke in Nebraska and North Dakota for a good part of a month. I will have to save that update for another day, but it feels good to finally have the posts about the “S” Litter wrapped up. I’m excited that the young dogs got out west for some good wild bird hunting, which is better than all of the yard or test drills in the world. So I’ll save that for next week.

Good luck to all of these new owners and please stay in touch!