Bluestem Kennels

Both Ruth and Sally were bred during the days surrounding Christmas, with Ruth and Duke having their first tie on the 22nd and their last on the 26th, then Sally and Obi having their first tie on the 26th, then two on the 27th. Ruth and Duke had four ties, one each day for four of the days and taking one day off in that span, Sally and Obi were three ties in two days and done. So puppies should be whelped at the end of February/beginning of March and go home at the end of April/beginning of May.

As my reservations list is pretty long, anyone who is expressing interest at this point should be comfortable with waiting until Spring 2025 in the event that I do not have enough puppies to satisfy all of my reservations this year. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com and we can exchange phone numbers from there to talk. All of the health clearances, pedigrees, etc. can be found on the “About Our Dogs” page, with the button up above. I am still compiling our recent hunting photos on the “Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Photos” page, but you can go back through the last couple of years of hunts (and more) from the Archives dropdown menu over to the right. I spend so much time between taking care of dogs, having contacts with folks through email, and blogging that my static pages get a little neglected.

I am in the process of going through my reservation list to make sure that the folks who are on it are ready to take a pup this year in the event that I have one available. If you are farther down the list, it may take a little bit as I am giving folks a chance to contact me back in order. I have had a few switch to next year already, and since my deposits are fully refundable up until the puppy is three weeks old there could still be more changes as folks have life situations arise between now and then.

Ruth, Sally and I will visit the vet at the end of the month just to confirm pregnancy, not to count puppies. From there we will wait to see what is whelped and makes it through the first couple of weeks. I usually have a good idea within the first 48 hours what my final count will be, but sometimes in a really large litter there can be a pup or two who fails to thrive in the first couple of weeks. As I have a health guarantee, it does me no good to send weak or defective puppies home to folks, so I let the mom and Mother Nature drive a lot of what happens early on. By two weeks of age, I feel like I have pups who will live long and healthy lives.

In hunting news, things have been a little slow in the woodcock fields of South Carolina lately. Caleb did get his first shot off on a woodcock a couple of weeks ago but it didn’t connect. He and Charles are only seeing singles here and there, no flights as of yet. We’re seeing some folks in states north of us having great success.

I decided to take my camera out yesterday on our near-daily walk down the power line cut next to our house. We were able to survey the flood damage to the creeks. Our yard and home were spared from harm, just a few small gullies in the gravel driveway and side yard with some branches and buckets blown around.

I tried to get shots of everyone, but some are better than others. Sally got one kind of boring picture and then I forgot to get any more of her alone.

Having a dog kennel is a lot of work. Not only are we training and keeping healthy a bunch of dogs, there is a plenty of human interaction online and over the phone, then additionally there’s our volunteer work with the dog registries and clubs who help us preserve our breed. It is much more of a lifestyle than a hobby or business.

So the next you’ll hear from me here is towards the end of the month with our pregnancy confirmation ultrasound results and any other hunting news that we have. Good luck to those winding down their late season hunting and also everyone who is gearing up for spring hunt testing and puppies. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for healthy pregnancies.