All of our 2025 puppies have gone to their new homes and we are going into a semi-retirement period with no current breeding plans. We have two adult children in Nebraska and our youngest is a junior in high school, so we would like the freedom to travel right now. This is our fifteenth year straight of breeding Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and breeding requires considerable time at home. This isn’t a permanent closure, just a temporary pause. We’ll keep our social media and website updated as to when we have some breeding plans established.
The song “Everytime You Go Away” from the mid-80s has been playing in my head a lot lately, with these two litters going home over the last couple of weeks. I will try not to make this post too sappy. It really helped to go through the photos and look at all of the happy families after we spent the weekend putting away the puppy things. I cry very little, but there were some tears shed this weekend since we are doing a semi-retirement to take a break and slow down our breeding program as we get older. My term as secretary of the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association also expires at the end of the month, so it will be a nice time of renewal and rebirth as I go back to teaching middle school English Language Arts full time.
I’m just going to post the photos in the order that I have been posting their puppy photos.
“W” Litter Homegoings
Wynonna went out to the coast to Charleston, SC with Erin and her daughter.
Wynonna on her way to Charleston, SC
Winston went across town to the other side of Charlotte with Lisa and her family; this is their second Bluestem puppy. Also pictured is Roux from the “T” litter between Obi and Ruth.
Winston with Lisa and family of Charlotte
Wade flew back home (to us) into Omaha to live on the other side of the Missouri River in Iowa with Joe and family. This is their second Bluestem puppy, also having Gus from the “Q” litter.
Wade and Joe of Iowa
Waylon is staying right here on Lake Wylie with Marcus.
Waylon and Marcus right down the road
Wycliffe went up to Maryland with David.
Wycliffe and David on their way to Maryland.
Washington will live with Joanne and family in the North Carolina Sandhills on the other side of Charlotte.
Washington with Joanne and family of the NC Sandhills
“X” Litter Homegoings
Xander went home with Zach down into Central South Carolina. Zach got extra redneck bonus points for wearing a King Ropes hat, of which I’ve not seen one since leaving Nebraska.
Xander and Zach of Central South Carolina
Xavier went up to Virginia with Brianna and her husband
Xavier with Brianna and her husband off to Virginia
Xerxes will live between South Carolina and Mississippi with Reed and his family.
Xerxes and Reed headed for adventures in South Carolina and Mississippi
Xena will live in Georgia with Jon and family.
Xena off to Georgia with Jon and his family
Xantia joined the Air Force, currently stationed in Mississippi with Alec and his wife.
Xantia with Alec and his wife
Xaria went to Upstate New York with Dara and Pericle.
Xaria with Pericle and Dara of Upstate New York
Xandra went up to Maryland with Amy.
Xandra with Amy of Maryland
Xyla went home to Ohio with Aaron (with the beard). I am pretty terrible with names unless I have them written down, so I know that the younger man is his son. This is his third Bluestem puppy, having an old girl from our “D” litter still going and another from our “Q” litter.
Xyla going to Ohio with Aaron to be his third Bluestem puppy
So that is it for puppy homegoings for awhile. I do hear from owners with photos and updates, so slowing down with breeding will give me a chance to share more of those. And of course we’ll still be testing and hunting. Stay tuned in the future, even if I don’t post as frequently, I’ll try to get on once a month. Get ready for fall, here it comes!
We recently complete breedings for two different litters, the first being a repeat breeding of Cedar & Spruce’s Apollo NA III, UT III “Duke” and Bluestem’s Carolina Briar Thicket JH “Briar”. We normally do not do back-to-back heat breedings, but we’ve found a good home for Duke as a finished gun dog in Oregon, so he will be flying out of here in the coming week. The Duke and Briar breeding was on April 6th, so that puts puppies being whelped around June 8th and going home mid-August.
The second breeding of VC Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I x 2 and Bluestem Sally Forth SH, NA II was completed on August 10th, with puppies being whelped around June 12th and going home mid-August. As of right now, we have ten reservations between the two litters, so if the breedings take and depending on the litter sizes, there may be additional puppies available (or not). We will get pregnancy confirmation ultrasounds mid-May to verify that the breedings took. Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you wish to discuss.
AWPGA Working Standard Video
While we were at the field events of the AWPGA National Specialty North Carolina, held at the Sandhills Pointing Breeds Club in Jackson Springs, North Carolina, Terry Ann Fernando and her team at On Point Design filmed a video of the AWPGA Working Standard. Thank you to Vicky Foster and Melanie Tuttle for coordinating the efforts and our friends Karen Krautz, Laura Kojima and Amy Caswell-O’Clair and their dogs to come together with Charles, Sally and Obi to make an educational and informative video.
You can see Obi at 4 seconds and 2:47, where Sally and Charles get a lot of air time. They are the opening still shot with the chukar, at 12 seconds, 2:09, 4:37, 5:20 and 6:30. The coule scene is Charles and Sally, showing off her French roots from her Quebecois great-grandmother Bourg-Royal’s CB Bluestem NA I, UT III “BB”.
We hope you enjoy this fantastic video, all copyright belonging to the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association.
So I’ll be back when we get pregnancies (hopefully) confirmed mid-May. Enjoy training in the cool spring weather!
All of these pups are spoken for, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com regarding future litters.
I’ve had a busy weekend getting the puppies de-wormed and keeping them fed, exercised and their kennel cleaned, so I’m a little late on posting. I took the photos out of normal order, so I’m going to drop those in first, post my YouTube video and I need to get on my way for the evening and get ready for the week.
I’ll be getting with the future owners over the next week and a half about what we think is the right placement for everyone, the males are all so even, it is going to be a tough decision. They all look great as you can see! Catch you all next week!
Fall 2024 was one of the busiest we’ve ever been with hunting travel, testing and hosting events! We started off in September with Obi’s NAVHDA Invitational pass, hunting the Nebraska Sandhills in October, Charles headed up to hunt North Dakota the second part of October, Charity finishing off her National Specialty Chairperson role at the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty North Carolina in November, which was the same weekend that Charles helped spearhead the Saluda River NAVHDA chapter’s first test in Newberry, South Carolina, then right after we hosted our family Thanksgiving at an AirBnB in Atlanta, Georgia, Charles headed back out to Nebraska for pheasant season! Phew! We’ll be staying home and playing with puppies for most of 2025 and we’re looking forward to it.
You can always reach us at bluestemkennels@gmail.com then we can connect via phone from there.
VC Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I x 2 “Obi” and Charles with their NAVHDA Invitational Pass Photo by Ted WentinkObi on point at NAVHDA Invitational. Photo by Terry Ann FernandoObi retrieves a chukar to Charles with an Iowa skyline in the background. Photo by Terry Ann FernandoCharles got a grouse and a duck or two, Caleb got two ducks our first day
The one memorable push from the first day was we circled a pond full of ducks. The boys were on the south side and I was on the north. I had the easier walk, so I could have easily ran in and busted up the ducks off of the pond to get my own shots in. But I’ve had plenty of ducks in my time and Caleb had zero. So since I couldn’t see where the guys were at I held back. By the time the ducks were flying and the boys were shooting, I was way out of range and running in at the last minute.
Although I totally got skunked on this trip to the Nebraska Sandhills, the best part was watching Caleb connect with his first sharptailed grouse on our second day. I couldn’t see who was shooting and all that I could see was the grouse getting totally smacked. It was great shooting by Caleb and I was very proud to be there for his first grouse.
Our fifteen year-old son, Caleb, with Obi and his first sharptailed grouse in the Nebraska SandhillsHe also got a duck later on, so we took a photo of that back at his grandma’sCharles and two grouse from the same day, in my mom’s backyard with the dogs
Caleb really upped his game on the last day with two sharptailed grouse and a duck
Caleb with two grouse and a duck, Charles with two grouse in my mom’s backyard with the dogs
Sorry for the unceremonious photos, most of the time we are just documenting what we can as we are tired and hungry by this point!
While Caleb and I headed back to South Carolina after the third day, Charles stayed on in the Sandhills for a bit longer and then continued on to North Dakota for their pheasant season.
Obi and Duke with the first North Dakota roosterBelle and Obi with a couple of roosters and a grouse in North DakotaBriar retrieving a rooster on day two of North DakotaDuke and a couple of roosters on the last day of North DakotaThe natural beauty of North Dakota never disappoints
Once Charles returned from North Dakota, we were right in the thick of the first NAVHDA test for the Saluda River NAVHDA Chapter, which Charles helped found and Charity was National Specialty Chairperson for the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty North Carolina in Winston-Salem and Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Belle, 19 Griffs Texas Bluebell, earned her NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II with 102 Points with Caleb as her junior handler. Since Charles was so busy organizing, there is photo of that unfortunately.
Charity with the Best of Breed trophy and other trophies and ribbons at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds. Photo by Ann SummerfeltBriar is now Bluestem’s Carolina Briar Thicket JH after finishing her AKC Junior Hunter title at Nationals. Owner-handled by Charity. Photo by Charles Upchurch.Judge Michelle Clemens, myself with Sally as the bye dog, then Jessica Frazier with Jewels in AKC Junior Hunter at the Sandhills Pointing Breeds Club. Photo by Jim Clemens.Jewels and Sally with a double point with their noses right on a quail. Photo by Jim Clemens
All of the “thank yous” for the specialty are in the Griffonnier, the magazine of the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, but I’d like to most especially thank my husband Charles for putting up with all of this and helping as the field chair.
Once we wrapped up the specialty and the NAVHDA test, we enjoyed a quick Thanksgiving in Atlanta, Georgia with our East Coast family, then Charles was on the road again to return to Nebraska for pheasant season.
Obi and Belle with the first pheasant of the first day in NebraskaCharles with Obi and Belle and some Nebraska pheasants and quail at the end of the first dayDuke and Sally with a rooster of day three in Nebraska
Charles was pretty worn out in the Nebraska pheasant hunt, so I don’t think that he got good photos of each day.
Nebraska is also about connecting with our folks from home
I really apologize for the four month photo dump and not much writing to go with it, but sometimes it is all I have in me. Especially after all of this activity and organizing, and now we’re going into the last 10 days before Christmas!
I realize that I have photos of hunts from some of our puppies and retired dogs that I have not had a chance to post, but those will have to wait until the new year.
I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Now that National Specialty is over, I will have more time to communicate with you all.
Hope that you all are staying cool in this hot, hot summer! Our next litter (maybe litters?) won’t be until Spring of 2025, so if you are looking to get on our reservation list or just want to ask questions in general, you can reach us at bluestemkennels@gmail.com. If you’ve sent me an email in the last couple of weeks, we’ve been on the road, but I’ll be sure to answer them in the coming days.
We were podcast by Bill Tomlin of The Whoa Post in Episode 21 on June 24th. It is available on all podcast platforms, or you can try this link: https://pca.st/episode/7bef06bd-9943-4bfb-866e-503ea39063e1 It was really fun and I hope that you give it a listen!
On our way out to Nebraska, we met Ruth’s retirement family in Missouri who also has her mom, Fire (now Bella). Ron and Bonnie used to go back and forth between Arizona and Minnesota, but have sold their home in Minnesota and now are either in their RV or in Arizona.
Ron, Ruth and BonnieRon with Fire, Bonnie with RuthGracie the GSP, Ruth and Fire on the campsite. Photo by Ron Funk.
I know that Ruth and Fire have a great home in Arizona and it sounds as if Charles may go out that way to hunt with them in January or February.
It was great to have a cool down while we were out visiting in Nebraska, the heat of the day was only 75 or 80, so when we would get out in the morning it would be in the 60s.
Here are some pictures from one day when we were roading the dogs out in the Sandhills. It is tough to get good shots of running dogs from a moving vehicle, especially when my telephoto lens is on its last legs (I’ll be getting a new one for my birthday/Christmas). This isn’t something that we just do out of nowhere with the dogs, we start with fast, long foot walks and build up to this. We might be going 10 mph when we’re driving the truck. We live right next to a busy road and they are around the truck in the farm yard, so they know to stay out from under tires. But it is a situation where I have to say, “we are professionals, don’t try this at home!” because of the risk if you haven’t been doing this for a long time.
From left: Duke, Sally, Briar, Obi and Belle in a swampy green valley in the SandhillsLeft to right: Briar, Sally, Duke, Belle and Obi running out in the open.Left to right: Duke, Briar, Belle, Obi and Sally heading into a windmill.
I got a few extra pictures of the “little girls” as we call them: almost two-year-old Briar and five-month-old Belle. Here’s Belle:
Belle on the runBriar and Belle checking something out.Belle retrieving a stick in the water
Belle using the string on the Dokken to retrieve since she’s used to smaller ones
Now here’s Briar’s batch of photos. You can see that she has more brown in her coat than most of my other dogs, similar to a Stichelhaar. This coat style goes all the way back to my foundation pair of Sue and Sam. I have not seen it since then. She is DNA tested 100% Griffon, but this harkens back to when all of these European rough-haired breeds were all one.:
Briar standing in the prairieBriar checking something outBriar on the move through the grassBriar on the water retrieve
Here are some field shots of Sally:
Sally taking a stroll on the prairieSally with a look of joy on her face
Here’s our younger male, Duke:
Duke on the run with Obi in the backgroundDuke was also having a grand time on the prairie
Last but not least, our patriarch Obi, who is getting ready for NAVHDA Invitational:
Obi mid-stride with the sand dunes in the backgroundDuke and Obi going all-out in the field
Multiple times during our excursion we saw prairie chickens in the field, at one time it was a large group of six or eight, so it should be a good year for bird hunting. Once again, taking photos of moving animals in a moving vehicle is very difficult, so I didn’t get as cool of picture as I wanted.
Prairie chicken in flight!
Here’s one more photo of everyone swimming for Dokkens in a pond:
Obi, Duke, Sally, Belle and Briar in the pond
Like I’ve said before, the weather was just perfect for running dogs out in Nebraska, but now we’re back in the South Carolina heat. Griffons love to have fun and so making the training fun makes it easier for everyone.
Charles has already been back out with the local NAVHDA chapters doing the serious training while I get everything ready for Caleb to start his sophomore year of high school (I can’t believe the first day is August 1st!). He has also acquired his learner’s permit, so we’re practicing driving.
The clock is ticking on the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty events in November, so I continue to plug away at that.
The puppies of the “U” Litter have all gone to their new homes. Due to a last minute business trip for one of the new owners, the last one flew away to Texas as a carry-on item yesterday. I will be working through my list that I have for Spring 2025 over the coming weeks to see if folks want to stay on or have made other decisions. Also, if you have emailed with new interest in the last few days, I see you and will get back to you before Friday.
A quick aside and a shameless promotion of the 2024 American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association National Specialty, I present you with this infographic covering our schedule at a glance. You can find the detailed version on the club website at: https://www.awpga.com/2024-natl-specialty-schedule.html
The only event that is AWPGA members-only is the Morning Annual Meeting, all other events are open to non-members. The AKC Hunt Tests on Monday are Wirehaired Pointing Griffon only. I am not doing this alone, there are many members behind the scenes helping to prepare, but covering that and thanking them are not within the scope of this post. If you are looking to see Griffons and network with the community, plan on taking this great opportunity to do so. I will post ticketing information as it becomes available.
Back to puppies! The eight plus weeks that go into raising a litter involve a lot of interrupted sleep and manual labor. By the time puppy pickups happen, I’m pretty drained from the process and mourning that separation process a little. I am bad about catching all of the family members’ names and the new names of the puppies. But I do know that they all went to fantastic families where they will be loved and cared for.
Wes and Caroline will work on waterfowl with Ulysses in AlabamaUnity will have three young boys to play with in North Carolina (the other two were in school).Gaines and his daughter will work with Ursula also in AlabamaRyan and his family will be doing NAVHDA in Pennsylvania with Uschi and his father-in-law, who also has a Bluestem pup.Colin with be hanging with Unique down on the South Carolina coast.This is John and BJ’s second Bluestem pup, taking Uriah with them back to Tennessee.Zach will be training Upman with NAVHDA in Kentucky.Uma flew with Saxon yesterday to Texas.
So that’s a wrap on the “U” Litter! Charles is busy getting Obi ready for Invitational this fall. I need to finish Briar’s AKC Junior Hunter (I have commitments on the weekends for the rest of the month, then testing shuts down until September). Ruth has her spay appointment on Thursday, then I nurse her back so that she can join her mom, Fire, traveling between Minnesota and Arizona with our friend, Ron. I’ll be sure to keep everyone up-to-date on our adventures over the summer, although it won’t be as frequent as hunting season or when we have puppies. You know where I am in the meantime, shoot me an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you need to talk Griffons (I do talk on the phone, I just use my email as my robocaller screening tool).
Time is getting shorter and shorter with this bunch. For those of you who check in with my often, you all know that my litters are spoken for well before they are bred. For those of you who are new to my blog and are looking for a puppy in the future, feel free to reach out to me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com. It is taking me a few days to get back with folks since I am so busy with not only these six week old puppies, but I just trained the new editor of the AWPGA magazine the Griffonnier, and I’m working on more preparations for the 2024 National Specialty in North Carolina in November. Whew!!
I needed a new headshot with the puppies, so here I am (from a week and a half ago, the pups are smaller here than they are now):
Spring in the Carolinas with puppies and pear blossoms (and sun in my eyes!)
And here is Charles from his latest NAVHDA Utility Test run with Cedar & Spruce’s Apollo NA III, UT III “Duke”. They hit prize three in both runs this spring with the Foothills and Carolinas NAVHDA chapters after Duke just turned two. The duck search is so hard, but we’ll take some passes to start.
A cool morning in the Carolinas is great for NAVHDA Utility Test field work.
April 2nd was the 14th birthday of my “A” litter. Thank you to Winston’s owner Nancy for posting about it (I have a spreadsheet with litter whelp dates, but I’m terrible with birthday wishes for humans even). Winston is the last one alive who I am still in touch with. Whiskey in Nevada passed at 13.5 in January and Gauge in Nebraska passed not too long before that at 13. Their mom “Sue” lived to be 17, so I am not surprised.
Happy 14th birthday Bluestem “A” Litter Winston in Colorado!!
Of course, here is what everyone has been waiting for: puppies! I should have posted this yesterday, but the eclipse threw my whole groove off. I probably spent at least and hour looking through my eclipse glasses at it, since North America won’t see another one for 20 years.
Here’s this week’s video, good thing I got the footage yesterday because it is raining today.
Before you reach out about puppies, just know that I have a long list awaiting this news. My email is bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you want to inquire. It may be 2025 before I have any puppies available, as whoever does not get a pup this year rolls over into next year in the order that their deposit was received. Normally, I can get to emails within 24 hours, but I am trying to get the basic pieces nailed down to the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty dog shows, meetings and field events so it is taking me a few days to respond to kennel emails right now. I appreciate your patience.
If you are on my list and have not yet heard from me yet, you will be hearing from me in the next week. The list did shift up several spots, so you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I was also awaiting these ultrasound results to find out if both females are pregnant before I started saying, “Well there may be a chance…” and having it be unreasonable.
As confirmed by York Veterinary Services in York, South Carolina, both litters of Bluestem Peaches En Regalia NA I, UPT II, UT III “Ruth” x Cedar and Spruce’s Apollo NA III “Duke”, as well as Bluestem Sally Forth SH, NA II x Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I (2023 and 2024 NAVHDA Invitational Qualifier) are going to be whelped towards the end of February and the beginning of March. Ruth appears to be farther along. We are keeping a male from the Ruth and Duke cross. The vet is saying that Ruth’s litter will be smaller than Sally’s and probably come a week or so sooner.
We are excited for puppies, but this is always a nervous time. I’ve had friends who have dealt with last minute spontaneous abortions. Females in the breed have died in emergency c-sections and the puppies have had to be bottle fed and raised by hand. Every time someone breeds a litter they are risking the life of their female. Not everything you see in an ultrasound comes out as a puppy that will live a full healthy life. So be happy and hopeful with me, but realize that this is a nervous and stressful time too.
Ruth’s ultrasound at York VetSally’s ultrasound at York Vet
AKC Junior Hunter
On January 20th and 21st, Bluestem’s Carolina Briar Thicket “Briar” (Obi x Ruth) and I went to do some fun runs towards the AKC Junior Hunter title at the double-double AKC Hunting Tests hosted by the Sandhills Pointing Breeds Club in Jackson Springs, North Carolina. Jackson Springs is just a wide spot in the road with a couple of buildings, but it is just a ten minute drive to the Pinehurst golf resort community which is really nice.
It was absolutely freezing that weekend with high winds on Saturday, so there were more entries who scratched than usual. It was also funny to see the menagerie of attire as most folks down here don’t have cold weather hunting gear and just threw on their ski clothes with a hunting vest on top. Our first run was with a nice Bracco Italiano bred by one of my friends who also breeds Griffs, so it was fun to have that connection and we both passed (even though I biffed it in the backfield, I had some bad boots on that were too heavy for the terrain).
Scorecard and ribbon for our first JH run
The second run was with a huge male Weimaraner who had bullied his last bracemate so badly that she scratched at the starting line and didn’t come back the rest of the weekend. I got mad at the dog and gave him a “heeyaah” as he came over to mess with her for like the third time. I ended up scaring my own dog in the backfield but she recovered. We got into the bird field and there was this giant berm on the edge of it, right next to the woods where all of the previous runs’ birds were hiding. She was locked on point up there, so I climbed the berm to kick it up. There was nothing there, I think she was doing a long nose point into the woods. I wiped out again, managing to roll down the berm on my side. It is a good thing that I have a little extra cushion on my body because it was like a rugby hit, my legs just totally went out from under me and I went on my side and rolled down the hill. We did not pass that run.
I made the mistake of not getting a hotel room in Pinehurst and I’m not doing that again. So there I was all banged up after two falls (the second one being pretty hard) and half frozen driving two hours home, then getting up early the next day to drive two hours back. I knew that I had to be there on time because even though we were down the list a little ways on braces, lots of folks scratched due to it being 15 degrees out. Sure enough we ended up as second brace with all of the folks who scratched. My bracemate was pulling up to park as the first brace was coming back in from the bird field (which I was so happy for, otherwise we would have been stuck with the giant dorky Weim again). Instead it was a nice little GSP whose owner had lived out in Sioux City, Iowa for a time. It was an uneventful run for Briar and I, for only being with me for four months she really listens well. I didn’t even start whistle training her (with a Fox40 whistle, she’s used to my mouth whistle) until the week of the test. Even though the GSP took the bird field from the breakaway instead of going into the backfield like he should have, we both passed. I appreciated the judge’s feedback that I was over handling in the bird field and giving too many commands around the birds instead of letting Briar do her own thing. It came in handy in the last run and it made it fun instead of nerve-wracking.
The ribbon from our second run and scorecard.
Our third run was with the hunt test chair and his English Setter. We had an interesting scenario come up in the backfield where I was standing in a spot and all of a sudden both of the dogs are circling and pointing at me. This is at the end of a weekend where probably a hundred birds had been planted at that point. I look down at my feet and there are two quail running away from me. I see that both dogs are on point, so I decided to make it a find for them and kicked up the quail to fly and fired my starter pistol. Not a minute later, the other handler finds where the bird bag with birds in it had fallen off of the ATV not two feet from where I had kicked up the quail. It was just a funny scenario that I had never experienced before. Both dogs and handlers got a pass on that run.
Last ribbon on the day and score card.The parting shot: Briar and I with our ribbons on the weekend.
We’ll be back at it in a couple of weeks to try to finish out our last run for the title.
Hunting season is over for Charles and Caleb. They did not find any woodcock this year in South Carolina. Our old training dummy dog and South Carolina rescue pointer Dolly is having a grand life in Nebraska with our buddy Aaron and Chewy the Griff.
Chewy, Dolly and Aaron
Ruth and Sally’s mom Fire (now Bella) had a grand time this year out in Arizona chasing quail too.
Two GSPs to each side of Fire (Bella) in the middleFire (Bella) with the Mearns Quail in Arizona
I better wrap it up here and get to dog farm chores, but we’re about a month away from pups on the ground so you’ll hear from me then if not before (maybe Briar will get the JH title soon). The AWPGA National Specialty 2024 is slowly coming together for November 7-12 in North Carolina, here is our tentative schedule of events: https://www.awpga.com/2024-natl-specialty-schedule.html . You don’t have to be a member to participate in the specialty, you just can’t attend the annual meeting if you are not a member. I’ll get the sign up page posted once we have it all put together later this year. It takes a lot of people to run a breed and I hope that all of the Griffon breeders out there with litters planned or on the ground this spring have good whelping and healthy puppies.
According to the calendar, Sally should already be starting her heat cycle, but nothing with dogs ever follows the calendar. The one thing about having two males is that I never have to worry about missing it! Since Ruth is the alpha of the two, I don’t wonder if Sally’s waiting for hers to start. I’ve had two litters at once before and it is super busy, but doable. I do have quite a list of reservations, but since my deposits are refundable there’s no guarantee that each of those people will take a pup. So feel free to email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you’d like to discuss, but realize that there might not be availability until Spring 2025. We don’t know until they get here! I’ll keep everyone posted once things start happening with the heat cycles, I check the girls every day. Hopefully, I won’t be waiting until Valentine’s Day, but it could happen.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Charles headed to central South Carolina to look for some quail. One thing that he has learned about hunting down here is that you really have to read your regulations. Some fields are only open for hunting for certain days per year. The place that he went was one of those quail management units, which is not how it is out west, so it was something new for him to check out. There was one other hunter there without dogs, so they just worked away from each other. He had our pointer Dolly out first with our older male, Obi, and she is just a bird finding machine. I really did not want a pointer, but it is nice to have a hot-footer out in front sometimes really zooming around looking for birds. They pushed up a covey and another single before they connected here. On this one Dolly stayed on point, Obi honored, Charles got the shot, then Obi retrieved.
Obi and Dolly with their quail
The second half of the hunt was a Sally and Duke run. I’m not sure who ended up with the retrieve, but Sally is a long nose. She points birds from really far away and is steady.
Duke and Sally with a single South Carolina quail
While Charles was hunting, I was down in Atlanta visiting family and picked up the seasonal crud. This is just a funny picture of what it is like when you’re sick with Griffs around.
Sally and Briar making sure that mom knows that she is loved.
I’ve also been busy working on the AWPGA 2024 National Specialty for Winston-Salem, North Carolina for November 7-12, 2024. For those of you who don’t know, a national specialty has our national breed dog show (the winner of Best of Breed automatically qualifies for Westminster), then it also has field events such as AKC Hunt Tests and/or working standard field trial, possibly an obedience trial, some educational seminars, plus we have social events like receptions and an awards banquet. I don’t want to steal the club website’s thunder, so I’ll wait and link to that for the tentative calendar of events once it drops. If you would like to join the AWPGA, the AKC breed parent club for the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, please visit our website: https://www.awpga.com/2024-member-application-form.html
I was the editor for the quarterly club magazine the Griffonnier for four years, I went inactive for awhile, now I’m back serving on the Board of Directors as Secretary while also being the Chairperson of the National Specialty. It is fun and challenging. We went with a futuristic logo with a Griff’s head with the NC state shape inside. Our club is passionate about the breed and welcome new members and attendees to the national specialty. I will keep you all posted as more news of the event drops.
Our son’s fall break coincided with the perfect time of year to do some sharptailed grouse and duck hunting back in my homeland of the Nebraska Sandhills, so we took the opportunity to do it. Caleb has been pretty fit his entire childhood participating in various sports clubs in elementary and middle school, and now AFJROTC in high school. The Sandhills demand considerable athleticism, therefore this was a bit of a forge for him.
It was a comeback for myself after battling a few years of orthopedic issues, starting with a bad flare-up of high school sports generated osteoarthritis about five years ago, followed by a horrible case of plantar fasciitis in my feet right around the plague times. I went through a long period where I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to walk any sort of distance again, let alone go hunting. I switched to low support shoes to get my feet in shape while walking, then took up swimming to work out the bugs in my knees (I swam 100 miles last year). Even with all of that work, there is nothing that gets you in shape for hunting like just doing it.
We spent more days in the car driving from South Carolina and back than we did hunting, but it was totally worth it. We also got to see our two adult children living in Omaha, then my mom and extended family in Valentine.
On our way up (Caleb and I were in a seperate vehicle), Charles surprised me and stopped off at our old NAVHDA chapter, Heartland, in the Lincoln, Nebraska area and re-qualified Obi for NAVHDA Invitational. So Obi now has two Utility Prize I awards and is going to Invitational 2024 in Iowa to try again for the Versatile Champion. He had more points than some of the dogs who won the 2023 VC but was just knocked out by his break on the shot on the double mark.
Charles and Obi (UT I again) with our old friend Pam Robinson of Robingun Kennels Small Munsterlanders
But back to the Sandhills: I like to hunt by myself there with a dog or two. I know where I am, I know the lay of the land, it doesn’t bother me to be alone. I am also low tech in that I don’t use a bunch of GPS stuff, so I can only get away with being low tech and alone on my home turf. The first day, Caleb and Charles took the boys (Obi and Duke) and didn’t manage to see anything.
I was with Ruth and our “training aid” rescue English Pointer, Dolly. Luckily within the first 15 minutes I stumbled across a single at about 25 yards and was able to take it down with a right-to-left pull through as it flew across my line of sight. Ruth fetched it right up for me and brought it to hand.
Dolly is hard for me to keep up with, English Pointers like to move a bit faster than I can. Dolly and Ruth busted up another group of about eight or so an hour later, but they were way out of range for me.
My single sharptailed grouse was the only bird that we took that day, the boys didn’t see a single thing. But I was back on the board after a six year drought and was extremely happy about it. Especially to have done it with my female who’d had pups go home just a few weeks before.
The old mama squad: Charity and Bluestem Peaches En Regalia NA I, UPT II, UT III “Ruth” and a sharpie
The second day we opted for walking one of our favorite creeks with Duke and Sally to see if we could jump hunt some ducks, but it became apparent to us right away that someone had recently beaten us to the punch, with human footprints and dog prints visible. We walked it anyway, seeing (and missing) mostly snipe. In my twenty years of hunting I had yet to take a snipe, but always take shots even though they are hard to hit. So we shot after snipe and shot after snipe and missed. Of course, right when Charles and I are talking loudly and yelling across the creek at each other we finally jumped a pair of teal out of range.
The teal went back down further up the creek and I had it marked. As we approached a wide spot, I could see them ahead and warned Caleb and Charles by giving them the old “pointing at the eyes” hand symbol. Yet even though we knew they were there and were able to get close, we still didn’t knock them down as we all three emptied both barrels. But the ducks were starting to tire and went down again up the creek.
Caleb switched to my side of the creek, so now he and I were walking together. This time it was Charles who spotted the ducks on the water ahead and sent Caleb and I in for the flush. Charles was able to pinpoint them and had Caleb walk right up on them. Caleb flushed the ducks but missed them both. We both tucked down and I hid my face under my hat as the ducks circled behind our backs. I waited and hid, crouched down and I turned towards them with my face to the ground until I knew they were flying in range. At just the right moment I stood up and let it rip with both barrels, taking the second one down on to dry land. It took awhile but young Duke found the teal under Charles’s direction and retrieved it to him since he was handling.
The boys decided to continue on a little ways farther down the creek to see if they could find some snipe or anything other ducks. I opted to sit in this grove of dead trees next to the creek where a beaver had conveniently knocked down the trunks, making for some comfortable benches. I was just sitting there enjoying the nice day and out of nowhere three snipe landed around me within five yards. Two of them took off when I looked up at them, but I knew that there was a third. So I stood up. And as he flushed to fly away, I finally harvested my first snipe. After twenty years and at least a hundred shots at their fast, zig-zag flying, squeak squawking swamp bird survival skills, I finally had one.
And not fifteen minutes later, I was standing right behind Caleb as he shot his first bird of the Sandhills, also a snipe. Duke was also on the retrieve for him. It is almost never that Charles is the one who walks out of a field with an empty game bag, but it was that run.
Charity with a teal and a snipe, Caleb with his snipe and DukeYou can see Caleb’s face in this photo but Duke’s legs got cut off
(As an aside: I am not wearing the same clothes every day, I have two versions of the same outfit and alternate.)
There was a nice pond our our way out where we had pushed some ducks out of, so we decided to stop at that and let Charles have a shot at not getting skunked on the day.
Charles was able to jump a flock of bufflehead ducks up from the pond and knock a couple down. I wish that I had grabbed my good camera and put the big lens on it to capture the retrieves, but I was tired and hand the phone in my hand, so that is what we got.
Obi going in for the first duckObi going in for the second duckObi bringing Charles the duck to handObi, Charles and the two bufflehead ducks
Day three was a big push for grouse. Charles was anxious to get some in the bag and I didn’t want to have to run behind the pointer anymore, so Dolly and Sally went with Charles. Ruth and I went off on our own and covered a whole ridgeline. Similar to Charles and Caleb’s first day, we saw absolutely nothing in our hills.
I could hear shotguns going off on the other side of the valley, so I was hoping that Charles and Caleb were having good success and I was right. After I had wrapped my walk up and was sitting in the truck eating lunch, they even pushed a few right over the top of my head as I had a mouth full of food. But they soared another 500 yards off into the distance never to be seen again (I tried to find them with no luck).
But Charles had a limit of sharptails so all was right with the world. It had been a long three days marching the dunes and we were ready to go back to town and visit family.
Charles, Dolly and Sally with a limit of sharptailed grouse
Dolly is naturally a bag of bones. We have had her almost a year and have tried feeding her as much as she can eat and she just does not put on condition. Just poops it all out and looks neglected. The nicest dog you will ever meet though, just loves all of the people. I like how she pushes our Griffons to not be lazy bootlickers.
Charles continued on to North Dakota from the Sandhills, then back to Nebraska before coming home to South Carolina. Those are photos and stories for another day.
I really need to get back to finishing my Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Photos gallery, I am almost done adding all of the pictures and then I just need to add captions. The AWPGA is keeping me busy lately organizing the 2024 National Specialty and doing secretary duties, but once I get the locations booked for the specialty and meet with the host kennel club at the beginning of November things should calm down a bit.
We have two litters planned for the spring, Duke and Ruth, then Obi and Sally. The girls won’t come into heat until around Christmas, I will keep everyone posted on that. I do have a reservation list for the litters, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to inquire. Stay safe out there in the fields until next time.
Bluestem Kennels 