AWPGA | Bluestem Kennels

“T” Litter Homegoings

September 25, 2023

Charity Upchurch AKC Hunt Tests, AWPGA, Kennel Update, NAVHDA, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons AWPGA National Specialty 2024, Foothills Chapter NAVHDA, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Puppies, Sandhills Pointing Dog Club, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

The last week with the puppies is always fun and bittersweet. I love to see them start to show off their natural abilities and fun personalities.

Little brother bringing me a leaf down the stairs.

They did really well with my new cap gun, I upgraded from the Walmart plastic model to the Cabela’s metal version and it so so much louder. But after being exposed to loud noises their entire puppyhood it was no big deal.

I used to also take them swimming at this age, which they can do, but I’ve stopped doing that for fear of exposure to toxic algae or nasty wildlife diseases. I figure that the new owners have plenty of time for that once the pups are fully vaccinated and have built up their adult immune systems. So I’ve substituted that with the kiddie pool.

Putting them on a leash for the first time is always a rodeo, they really like to thrash around and fight it for the first five minutes or so and then just settle down into the fact that now they have to follow the person around.

Bird exposure is my absolute favorite, seeing them get excited about the live bird, then pick up the dead bird is what it is all about. All of these actions are just first exposures to set the new owner for successful gun dog training, they are by no means training at all.

So the sequence that I do here is: take the pup out of the kennel and put it on the leash. Let it fight out the leash then walk 15 yards to the live bird in the wire crate. Once the pup acknowledges the bird and gets to check it out awhile as I say “good puppy” in my cute baby-talk voice, we walk on the leash to the ex-pen with the dead quail on a string. Take the pup off the leash and place in the ex-pen. I pull the string on the dead quail to get the pup’s attention. I’ll let the pup chew and play with it a little bit. I do not ever yank the bird out of the pup’s mouth, only pulling the string once the pup has put the bird down. I’m really wanting to get the pup to pick that bird up, then once again give positive verbal feedback once the bird is picked up.

Here’s Tabitha with the birds:

Now here is Tobin with the same sequence:

Caleb was about 15 months old when we had our first litter in 2010 and has become an important helper at 14. Here he is with our first litter and now:

We also went to the vet for our final health inspections, first shots and microchips in the last week. Everyone came out with a clean bill of health: no umbilical hernias, no heart murmurs, no base narrow canines, the boy has both testicles. Everything perfect.

Then on Saturday and Sunday they went to their new homes:

Tabitha going with Lisa, David and boys to Charlotte

Andy with his second Bluestem pup going all the way to Minnesota

Andy’s 8 1/2 year old boy Foley is from our “I” Litter in 2015 between Ben and Velma. That would make Foley the brother of Ruth’s (the dam of the puppies) sire Chief. So that would make Foley his new puppy’s great-uncle. Here are some photos of Foley that Andy shared with me:

Speaking of our puppies, our “S” Litter puppy Chase ran his Natural Ability Test this weekend at the Foothills NAVHDA Chapter up in Harmony, North Carolina. He received a Prize II with 102 points. You can follow him on Instagram @griffins.griffon. Great job Ian and Chase!

Ian and “S” Litter puppy Chase with a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II

And this is totally random, but I was so proud of myself for getting the crate room really clean that I took a picture of it. Everyone has their different style of housing their dogs: some have a kennel building where their dogs live all of the time, some have all of them as full time housepets, some are like us and do a combination. We have outdoor kennels to keep the dogs out from underfoot during the day, rotate them for socialization one at a time in the house (I have really cool black walnut floors that the original owner of this house custom hewn and installed that I don’t want torn up), then they stay the night in their very own crate room. I don’t have mine decorated all cool like some folks do, it gets really dusty in there so I’d rather not have to mess with that cleaning.

I will be back on the blog at some point to give the full run down on NAVHDA Invitational once the professional photos come back. I’ll also have some hunting posts upcoming. It probably won’t be every week like it has been with the puppies here. As always, if you are interested in future litters or want to talk dogs, shoot me an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com and we’ll set up a time to talk.

One last bit of news, it has been ratified by the AWPGA board that 2024 National Specialty will be in North Carolina. The shows, annual meeting and banquet will be November 8-10 with the Furniture City Kennel Club show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The AKC Hunt Tests will be November 11-12 in Jackson Springs, North Carolina at the Sandhills Pointing Dog Club land. We’ll be lodging and dining in Pinehurst, North Carolina for the hunt test. Please get in touch with me if you would like to be involved with the planning and execution of this fun and important event for our breed.

“T” Litter Five Weeks Old

September 3, 2023

Charity Upchurch AWPGA, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons AWPGA, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA Utility Test, Puppies, South Carolina Dove Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Hunting season is here! I am jealous of all of the harvest posts that I’m seeing on social media. It is still a few weeks away before I get to participate since I am home with these little ones. My youngest son Caleb harvested his first dove yesterday at a big community hunt here in Clover, South Carolina. Thanks to our neighbor Quentin and his buddies for hosting and keeping it safe for everyone.

Caleb and his first dove, photo by Charles

In other non-puppy news, Sally was a big butthead at her Utility Test in Delaware. Although she retrieved the duck on the duck water retrieve and the duck drag, she would not pick the live duck up at the end of her duck search. She was also subpar in the field, which really surprised me after I watched her be a rockstar during her AKC Senior Hunter. But it is one dog and one day. She’s already signed up to test again with Charles as handler in November in Virginia, then if she still has another bad day with him I’ll take over as her handler in 2025. We had a great AKC Senior Hunter together, going 5 passes in 5 runs. I hope she and Charles do it in November, but she might be my dog to handle. I did raise her from birth, so the relationship is just that much closer. And we are both girls.

So anyway, about these five week old puppies. They are up and running. This is my favorite part of raising the puppies: when you see that they’ve grown up big and strong, ready for the world. You can click on the first picture in the gallery and then page through to see larger versions:

Here are the individual pictures of the puppies.

Male pup, Tobin:

Female pup, Tabitha:

For some reason Microsoft decided to change the video editor on my computer, so things will look a little different on this YouTube. It seems to work, but it is so annoying having to wake up and teach myself new software by surprise. But you really get to see the puppies up and moving around:

Aside from the puppies, I’ve been working on a bid to host the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty Dog Show and AKC Hunt Tests in conjunction with the Furniture City Kennel Club Dog Show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina the weekend of November 9 & 10, 2024. Our AKC Hunt Tests would be held at the Sandhills Pointing Dog Club in Hoffman, North Carolina November 6 & 7, 2024. This is still in the very early planning stages and I have yet to finish my bid paperwork to present to the board, but I’m hoping to have everything finalized in time for the board meeting mid-month and for a confirmation announcement at the 2023 specialty in Helena, Montana in a few weeks.

A random point to note: my blog posts are always hand-typed and never have nor ever will involve the use of artificial intelligence in composition. I only create 100% certified organic intelligence blog posts.

Good luck to everyone out there in the fields and I look forward to getting out there myself here in a few weeks. These little ones go home in three weeks to their new families and as much as I’ll miss them, it will be happy time for hunting!

“T” Litter Two Weeks Old

August 13, 2023

Charity Upchurch AWPGA, Kennel Update, NAVHDA, Puppy Update American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Invitational 2023, Puppies, Puppies from Hunting Parents, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment

The two puppies of the “T” Litter turned two weeks old yesterday. They are starting to open their eyes and ears, they are moving around quite a bit more and are huge compared to when they were born. My webhost has changed some of the settings on posting video links so I hope that I have this in correctly:

The puppies are still primarily nursing and sleeping. We’ll start on little spoonfuls of puppy mush, which is canned dog food and milk replacer mixed together, just so that they get a sense of eating something other than mom’s milk.

Ruth really does not like the camera around the pups, so it disturbs her to try to get too many photos or videos. She will become more relaxed with it as the puppies get older and more independent.

Here are their individual photos.

Female pup, Tabitha:

Male pup, Tobin:

Tobin, male pup, face (his eyes are fine, there is just one that hasn’t finished opening, totally normal)

I’ll be back next with with another update on the puppies.

In other news…

The big dogs have been keeping busy, Sally’s hip and elbow screenings came back normal and we’re waiting on her thyroid. Obi just had his elbows x-rayed and his thyroid tested. Both of them are with Charles in New Jersey this weekend at a special East Coast NAVHDA Invitational training. Sally is just prepping for UT but we’re closing in on the final weeks before Invitational in September for Obi. Considering the fact that only about 25% of Griffons who make it to Invitational pass the test, the odds are against us, but every effort is certainly being made to be part of that 25%.

I have some news myself that I’ve been keeping under my hat a bit. Over the summer I was nominated to run for the position of secretary for the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, the national AKC breed parent club. Much to my surprise, I won the election and will take over as AWPGA secretary effective September 1. This is not my first position within the club, I was editor of the Griffonnier magazine from 2014-2018 and most recently was the show trophy chairperson for the Eastern Regional Specialty in Pennsylvania back in March.

I want to thank my fellow candidate, Kendall DeSanto, for running a clean race with me. As we are longtime friends in the breed, there was no mudslinging involved. You may recognize Kendall from his presentation of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed in past years at the National Dog Show that is televised on Thanksgiving (hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia). Here’s a photo that I took of him showing at the 2014 AWPGA National Specialty in Maine.

Kendall DeSanto in 2014 at the AWPGA National Specialty in Maine

Thank you to the membership for having the confidence in me to carry out the duties of secretary for the club. I will devote myself to the cause. Thank you also to outgoing secretary Beth Schweibinz for all of your hard work and guidance that I will need in the coming months during the transition.

So between Invitational, puppies and my new board of directors position, there is a lot going on here! I’ll be back next week with another update on the pups. Everyone keep working hard, hunting season will be here soon for some relaxation and fun!

AWPGA Eastern Regional Specialty 2023

April 4, 2023

Charity Upchurch AKC Hunt Tests, AWPGA AKC Hunt Tests, AWPGA, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

The American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association hosted an Eastern Regional Specialty in York and Wellsville, Pennsylvania from March 17-19. Friday we held three dog shows at the York Expo Center: Sweepstakes, Supported Entry, then Regional Specialty. I was the trophy chairperson and having three shows back-to-back made for lots of organizing. I did not show any dogs, but messed with the trophies and took some photos. I was not able to log all of the placements, but do know that GCH Bear Hug Sing Second JH “Enzo” owned by my South Carolina griffon neighbors just down the road, Lonnie and Marsha Carroll, took Best of Breed in the Eastern Regional Specialty Show.

The hostess with the mostess was Marcia Hoff, this whole event was her brainchild and it was fun to be a part of. Many of the folks in attendance I had not seen since the 2014 National Specialty in Maine.

I’m in the orange with Amy Caswell-O’Clair and her husband Matt O’Clair seated with Rosie.

The trophies for the shows that I hauled to Pennsylvania

Bluestem puppy owner Clint showed up with his family and my puppy Rosie from the “R” Litter

Best of Regional Specialty line up, Enzo with Zach #15

Enzo and Zach following their Eastern Regional Specialty Best of Breed win

I don’t want to post too many of the show photos because I want to save most of them to be printed in the Griffonnier, the magazine of the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association.

On Saturday and Sunday, the club hosted AKC Hunt Tests at the York Pointer and Setter Club in Wellsville. So many thanks to our hosts there and to the judging panel, especially Jerri Stanley and Loren Rogers who gave me lots of tips. Sally went four passes in four runs in AKC Senior Hunter, thank you so much to Charles for working so hard to train her. Duke did a lot of things right, but enough wrong on each of the four runs to not get any passes.

My new friend Gwen and Duke and I. Photo by Marcia Hoff.

Sally and I will the four AKC Senior Hunter ribbons. Photo by Marcia Hoff.

It was a great but exhausting weekend with lots of effort put forth by many people. Sally and I will attempt to get our last SH pass in a few weeks, with Charles trying his hand at AKC Master Hunter with Obi and more attempts at AKC Senior Hunter with Duke.

My reservation list for Fall 2023 pups is starting to fill up, should you decide that you would like to get on our list, it would more than likely be for a Spring 2024 pup. Email bluestemkennels@gmail.com with inquiries.

Good luck to everyone who is training and testing this fall, best wishes to all those with pups on the ground!

Busy Spring News

March 2, 2023

Charity Upchurch AKC Hunt Tests, AWPGA, Hunting Tales, Puppy Update, Regional Update and/or Misc., Upland Hunting Trips Arizona Quail Hunting, AWPGA Eastern Regional Specialty 2023, Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Bird Hunting, Puppies, South Carolina Woodcock, South Carolina Woodcock Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

I apologize for my absence from the blog and social media in general. Organizing the trophies for the Eastern Regional Specialty Dog Show in York, Pennsylvania has taken up so much time. Not only did I have to figure out all of the placements for three shows, but then I had to figure out the budget for each placement and order a prize. I think that I’m getting closer to the end of the process. The trophies are all hunting dog items, so where I’ve written for hunting dog catalogs and have just been a bird dog junk junkie for 15 years it was actually fun to shop for the items. I was able to give business to all of the major players: Cabela’s, Orvis, Filson, Gun Dog Supply, Lion Country Supply and Ugly Dog Hunting. Those are all unpaid shout outs and they all had something unique to contribute to the cause.

If you are in the area and are interested in attending the field day, shows and hunt tests, there is still a bit of time to get signed up. You can hang out at the show and hunt tests without registering, you have to register for the field day if you want to attend. Here is the official link for everything on the AWPGA website: https://www.awpga.com/2023-eastern-regional-specialty.html?fbclid=IwAR033mOiXX-XiL6OPJn4xiZJYNeRTyoUns6W4kUXN9M4nAWs1FmKcxpPkVM

So here is the basic schedule: Thursday is the Field Day at York Pointer and Setter Club, Friday is ALL DAY of dog shows: Sweeps, Supported Entry and Regional Specialty. For those of you new to dog shows, what will happen is that the classes of the first show run, then we go through best of breed for that show. Then we go to the second show where the same thing happens, you go through the classes, the best of each class is awarded, then it goes to best of breed. We do it a third time for the Regional Specialty. It will be a very exciting day to see many old friends, but also stressful and chaotic with so much going on. I have never helped with that many shows all in one day, they are usually spread out over multiple days. This whole schedule is intense, since we are doing double/double AKC hunt tests Saturday and Sunday.

Due to the intensity of the schedule for the performance events and the fact that it is St. Patrick’s Day that Friday night, there is no banquet scheduled. Those of us who are running dogs Saturday morning in the hunt tests have to be at the field ready to go by 7:30 AM, so we’ll need to start moving in the morning around 5:30 AM. We’ll probably get some dinner groups together at the show for Friday night just by word-of-mouth and those of us who have to be up early the following day will be done by 9 PM.

I am running our young dogs Duke and Sally in AKC Senior Hunter at the York Pointer and Setter Club. Since it is a double/double, I’ll be doing four runs a day (two runs a day with two dogs) for a total of eight runs. There will be lunch available to purchase at the hunt tests both Saturday and Sunday. Once again, there are no formal dinner plans and we’ll just bunch up and figure things out during the day.

In the event that you are looking for me at the shows or the hunt tests, here are some pictures of me. I am usually behind the camera instead of in front of it. I have a blaze orange knee length dress that I am planning on wearing to the shows, so I should be easy to spot.

Breeding Update

As of right now, I have eleven reservations with deposit for my Fall 2023 litter between Obi and Ruth. As my deposits are fully refundable until the pups are three weeks old, these numbers can change rapidly depending on peoples’ life situations. I have frequently had four or five folks defer to the following year in those first three weeks. Obi and Ruth will be having their last litter before Ruth’s retirement in the Spring of 2024, so should there not be enough pups in the Fall of 2023 the reservations can roll over. We’ll also be breeding Sally and Duke in Spring 2024. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to express interest in the litters. I know that I have a few emails sitting in my inbox needing responses, so if one of those is yours from the last few days, I will be getting to them this afternoon (I also had to get my tax information to my accountant this week, so I’m sort of on brain fry mode, sorry).

As far as the specific breeding schedule for the fall, Ruth had her winter heat cycle at the end of January. So that means if my experience from the past is correct, her summer cycle will be at the end of July. Pups would then be born at the end of September and go home around Thanksgiving. That is all guesstimation from past experience and Mother Nature is in control.

Social Media Info

I am not going to be on TikTok. I downloaded the app and started looking at videos one day and the very next day the financial information stored in my phone was compromised. I caught it before my bank did since I was looking for it. So no TikTok for me.

Instagram is a lot of ads. Also, the AI censors hunting photos from hashtags. So if I have dead birds and a gun in my pictures, it gets wiped from the hashtag almost instantly. I am going to use it sparingly. Once I start backing up old hunting photos again this summer, I will get those posted. I will try to be more active on it, but like I say, I am a bit salty about the censorship. The two pups from the “R” Litter are very active on there under the accounts @griffons.griffon and @thelifeandtimesofbeatricebriar. The first one follows Chase Wiley with his family here in the Charlotte suburbs, the second follows Beatrice Briar as a Kentucky ultramarathon trail dog with her veterinarian dog dad.

Even though this blog/website is thirteen years old and my photo galleries are pretty sketchy with their organization (I will fix it this summer), this is my primary tool. I have to use my English degree skills somewhere. I am not good at little tidbits of information spread out through days and weeks. I have to sit down and write you an essay. I also like Facebook since it is full of Boomers and Gen X, those are my people. My page there is old and has a lot of followers, so I’ll just keep riding that until we are all in the nursing home I guess. I do not have anyone else with login access to this blog. I do not have a “last post” written and in storage anywhere. The thought of doing estate planning on this website does not appeal to me and I’m just not there yet. So hopefully the construction dumptrucks of the Carolinas continue to avoid hitting me.

YouTube is what I use to make videos of puppies anymore. I would love to do grooming and training videos someday, but I need to figure out the whole Patreon racket so that I get paid for views. And although I have the hardware to do video content, I also need to invest in Adobe Creative Cloud software, specifically the Premier Pro video editor, to do my art the way that I want it to look. And then I need to train myself on it. So hopefully more YouTube content will be rolling in the next year or so (weekly low budget puppy videos will continue as normal without change for now).

South Carolina Woodcock

Charles and Obi wrapped up the woodcock season at the end of January with one in the bag. I have to be honest, as much as I love the Carolinas, Charles is dying to get back to Nebraska at some point. The hunting here is not what he wants. I’m in love with the Carolinas and am determined to stay here. Although we have a piece of raw land way out in Western Nebraska, we’re talking about having a second home close to our kids in Omaha so that he can go out and hunt, he can work remotely and access the airport if needed. Both of us moving back and forth as needed. We are at least a year away from that possibility with two kids in college right now, but that is in our minds pretty seriously. Send us good intentions for the manifestation of that dream.

Oh, but the woodcock with Obi! Here it is:

Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon South Carolina — The trusty SKB 12 gauge, Obi and the woodcock from the end of January. Photo by Charles.

Fire in Retirement

I loved seeing this picture of Fire (now “Bella”) on the right, enjoying her retirement life moving between Arizona and Minnesota with one of our old pals from Pheasants Forever in Nebraska. Out getting in on some wild quail action in Arizona with her GSP buddy. Thank you Ron for giving her a great retirement home. She is the mother of our current females, Ruth and Sally.

Fire/Bella on right enjoying her retirement with some Arizona quail.

Well the day is getting on and it is time to wrap up the blogging. I have a gobzillion dog hunting items to unbox sitting in my entryway! Spring is really springing here and I hope it makes it out to the frozen wasteland in North Central Nebraska and South Central South Dakota. They are in a top 10 snowiest year on record and folks are pretty miserable about it. Keep our beef cattle ranchers in your prayers as they are having a tough start to calving season.

Good luck to everyone with spring pups and doing training/testing. Talk at you again soon with the update from Pennsylvania.

Happy New Year 2023!

January 9, 2023

Charity Upchurch AKC Hunt Tests, AWPGA, Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, NAVHDA, Puppy Update AKC Hunt Tests, East Coast Griffons, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Puppies, South Carolina, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Happy New Year from Bluestem Kennels, the South Carolina home of hunting AKC and NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons!

We are still awaiting Ruth’s winter heat cycle, but it looks like it will be any day now. We are taking a break from breeding this cycle, but that will drive when she comes into season this summer for our Fall 2023 litter with Obi. We still have spots left on the 2023 reservation list and then we’ll also go for one last litter from Ruth in Spring 2024 before she retires from breeding. Most likely we’ll also do a first litter of Duke and Sally for Spring 2024. Contact us at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you’re interested in a pup from us in the future.

Puppy Brag!

While I was busy with puppies in the fall, I missed an accomplishment announcement for the first Ruth and Obi pup to NAVHDA test Natural Ability. Congratulations to Clint and Bluestem Ramble on Rosalind “Rosie” on their NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II, 101 points at seven months-old! They tested on September 10, 2022 with the Keystone Chapter in Central Pennsylvania. That is an amazing accomplishment for a first-time handler and young pup, we couldn’t be more proud!

Congratulations to Clint and Rosie on a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II at seven months-old!

Duke’s Health Scans

Then right after the pups went home at the end of October, I got Duke over to Steele Creek Animal Hospital in Charlotte for his hip and elbow x-rays and advanced bloodwork. We are so happy that everything came back looking good! It is only through close work with our veterinarians that we keep our dogs and puppies healthy for hard hunting.

If you look at the graph on this report, the square represents that average of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed. Duke’s chances of developing hip issues are significantly lower than the average. Obi’s are slightly lower, but both are perfect for stud dog purposes.

Also his elbows show no sign of problems, which is another good thing. We had extensive bloodwork completed on his thyroid, liver and kidneys and that all came back normal. The reason that we tested the liver and kidneys even though it is not required by any breed clubs is that there are starting to be problems in certain bloodlines in the Upper Midwest where the pups are getting liver and kidney problems at young ages. We have a friend with a pup (not from us) who is battling it now and it is not something that we want to bring into our breeding program.

East Coast Griffon Event Announcement

I almost forgot this! The AWPGA is hosting a regional specialty event in York and Wellsville, Pennsylvania from Thursday, March 16 through Sunday, March 20th. Thursday is a field training day, Friday is the regional specialty dog show in York, Saturday and Sunday are AKC Hunt Tests in Wellsville. I will be driving up on Thursday so I’ll miss the field day, but I will be hanging around at the show on Friday, then running Sally and Duke in AKC Senior Hunter on Saturday and Sunday. After spending ten years in the gallery and helping out at hunt tests, I’m finally going to handle myself. I don’t know that I’ll get any passes, but we’ll have fun running anyway. There is a Facebook group called “AWPGA Eastern Regional Events 2023” that has all of the details. https://www.facebook.com/groups/375079241463081

Our Training

Charles has been working with training Obi for NAVHDA Invitational, Duke and Sally for UPT or AKC SH, and Ruth just to keep her active. Here’s just a couple of random training photos from the last couple of months where he is working with our Griffons and the English Pointers of the neighbors’.

Ruth with the green collar on backing the Pointers in December.

Obi on the right backing one of the Pointers yesterday.

We hope that every one of our puppy owners and followers had a blessed holiday season. We were lucky to have our two adult children come back to us in South Carolina from Nebraska. Here is a photo of the five of us at the harbor in Charleston: Charles, Conrad is 18 and an Information Technology student at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Cordelia is 21 and a senior in Agribusiness at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Caleb is 13 and is in eighth grade here in SC and then me.

I’ll get back on the blog once Ruth comes in to heat here in the next few of weeks, then we’ll know a little bit more about our puppy making schedule this summer and fall. Stay warm until then, especially my poor people up in North Central Nebraska and South Central South Dakota who have snow drifts up to ten feet tall and are still getting roads and driveways cleared for travel. They have my prayers daily.

“R” Litter Five Weeks and Carolinas Field Trial

February 28, 2022

Charity Upchurch AWPGA, Field Trialing, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NSTRA, Puppies, South Carolina Quail, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

For the remainder of the puppy time here, I’m going to shift to a Monday morning posting time. With the puppies needing to be fed and exercised twice a day, it makes for one less thing that I have to try and get done Sunday evening (along with dinner and tutoring the boys).

The girls are growing as they should at five weeks old and love to run and play!

They love their twice-a-day feedings of puppy kibble!

Reba at the top, Rosalind at the bottom eating food

They are also learning to swat items with their paws and pick things up with their mouths. Their teeth are starting to come in. They have finally mastered a decent run and don’t fall over when they are trying. All of these are normal developmental stages for Griffon puppies of this age. Looking at these photos reminds me that it is time to put their little puppy collars on!

For the next week we focus on eating and running. I have toys for them to pick up and carry around. They have also started to come when called (I don’t call them by their temporary internet names, I just call them “puppies”). I have seen where other breeders have toy gyms set up with PVC pipe where there are toys on a frame that the puppies can tug on. I choose not to do this intentionally because I don’t want them in the habit of tugging. Bird dogs need to pick up items and release them on command. I am concerned that if they get that satisfaction of tugging early on, that it will be harder to train them to release the bird later in life. So I stick with the old-fashioned “pick up your toy and carry it around” fun, which also taps into that retrieving instinct.

Here are some more action photos from the yard yesterday:

Here is their five week old video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5835uE9Mzg&ab_channel=CharityUpchurch

Carolinas Griffon Field Trial

Charles took Obi and Sally to the Carolinas Griffon Field Trial in Benson, North Carolina on Saturday. Thank you to Kelly Hughes for organizing the event! I wish I could have made it, but I was home with puppies and kids. This event was formerly supported by the AWPGA (American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, the AKC parent club of the breed), but appears to no longer be an official club event, even though it is mostly attended by AWPGA members.

Charles and Bluestem Sally Forth NA II “Sally” at the 2022 Carolinas Field Trial

Obi took second place in Advanced Gun Dog. Charles thinks that there were some handler errors that contributed to losing points towards taking first place. He said it was run in a NSTRA format and we’ve never run dogs in that, so it was all new rules. But hey, second place is great!

Carolinas Field Trial Second Place Advanced Gun Dog Ribbon 2022

Obi and Charles with the second place advanced gun dog ribbon 2022 Carolinas Field Trial

Charles is actually out today with Obi and Sally for the last day of quail season in South Carolina, so I’ll be interested to see if they bring anything home. One can hope! And at least quail country doesn’t have any gators!

It is time for me to go feed and run some puppies, but I’ll be sure to check back in this time next week.

Q Litter Seven Weeks

March 24, 2021

Charity Upchurch AWPGA, Field Trialing, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons AKC Field Trials, AWPGA, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies Leave a comment

This litter is all microchipped with their new owners’ information and they start to go home on their eight week birthday on Sunday. Our next litter will be in Spring of 2022 between Wyo Plainsman Kenobi, NA I “Obi” and Bluestem Peaches En Regalia, NA I “Ruth”. We keep going back and forth on a final repeat breeding of Fire and Chief next year and have not yet made a final decision. Once these puppies are all in their homes I will start responding to my backlog of new interest emails. If you want to join the queue, shoot me an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.

I’ve made sure that the puppies all been over by the pigeon coop and have had a bird fly up near them so they get used to that wing flapping sound and are not startled by it. We’ve all had a couple of turns on the leash. They’ve spent time in the crate. They run around the yard like wild animals and run out into the woods so far that I’m afraid a coyote will eat them. They have their shots, microchips and vet checks. The papers from the AKC and NAVHDA are here. They are ready for their own people.

Queen (female) is going to Oklahoma as the family’s second Bluestem pup

Quartz (male) is going to Colorado

Quentin (male) is going to Michigan as the family’s second Bluestem pup

Qbert (male) is going to Iowa

Quince (male) is going to North Dakota as the family’s second Bluestem pup

Quest (female) is going to Ohio as the family’s second Bluestem pup

Quetzal (male) is going to Kansas

Qiana (female) is going to Central Nebraska

Quarry (female) is going to become AKC/NAVHDA Bluestem Sally Forth “Sally” and stay with us.

Here is the video that I took this week: Q Litter Seven Weeks Old

I really need to run and do puppy chores, but for now I’m just going to post the photo of Charles and Wyo Plainsman Kenobi, NA I “Obi” and their sweep of the Walking Derby at the inaugural AWPGA AKC Walking Field Trial, winning first in both the Amateur and Open Divisions! We are so proud and thankful that the club was able to pull off such an event. Biggest thanks to Tom and Kristen Mathis for their work. Also thank you to our Griffon friends for showing up, I really wish that I could have been there and thank you for all of the messages of being missed.

Charles and Wyo Plainsman Kenobi, NA I “Obi” First Place ribbons in both the Amateur and Open Divisions of the AWPGA AKC Walking Field Trial

1st Griffon-Only AKC Field Trial To Be Held

March 4, 2021

Charity Upchurch AWPGA, Field Trialing AKC Field Trials, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Come and be a part of history! The first Griffon-only AKC Field Trial will be held March 20-21 at Moraine View State Recreation Area near LeRoy, Illinois, sponsored by the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association. All stakes are walking only, no dogs will be handled on horseback (although the judges generally are). Entry cutoff is March 17th at 6 PM Central. Your dog needs to be registered with the AKC to participate, but you do NOT need to be a member of the AWPGA.

There will be six stakes: Amateur Puppy, Open Puppy, Amateur Derby, Open Derby, Amateur Gun Dog and Open Gun Dog. Puppy stakes are up to 15 months old and are mainly judged on desire and running style. Derby stakes are up to 24 months old and are judged on desire, running and point style. Gun Dog stakes are for finished dogs who are judged on desire, running style range, steadiness, backing/honoring, point intensity and retrieving. Amateur is only available to non-professional handlers, whereas Open is available to professional handlers.

This Griffon-only AKC walking field trial has been a huge event for the field committee (thank you especially to Tom and Kristen Mathis) to organize and we are excited to participate!

Yes, it is a competition. You are braced with another dog/handler pair and you are competing against them head-to-head on field performance. Then your performance is evaluated based on the entire entry of dogs and handlers for placement. Full rules can be found by Googling for the PDF document “AKC Field Trial Rules and Standard Procedure for Pointing Breeds”.

Our dogs have been running in AKC German Shorthaired Pointer Club walking field trials for nine years, about the same time that we’ve been members of the AWPGA. It has been a fun experience and we’ve brought home some ribbons on derby dogs.

We hope to have an excellent turnout for this event and look forward to some great sportsmanlike competition and camaraderie!

20210304_085020

Our most recent success at an AKC Field Trial was with Charles handling Wyo Plainsman Kenobi, NA I “Obi” to a 4th place finish in the Amateur Walking Derby at the Heart of America German Shorthaired Pointer Club’s trial just last weekend.

Charles and Obi with their 4th place Amateur Walking Derby ribbon

Charles and Ruth at the line. Photo courtesy of HOAGSPC

Q Litter at 4 Weeks

March 1, 2021

Charity Upchurch AWPGA, Field Trialing, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies Leave a comment

This litter is spoken for and my next litters will be in spring of 2022. I appreciate the overwhelming desire to get a pup from us, I really do. I am receiving your emails and will be sure to reach out once I get our taxes prepared. If you want to be added to my list of contacts, you can email bluestemkennels@gmail.com and I will get you on there and shoot you an email here in the next few weeks.

Why doesn’t she have any time? Blogging takes time. Not only do I have to take a couple of hours to write this post, but I have to set aside the time to do the photography beforehand. Of course, there is taking care of the puppies which now includes daily feeding them and play time. The big dogs need to be walked several times a day. I am swimming two miles a week. We are big foodies, so all of our food is homemade. Like, I felt guilty for using store bought breadcrumbs in my meatloaf yesterday kind of homemade. I don’t have a housekeeper and my kids don’t have tutors. I probably spend six hours a week on tutoring my two boys. And I try to squeeze in some professional time substitute teaching middle school and lifeguarding. This is how I have always lived my life, bouncing from one completely unrelated thing to another. Someday the kids will graduate from high school and I might retire from my out-of-the-house jobs to work on dogs full time. But I’ve got to “make hay while the sun is shining” as we say out in the Sandhills. Not time to be an old dog lady just yet.

The puppies are doing great. Fielding a lot of questions from the new owners about how their personalities are developing and whether they show any curiosity or independence at this point. The short answer is still “no”. This is currently how they spend the majority of their life.

The Q Litter at Four Weeks

They are most comfortable with their litter. They have brief moments of being up and around and trying to explore with their limited mobility. But it is not a lot yet. The photos that I took on Saturday in the yard, they are really only separated from each other and exploring for like five minutes at the most. Then they were ambling back to me to all curl up together on the beach towel.

Another thing about the photos, is that you can’t really see much of their total personalities in them. I not only pick photos for the action, but also the general photo quality. Like here’s a perfect example, I got this blurry shot of Quentin with the grouse wing but the one that turned out is the one where he is howling for mom.

You would not see this pic normally because it is out of focus

But no, the crybaby pic of Quentin is the one that turned out

It’s also tough to balance the number and quality of action photos on the puppies at this point. I’m just shooting and I get what I get sometimes.

L to R: Qbert, Quince, Quartz and Quetzal

Quest and Qiana

Quentin, Quarry, Queen

Quartz, Quince, Quetzal

Quest

Quarry

Quetzal

Quarry

Quartz

I just posted all of those in the order that I took them. Like I said, that was over a period of just a few minutes before they wandered back to me and the beach towel. Several of them didn’t get closeups. There will be more action photos as they get up and move around more during the day.

Here is the video that I took of them last night as I was cleaning out the chips in their box: Q Litter Four Weeks Old

I do have more to write this week about Obi’s 4th place finish in the AKC Amateur Walking Derby at the Heart of America German Shorthaired Pointer Club Field Trial last weekend and an invitation to our own American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association’s breed-only AKC Walking Field Trial in LeRoy, IL. But it will have to wait until Wednesday.

Think Spring!

Bluestem Kennels