Home of hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
August 21, 2010
Kennel Update, Regional Update and/or Misc. Korthals Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment
On our summer vacation we paid a visit to a kennel up in Canada to take a look at their Wirehaired Pointing Griffons. Their pups may or may not become a part of our breeding program, but we are shopping around.
Conrad and Cordelia with the dogs, Belle and Cyrano
I have to apologize for my lack of writing lately, my muse has taken an unexpected leave of absence. But hey, hunting season is only a few weeks away, so she should return soon!
July 14, 2010
There were several Wirehaired Pointing Griffons at the Heartland NAVHDA Chapter’s training day on Saturday.
My Sam and Sue in their cool dog box
Mattie, a 13 week old female Griff pup from Grand Island, NE
Larry and Annie the Griff from Kansas
Larry's Aux Lake Sam
Another Griff of Larry's: Bristle
That is the most Wirehaired Pointing Griffons I’ve ever seen in one place and just wanted to share all of my pictures of them.
July 6, 2010
Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Regional Update and/or Misc., Sire and Dam Ability Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment
The clouds and rain finally dispursed yesterday evening, so we headed down to the local dog training wildlife management area to give Sue, Sam and the last pup (Alpha Female) a big run.
Sue, Alpha Female and Sam
Half of the WMA had been grazed by a herd of cattle, which made the area easier to negotiate. The other half would have been difficult for the pup and my kids to wade through, since the grass was waist to shoulder high, typical for the tallgrass prairie ecosystem.
Getting a good run in
Full speed ahead!
Fun was had by all!
Charles, Alpha Female, Sam, and Sue on the cow trail
The old farmer saying about corn was “knee high by the Fourth of July”. This year, it is more like “head high”!
Sue and big corn
Alpha Female flies to Atlanta on Thursday, with her final home destination of Alabama. It will be time for us to focus on polishing up our training on Sam and Sue, while getting some pedigree research done (Pedigree Profiles are coming to the blog starting July 11th).
We are looking forward to the Heartland NAVHDA Chapter’s Training Days on July 10th and September 11th, with our eyes on the big prize of sharptail grouse and prairie chicken opener in my Nebraska Sandhills on September 18th.
We will miss the little pups, but are pumped up for a great hunting season and Sam’s NAVHDA Utility Preparatory Test.
June 20, 2010
Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment
For Father’s Day, Charles purchased himself “The Springer”. As you can see in this low quality YouTube video, it is a spring-loaded bar that attaches to your bike for running a dog. I can’t wait to see it in action in person!
Yesterday, Charles took Sam to our local dog training Wildlife Management Area. He said that it was full of turkey and Sam was doing some great points, but as you can see from the photos, we are in dire need of a camera upgrade for the field.
Sam
Sam pointing
Sam pointing again
Speaking of flights, I’m hoping that the temperature stays down in the connection cities so that we don’t have to reschedule. I’m starting to get anxious with all of the preparations and transportations that are coming up.
It has been a rainy, muddy weekend, so not really a good one to get out to take pictures of the pups. Hopefully later this week.
Happy Father’s Day!
June 12, 2010
Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 1 Comment
This morning we made the trek to Thurman, Iowa to observe the Heartland NAVHDA Chapter’s June Training Day. Up to this point in our dog training/child-rearing adventure that is life, we never had the time to explore NAVHDA in-depth. Charles was always actively involved in the Pheasant’s Forever Chapter and skeet league; that always seemed to be enough. He seems to be interested in getting Sam into doing some NAVDHA training after observing today. I don’t think I will be getting involved (outside of working with Sam at home) until we add a new female pup to the pack within the next couple of years.
The training session was split into two groups, puppy and adult dog. NAVDHA training at the pup level is the same as the instinctive hunting method we’ve been using to train our dogs when they were pups. I met this adorable 9 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppy from Grand Island, Nebraska and it was love at first sight!
Cute 9 week old pup from Grand Island, NE
The first thing the trainer did was give the dog the scent.
Griff pup getting the quail scent
He turned the quail loose and she was after it!
Giving chase
Meanwhile, the adult dog group was practicing their field skills.
A brace of German Shorthair Pointers
Bracco Italiano taking the field
Charles observed the adult dog group for the entire two hours, while I only made a brief foray into this crowd. I mainly observed the puppy training and tried to keep my three kids out of the way of the whole scene. Overall, it was a good experience and something we feel will make a good addition to our training regimen.
June 10, 2010
Kennel Update Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment
My puppy conditioning program has been delayed by today’s rain, so I thought I would take the opportunity to provide some general information about the kennels.
The Kennels
My dogs were brought up in the house as pups, but as they grew older and we added more human babies to the family, we moved them outside. The puppies currently reside in Sue’s kennel, but receive plenty of attention.
We love puppies (the girl in the glasses is my daughter's BFF, the rest are mine)
We are located on a forested acre in Nebraska’s Loess Hills, about a mile from the Missouri River (as the crow flies). The Loess Hills formation is typically associated with Iowa, but there are some hills on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River.
The dogs love to spend time sniffing about the forest and are exercised for at least 30 minutes a day in the off-season.
Sam pointing an unknown forest critter
It's tough to focus on sitting when we want to move
We have our own sledding hills in the winter
Maybe later on today I can get back on track with getting the pups out. But for now, the housework beckons!
Bluestem Kennels 