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:
Tabitha, female pup, faceTabitha, female pup, back
Male pup, Tobin:
Tobin, male pup, face (his eyes are fine, there is just one that hasn’t finished opening, totally normal)Tobin, male pup, back
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!
We’ve grown! The “T” Litter turned one week old yesterday. They’ve tripled in size, scoot around the box, bark and nurse.
Mama Ruth with the milk bar going
In the first few days of life, I’m really having to fuss over making sure that the pups are finding their way to to teats to get the colostrum from the mother. Now I am able to focus on Ruth being fed and happy so that she’s there for her pups when they need her. They are able to get what they need on their own.
The puppies eyes and ears are still closed for another week. I’m starting to feel out of the woods on having losses, but I always say that I wait until two weeks old to call it. Next week, I’ll do individual pictures and take a video. Once their eyes are open I start supplementing nursing with puppy mush of canned puppy food and milk replacer. It is mainly to get them used to eating something other than mother’s milk. With so few pups I could probably wait to introduce food, but I like to stay in my routine that has worked for me for thirteen years.
I make sure Ruth gets at least one can of puppy food a day still until the pups are starting to eat other things. She is also getting meat scraps, bones and has free feed of dry dog food.
Here are some close up shots of the pups nursing:
Nursing one week old “T” Litter puppiesOne week old puppies getting fed
On Wednesday we took a road trip to York Vet for a checkup for Ruth and the pups, as well as to get their tails docked and their dew claws removed.
Puppies on a roadtrip in the laundry basketRuth getting checked out while keeping her eye on the puppiesRuth had to feed her pups before we got back on the road
Everyone checked out healthy and Ruth was cleared for future breeding. My observation of nothing being retained in the uterus and no infection present was confirmed. It was all such a relief.
So I’m praying that the scary and sad part of this is over and that we get through this critical week to reach important two week milestones. Keep thinking about us and we’ll keep working.
The “T” Litter of 2023 between Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I “Obi” and Bluestem Peaches En Regalia NA I, UPT II, UT III arrived the morning of Saturday, July 29th. We had three live births and a few angel puppies. The live births were two boys and a girl.
On Sunday afternoon it became apparant that Ruth was rejecting one of the boys. He was cold to the touch no matter how much I tried to incubate him and whenever I tried to get him to latch, Ruth was pushing him away, even going so far as to pick him up and move him away from the others. I attempted to bottle feed him and keep him warm, but eventually let nature take its course and put him back with mom. I’ve seen other breeders attempt to hand raise rejected puppies, only to have to put them down for internal defects at 5-7 weeks old.
As much as we try for large, perfect litters (and I’ve been blessed with many in the past) we don’t always get those. I had a breeder friend this spring lose an entire litter to spontaneous abortion a week before the puppies were due, with no explanation.
So here’s the two “T” puppies today. It is difficult to get photos when they are young like this, where the mom is constantly cleaning and fussing over them.
Boy and girl puppies nursingRuth cleaning the girlThis is the majority of what goes on at this age: nursing and cleaning
We were scheduled to go to the vet this morning to have everyone looked over, but they pushed us back to tomorrow morning. Ruth will be examined for breeding clearance one more time prior to retirement. This time she’ll be paired with our young male from Iowa, Duke, who comes out of Coppershot bloodlines, to see if we get higher productivity. There is also a litter planned between Ruth’s younger sister, Sally, and Obi. But that’s to talk about another time, back to puppies.
I’ve had questions about the wood chips in the past. It is just what has always worked for me. They are absorbant, sanitary and easy to clean up a spot if they get soiled. Any time I have tried any sort of pads or fabric, the dam digs all around and ends up burying the pups and they get all tangled, which is unsafe. The female wants to spend most of the time quiet and alone with the pups, so if I’m worried about pups in fabric it is counterproductive.
That is not to say that I don’t spend a ton of time with the pups. I go down about every hour to make sure everyone is warm and where they are supposed to be. And of course Ruth needs feedings and potty breaks. Right now I have Ruth mostly eating canned puppy food since it is high nutrition and supplements the moisture from her drinking water so that she can produce milk.
She has plenty of good milk and her teats are all working. While the struggling third boy was alive she was pretty fussy, but now that is resolved she has settled down into the routine of being a mom. I’m not seeing any off-color discharge or feeling anything retained in her uterus, so I’m hoping for smooth sailing from here on out. Once the puppies hit the two-week mark on August 12 I will feel in the clear.
I’m going to be totally frank, having angel puppies and losing ones born alive completely sucks. I cry and pout. That’s why you’re just hearing from me now, I had to get all that out of my system and get Ruth, the puppies and I in a good place before I sat down to write. But these are the fires that forge animal breeders. At this point, we’re one of the longest consistent breeders of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons. In order to produce what we want in hunting dogs and to continue this passion project of ours, we have to push through the sorrow and aggravation.
In other news, Charles continues to train Obi for Invitational and Sally is signed up for a Utility Test in Virginia at the end of this month. We just did all of Sally’s health clearances and are waiting for the results to come back, Obi goes in for elbows and thyroid in a week, then everyone gets their eyes looked at by an ophthamologist in the middle of the month for the OFA certification. I have Duke’s K-Locus DNA coat test sitting on the dining room table. Never a dull moment around here.
So, I’ll check back in on the blog when the puppies are a week old, please keep us in your prayers for everyone’s continued health. Best wishes to everyone else out there with pups and training for tests. Email bluestemkennels@gmail.com with any questions.
Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to inquire about future litters.
Yesterday Caleb and I took Ruth down to York Vet for a pregnancy confirmation ultrasound. At 44 days it was about 10 days too early to do a puppy count x-ray. Since the possibility exists that some of the skeletons showing are not viable puppies, I don’t do puppy count ultrasounds or x-rays. I just do an ultrasound to confirm a pregnancy and that there are enough puppies en utero to trigger a natural whelping. In the event of a one or two puppy pregnancy (which thank the Lord I have not encountered) the puppies don’t generate enough of the hormone that makes labor start, so folks have to c-section those pregnancies.
Ruth with a vet tech and Dr. Ashley Goforth of York Vet doing the ultrasound yesterday.
My biggest preoccupation with Ruth right now is balancing outside time and staying cool in this heat wave. I let her out to run morning and midday, then bring her inside early and late afternoon. She is still comfortably fitting in her crate at night, but the indoor kennel is set up for when she needs to move over to sleep in there in a week or so. We are also feeding her extra midday, focusing on things like meat, bones and vegetables to give extra puppy development nutrition. Now we just wait the two to three weeks for the little ones to arrive!
Ruth taking a nap and keeping cool in the house a couple of afternoons ago
Keep on Trainin’!
Last weekend we found a great pond to work with Obi on blind retrieve for NAVHDA Invitational. The blind retrieve skill is where the dog is sent, does not do a duck search and goes directly to the far end of the pond, retrieves the duck, then swims back to the handler on the other side of the pond. Charles says that the Invitational pond is around 100 yards across one direction, the one that we were practicing on was right at 125 yards.
Typical for when you are starting off on a skill, the dog needs commands to complete the task. On the side of the pond where the duck is placed in plain view (in a gap in the vegetation), someone hides in the shrubbery to briefly call the dog in the event that the dog gets confused about what is going on and turns back towards the handler. The first time we did it, Obi needed two re-directions, the second time he only needed one, the third time he did it with no commands. After three back-and-forths across the pond the dog had swam 750 yards, so that was enough for one day. Plus the oppressive Southern afternoon heat was creeping up on us!
I’m going to once again put the training photos in a gallery, if you want to see enlarged versions you just click on the first photo then page to the right with the arrow to the see the remaining photos.
Obi swimming to the bank for the duckObi picking up the duckObi swimming with the duck to CharlesObi bringing the duck to the bank to CharlesObi’s second swim across with a duckObi’s third pond swim coming to CharlesObi’s third water retrieveObi closing in with the duck in mouthObi retrieving to handObi looking at Charles after his third retrieve
Tomorrow Charles, Caleb and the dogs will be up to Rimrock Preserve in Statesville, NC at the Foothills NAVHDA training day. It sounds as if there will be other Griffs and owners there too if anyone wants to pop in and observe. My gang usually doesn’t get a bunch of training done on those days, with Charles helping other handlers and dogs on their skills quite a bit.
Health Testing Updateand Breeding Thoughts
All of my dogs are seen by a vet at least twice a year, actively breeding females usually three or more. In the past, I’ve only done OFA Hip or PennHIP x-rays. I’m in the process of getting my three younger dogs through OFA CHIC certification, in the long form that is the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals Canine Health Information Center. For the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed, the screenings needed for CHIC are: hips, OFA elbows, ACVO Eye Exam and an Autoimmune thyroiditis blood panel from an approved veterinary laboratory. Keep in mind that these are simply certifications of clear health that we already know exists through close veterinary observation. I will post the results to the blog as they come in (everyone but Sally already has hips, Sally is x-rayed hips and elbows in a couple of weeks) and update my About Our Dogs page as well.
Some points of clarification about health testing in general. The health tests for OFA CHIC do not cover all of the genetic problems known in the breed. You need to trust your breeder to be educated about other issues, to know how to watch out for them, and to be honest with their breeding to exclude dogs exhibiting them. I do that. Making a laundry list of the problems in our breed is not within the scope of this blog post, maybe another day. Additionally, health testing an individual dog does not certify a clear pedigree. Puppies have been bred with hip dysplasia (not by me) that have had generations of clear ancestors. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants and trusting that those who have gone before us have made sound breeding decisions.
Breeding is a passion project for us. Working to recover what Korthals intended for the breed and creating a healthy hunting dog with family member temperament is for our purposes as well as spreading the joy to others. We will be keeping a pup out of this litter and keeping one in the spring as well.
It’s strange when a hobby takes over your life. Nineteen years of owning and hunting with Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and thirteen years of breeding them. This will be my twentieth litter whelping soon, all natural breedings (no artifical insemination) and natural whelping (no c-sections). Charles and Obi are heading to our Super Bowl of hunt training, the NAVHDA Invitational, in September. It has been a grand adventure and I pray that we can keep it going.
Conclusion
This is a deadly heat wave, keep the dogs cool! If they are outside, make sure that they have access to shade and water. Exercise them early in the morning. Keep them brushed out so that their fur isn’t holding in heat. Make sure that they have access to open water or a pool after exercise. Know the signs of heat stroke in dogs and how to save them if they start to stroke out (oops, there’s another article). Everyone stay cool, hydrated and safe now. Keep us in your prayers. Talk at ya later.
Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com regarding future litters. Ruth is at right around 30 days gestation (God willing) and is starting to show. We go to the veterinarian for an ultrasound on July 13 and will hopefully see a pregnancy. I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted here, on Facebook, and on Instagram as news develops. Here are a few photos of her from the last couple of days:
Ruth having a rest on the living room floor yesterdayRuth side profile in the drivewayRuth having fun in the yard
Dogs generally don’t show much in the first 30 days, but I can definitely see and feel a little pooch. Keeping her cool in the heat and spending plenty of quality time with her indoors are a priority right now for the completion of a successful pregnancy. Please send us good thoughts and prayers for the weeks ahead.
Training
Charles is out dog training pretty much every weekend and spends time working on skills with the dogs daily. I went out for a training day with the Carolinas Chapter of NAVHDA towards the beginning of June and got some photos. My camera seemed to be focused on Sally, so here is a gallery of her training photos. You can click the first photo of the gallery to see an enlarged version, then page through the remaining enlarged photos.
Sally on pointSally pointing while gunners shootSally retrieving chukarSally retrieving to CharlesSally close-up on pointSally runningAnother shot of Sally retrievingClose-up of Sally retrievingCharles sending Sally to duck searchSally with the duckSally shaking off after giving up the duckSally swimming through water liliesSally with a duck retrieveCharles working with Sally on steady by blind
Her training day was basically a mock Utility Test and Sally is probably at the level of passing this fall, fingers crossed.
We also worked with Duke on skills for the Utility Preparatory Test and Obi for Invitational, but my photos of them were not as focused or plentiful. Here’s Duke’s selection:
Duke on pointCharles walking in to Duke’s pointDuke in the fieldDuke retrieving a bumper in the water
And last but not least, by a long shot, Obi:
Obi bringing in the dummy in the double mark retrieveCharles watching Obi work on the double mark retrieveObi on left with “S” litter pup Chase on right at a NAVHDA training day. Photo by Ian Taylor
One of our puppy owners caught the above photo of Obi with one of his pups and posted it to Instagram on Father’s Day, so cute!
Otherwise, when we’re not out training, we’re just hanging around the yard. Charles had some quail escape and Ruth found one in the back driveway.
Ruth pointing a wayward quail
With the temperatures rising, it was time to get the kiddie pool out for the dogs. They each have their own style of getting wet.
Ruth likes to sit in the pool and scoot aroundObi gets his whole body wetSally usually ignores it, but sometimes digsDuke doesn’t want his rear wet
So those are the goings on here lately, I will be sure to post in a couple of weeks once we get the ultrasound results on Ruth. Everyone have a safe and Happy 4th of July, please be sure to keep your dogs crated in a safe area while lighting fireworks (typing that just brought up a childhood memory of our family cocker spaniel attacking a Roman candle as it was going off). Dogs and fireworks don’t mix. The biggest problem with trained gun dogs is that they’ll run towards the sound of the shot thinking that there is a bird down and you lose your dog in the commotion if you’re not careful. So for everyone’s sanity, put the dogs up.
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.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Bluestem Kennels, home of hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons! It is crazy to think that we are going into year thirteen of breeding AKC and NAVHDA registered Griffons. Our next litter is planned for the Fall of 2023 between Obi and Ruth, feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are interested in getting on our reservation list.
We spent Thanksgiving at my cousin’s in Tennessee, then Charles and the dogs made their way out to north central Nebraska and south central South Dakota for some more hunting. It wasn’t an incredibly productive trip as far as birds in the bag, I only got one photo with a Nebraska pheasant and some dogs.
Ruth and Duke bringing in the Nebraska Sandhills swamp pheasant
They did locate a covey of Hungarian Partridge in south central South Dakota, which was unexpected. But by and large the roosters were sparse and getting out farther than what he could reach with the twelve gauge. It was also quite cold to Charles’s thinned out southern blood. Not that it was anything that kept him home, but I doubt that he’ll be going out for the late season in the west again any time soon.
The benefit to me in all of this is that it put Ruth back into shape and pushed her heat cycle out a bit. I’m hoping that she comes into heat here towards the end of this month or the beginning of next month, which would put her summer heat cycle into July. We have our daughter Cordelia’s graduation in May, then after Caleb gets out of school he heads to camp for two weeks, then I’d like to get a family vacation in to the founding father’s area of Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston right before breeding season hits. I am typically home with pups in the Spring and early Summer, so it will be nice to get out and about for a change instead.
The area that Charles just hunted is currently socked in with two feet of snow with eight to ten foot tall drifts in some places. Many ranchers are struggling to get to their livestock and lots of long haul truckers are stranded out there, so say some prayers for those folks. They don’t get a lot of air time in the media, but they are near and dear to my heart since that is my home.
Hunting season is getting ready to get going here in South Carolina with woodcock. I’m thinking I’ll pick up my licenses here after the new year and start chasing some around with Charles and Caleb. Charles is also starting to prepare Obi for NAVHDA Invitational 2023, so we’re all excited to see how that goes. Luckily Charles has found some neighbors here with bird dogs who like to help with dog training, in addition to the time spent with the NAVHDA chapters.
But this week it is time to welcome the two adult kids from Nebraska, I pick the first one up at the airport tomorrow! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, surrounded by good food, abundance and the love of family.
I know that I have a couple of emails in the inbox asking about 2023 litters (I promise that I will respond by Monday), we are planning a litter for the Fall/Winter 2023 as our next. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com for further details.
It’s tough for me to believe that it’s been two weeks since these bird exposure photos were taken and a week since the puppies went home. I’ve been avoiding making this post a little since it is a bit sad to see them go. But knowing that they are making their new owner’s lives happier makes it all worth it.
The setup that I did this time for bird exposure is having a chukar in a wire crate down by the barn, then the dead quail on a string in an exercise pen in the backyard. I took the pup out of the kennel and put them on a leash for the first time. It was a bit of a rodeo as usual, where they want to tug on the leash or bite it. They get the hang of it pretty quickly though. So we walked through the yard down to the chukar in a wire crate and let them look at it.
Then we walked back up to the backyard and I took them off of the leash and put them into the exercise pen for the dead bird exposure. This was a quail that Charles had trained the big dogs with and shot, which we kept in the barn fridge for this purpose. So I put the dead quail on a string and dragged it around a bit to get the pup’s attention. They all either chewed it a bit, picked it up and ran with it, or a little of both.
Although it isn’t a complete training for the field, it is a good start to making a Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon.
Sebastian, male pup:
Simon, male pup:
Samson, male pup:
Simi, female pup:
Spokanne, female pup:
Sue, female pup:
And here are the pups going home, in the order that they left:
Samson is Bill’s second Bluestem puppy (also an “H” Litter male) and flew home to NebraskaLee took Simon home to his son on the South Carolina coastRocky took Sue home all the way back to TexasTonya, Ian and the kids took Sebastian to the north side of CharlotteHaley and Dalton took Simi to CharlotteLuke took Spokanne up to Hickory, North Carolina
I am so thankful for these loving families to send the pups home with! I hope to see some of them again and maybe get a pup out of one of those girls.
While I was home with puppies, Charles was out chasing birds with Obi, Sally and Duke in Nebraska and North Dakota for a good part of a month. I will have to save that update for another day, but it feels good to finally have the posts about the “S” Litter wrapped up. I’m excited that the young dogs got out west for some good wild bird hunting, which is better than all of the yard or test drills in the world. So I’ll save that for next week.
Good luck to all of these new owners and please stay in touch!
We’ve got new owners ready to show up to take these guys and gals home next week, but we have our next litter planned for Fall 2023. If you’d like to get added to the list of reservations for that, feel free to email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com. I’ll start contacting folks about interviews and deposits once these pups go home.
This coming week is consists of bird work (both retrieving a dead bird and seeing a live bird), walking on leash, crate exposure, coming into the kitchen to play, and riding in a car. I will try to catch some of it on camera, but working with birds and running a camera at the same time is tricky. I’ve done it in the past but we’ll see how it goes this year.
They’re starting to go up and down stairs and have had their noise conditioning. The neighbors even helped out unknowingly by sighting in their deer hunting shotguns just across the road for four hours one day last weekend. The pups will see the vet on Friday for their last checkups, microchips and shots.
Here is their last set of individual photos that I can promise before their homegoing pics with their new owners:
Male pup, Sebastian:
Male pup, Sebastian faceMale pup, Sebastian runningMale pup, Sebastian front
Male pup, Simon:
Male pup, Simon side profileMale pup, Simon side and frontMale pup, Simon running
Male pup, Samson:
Male pup, Samson frontMale pup, Samson side profileMale pup, Samson face
Female pup, Simi
Female pup, Simi faceFemale pup, Simi frontFemale pup, Simi running
Female pup, Sue side profile carrying an orange peelFemale pup, Sue front carrying an orange peelFemale pup, Sue face
It is always tough getting ready to let go of a litter of pups. I take comfort in the fact that these pups will turn into great dogs who will give their owners lots of joy throughout their lifetime.
It is time for me to sign off to attend to evening mom duties, but I hope that you enjoyed following these pups through their early weeks. I hope to catch some shots with the birds and of course we’ll have the homegoing photos with their new owners posted once they all go home.
Then it’s back to chasing wild birds and hunt test titles for awhile! Good luck to everyone out there in the fields.
Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to be placed on the backup contact list in the event of anyone backing out on this litter at the last minute. I will start doing interviews for our Fall 2023 litter once our 2022 litter goes home, so you can reach out about that too.
Duke’s NAVHDA Natural Ability Test
You cannot put the pressure of your breeding kennel on a junior handler and our 13 year-old son Caleb had fun handling Cedar and Spruce’s Apollo “Duke” to a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize III, so that is really all we can ask for. They tested at the Foothills NAVHDA Chapter in Hickory, NC on Saturday. The pheasant track was spot on and he did great in the water, but it took him 15 of the 20 allotted minutes to get started in the field search. To his credit, he was the last dog in the field and it reeked of bird stench after nine other dogs ran ahead of him, so I could tell that it made Duke a bit confused and timid, wanting to point every place a bird had been planted. I’ve seen pro trainer/handlers come up with a “No Prize” on Natural Ability, so we are not disappointed. At nine months old Duke is still young enough to Natural Ability test again, but we won’t and just continue on to prepare for the Utility Preparatory Test. But the most important thing for him and for Sally is to get out west into the wild bird fields this fall.
Caleb and Duke ready to runDuke in the fieldWaiting for the waterChecking of the attributes
“S” Litter at Five Weeks Old
The pups are growing like weeds and are large enough to run the yard. We’ll do that a couple of times a day going forward. They have their first collars on and are picking up and carrying around toys. They love to chew on each other and their toys. Caleb is also my puppy assistant and I catch him doing the silliest things sometimes, like getting in their dog house.
Caleb has turned into a puppy
Here are their individual pics. Keep in mind that this is just a snapshot of this puppy. This doesn’t show their personality, size or conformation very well at all. They are just now starting to develop their different coats and I’m getting a better idea of who will fit well where.:
Male pup, Sebastian:
Male pup, Sebastian faceMale pup, Sebastian body
Male pup, Simon:
Male pup, Simon faceMale pup, Simon body
Male pup, Samson:
Male pup, Samson faceMale pup, Samson body
Female pup, Simi:
Female pup, Simi faceFemale pup, Simi body
Female pup, Spokanne:
Female pup, Spokanne faceFemale pup, Spokanne body
I need to go ahead and sign off for now, the day is getting away from me and I need to start talking to folks about travel plans and puppy picks. I’ll be back next week on Tuesday, Monday has just become too crazy for me with kid activities and so the weekly updates will shift a day for the rest of their time with us. Good luck to everyone in the field with hunting and testing.
Bluestem Kennels 