NAVHDA | Bluestem Kennels

Happy New Year 2026!

January 1, 2026

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Puppy Update, Upland Hunting Trips, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons dog, dogs, East Coast Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Korthals Griffon, pets, South Carolina Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

We hope that you all had a Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year! As many of you know, life with dogs is never dull. Keeping a breed going takes the work of many and there’s always something to do: whether it is training a young dog or keeping the adult dogs healthy and entertained. As of now, we’re still saying that we’re taking a break from litters, but all of these puppies on the ground with our breeder friends makes us miss our littles.

Yet soon enough we’ll have something to keep us occupied with bringing home a new male puppy at the end of the month. Our VC Obi is the stud and the female is a Firebirds/Aux Lake cross. For those of you who don’t know, Gary Engebretson of Firebirds in Wisconsin and Larry Woodward of Aux Lake in Kansas are both well-tested NAVHDA breeders. We’re hoping to compliment what we already have going in our breeding program with that blood.

I tend to get lost in hunting updates and haven’t been good about posting “pupdates”, so here we go with my effort to catch up! I only pull from my texts and email, there is no way for me to keep up with everyone’s socials at this time. When I have time to check Instagram and the Griffon Facebook groups, I do appreciate everyone sharing the photos of their pups, I guess I need to just do a better job of downloading and managing them as I see them (but I don’t).

Pupdates

Back in May of 2025 (keep in mind that we had three litters go home in 2025, so I am way behind) BJ from Tennessee took his male pup Blair from the 2024 “U” Litter between Obi and Sally to the Missouri Southern Chapter of NAVHDA for his Natural Ability Test at one year, two months old. Here is what BJ had to say about the experience:

Wanted to let you know Blair passed the NA test with a prize 2! A feat made more remarkable by the fact I only got him over birds three times last year and his handler has no idea what he’s doing.

His only subtractions were in search and desire. In talking with the judges after, they said it was a close call but he wasn’t going out and searching where the birds “should be”. They said it seemed like a lack of experience in the field and was confirmed when I told them about his limited exposure.

Thanks for the advice on the tracking portion. I did as instructed and it really panned out. The dog tracking before Blair caught its pheasant and ran all over the field with the bird. Since that field was ruined we had to go to an unprepared field the judges hadn’t planned to use. The bird shot away from the judges like a rocket. It went about five yards and hooked a 90 degree left turn. I was panicking. When I approached the judges they were also panicking. They said we’d give it a shot but that they might need to retest that portion because everything was stacked against Blair.

Blair put his little nose to the ground and followed right along for the first 15 yards. I was thrilled. Then he stopped. Then he turned 90 degrees in the wrong direction and made a 20 yard loop. My heart sank. But he circled back behind us, made contact with the scent, and trailed the pheasant all the way to a point. I almost teared up. It was that beautiful.

The judge said afterward that the dog completely bailed them out on that track. He said Blair was notably calm and focused and patient during that exercise.

My first NAVHDA event – much less test – was a great success. My fellow handlers were delightful and the judges were gracious with their time and the way they handled the event. I hope you’re as pleased as I am with the result. Thanks for your work with the breed. Blair truly did that on his natural abilities.

BJ and Blair in the field by Debbi McCaul

Blair ended up with a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II with 103 points. A great job for a new dog and handler to the sport! Sorry BJ that it took me so long to get you a shout out!

Our next puppy NAVHDA test news was from Tate in Indiana with Willow. She’s from the early 2025 “V” Litter between Duke and Briar. At seven months and in her first heat cycle, she scored 110 points for a Prize I Natural Ability at the White Creek NAVHDA Chapter in Indiana back in August. Awesome work Tate and Willow!

Willow at seven months old in August with her NAVHDA NA I

In other news from the “V” Litter from early 2025, Bazooka is maturing nicely with Eva down in Arkansas.

Next we have Millie (2025 X Litter Obi x Sally) who is with Dara and Pericle in Upstate New York. She’s been looking super cute in the snow.

Millie’s sister Luna in Mississippi is having lots of adventures with her airman owner Alec, both in and out of the field.

Alec and Luna with their best girl on the tarmac

Last but not least, we have Gary with Marcus who is right here on Lake Wylie, South Carolina. He’s also handsome! Gary is out of the 2025 W Litter between Duke and Briar.

Look at all of those cute dogs! I’ll keep telling myself that we’re taking time off from having puppies for now. I will be sure to keep you all posted as to when we start making plans otherwise.

Nebraska Pheasant and Quail 2025

Charles had a good trip out to south central Nebraska for pheasants and quail in December.

Belle and the first day’s limit of pheasant

Belle and Charles’s Day two single rooster

Front to back: Belle, Sally and Obi all on point

East Coast Woodcock

The weekend after Christmas, Charles and Caleb headed out for woodcock here back on the East Coast and each took a limit.

Some Sundance Shorthairs with Caleb, Charles, Belle and some limits of woodcock

We’re all thankful for our successes in the whelping box and the field for 2025 and are looking forward to new adventures in 2026! I’m sure I’ll get inspired to get my camera out and brag on our new puppy, so keep an eye out in another month or so and I’ll be back. Let’s stay warm and push through to spring.

The Whirlwind that was Fall 2024

December 15, 2024

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.

NAVHDA Versatile Champion Wirehaired Pointing Griffon — VC Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I x 2 “Obi” and Charles with their NAVHDA Invitational Pass Photo by Ted Wentink

Obi on point at NAVHDA Invitational. Photo by Terry Ann Fernando

Obi retrieves a chukar to Charles with an Iowa skyline in the background. Photo by Terry Ann Fernando

Charles 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 Sandhills

He also got a duck later on, so we took a photo of that back at his grandma’s

Charles 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 rooster

Belle and Obi with a couple of roosters and a grouse in North Dakota

Briar retrieving a rooster on day two of North Dakota

Duke and a couple of roosters on the last day of North Dakota

The 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 Summerfelt

Briar 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 Nebraska

Charles with Obi and Belle and some Nebraska pheasants and quail at the end of the first day

Duke 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.

NAVHDA Versatile Champion!

September 11, 2024

Charity Upchurch NAVHDA, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Today Charles and Obi brought home the gold in Grinnell, Iowa with our first NAVHDA Versatile Champion, making him VC Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I. There will be more and better photos coming soon. I didn’t write down the scores as they were being read either.

Just lots of excitement after a couple of years of hard work on this!

Dog Days of Summer 2024

July 15, 2024

Charity Upchurch AKC Hunt Tests, AWPGA, Field Trialing, Hunting Forecasts, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons AWPGA 2024 National Specialty, Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Sandhills, Online Auction AWPGA National Specialty 2024, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

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.

Gracie 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 Sandhills

Left 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 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.:

Here are some field shots of Sally:

Here’s our younger male, Duke:

Duke on the run with Obi in the background

Duke 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 background

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.

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.

Here’s the entry form for the AKC Hunt Test held in conjunction with the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11DdLegFUMG6sM0KMj3olPK9Ao7S2ztGQ/view

Here’s the entry form for the Working Griffon Field Trial held in conjunction with the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SmSCQSlPQ-L6JE5sd0xVX6D1CBbtDYPR/view

Here’s the link to our online auction where you can bid on the donated items. All proceeds go to supporting the 2024 AWPGA National Specialty. https://awpga.betterworld.org/auctions/2024National

Here’s the schedule of events, we’re looking forward to seeing everyone! https://www.awpga.com/2024-natl-specialty-schedule.html

Everyone stay cool in this hot summer weather and we’ll keep everyone posted on the road to the 2024 NAVHDA Invitational in Iowa.

Welcome Belle!

June 8, 2024

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Puppies, San Antonio Texas Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 2 Comments

Back in April I got a call from one of my puppy buyers that there had been an unplanned litter between one of my Obi x Ruth females and a male from Frank Puccio of Hun Hill Kennels. It had been a goal of ours to somehow bring in Hun Hill blood at some point, but the distance between Nebraska and now South Carolina and Frank having been in Idaho and now Arizona just was always an obstacle.

So on a Saturday in mid-April, I jumped on a plane out of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport really early in the morning and flew out to San Antonio to stuff an eight week-old puppy in a carry-on bag, then I turned around and flew back to Charlotte. We just registered her with NAVHDA as 19 Griffs Texas Bluebell “Belle”. I guess Rocky’s cattle brand is 19.

The dam’s pedigree Bluestem Two Mules for Sister Sara “Sister”

The sire’s pedigree Hun Hill Pardon My Dust “Gus”

From a pedigree perspective, I get several key items in this match. The biggest being VC CH Griffe D’Automne Mr. Brown “Jacque” bred by Martin Gagnon of Quebec, originally owned by Phil Parseneau of Montana, then later transferred to Frank at Hun Hill as Phil’s health declined. Here is a photo of “Jacque” in the field that I snagged from Frank’s Facebook page.

Jacque crossed the rainbow bridge a few years back, but he will always be a legend and I am excited to carry the bloodline into the future.

I also get some newish, but close enough to be bringing together similar traits genes from Kevin Crisp of Kanzakaw Sporting Dogs out of Kansas who has since retired. I get a line on Tim Nemeth in Idaho who is still going at Owyhee Sporting Dogs. There’s also some Greg Curtis who is also still breeding infrequently out in Arizona under Ear Mountain Griffons. Gus’s sire is George DeCosta’s The Hunting Griff beloved dog “CK”.

So here’s my little sixteen week-old 19 Griffs Texas Bluebell “Belle” also known informally as “Bad Baby” and “Jelly Belly”. If you click on the thumbnails in the gallery, it will enlarge the individual photo.

Belle has been welcomed into the pack by the older dogs and already on her way to a NAVHDA Natural Ability test in the fall. We’ll be back on the blog in July with a training update, so talk at you then.

“U” Litter Homegoings

May 7, 2024

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 Alabama

Unity 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 Alabama

Ryan 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.

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).

Breeding season update and more hunting

November 14, 2023

Charity Upchurch AKC Hunt Tests, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, NAVHDA, Upland Hunting Trips, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Sandhills, North Dakota, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com for inquiries relating to our upcoming or future litters.

I am checking Sally everyday for sign of coming into season, as the boys are starting to act like things are going on and there are some subtle changes occurring. I’m going to be conservative and say that she’ll be bred by Christmas, but once proestrus bleeding starts I’ll know more exactly. That would put puppies being whelped in January or February and going home in March or April. I am not keeping a puppy from this litter with Sally being young enough for me to do that, so that will move folks up the reservation list one slot. It is always tough to tell where everything will shake out owner-wise between a list and a litter. With my deposits being refundable until a puppy whelped is three weeks old and the possibility that some people will want to wait for Ruth’s litter, or have life situations arise where they will wait for the following year, even having a long list doesn’t guarantee folks showing interest now won’t get a puppy. We are all placing bets on a natural process and just pray that it all works out.

The breeding that is coming up soon is AKC/NAVHDA Bluestem Sally Forth SH, NA II “Sally” and Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I “Obi”. Obi qualified for NAVHDA Invitational in 2023 and recently re-qualified for 2024. Sally went 5 passes in 5 runs for her AKC Senior Hunter. Her NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II was with our son Caleb as a junior handler. We’ve tested her in both Utility Preparatory Test and Utility Test and she does all of the skills except picking up the live duck at the end of the duck search. She had a bad run in with a mean duck pecking her in the face and we’re working back into being aggressive on the live duck. I’m hoping to re-test her in the Fall of 2024, she is still young and we have plenty of time. There are so many things that a dog has to do right in the Utility Test and just missing one is not the end of the world. She is phenomenal in the field and is a pretty looking and healthy dog.

The second breeding probably won’t happen until between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, that will be between our older female Bluestem Peaches En Regalia NA I, UPT II, UT III “Ruth” and our young male, Cedar and Spruce’s Apollo NA III “Duke”. Ruth is beautiful and one of our best bird-finders, just off-the-charts prey drive. Duke is our young male who was also handled in NAVHDA Natural Ability by our son as a junior handler. This is Ruth’s last litter and we really want a pup between her and Duke so we are going ahead with the pairing before he even utility tests. His hips are phenomenal, his prelim elbows were good, his eyes are normal and we’re waiting for his two year birthday in a couple of weeks to do his final elbows and thyroid test.

All of the dogs pedigrees and health clearances are on the “About Our Dogs” page. They are not only hunting dogs and breeding stock, but also our family pets. Everyone is crate trained, housebroken, good with kids and other dogs (free range chickens and cats are a no). You can train a Griffon to be friendly with a cat, like when we go to the vet there are loose cats and they don’t eat them, but my dogs want to torment cats. We have a barn cat that gets chased up trees. You have to have chickens or any birds in a coop.

Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Speaking of birds, after Caleb and I returned to South Carolina last month, Charles continued his adventures with the dogs, leaving my mom’s house in Nebraska and headed up to our usual old haunts in North Dakota. He did bring home German kuchen and sausages like I always ask for. It looks like the young dogs Sally and Duke got in on most of the action. He got excited and took the first picture in the morning before he had finished his harvest.

Sally and Duke with a couple of morning roosters

They ended day one with a limit of roosters and two sharptailed grouse

On the camp chain gang, from left to right: Duke, Sally, Ruth and Obi

On the second day, Ruth and Obi harvested three ducks and a pheasant, but there was no photo.

Day three Duke and Sally were back on duty and took two ducks and a pheasant.

Duke and Sally with two ducks and a pheasant

Obi, Sally, Ruth and Duke with the North Dakota harvest

North Dakota produces but does so with great effort. A person has to root pheasants out of little cattail patches in harvested fields, walk the rolling hills for sharptails and check scattered ponds for ducks. But it is always a fun hunt and we love checking in on the people that we’ve now seen almost annually for about 10 years.

Charles stopped back in the Nebraska Sandhills to work remotely for a few days and was able to get in a couple of more days of hunting. The first day was photographed with Duke getting in on a few ducks.

Duke with three Nebraska Sandhills ducks

We’re not sure what the rest of the hunting season holds for us, Charles may sneak in one more trip out west, there’s talk of looking for some North Carolina ruffed grouse, around the New Year there should be some woodcock moving through down here, we’ll just take it all as it comes. As much as we love the mild winters down here, we really have our sights set on Charles working remotely out of Nebraska once Caleb graduates high school in 2027. The hunting out west just cannot be beat.

I have a new friend who I would like to introduce you to. I bought back one of my “S” Litter pups since we won’t be repeating the Obi x Ruth cross again. She is just over a year old and I have her ready to NAVHDA Natural Ability test, but there are no test openings before she turns 16 months old. So my current plan is to use the AKC Junior Hunter as her puppy test this spring. What is really crazy is how much she looks like our foundation female, Sue. So here is little Briar getting a treat from Charles last night:

AKC/NAVHDA Bluestem’s Carolina Briar Thicket

Here is our foundation female Sue:

Sweetgrass Sandhill Sioux “Sue” our first female Griffon

Looking at Ruth and Obi, you never would have imagined that they would produce a pup with that coat, but it happened. Genetics are an interesting thing. Sue is Briar’s Great-Great Grandmother.

It is time to get on with the day, I will be sure to keep you posted with the breeding developments and any new hunting adventures that come about. Happy hunting to everyone out there in the fields!

“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 Seven Weeks and NAVHDA Invitational

September 17, 2023

Charity Upchurch NAVHDA, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Invitational 2023, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Charles and Obi didn’t get the Versatile Championship today, but they had a good experience at NAVHDA Invitational. I’m glad that they are safe after having a bolt come off of the truck yesterday and having a tie rod come loose in the middle of driving. Luckily Charles was driving slowly and it was only a trip to the repair shop. Rural Ohio and NAVHDA friends saved the day and I didn’t have to do a rescue mission.

But back to the test. Charles said that Obi struggled on the honor of retrieve and broke during a shot on the double mark. They ended up with 188 points, which would have been enough for a VC had Obi not broke on the shot. I will go into the test more when the official results come out and these puppies are home. Obi will retire from hunt testing as a NAVHDA Utility Prize I dog. We will not test over and over looking to requalify for Invitational.

This week was my first AWPGA board meeting, Caleb’s last week of club fencing (with the foils and masks) and helping Charles get ready for his trip, so we didn’t get a lot of structured activities done with the pups this week. Mostly we focused on letting them run the yard twice a day. They go for their microchips and first shots tomorrow, so that will be their first crated car ride. They went up and down stairs today. They’ve been playing inside the basement with the rain, so they know how to explore the house. This week I’ll do indoor crate conditioning, walking on a leash, intro to cap gun fire, and intro to live and dead birds. I’ll take pictures of that and post those with the homegoing photos from next weekend. It is going to be a busy week!

Each of these blocks of photos is a gallery, so you can click on the first image to make it larger and then page through.

Here’s some photos of them running in the field together:

Here’s some individual photos of the female pup, Tabitha:

Here’s the male pup, Tobin:

Here’s the last YouTube for this litter, as I do the rest of the work with them in still photos:

I am looking forward to putting puppies into people’s hands next weekend and starting our hunting season!

“T” Litter Six Weeks Old

September 10, 2023

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

It’s tough to believe that I have only two weeks left with these guys. This is the toughest part of this process aside from the whelping. There is a lot of poop to clean up. You have to schedule time to do the different exposures that you’re wanting to do now that they are ready. You’re really attached to them and wish that you could keep them.

But they are also super fun and I love seeing them start to venture out into the world.

And then here are the individual photos of the pups.

Female pup, Tabitha:

Male pup, Tobin:

Here’s this week’s YouTube video:

In other news, Obi and Charles finally get their big day next weekend in Ohio at NAVHDA Invitational 2023. Send good vibes their way for a successful VC pass!!

As of right now, all of the NAVHDA chapters in the Carolinas are in North Carolina. There is a South Carolina chapter making grumblings to form, so look for more information on that in the future.

It looks like the East Region AWPGA National Specialty 2024 is between North Carolina or Pennsylvania. Both areas are finishing up their bids and looking for the board to make an announcement of the decision at the 2023 National Specialty in Montana in less than two weeks. Should any of my puppy owners want to join the AWPGA and receive the quarterly Griffonnier magazine, feel free to put me down as your sponsor: https://www.awpga.com/2023-member-application-form.html

After Invitational we have some hunting plans coming together, so we’re looking forward to finally getting out for that. Having our son Caleb join us for his first wild bird season is pretty exciting.

If you have any questions about NAVHDA, the AWPGA, future litters, or anything griffy email bluestemkennels@gmail.com and we can find a time to connect on the phone if you’d like. I quit publishing a phone number after I was harassed non-stop by overseas robocallers, scammers and telemarketers when I did have a phone number published, so I took it all down and use email as my “are you a robot?” screening tool.

Good luck to everyone in the field and everyone headed to Montana for AWPGA National Specialty 2023.

Bluestem Kennels