Uncategorized | Bluestem Kennels

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

August 3, 2014

Charity Upchurch Hunting Forecasts, Regional Update and/or Misc., Uncategorized california quail hunting, grand canyon national park, great sand dunes national park, himalayan snowcock hunting, jesuits, mesa verde national park, monument valley navajo tribal park, mountain quail hunting, ruby mountains wilderness, yosemite national park Leave a comment

Into the Wilderness

I am not good at getting to church, but I made it up to church last night (random, yes, but I promise that this thread is going to tie back into hunting, so hang with me). When I go, it’s to St. John’s Catholic Church on the Creighton University campus, where I did my undergraduate studies. The Jesuits are amazing men of God and intellect, and always seem to know what to say when I need to hear it. Last night, Fr. Roc O’Conner S.J. was at the pulpit and he is absolutely one of my favorites; not only does he know liturgy and scholarship, but is also a talented singer and songwriter. In the homily he said, “Wilderness is a place for teaching and learning about God. Do not worry about what there is to eat or drink, for God provides.”

After traveling 4000 miles through the western US over the previous 2 weeks and with hunting season just around the corner, that just floored me. Charles and I have this bad habit of underpreparedness. Like we’ll see game from the truck and be like, “oh, we’ll just chase that group over there, it is just over that hill, we won’t be gone for long” and not bring water. Then 2 hours later we’re staggering back to the truck dying of thirst.

So towards the end of our trip we were hiking up to Liberty Pass (elev 10,450 ft.) at Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains Wilderness just east of Elko, Nevada. Well, we hadn’t planned on going to the pass, we were just going to the lake that was a couple of miles up the mountain. But once we got there, the pass looked so close and we decided that we were there and were going to march the kids to the top. Well, about a half-mile from the top, little 5 year-old Caleb tripped and fell into the rocks and scraped his arm up good. We assessed our water supply and decided that he was going to have to suck it up because we didn’t have enough water to rinse it off, plus make it the rest of the way up the mountain and back down. Additionally, the elevation was kicking his poor little butt and he was complaining of being hungry. We were making very little progress with his endless protests, when down the mountain came these two 70ish year-old ladies. They could see that Caleb was having a rough go and stopped to render aid. They had enough water to rinse his scrape and gave him a bag of trail mix to eat. I swear that they were angels and we never would have made it without them. So a big thank you to the two ladies that helped us on July 30.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into the barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 25-26

So as we prepare ourselves for the upcoming hunting season, let us remind ourselves that what we seek in the wilderness is a gift from God, and to respect and appreciate all that he provides for us on the land and in the air.

And so if you didn’t make it to church today, you got the Word according to Charity. And thus ends my sermon.

Liberty Pass at Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains Wilderness, Nevada

Serious Conditioning

After the trip, I feel like I’m coming into the season in better shape than I have in the last few. If you’ve been here for awhile, you know that this is a bad habit of mine since I’m somewhat of a professional glutton when I’m not wearing one of my many hats. But we got some major hiking in over the last couple of weeks and although I would love to start a food and travel blog, that would involve too much work, so you get to hear about it.

Our first hiking stop, and absolutely my worst showing, was at Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is about 25 miles north of Alamosa, Colorado. It is the least crowded National Park that I’ve ever been to (I’m also a bit of an NP junky). As I am a native of the Nebraska Sandhills, I figured that I needed to go and see the tallest open sand dunes in North America. It is a very tall dune range about 15 miles long that sits up next to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (which also look very cool and rugged, but we didn’t have time to tackle them).

Great Sand Dunes National Park

We arrived late morning, probably around 10:30 AM and it was already starting to warm up. There was no hiking barefoot as the sand was 100+ degrees in places and true to our bad habit of not being properly prepared, we were all in hiking sandals that filled up with sand every step. And the sand was loose so that your foot would sink in, and of course being the largest member of the expedition party I had a hell of a time. The kids and Charles were at the top of the dune yelling at me to finish. Next time we will be starting out at 6 AM with proper footgear and not such a rigorous agenda (we had to make it to Durango that evening).

Mom finally made it up the dune to get a pic.

(Notice that Charles is carrying my camera, that’s how bad it was.)

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

We were extremely lucky to get tickets to tour Cliff Palace, the largest of the ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park, which is about 35 miles west of Durango, Colorado. It wasn’t a long hike, but it had some very steep stair and ladder climbing involved and our group had a Dutch lady who had to drop out from almost fainting on the first staircase.

Charles spots Caleb on one of the ladders at Cliff Palace

After leaving Mesa Verde, our next stop was Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, which is on the Arizona/Utah border about 25 miles north of Kayenta, Arizona. This absolutely one of my favorite places on earth.

Sunrise over Monument Valley

(Photography aside: DO NOT look through your camera when taking pictures of the sun. It will fry your eyeballs. I hid behind the blackout curtain of the hotel room and stuck my hand out of the sliding glass door to take this photo.)

Clint Westwood of Monument Valley Safari in front of ancient petroglyphs

Clint Westwood, Navajo Nation Guide for Monument Valley Safari in front of ancient petroglyphs

Going back to my thoughts on people who somehow know what to say when you need to hear it, I am always in awe of what I learn from the First Nations people across the country. The summer that we got married, Charles and I lived on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, home of the Sicangu Lakota; he worked on a ranch and I wrote for the Sicangu Sun-Times, so we have a strong background in native culture and ceremony. As most of the visitors to Monument Valley are from Europe and Asia, we received a warm welcome and there was a lot of sharing going on between us and the Navajo. Everyone we met had relatives either currently living in our part of Indian Country, or had moved up here and had gone back. The plains tribes’ basketball teams also travel down there for all-native tournaments. It was a bit strange to be so far from our house, yet feel at home.

The farthest point into the valley on the Wildcat Trail

Poor Caleb gets pushed to his limits on our hikes, this photo was taken at mile 3 of our 4 mile hike into Monument Valley. My formerly brown sandals are still red from the sand. We really love the land and people of this place and talk of maybe living a year out there once we’re retired (a long time from now).

One last random vacation picture. I have done the South Rim drive through overlook tour of the Grand Canyon twice now and have to say that I will never do it again. Take the time to go to the North Rim, raft the river, or do a pack mule trip if you want to see the Grand Canyon. It is just one of those places that is wedged between other places that I really want to see, so I’ve never taken the time to do it properly.

Sorry for this blurry picture. We had literally just gotten out of bed and Charles pulled the curtain back on our room at the Yavapai Lodge of Grand Canyon Village and this was who was there to greet us.

Bull Elk outside of our window

Since I’m on the topic of big game, this is a banner year for antelope in Wyoming. We saw many does with twins, lots of large, healthy bucks, and probably over 100 antelope total along I-80. I wish that I had taken the time to photograph, but was just really road weary at that point and didn’t.

Visiting the Sierras and Quail

Our final destination was up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for my grandparents’ 70th wedding anniversary and the family reunion on my mom’s side. My grandparents came from ranch families in the Nebraska Sandhills, but left after WWII and my grandfather was an electrician in the budding San Fernando Valley. So yes, my mom and aunts are some of the original “Valley Girls”.

Okay, so when they retired, they moved right outside of the gates of Yosemite National Park to a town called Oakhurst. Similar to Valentine, Nebraska where my fraternal clan lives, all of my maternal clan is in Oakhurst. It really stabbed me in the heart when the first greeting we got from a relative was, “Welcome Home”. I tear up just thinking about it, as we had been away for far too long.

So whenever we have a reunion, my immediate family has a tradition that we go up to Yosemite with my Uncle Jim, who we are very close to. He is a stage tech in Spokane, Washington and just all around cool dude. I would call him an ex-hippy, except that I think he is probably still a hippy. But I love him and we have fun together.

The usual suspects, plus Uncle Jim

Our first stop was the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, because if you get there too late, they close the parking lot and you have to take a shuttle in (which we have never done, we just skip it if it is full). What we thought was going to be a nice hike looking at trees took a bird scouting turn, when we stumbled upon a male Mountain Quail tending to his 6-8 chicks. I did not have my telephoto lens on and had left my camera pack in the van, so we are actually this close to them.

First spotted by Charles on the trail

Feeling pressure, they moved into the trees

Male Mountain Quail with one of his 6-8 chicks

Male Mountain Quail with two of his 6-8 chicks

Just beautiful

Giant Sequoia

My grandmother apologized for our trip to Yosemite being a “disaster”, but really it was quite cool to see the Mountain Quail and a new side to the park that I hadn’t seen before (this would probably be my 5th or 6th visit). The normally green valley was dry and brown, smoke filled the air, and the waterfalls were non-existent. Both the El Portal and the French fires had started the day before, and we saw fire from Hwy 41.

Yosemite burning

Yosemite Valley in the smoke. Normally, Half Dome is visible on the right.

Last news I received is that they are still battling these fires. Pray for rain and for the safety of the firefighters out there.

But back to birds. Not only did we have our Mountain Quail sighting, but right on Rd 426 going up the mountain out of Oakhurst, we saw loads of California Quail action. They are the ones that look like the Partridge Family, with the blob on the end of their head plumage. I was always too busy scurrying between family events to slow down for them and the one time that Charles was driving and we slowed down to look, my camera bag was back in the hotel. Argh. So I snagged this photo from the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy website.

Male and female California Quail (photo from sanelijo.org)

According to my relatives, their coveys can number in the hundreds and really prefer the shrubby areas of the lower Sierras. My cousin-in-law Ryan, who grew up there, says that he used to hunt them with success as a kid using his Red Ryder BB gun. The bag limit on Mountain and California Quail is 10 per day per hunter, which tells you how abundant they are and how few people actually hunt them. So a combo Christmas with the family and quail hunting trip is definitely in the works within the next 2-3 years.

Battle Mountain Chukar Tournament

Billboard for the Battle Mountain Chukar Tournament

We were making time through chukar country, so the only chukar that we saw on the trip was for the Battle Mountain, Nevada Chukar Tournament. So, now I have a new item on my bucket list http://battlemountaintourism.com/chukar-tournament/. But once again, beating my tired old drum, I would have to get into much better shape.

Chukar country is intimidating

The Ruby Mountains of Nevada and the Himalayan Snowcock

Back in the 1960’s the Nevada Department of Wildlife stocked the Ruby Mountains just east of Elko, Nevada with Himalayan Snowcock, which is essentially a giant chukar native to Pakistan and Nepal. Our fellow upland crazy Brian Koch of ultimateupland.com took a crack at them a couple of years ago, so we had to see what it was all about. Check out Brian’s adventure at http://www.ultimateuplandlodge.com/magazine/read/climbing-for-the-birds_136.html

Himalayan Snowcock in Nepal (photo from summitpost.org)

The Himalayan Snowcock is to North American upland hunters what the Dall Sheep is to North American big game hunters. The badass trophy. You have to be super tough, at peak fitness, and acclimated to altitude. Not to mention a crack shot, because you are going to get less than a handful of chances, if any. Our climb into Liberty Pass just got us into the elevation that we would start seeing them (which we never did, as it is a well traveled trail and a 5 year-old, 10 year-old and 13 year-old don’t hike this hard without some loud wailing involved).

But at 5.2 million acres and rugged high elevation, the Ruby Mountains were gorgeous and impressive. They call it the Yosemite of Nevada, as it was carved by glaciers similarly. When we get trained up for the Rubies, this is a situation where we would want a guide. We just don’t have the time a resources to do the scouting needed to locate them on our own. So if anyone knows of any good guides for Himalayan Snowcock, let me know. Actually, in looking for a photo online I found Nevada High Desert Outfitters who specializes in guiding for the bird, so if anyone has any feedback on them let me know.

The view up the trail to Liberty Pass from the End of the Road parking lot at Lamoille Canyon.

Just above Lamoille Lake

Stopping for a break. Snow on the ground still in late July.

Stopping for a break at the treeline. Snow on the ground still in late July.

The view of the back side of Liberty Pass. Extremely daunting.

Well, I need to wrap this business up. My suitcases are still sitting in the living room, but everyone is home (dogs included) and we’re all safe and sound. I knew that you had missed me, so I thought that I had better get something out. I’ll be back later in the week with the normal dog news and pupdates. Until then, keep searching for adventure.

(Oh and I have to give credit to Maya Angelou for the title.)

Introducing Ben, etc.

July 15, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Uncategorized Heartland NAVHDA Chapter, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

Introducing Ben

We will be using Ben as the sire on the litter planned with Velma (De Jac’s Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah) for 2015. Ben is from our 2011 “B” Litter between Sam and Sue. We had him here as an overnight guest last week in order to get his hips X-rayed, which is really just a formality as there is no sign of anything wrong. It is just one of those things that you are supposed to do before breeding a dog.

Ben has a wonderful temperament: he only barked once or twice out in the kennel even though it wasn’t home and he let me mess with him up on the grooming table without putting up a fight. He is strictly a wild bird hunter of quail, sharptailed grouse, and pheasant here in Nebraska. He lives on a farm outside of Lincoln with Nate and his family. We plan on taking our next stud puppy out of the Velma and Ben litter, they really compliment each other well in their conformation.

Ben on point last fall on a hen pheasant.

Ben au natural, before any grooming

Ben after being brushed, before trim

Ben after a full trim and bath

Ben with Nate ready to head home

I was really blown away by Ben’s head furnishings, neither of his parents have anything near that long. I would put his eyebrows and beard at around 4 in. long. His face really makes me think of the West Coast show griffs. His body coat is more of the hunter lines liver coat, but it isn’t flat like some, it does have a curl to it like Sam’s. Then the chest and the legs have lots of gray fringe on them. He also isn’t too big, 64 lbs. and probably 23 in. at the shoulder, so really the perfect size and right in breed standard. We hope to get out this fall and do some hunting with him too, so I’ll have more pictures of him then.

Retiree Update

Mae is doing really well with my brother Ron, and his Siberian Husky Whisper. Whisper used to escape and run away all of the time, but that has changed now that he has an old lady. Mae was fixed before I moved her, so there will be no griff/husky cross puppies (although it was much talked about in jest beforehand). They sit around the yard all day, then play fight in the house at night.

Mae and Whisper doing what they do best.

Stan shared a cute picture of old Sue running with Savannah down the driveway, she seems to be very happy playing with the kids. Trey is 12 this year and passed his hunter’s safety, so game birds in Mellette County, South Dakota be warned.

Sue and Savannah on a jog.

Fire Training Update

Last weekend, Charles took our 5-month old puppy, Fire, out to Skyline Sportsmen’s Club in Thurman, Iowa for training with the Heartland NAVHDA Chapter. She did her first exercise with live shotgun fire and did just fine. She also retrieved bumpers from the water. The veterans of the chapter said that she is ready for her Natural Ability test, so we will go ahead and move that up to October of this year. We were talking about doing it in the spring, but will go ahead and move it up and do the UPT test in Spring of 2015. That way we can get her through the Utility Test prior to her coming into breeding age, probably Fall of 2015.

Pupdate

Cliff in Oklahoma sent over a great update on Bluestem Belle, from our “C” litter of 2012 between Sam and Mae. That would make her a littermate to Chester in New York and TracHer in North Dakota who we get frequent updates from. Here’s what Cliff had to say:

Belle has been just almost the perfect pet. She is so personable and most always very obedient. I will take partial credit on the obedient attribute. We had her spayed prior to her coming into heat the second time, so about 16 months ago. After going through one cycle of wearing doggie diapers and having to be careful what dogs we hunted around that first fall, I didn’t want to go through that again! She is an inside-outside pet. Inside when we are home, but outside if we are going to be gone more than a couple hours. We got our yard fenced shortly after bringing her home, so she has about half an acre to be in.

I continue to be amazed on how smart she is. She can open doors (we have door handles instead of door knobs), know toy names, and last week she fetched my socks and shoes to put on so we could go on a walk! When we go to our public walking area, I usually don’t have her on a leash unless we are about to walk past another dog or geese. She always wants to get in my truck to go someplace. There is a pub in Stillwater that allows pets on leash. Attached is a picture of her in front of a menu board.

She does great hunting, super nose and follows commands: verbal, whistle & hand directions. One of our most fun days out last season was the Jan 31st in north-central Kansas. We woke up to new and continuing snow. Belle loved hunting in that cold and snow. Attached are a couple pictures of her that day. She was caked in snow and had a vast number of icicles in her beard.

I look forward to seeing more of your posts.

Belle at Finnegan’s Pub

Belle in the Kansas snow

Belle on point

Thanks so much to Cliff for that update, I am pleased with how all of these pups have turned out and it really bolsters my spirit to hear from my owners. Infinite gratitude.

General Blog Ramblings

It is hard to believe that I’m fast approaching 300,000 lifetime hits on a totally homemade blog about an obscure breed of hunting dogs written by a gal who considers herself half redneck and half intellectual. I suppose I could sell ads on my YouTube videos and convert this over to a site where I could put ads on it, but it is a passionate hobby and am fearful of taking myself too seriously. But when I am able to see folks from all over the world reading it, like daily hits from Brazil during the World Cup (probably some Dutch and German griffon enthusiasts), it makes me feel pretty self-conscious and aware that I’m representing my breed and my sport internationally. I need to do a better job of being a professional about it and not so flippant. I appreciate you, my readers, for making me feel appreciated and tolerating my sometimes lazy and goofy posts.

I have also finally committed to going to Maine at the end of August for AWPGA National Specialty and the Korthals Cup. I am looking forward to seeing some good friends and meeting some of the East Coast US and Quebec griffonniers that I’ve only encountered online. If you’d like to join us, registration is open until August 1st http://www.awpganationalspecialty.com/.

Enjoy the end of summer and stay cool. Griffs love kiddie pools, so bust one out if you haven’t already.

One last thing: I finally updated the gallery on the About Us/Contact page to include the last two years of our adventures, so be sure to check that out. The button is in the brown top navigation bar.

NAVHDA Handler’s Clinic, our first Best of Breed, and other news…

July 1, 2014

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Dog Grooming, Kennel Update, Uncategorized Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Heartland NAVHDA Chapter, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA Handler's Clinic, Nebraska Sandhills, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Valentine Nebraska, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

The Countdown Begins

It was only in the 50s when the sun was coming up this morning and it set Sam a-howling, which seemed appropriate to me because my first thought when I woke up was, “only two months left and it will be hunting season again”. Although I’m very excited, I’m also a bit nervous since we’ve retired all of our older females at this point and I’ll be hunting with Sam. It will be my first time hunting by myself with a male dog, and Sam and I have our moments where he thinks there is room for debate as to who is the dominate player in our relationship. But I’m sure we’ll get it sorted out and have a grand time as we always do.

Opening weekend 2011: Charity, Ryan Tompkins, Chas, then Sue, Sam, and BB.

Opening weekend 2011: Charity, Ryan Tompkins, Charles, then Sue, Sam, and BB.

Best of Breed

I am just beside myself at the success of Bluestem Big Sky Rendezvous NA I “Midge” in both the field and the show ring. She is from our 2013 “F” litter from Sam and Mae. Only a couple of weeks after her Prize I NAVHDA Natural Ability test with a score of 112, she took Best of Breed on June 20th at the Electric City Kennel Club Dog Show in Great Falls, Montana. The competition in Montana is tough and I am just thrilled. Infinite thanks to owners/handlers Lou and Lindsay Volpe.

Midge has a stretch after her BOB win at Montana Expo Park

NAVHDA Handler’s Clinic

The first and most important thing I have to say about NAVHDA Handler’s Clinics is: GO. I wish that we had gone 10 years ago, as it would have saved us numerous hours of time in both research and training. We were lucky to have 3 judges with us over the weekend: our own Tracey Nelson and Chuck Casanova, and our instructor, Jason Wade from the Sebasticook and Yankee Chapters in Maine. The first day was devoted to going over the Aims, Programs and Test booklet that covers the elements of the Natural Ability, Utility Preparatory, Utility, and Invitational Tests. We then scored two dogs at the Natural Ability level. The second day we scored a UPT and a UT dog, then finalized any remaining questions. It was a great combination of direct instruction, guided practice, then finished with independent practice. Kudos to Tracey and her family at Skyline Sportsmen’s Club in Thurman, Iowa for being gracious hosts to the Heartland Chapter yet again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pupdates

Speaking of the NAVHDA Chapters in Maine, Tyson out in Bangor sent me a pic of Moose doing some work at a recent training day. Moose is from our 2014 “H” litter from Sam and Mae and is 12 weeks old in the picture.

Moose retrieving a chukar

Kaylee down in Missouri shared this cute pic recently of my pup Fire’s sister, Willow, working on the water retrieve. Willow is from our 2014 “G” litter of Sam and BB. I love the confident look in her eyes, like, “I’ve got this!”

Willow is proud of her duck dummy

I just love all of the pics that Susan and Tom up in North Dakota get of TracHer and the pretty flowers. Here is Susan and TracHer, who is from our 2011 “C” litter from Sam and Mae. Don’t be fooled by her show dog looks, she’s tearing up the sloughs, ponds, and prairies up there.

Susan and TracHer in the summer flowers

As always, many thanks to all of my owners for sharing photos with me and giving great homes to our pups.

Mae’s Retirement

We spent the solstice/wedding anniversary weekend up in the Nebraska Sandhills, enjoying time in the outdoors with family and friends.

Caleb, Fire, Charles, BB, Cordelia, Conrad, Mae, and Sam at our special swimming spot

Mae has been officially retired to Valentine, Nebraska to live with my brother, Ron, and his 1 1/2 year old Siberian Husky, Whisper. The initial introduction of the two dogs was a bit dicey, but they settled in with each other quickly and are good friends.

Mae and Whisper chilling in my brother’s yard

Burr season is here

As I was writing this, I received a panicked phone call from a griff owner asking about how to deal with burr mats in the coat. If we run the dogs in burrs, I try to brush them the same or the next day to prevent matting. Should I forget to do this and a mat develops, I try to brush it out with a wide toothed comb or burr puller. I make sure to grab the fur close to the skin before I start yanking on it with the comb. There are spray-on liquid detanglers that you can buy at the pet store to help with this. If it will not come out and the dog is crying and/or trying to grab your hand with its mouth, it is okay to cut the mat out with scissors if you have to.

I had better move on with my day, even though it seems like there is always more to write, but the littlest one is asking for me to fix him a hot breakfast. So everyone have a safe and Happy 4th of July! Keep the dogs inside or kenneled a safe distance from fireworks so they don’t try to eat them like my little cocker spaniel did when I was a child:)

“H” Litter 7.5 weeks

May 20, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Dog Training, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

Well the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. I was going to blog this weekend before the puppies started going home. I managed to get their pictures and video on Sunday, but here I am blogging in between puppies going to their new homes. Oh well, better late than never. Saturday morning Charles and Conrad took our 3 1/2 month old pup, Fire, out with a few quail; just to plant them and let her point and flush them. Then the whole family went and picked up some more quail for training this spring on Saturday from one of our game bird breeders down by Lincoln, so that was a road trip. Then Sunday we took our weekly dog exercise hike.

So here are the last shots of the “H” Litter 2014 from Sam and Mae before going home. Everyone goes home today except for one going over the weekend. Mae will be spayed at the end of the week, then head up to her retirement home with my brother in Valentine, Nebraska mid-June.

Herbert is staying in Omaha (not with us!)

Harold goes to North Dakota

Harriet goes to South Dakota

Hez will live in Maine

Hope is headed to Wyoming

The video this week is a little random and slightly controversial in dog training circles. Playing with the dead quail in such an uncontrolled environment should be very limited. Here I am doing it in the litter setting just to activate prey drive. Notice how they want to fight over it and hard-mouth it. That is why it is limited and I don’t recommend doing this at home with your new pup. Once you have your pup home, you want to work on retrieving with toys and dummies. Once they have that down, then you can graduate to retrieving a carcass. But don’t let them get rough with it like they do here. The second portion of the video has Charles playing with the pups with a wing. Once again, something that should be very limited if you do it at all. Ideally you’re looking for the pup to point the wing, but these guys are in their play yard and not in a training environment, so they just want to chase it. These pups are great pointers, but not the best on-call actors. If you look at the pics of Herbert and Harold, they are pointing the clicking of my camera. .

If you want a step-by-step “gun dog puppy training for dummies”, you can’t beat Richard Wolter’s Gun Dog. Here is a review I wrote of the book a few years back, you can pick up a copy on Amazon: https://bluestemkennels.com/2010/07/22/book-review-gun-dog-by-richard-a-wolters/

Here is the aforementioned YouTube puppy video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsQRVSpAsCA&feature=youtu.be

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the kids, so I’m looking forward to a puppy-free (with the exception of our Fire, of course) summer. Really working on getting into shape with September 1st on the brain and already excited to get back out in the hunting fields and swamps. I’ll post the homegoing pictures after the last pup goes home over the weekend. I hope that everyone enjoys their Memorial Day holiday and remembers those who gave their lives so that we can enjoy the awesomeness that is America.

Playing with Fire and “H” Litter 6.5 weeks

May 12, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

The puppy that we kept out of the “G” litter, “Fire” from Sam and BB is doing well. She is 3 months old right now and weighs about 17 pounds. We took her out with 3 of our captive quail on Friday, unfortunately 2 of them got away from us before she could get on to them, but we did have one good point and flush. My video camera was out of battery, so I only took a couple of stills from the day.

Three-month old Fire getting used to working out in front.

Fire pointing the planted quail.

Fire is doing okay on housebreaking, we still have an accident every few days. Instead of putting her in the ex-pen in the front yard for bathroom breaks, we’re working her on the puppy-gauge checkcord which is good practice for when we start to train with the adult-sized checkcord. Probably the biggest difficulty we’ve had with her the past week is with her stomach. She is obsessed with my hair ties and has stolen from the night stand and eaten about 5 of them. They’ve either passed back up or through, but I don’t want her getting a blockage from them, so they are hanging high from here on out. Also, she must have gotten into some wormy deer or rabbit poop out back, as we had to fight off a bad case of roundworm. Luckily, two days of dosing her with the over-the-counter liquid puppy de-wormer seemed to do the trick. So hopefully the stomach concerns are over for now.

The big dogs are all fine, just ready for their spring grooming. And of course my last litter of puppies for 2014, they start going home a week from tomorrow. They are all just wonderful pups and their owners should be very excited; they’re pretty feisty and are ready for some more individual time. In addition to our own de-sensitizing with the cap gun, one of our neighbors has been getting a new roof, so there has been plenty of popping going on. We had a 100 degree day on Wednesday, so I was outside with the dogs most of the day keeping them cool in the pool. They love to pick up random objects and carry them around. Plus they are super friendly! I have one of my frozen dead quail thawing out and we’ll play with that this week, then Friday is their vet appointment for microchips and shots. Here are their individual pictures:

Girl: Hope

Girl: Harriet

Boy: Hez

Boy: Harold

Boy: Herbert

This week’s YouTube is pretty funny, as it features my five-year old son, Caleb, absconding into the woods with two of the puppies and me trying to get them all to come back. You can see how active they are now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rnFdgULxIU&feature=youtu.be

Charles and our ten-year old son, Conrad, went out on Saturday to give a hand at the Heartland Chapter NAVHDA Spring test. They got to meet one of the Switchgrass griffons out of Oklahoma and were pleased with the dog’s performance. Plus it was just good for them both to get out with the dog people.

We weathered last night’s storm just fine, it was really no more than an average thunderstorm here, but I know that there are folks west of us who lost homes, barns, and animals, so our prayers go out to them and we’re thankful to all be safe here. I hope that both dog and human mothers had a blessed Mother’s Day yesterday. I’ll be sure to catch up with you again this weekend before the pups start going home.

“H” Litter at 5 1/2 weeks

May 5, 2014

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, Dog Training, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 1 Comment

The puppies are doing very well, they are now excited to get out of the kennel a few times a day instead of being scared to go out of it. It is hard to believe that they will start going home two weeks from tomorrow. After the week of rain we’ve had some nice sunny days, so it gives them the opportunity to experience all of the sights, sounds, and smells of spring.

We’ve been running the big dogs out in the country every weekend now, it really helps with control when we’re back at the house. Although we have an acre that is attached to the neighbors’ 4 acres, they need to get out into a hunting field that often to blow off steam. Plus it is good exercise for us and kids.

Here are the pictures of the pups:

Girl: Hope

Girl: Harriet

Boy: Hez

Boy: Harold

Boy: Herbert

Here is the weekly video update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAKwT7lR9ak&feature=youtu.be

Susan and Tom shot some video of practicing with a live duck retrieve with TracHer up in North Dakota. TracHer really gets out there and swims just like her dad, Sam. She is from our 2012 “C” litter of Mae and Sam. Thanks to Susan and Tom for letting me share their video: https://vimeo.com/93433615

Happy 4th birthday to my “A” Litter of 2010 from Sue and Sam, the litter that started all of this craziness! It is funny how all of this versatile hunting dog stuff has totally taken over our lives and I am so thankful for all of the wonderful people we have met through pup and clubs such as NAVHDA and AWPGA. Time to get outside and let everyone out, so I’ll catch up with you next week.

“H” litter 4.5 weeks and Big Wins

April 28, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

We have had lots of rain, which you are never allowed to complain about in Nebraska, but it has made getting photos and video a bit challenging over the last week. The puppies are really getting up and around. They are taking their first few steps outside of the kennel when the door is open, but would rather just play around in the safety of the fence at this point. I have weaned them from soft canned food and they are totally on hard puppy kibble now.

Charles took Fire, our 11 week old female from the “H” litter, out for her first introduction to flying game birds (no gun). I had too much to do at home, but the oldest boy went and I should have enlisted him to take some pictures. Oh well, you can’t catch it all.

BB and Sam are ready for training season too and are really needing extra exercise these days to burn off their energy. BB was a bonebag when the pups were here, but she filled back out nicely. Charles is talking about working on AKC Master Hunter training with BB and going through that process over the next few years. He’d like to do more walking field trials with her too. We’ll see, he stays pretty busy at work.

We are 4 months away from sharptailed grouse opener in the Sandhills, so I’ve got the health kick going on so that I don’t die out there. I should probably get out to the skeet range one of these days too.

But back to the puppies! Here are their individual photos updated:

Girl: Hope

Girl: Harriet

Boy: Hez

Boy: Harold

Boy: Harold (front)

Boy: Herbert

And this week’s YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWnqToBOngc&feature=youtu.be

Pupdates

We’ve had some great showings out of Sam and Mae’s pups from the past couple of years recently. Bluestem Big Sky Rendezvous CGC “Midge” from our 2013 “F” Litter won Winners Bitch both days against some big name competition at the Peninsula Dog Fanciers Club show in Bremerton, WA in March. She also just completed her AKC Canine Good Citizen title a couple of weeks ago. Memorial Day weekend will be her NAVHDA Natural Ability Test and we wish them the best of luck! Great job owner-handler Lindsay Volpe at the show! Go Lou and Midge at the test!

Lindsay and Midge striking a pose with Gabe and Frannie in the background

We also just received word that Bluestem Winchester NA II “Chester” from our 2012 “C” Litter passed the first two legs of his AKC Senior Hunter title over the weekend at the Long Island, NY German Shorthaired Pointer Club. He will continue working towards the rest of his SH title this spring and begin working on NAVHDA UT as well. The East Coast might have a new stud dog in the making here! Congratulations Sal and Chester!

Chester showing off his bling with owner Sal

Well, that’s the update for the week, thank you as always to my owners for giving me such great brags! We wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

Hard to believe that the puppies will be 5 weeks old tomorrow, so the final countdown begins with 3 weeks to go for homegoing. This is the most fun of having the litter when we get to do more outside with them, but the paperwork and vetting all starts to kick in too, so it keeps it busy. So stay springy until next week.

Welcome “H” Litter 2014

March 29, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Uncategorized Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment

Sorry for the delay in announcement, but things are busy here! We did not have to induce Mae because she and I got up Tuesday morning and walked 2 miles between 5 and 6 AM, then another 3 miles at midday. Her first puppy was born at around 5:30 PM and her last live birth was around 11 PM. She had 5 healthy live births, 3 boys and 2 girls. There were two stillborns, the second puppy born which was small and malformed, then the last puppy born sometime in the night, which was about the size of a three week old puppy hence Mae’s misleadingly large size. Mae did a wonderful job whelping her last litter. She has been a terrific natural whelper and great mother to the three litters she has had with us. I was very glad to have her go into labor on her own, as I am a big proponent of natural birth in all living things. All three of my kids were born naturally with nurse midwives. So I guess this makes me a dog midwife, huh? With this being my eighth litter, I’m starting to feel like a pro.

Well, here they are! I haven’t handled them much, so I can’t yet pick out the boys from the girls. They had their tails and dew claws done on Wednesday, along with being inspected by the veterinarian. Everyone checked out so we’ll hope for smooth sailing from here on out!

Four day old “H” Litter puppies

And a quick YouTube video:

Bluestem Kennels Wirehaired Pointing Griffons “H” Litter 4 days old

Today is my son Caleb’s 5th birthday and my mom is in town for the weekend for a visit, so I had better run. I will get my last post up about “G” litter before they head to their new homes along with some pupdates sometime during the week.

“G” Litter 6 weeks old and still waiting for “H” litter

March 24, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

Puppy shoppers please note: My 2014 reservation list is currently closed and all puppies born or unborn this year are spoken for. Next breedings are scheduled for Spring 2015.

Poor Mae is just completely miserable and has been for the last 5 days or so. She either lays around and moans, sleeps and snores really loudly, is at the door wanting to go out for every tiny tinkle or turd, or outside walking around (tinkling and micro-turding). According to my calculations, as of today she is 3 days overdue from first mating. But she was with Sam for another 5 days after that, so there is no cause for alarm just yet. Just as a precaution, I took her to the vet today. She weighs 81 pounds and is “full of puppies’ as the vet said. The vet tech asked me whether or not she has “had a large litter before”. Well, not yet, but I think that this will be the first. We didn’t bother to do an X-ray since we’ll know how many puppies are in there soon. She is dilated and should start labor at any time. If she doesn’t start by Wednesday, the vet will induce with the oxytocin shot.

Giant pregnant Mae in the woods

Giant pregnant Mae flopped out on the kitchen floor

BB’s 13 puppies are doing very well and growing like weeds! At 6 weeks old, they only have 2 weeks to go before they head to their new homes. Here are some snapshots from their running around the yard yesterday.

Laying in the leaves

“Whassup?”

On the run

Charles generates a mob scene with the quail

Sniffing the quail

More sniffing the quail

First retrieve

And of course, the weekly YouTube video:

I have some pupdates and brags from previous year’s litters that I need to be sure to get up next time I blog, which should be soon to welcome the “H” litter! It’s for real this time, next time your hear from me there will be more puppies!! Send us good vibes!

“G” Litter 5 weeks old and waiting for “H” Litter

March 19, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

I figured that I had better get this week’s blog post knocked out before Mae starts whelping (to those who are puppy shopping, all of my 2014 litters are spoken for and my next breedings will be for Spring 2015 puppies)! We started out this morning in the first stages of pre-labor, where there is quite a bit of unproductive grunting around (like she’s going to poop or pee) but nothing comes out. She is taking a nap now, but I have to get this done, then go grab a new bulb for my heat lamp and some more bags of puppy kibble at the farm store, then we’ll be ready to rock and roll. Puppies should be here tonight or tomorrow if things go the way that I think they will. But who knows what mother nature has in mind, it might be over the weekend.

Mae full of babies on the front sidewalk (the metal goat photobomb was an accident)

“G” Litter turned 5 weeks old on Sunday and has transitioned to the kennel and insulated dog house well, their body heat and snuggling keeps them all warm with these variable temperatures. They’ve even woken up a couple of mornings to dustings of snow. It didn’t seem to bother them this morning at all, they were whining at the gate to get out into the woods when I went to give them some more food. They are going through 1-2 gallon buckets full of kibble every day and are on straight Diamond Puppy kibble now with nothing else added. They enjoy playing with the human kids and running around. Less than 3 weeks to go until they go to their new homes and I’m not sure if I am ready to let them go! I don’t even have to chase them around the woods to get them back into the kennel when play time is over, I just call them in and they all come. That will probably change soon as they get more bold and independent.

Here are their individual photos for this week. Some of them are better than others. It has more to do with my photography and being in a hurry than it does with the puppy. Some of them posed lovely, some of them are a bit odd and blurry. But hey, it is better than nothing.