All of these pups are spoken for, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com regarding future litters.
I’ve had a busy weekend getting the puppies de-wormed and keeping them fed, exercised and their kennel cleaned, so I’m a little late on posting. I took the photos out of normal order, so I’m going to drop those in first, post my YouTube video and I need to get on my way for the evening and get ready for the week.
I’ll be getting with the future owners over the next week and a half about what we think is the right placement for everyone, the males are all so even, it is going to be a tough decision. They all look great as you can see! Catch you all next week!
All of these puppies have homes, but if you’d like to talk to us about future litters shoot us an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
I’m a day late to post because yesterday the basement was just beyond stinky with the pups and the weather was nice enough to move them and their kennel to the back porch. They’ve made the transition from puppy mush to kibble over the last week and they still nurse when Briar lets them.
Here is this week’s YouTube video:
And here are their individual photos. Although most of the new owners and I don’t decide who is going where exactly for a couple of more weeks, we did decide that the girl is going to Kentucky to live with an electrical lineman and his girlfriend since he is gone for long periods of time during storms and she’ll be able to handle the female better. Now it is just a matter of figuring out which male will go where!
All of the puppies are spoken for, but feel free to reach out to bluestemkennels@gmail.com to inquire about future litters.
After we did our puppy video and individual puppy pictures, the little ones got their first mush meal. I mix canned puppy food with puppy milk replacer and they love it. It is always a mess since I start by spoon feeding them, then blobbing some on their blanket and letting them find the bowl. They should be ready for the puppy saucer going forward, but it is good to have the first taste out of the way so that I know they are ready for it.
First taste of puppy mush
The pups are getting up on their feet, barking, howling and wagging their tails. They are starting to seek and enjoy human attention. This is where I feel comfortable really starting to take them out of the whelping box and playing with them. If we get a warm day soon, we can go outside (but it looks like that is at least a week away).
Here is this week’s YouTube video:
Then here are their individual puppy photos. This is probably going to be the last time that I can get their individual photos by myself on an elevated surface. We’ll either have to be on the ground or I’ll have to have Caleb help me going forward.
Female:
Female, Victoria, faceFemale, Victoria, back
Males:
Male, Vincent, faceMale, Vincent, backMale, Valentino, faceMale, Valentino, back (you can see his heart spot, hence the name)Male, Vaughn, faceMale, Vaughn, backMale, Vance, faceMale, Vance, back
I spent lots of time playing with and feeding puppies today, so I need to get on with my evening. I’m glad to share with you all these cute little beings and how they grow and develop. I’ll be back next weekend.
All of these puppies are spoken for, but if you’d like to inquire about future litters, feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
The five puppies of the “V” Litter are off to a strong start and mama Briar is taking great care of them. I’m not having to rotate pups or fuss over any of them. There are four boys and one girl and they are all fat and healthy.
Briar and the five pups of the “V” Litter at two weeks old
I like to just show life as it exists and didn’t want to mess with Briar as she was nursing, so she did have a wood chip in her bangs that covered her eye. They are warm and snug in the house during this cold weather and won’t go outside at all until they are at least four weeks old. That is when they are old enough to regulate their body temperature.
Here is this week’s YouTube video:
Now we have their individual photos and kennel names. These are names that I just give them to identify them in photos, I don’t actually call them by these names.
Female
Female, Victoria, faceFemale, Victoria, back
Males:
Male, Vincent, faceMale, Vincent, backMale, Valentino, face
Male, Valentino, back
Male, Vaughn, faceMale, Vaughn, backMale, Vance, faceMale, Vance, back
They all look a little funny at this age being so small, but I look forward to sharing with you every week as they grow! Check back next weekend for the next installment.
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.
VC Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I x 2 “Obi” and Charles with their NAVHDA Invitational Pass Photo by Ted WentinkObi on point at NAVHDA Invitational. Photo by Terry Ann FernandoObi retrieves a chukar to Charles with an Iowa skyline in the background. Photo by Terry Ann FernandoCharles 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 SandhillsHe also got a duck later on, so we took a photo of that back at his grandma’sCharles 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 roosterBelle and Obi with a couple of roosters and a grouse in North DakotaBriar retrieving a rooster on day two of North DakotaDuke and a couple of roosters on the last day of North DakotaThe 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 SummerfeltBriar 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 NebraskaCharles with Obi and Belle and some Nebraska pheasants and quail at the end of the first dayDuke 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.
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.
Ron, Ruth and BonnieRon with Fire, Bonnie with RuthGracie 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 SandhillsLeft 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 on the runBriar and Belle checking something out.Belle retrieving a stick in the water
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.:
Briar standing in the prairieBriar checking something outBriar on the move through the grassBriar on the water retrieve
Here are some field shots of Sally:
Sally taking a stroll on the prairieSally with a look of joy on her face
Here’s our younger male, Duke:
Duke on the run with Obi in the backgroundDuke 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 backgroundDuke and Obi going all-out in the field
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.
Prairie chicken in flight!
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.
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 in the field
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 looking backAnother over the shoulder of BelleThe flying ears run of BelleA little mock point movement from BelleBelle’s free stack listening to a motorcycle go by
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.
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 AlabamaUnity 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 AlabamaRyan 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.Uma flew with Saxon yesterday to Texas.
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).
My time with these little ones is coming to a close soon, we go to the veterinarian for final checks, shots and microchips on Thursday, then they start to go home on their eight week birthday on Monday. I’m only doing spring litters at this point, so my next litter won’t be until 2025. Feel free to reach out to bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are thinking about getting on a list for that time. There are several people who already have deposits down, but things always change with us since the deposits are fully refundable. We pride ourselves in being reputable breeders of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons; you can see the health clearances, hunt titles and pedigrees of our dogs on the “About Our Dogs” page.
They’ve all done really well with cap gun fire exposure, I call them to meals by banging on a metal bucket with a rod, so loud noises have a positive meaning for them. As long as their new owners focus on working with bird contact excitement while exposing them to things such as starter pistols and eventually shotgun fire, they won’t have problems with gunfire conditioning. I still like Richard Wolters Gun Dog as an easy place to start with puppies in book form. Of course, once your puppy is fully vaccinated you should take him or her to their first NAVHDA training day for advice too! Griffons don’t do very well with being sent away for training since they are so attached to their people, so if you decide to work with a professional, have them work with both you and the dog together.
Their favorite toys are rope bones and hard rubber balls. They eat Diamond Puppy food twice per day, about 3/4 cup per pup each feeding. They are all used to wearing collars and have been exposed to walking on a leash briefly (if owners want to pick out and bring their own collars, they are wearing the small 8-12 inch size). They naturally tug and resist the leash at first, as you can see here in this photo:
They’ll get their first crate exposure later on this week as well. I recommend puppy families put the crate next to their bed and start nighttime crate training right away. I will take them out at night when they wake up for the first week or so and as needed to avoid accidents. After a week or two they usually sleep through the night as long as they are getting plenty of exercise during the day.
I’ve been walking them twice per day around the farm, for about an hour of exercise per day. It makes it so that they are calm in the kennel. I do not work on them with housebreaking, but if you take them out once an hour or so, then every time they wake up from a nap, they will naturally learn to hold it until they go out. Just give them a firm “no” when you catch them starting to piddle and don’t give them too much room to roam where you can’t see them. I use lots of baby gates to keep a pup in the room with me when I am housebreaking. If you don’t have time to watch them, they need to be crated.
Okay, so here are the photos from the live and dead bird exposure. The set up I use is to take them out of the kennel, walk them to the live chukar in a cage on a leash, after they check out the live bird I pick them up and praise them on the way to the ex-pen where the dead quail on a string sits. I keep the interactions fun, low pressure and positive. I don’t make them pick up the dead quail, I let them just sniff it or pull feathers off if they want to. So these are the last photos of the litter before they go home to their families!
Females
Unique
Unity
Ursula
Uma
Uschi
Males:
Ulysses
Uriah
Upman
And here’s the last video for this litter:
Next time you’ll hear from us will be with the puppies homegoing photos! Enjoy spring until then!
Time is getting shorter and shorter with this bunch. For those of you who check in with my often, you all know that my litters are spoken for well before they are bred. For those of you who are new to my blog and are looking for a puppy in the future, feel free to reach out to me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com. It is taking me a few days to get back with folks since I am so busy with not only these six week old puppies, but I just trained the new editor of the AWPGA magazine the Griffonnier, and I’m working on more preparations for the 2024 National Specialty in North Carolina in November. Whew!!
I needed a new headshot with the puppies, so here I am (from a week and a half ago, the pups are smaller here than they are now):
Spring in the Carolinas with puppies and pear blossoms (and sun in my eyes!)
And here is Charles from his latest NAVHDA Utility Test run with Cedar & Spruce’s Apollo NA III, UT III “Duke”. They hit prize three in both runs this spring with the Foothills and Carolinas NAVHDA chapters after Duke just turned two. The duck search is so hard, but we’ll take some passes to start.
A cool morning in the Carolinas is great for NAVHDA Utility Test field work.
April 2nd was the 14th birthday of my “A” litter. Thank you to Winston’s owner Nancy for posting about it (I have a spreadsheet with litter whelp dates, but I’m terrible with birthday wishes for humans even). Winston is the last one alive who I am still in touch with. Whiskey in Nevada passed at 13.5 in January and Gauge in Nebraska passed not too long before that at 13. Their mom “Sue” lived to be 17, so I am not surprised.
Happy 14th birthday Bluestem “A” Litter Winston in Colorado!!
Of course, here is what everyone has been waiting for: puppies! I should have posted this yesterday, but the eclipse threw my whole groove off. I probably spent at least and hour looking through my eclipse glasses at it, since North America won’t see another one for 20 years.
Here’s this week’s video, good thing I got the footage yesterday because it is raining today.
Bluestem Kennels 