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.
It’s taking me a few days to respond to emails, but if you’re patient and want to talk Griffs, feel free to email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com and I’ll get back with you as soon as I can. These puppies are all spoken for.
I can tell that I’ve been running on a really low battery, looking back on some of my previous weeks’ photos. It looks to me that last week, I double shot the same girl pup under two different names! Now that we have collars on them it will be so much easier to tell them apart. We even noticed after we shot this week’s video that we had two girls with red collars and fixed that right up, so I’ll be extra sure not to get confused. This is really when I start looking at who belongs to which family.
The “breeder pick” process is pretty common in Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, where we are getting interest from all over the country well in advance. We basically interview our families and evaluate our puppies to see who will be the best fit together. There’s no time for folks to come over and pick out the puppies themselves, so we handle it for them.
Here’s this week’s video:
Here are their individual photos.
Females:
Unique (black collar, had red in video)
Unique, female, faceUnique, female, body
Unity (green collar)
Unity, female, faceUnity, female, body
Ursula (blue collar)
Ursula, female, faceUrsula, female, body
Uma (light pink collar)
Uma, face, femaleUma, female, body
Uschi (red collar)
Uschi, female, faceUschi, female, body
Males
Ulysses
Ulysses, male, faceUlysses, male, body
Uriah
Uriah, male, faceUriah, male, body
Upman
Upman, male, faceUpman, male, body
These are really just the shots that I caught them in that moment. They are all up to pretty much the same things, they are really tough to get in action! They are eating only kibble now and running around the yard twice a day while I clean out their kennel. I need to start the deworming process and make their appointment for first shots and microchips.
I always enjoy this phase with the puppies, where they are big and rambunctious. They’ll start ranging farther away from the kennel and I can start bringing out the pheasant wings and things to play with. It is getting late and people and pets need attention, so I’ll wrap it up for now. Catch up with you next week.
We are half way through the early puppyhood journey of the “U” Litter prior to their departure to their new families. I am going to be honest, I am struggling with my email traffic right now. Normally I can turn around responses in 24 hours, but between keeping in touch with these new families, trying to stay on top of my breed parent club responsibilities and responding to new contacts, it is taking me a few days to get back to folks via email. So if you are patient with me and want to talk Griffs at some point in the future, feel free to shoot me an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
Here is this week’s video. It was shot in the twilight of a long day of getting the kennel and the puppies moved outside, then cleaning up the whole mess inside. So the puppies are acting in this video how I feel!
I feed them canned food twice per day, but now that they are outside and around kibble, that transition to kibble-only just happens naturally. They will also nurse when Sally lets them. Now that they are outside with more space, they will get stronger and more sure on their feet. They will go from hardly being comfortable outside of the dog house to wanting to bust out of the kennel as much as possible within the next week.
Here are their individual pictures. Once again, they were done at the end of a long day, so some of their poses are awkward and less than ideal.
Females:
Unique
Unique, female, faceUnique, female, backUnique, female, side
Unity
Unity, female, faceUnity, female, backUnity, female, side
Ursula
Ursula, female, faceUrsula, female, backUrsula, female, side
Uma
Uma, female, faceUma, female, backUma, female, side
Uschi
Uschi, female, faceUschi, female, backUschi, female, back
Males
Ulysses
Ulysses, male, faceUlysses, male, backUlysses, male, side
Uriah
Uriah, male, faceUriah, male, backUriah, male, side
Upman
Upman, male, faceUpman, male, backUpman, male, side
Well that is all of the puppy news for this week. On Saturday, Duke earned his NAVHDA Utility Prize III at the Carolinas Chapter test with Charles as handler. I don’t know if anyone got any photos, but we don’t have any as of yet. It isn’t a bad prize for a dog who just turned two. They will have another go at it at the end of April.
I’ll be back here next week with another update. Take care until then.
All of these cute little ones have homes and it takes me a few days to respond to emails these days, but if you want to reach out, I’m at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
Here’s this week’s video. It was a little cool for outside today, so we are inside in the whelping box.
They started food today with much fanfare and excitement. I didn’t want to try and get them started on food and run the video camera at the same time, so you just get a still photo of that. All I do is take canned puppy food and mix it with prepared puppy milk replacer to make a soft puppy mush. If there were a larger litter or some puppies who were small, I may have started them on food sooner, but where they were getting plenty fat from mom I didn’t feel the need to rush this year.
The “U” Litter with some puppy mush
It was really warm earlier this week, like 80 degrees, so they got to go outside on the lawn one day. They squirm around and get back into a pile at this point, not a really big excitement.
“U” Litter puppies squirming on the lawnThey made it back into their puppy pile in the sun
Here are there individual photos. There still really isn’t a lot going on personality wise, they are just busy being puppies. They will move into the outdoor kennel on the back patio a week from today so that they quit stinking up my basement and get lots of fresh air and room to run around.
Females:
Unique
Female, Unique, faceFemale, Unique, back
Unity
Female, Unity, faceFemale, Unity, back
Ursula:
Female, Ursula, faceFemale, Ursula, back
Uma:
Female, Uma, faceFemale, Uma, back
Uschi:
Female, Uschi, faceFemale, Uschi, back
Males
Male, Ulysses, faceMale, Ulysses, back
Uriah:
Male, Uriah, faceMale, Uriah, back
Upman:
Male, Upman, faceMale, Upman, back
Charles and Duke run in the NAVHDA Utility Test at the Carolinas Chapter this weekend and I’m hoping the best for them. The duck search is always such a pain, we’ll see where it all comes out. I’ll check back in with you all next week.
All of these puppies have homes, but if you’d like to talk about the future here, feel free to email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
Here’s the two week old video, not very exciting just yet!
They are all fat and happy
Puppies getting attention from our son Caleb and his friend.
All of their eyes are open and they are starting to get up and walk. There are five females and three males for a total of eight puppies for Sally and Obi. Here they are:
Females
Unique:
Unique, female, faceUnique, female, back
Unity:
Unity, female, faceUnity, female, back
Ursula:
Ursula, female, faceUrsula, female, back
Uma:
Uma, female, faceUma, female, back
Uschi:
Uschi, female, faceUschi, female, back
Males:
Ulysses:
Ulysses, male, faceUlysses, male, back
Uriah:
Uriah, male, faceUriah, male, back
Upman:
Upman, male, faceUpman, male, back
As you can see, they are pretty floppy looking at this point. They will liven up as they get older. One more shot of them all together and then I’m going to sign off for the night and hope that I can get the video posted in the morning.
These pups are all spoken for and then some. I am pretty sure that my top eight folks are locked in for the long haul, so if you are further down the list I’ll be sure to reach out this week and figure out next steps. Sometimes folks have emergencies and have to drop out at the last minute, so I hate to say that it is all figured out. I’ve learned that it isn’t all done until I put a puppy into someone’s hands. I am pretty swamped for the next week, but if you are new to my world and want to touch base a little ways out to talk Griffs, shoot me an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
Sally and the eight puppies of the “U” Litter
The pups got their vet checks, tails docked and dew claws removed at York Veterinary Services on Friday. Everyone looks great, they confirmed my five females and three males. Sally is taking good care of them and they don’t like it when I mess with them too much, but I still do a little.
“U” Litter puppies close-up while mom is on a potty break
That wood isn’t directly on the floor, it has a tarp underneath, then a horse stall mat underneath of it, then laminate flooring under it, then the concrete. I’ve been able to taper off supplemental heat. It is just in my basement, so they are at 66 degrees just like the rest of us. It was up to 70 today, so I was able to open the back door and let all of the puppy farts out.
Sally seems to be having fun being a mom. She is a little skinny, but I keep a full bowl of food in the kennel at all times so she can eat as much as she wants.
Mama Sally hanging out with me on the patio
I am late to my desk today, so I’m going to wrap it up for now. Charles and Duke are working on getting ready for Duke’s Utility Tests coming up in a month or so. I think that he has him signed up for two. I watched them work on walking on heel today, but forgot to take any pictures.
Next week we’ll wait to see if the puppies eyes start to open. I’ll probably go ahead and take individual photos at that point since they are all so big and healthy. I hope that everyone is enjoying the hints of spring that are coming around and I’ll catch up with you next week.
Just as a warning if you are trying to reach out to me these days, I am still recovering from a week of little sleep and am not ready to crank on the email responses just yet. Feel free to contact me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com, but it may be mid next week before I respond. All of these puppies are spoken for, but I don’t mind talking about the future here or just Griffons in general. I use my email account as my robocall filter so that my phone doesn’t ring all day.
I’m just going to write all of what I have to say in chronological order like I usually do, I’m not good at putting lipstick on pigs or hiding from reality. I took all of the dogs for a walk down the power line cut on Monday, February 19th. When I got everyone back to the house, Ruth was whining pretty loudly. I brought her in the house with me and by the time we got to potty breaks before bed, she was trying to dig dens in the side pasture next to the house and barn.
I laid down in the bed next to the whelping box in the basement and she had the first pup, it was very small but alive. Four more came out dead (I am not going to describe in detail what they looked like) in the next couple of hours. They did not die during the birth, they had been gone for at least a few days if not longer. They were not properly formed and probably didn’t attach to the uterus correctly.
Ruth and the tiny pup that was lost
My hope going into this breeding was that my prior fertility issues with Ruth had been either genetic with Obi as the stud or the fact that we had been traveling during the mating and early pregnancy with the two small litters of two that we had with her. This time we used both a different stud and barely left the house during mating a pregnancy. It will be interesting to see what her uterus looks like when they take it out in her spay, I know of females in the breed who have their uteruses break down over time and this may be that situation.
The little puppy that Ruth had never warmed up and slowly lost its ability to latch on. As much as we fought, I came into the room at around the 36 hour mark and it was gone. Ruth cried almost nonstop for two days afterward, but she is now healthy and in good spirits. Later this year, she will go to live with our friend Ron and her mom Fire (now Bella) and travel between Minnesota and Arizona hunting birds and being a pet.
But there’s good news at the end of this! At 3 AM on Monday the 26th, Sally woke me up with a big howl. We walked in the yard on a checkcord with a flashlight for about an hour with lots of grunting, then we went to the whelping box and had a big healthy pup. An hour later, another followed, also big and healthy. I figured that she was doing her mom instincts well, cleaning up the puppies and positioning them to nurse, so I laid down for a little more sleep. When I woke up at 6:30 AM there were five puppies and by the time 10 AM rolled around there were eight. All big and healthy, nursing on their own without any assistance, no stillborns. It was such a relief after I’ve struggled with Ruth and her pups over the last few years. Ruth is my first struggle with a dam, I’ve had all blue hens with Sue, BB, Mae and Fire. I’m glad to be back in the good graces of Mother Nature.
The eight puppies of the “U” Litter at 24 hours with mom Sally“U” Litter puppies, photo taken today while Sally was on a potty break
The gender count is five females and three males. I won’t be keeping one from this litter and those of you who are on my reservation list will be contacted within in the next week.
My biggest job right now is keeping the room warmer than normal and keeping Sally fed and hydrated. We go in for tail docking and dew claw removal tomorrow morning at York Vet, I’ll also ask them when I should bring Ruth in for her spay.
I’ll post here weekly with photos and videos from here on out, I typically don’t identify them individually until after their eyes open. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, I’ll be back soon.
Both Ruth and Sally were bred during the days surrounding Christmas, with Ruth and Duke having their first tie on the 22nd and their last on the 26th, then Sally and Obi having their first tie on the 26th, then two on the 27th. Ruth and Duke had four ties, one each day for four of the days and taking one day off in that span, Sally and Obi were three ties in two days and done. So puppies should be whelped at the end of February/beginning of March and go home at the end of April/beginning of May.
As my reservations list is pretty long, anyone who is expressing interest at this point should be comfortable with waiting until Spring 2025 in the event that I do not have enough puppies to satisfy all of my reservations this year. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com and we can exchange phone numbers from there to talk. All of the health clearances, pedigrees, etc. can be found on the “About Our Dogs” page, with the button up above. I am still compiling our recent hunting photos on the “Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Photos” page, but you can go back through the last couple of years of hunts (and more) from the Archives dropdown menu over to the right. I spend so much time between taking care of dogs, having contacts with folks through email, and blogging that my static pages get a little neglected.
I am in the process of going through my reservation list to make sure that the folks who are on it are ready to take a pup this year in the event that I have one available. If you are farther down the list, it may take a little bit as I am giving folks a chance to contact me back in order. I have had a few switch to next year already, and since my deposits are fully refundable up until the puppy is three weeks old there could still be more changes as folks have life situations arise between now and then.
Ruth, Sally and I will visit the vet at the end of the month just to confirm pregnancy, not to count puppies. From there we will wait to see what is whelped and makes it through the first couple of weeks. I usually have a good idea within the first 48 hours what my final count will be, but sometimes in a really large litter there can be a pup or two who fails to thrive in the first couple of weeks. As I have a health guarantee, it does me no good to send weak or defective puppies home to folks, so I let the mom and Mother Nature drive a lot of what happens early on. By two weeks of age, I feel like I have pups who will live long and healthy lives.
In hunting news, things have been a little slow in the woodcock fields of South Carolina lately. Caleb did get his first shot off on a woodcock a couple of weeks ago but it didn’t connect. He and Charles are only seeing singles here and there, no flights as of yet. We’re seeing some folks in states north of us having great success.
I decided to take my camera out yesterday on our near-daily walk down the power line cut next to our house. We were able to survey the flood damage to the creeks. Our yard and home were spared from harm, just a few small gullies in the gravel driveway and side yard with some branches and buckets blown around.
I tried to get shots of everyone, but some are better than others. Sally got one kind of boring picture and then I forgot to get any more of her alone.
Sally sniffingRuth coming out of the brushObi running towards me with Briar off in the distanceObi off in the brushBriar on a full runBriar in the grassDuke jumping around the creekDuke trotting aroundFive dogs is a dog pack: Sally, Ruth, Briar, Obi and Duke
Having a dog kennel is a lot of work. Not only are we training and keeping healthy a bunch of dogs, there is a plenty of human interaction online and over the phone, then additionally there’s our volunteer work with the dog registries and clubs who help us preserve our breed. It is much more of a lifestyle than a hobby or business.
So the next you’ll hear from me here is towards the end of the month with our pregnancy confirmation ultrasound results and any other hunting news that we have. Good luck to those winding down their late season hunting and also everyone who is gearing up for spring hunt testing and puppies. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for healthy pregnancies.
Merry Christmas from Bluestem Kennels! I figured that Charles spending seven days hunting in Nebraska would butt right up to breeding season and I was correct! He got home just in time to get everyone full of energy and nutrition for puppy making. When I emailed out my prospective puppy owners a few days ago, it looked like Sally was going to be the first to breed. But with Ruth being the alpha and older, I knew that a silent heat could be possible and that she could be bred first. Sure enough, yesterday Duke was just barking his head off when Ruth was around and she was starting to stand and be receptive. We had a tie between Ruth and Duke yesterday and this morning. Sally just stopped her proestrus bleeding and should be a week or so away from breeding (but you never know, you can also have split heats where they bleed, are infertile/unreceptive for awhile, then out of nowhere are ready to breed). There is a lot of observing behavior at this point since I don’t run to the vet for daily hormone testing and I’ve always done it naturally.
I do have a longer list going of reservations, so I’d say anyone inquiring at this point should understand that I might not have availability until Spring 2025. Feel free to contact me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com and we can exchange phone numbers from there. My deposits are fully refundable, therefore there could be folks who drop off of the list or want to wait until the following year due to life circumstances. I’ll be reaching out to those who are on the list after the holidays to make sure that they are in a place to take a puppy in May. At this point I’ll assume that the breeding will take place in January, with puppies whelped in March and going home in May.
Seven Day Hunt in Nebraska
Charles took a new hunter in his twenties from Virginia, Evan, out to Nebraska with his German Shorthaired Pointer, Ridge. They were able to visit and hunt with our old friend and co-breeder, Aaron, who still has old Velma who was the mother of a few of our litters. Aaron was just down to one dog, his Griff Chewie, so we all decided that Dolly the English Pointer should go and live with him. She has already harvested six or seven wild roosters with Aaron and he says that she’s even starting to retrieve now that she doesn’t have a bunch of Griffs to do it for her.
Obi, Duke, Ruth and Dolly running on the first day
There were no birds harvested on the first day, but it was a chance for everyone to get acclimated to being out west. Luckily the weather wasn’t super cold and there weren’t any blizzards, but it was definitely dry.
As they worked their was across South Central Nebraska, they finally got into birds on day two. It is never a blowout for pheasant in Nebraska anymore, so Charles, Obi and Sally scratched out a couple of roosters the second day. Sally was queen of the bird finding and Obi came up with the retrieves.
Sally, Obi and Charles’s two roosters for the day
It was finally on day three that everyone got on to the board. Having four Griffons with him, Charles was bracing Obi and Sally together, then swapping them out for Duke and Ruth midday generally. Here is a shot of Sally retrieving the first rooster of day three.
Sally bringing in a pretty one on day threeEvan and Ridge with two roosters and a quailCharles with Obi, Sally, a limit of roosters and a quail
Day four was an all-Charles show again. The experience of the dogs plus the hunter in these scenarios is a pretty unfair advantage. You’ll also see that Charles now wears shooting glasses. When we were out in the Sandhills, I noticed that he was missing shots that he should have been hitting. He had Lasik surgery about 20 years ago and I was betting that some of the focus was starting to wear off with age. So I made him an appointment at the eye doctor and sure enough enough he needed some corrective lenses. He says that they are making all the difference (thank God, the yelling about the bad misses was getting tiresome!).
Ruth and Duke with two roosters for the morning of day fourSally and Obi rounding out the day with one more rooster for the limit of three
(Just FYI, I don’t have a lot of control over the size of these photos and I keep messing them up trying to change them, so it just is what it is right now.)
Day five was a total bust on public land, but day six was on some nice private ground that Charles made contact with through folks at his old job in Nebraska. Thank you to the hosts for having Charles, Evan and the dogs on your property. Here are all of the photos from that day, the bird total was: 3 quail and a rooster for the hosts, 6 quail for Evan and Ridge, then five quail and a rooster for Charles and the four Griffons. Duke is pictured for the Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, but Obi, Sally and Ruth also contributed.
Charles and Evan in the back of the truck with the morning harvest, the hosts/locals standing to the sidesEvan with Ridge the GSP and Charles with Duke the Griffon and the birds for the morningDuke and Charles with a rooster, Evan and ridge with a quail in the afternoonEvan and Ridge with the host, Duke, Sally and Charles with a bumper bird total on the day
Of course on day seven, you not only end up with tired dogs, but also tired photographers. Here’s the bumper bird total with Evan and one of the hosts. The breakdown on the day was two roosters for the host, two quail for Charles and one rooster for Evan.
The host and Evan with a tailgate bird total for day seven
I’m not even going to go back and do a bird total on that trip, an epic adventure for sure! The most important thing is that there was good dog work and everyone came out of it uninjured. There was some fur worn off of the tops of noses and a few burrs in beards that I had to pull out when they got home. They were sore and hungry for a few days afterward.
Now they’ve bounced back for puppy making, what a whirlwind! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers for successful breedings. Merry Christmas everyone and if I don’t have any other news prior, I’ll throw in a Happy New Year just for good measure. I appreciate all of our puppy families past, present and future: may God bless us all, everyone.
According to the calendar, Sally should already be starting her heat cycle, but nothing with dogs ever follows the calendar. The one thing about having two males is that I never have to worry about missing it! Since Ruth is the alpha of the two, I don’t wonder if Sally’s waiting for hers to start. I’ve had two litters at once before and it is super busy, but doable. I do have quite a list of reservations, but since my deposits are refundable there’s no guarantee that each of those people will take a pup. So feel free to email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you’d like to discuss, but realize that there might not be availability until Spring 2025. We don’t know until they get here! I’ll keep everyone posted once things start happening with the heat cycles, I check the girls every day. Hopefully, I won’t be waiting until Valentine’s Day, but it could happen.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Charles headed to central South Carolina to look for some quail. One thing that he has learned about hunting down here is that you really have to read your regulations. Some fields are only open for hunting for certain days per year. The place that he went was one of those quail management units, which is not how it is out west, so it was something new for him to check out. There was one other hunter there without dogs, so they just worked away from each other. He had our pointer Dolly out first with our older male, Obi, and she is just a bird finding machine. I really did not want a pointer, but it is nice to have a hot-footer out in front sometimes really zooming around looking for birds. They pushed up a covey and another single before they connected here. On this one Dolly stayed on point, Obi honored, Charles got the shot, then Obi retrieved.
Obi and Dolly with their quail
The second half of the hunt was a Sally and Duke run. I’m not sure who ended up with the retrieve, but Sally is a long nose. She points birds from really far away and is steady.
Duke and Sally with a single South Carolina quail
While Charles was hunting, I was down in Atlanta visiting family and picked up the seasonal crud. This is just a funny picture of what it is like when you’re sick with Griffs around.
Sally and Briar making sure that mom knows that she is loved.
I’ve also been busy working on the AWPGA 2024 National Specialty for Winston-Salem, North Carolina for November 7-12, 2024. For those of you who don’t know, a national specialty has our national breed dog show (the winner of Best of Breed automatically qualifies for Westminster), then it also has field events such as AKC Hunt Tests and/or working standard field trial, possibly an obedience trial, some educational seminars, plus we have social events like receptions and an awards banquet. I don’t want to steal the club website’s thunder, so I’ll wait and link to that for the tentative calendar of events once it drops. If you would like to join the AWPGA, the AKC breed parent club for the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, please visit our website: https://www.awpga.com/2024-member-application-form.html
I was the editor for the quarterly club magazine the Griffonnier for four years, I went inactive for awhile, now I’m back serving on the Board of Directors as Secretary while also being the Chairperson of the National Specialty. It is fun and challenging. We went with a futuristic logo with a Griff’s head with the NC state shape inside. Our club is passionate about the breed and welcome new members and attendees to the national specialty. I will keep you all posted as more news of the event drops.
Bluestem Kennels 