Bluestem Kennels

“K” Litter 5 Weeks Old

These are in the same order as the two week old photographs.  Keep in mind that 5 week old puppies do not stack perfectly.  I will get the puppy supply list written and posted over the next few days.  I am pretty close to being done with picks and the latest that the “K” Litter families will hear from me is Thursday afternoon.  Here is the video that I took of them yesterday: https://youtu.be/b0avkTVokZo

Karen will go home with Bob and Joanne to New Mexico.

Karen side, female

Karen back, female

Karen face, female

Kalli will go home with Rick to Grand Island, Nebraska.

Kalli side, female

Kalli back, female

Kalli face, female

Kylla will go home with Zoe to North Dakota.

Kylla side, female

Kylla back, female

Kylla face, female

Keri is going to stay here with Velma’s co-owner, Aaron (and his wife Keri!).

Keri side, female

Keri back, female

Keri face, female

Kennedy will go home with Phil and Corrine to Kansas.

Kennedy side, female

Kennedy back, female

Kennedy face, female

Krystal will go home with Maurice and Kate to Papillion, Nebraska.

Krystal side, female

Krystal back, female

Krystal face, female

Karma will fly home to Marc and Shaun in California.

Karma side, female

Karma back, female

Karma face, female

Kristov will go home with Matt to Minnesota.

Kristov side, male

Kristov back, male

Kristov face, male

Klaus will go home with Brian and Meressa to South Dakota.

Klaus side, male

Klaus back, male

Klaus face, male

Karl will go home with Mert to Iowa.

Karl male, side

Karl male, back

Karl male, face

Kato will go home with Sue to Michigan.

Kato side, boy

Kato back, boy

Kato face, boy

Konrad will go home with Bridgette to Holdrege, Nebraska.

Konrad side, boy

Konrad back, boy

Konrad face, boy

Kaden will go home with Colin to Colorado.

Kaden side, male

Kaden back, male

Kaden face, male

“L” Litter 3 weeks old

Here is the video that I took of them yesterday: https://youtu.be/9QMfBWQX-FU

Laverne back, female

Laverne face, female

Lynda back, female

Lynda face, female

Lillian back, female

Lillian face, female

Leia back, female

Leia face, female

Lucina back, female

Lucina face, female

Larry back, male

Larry face, male

Laius back, male

Laius male, face

Laertes back, male

Laertes back, male

Luke back, male

Luke face, male

This is going to be a short update and I’ll get more detailed information up over the weekend.

Too Hot

I know that I owe you updated individual pictures, but we are totally in survival mode right now.  It has been between 95 and 105 degrees every day for the last week and it shows no signs of stopping.  This not only provides challenges with the puppies, but keeping the big dogs comfortable is tough too.  I have had to groom down all of the big dogs and make sure that they have cool water in their pool and dog bowls all of the time.  For the puppies, I also make sure their dog bowls are full of cool water and occasionally haul five gallon buckets of water to their kennels to either dip them in or just rinse off the kennel floor to not only clean it (after poop scooping, of course), but to cool it down.

Oh and don’t think that my dogs are rich when I say that they have a pool.  It is actually just an old kids’ durable plastic sandbox that I fill with water.  That is the next scheduled dog improvement, to get a stock tank with a drain on it, but it will have to wait for next year.  This year we will continue this aspect on low budget.  Eventually we also want to get city water piped back there with one of those farm spigot water hydrant thingies, but we’ll just keep hauling water and running massive lengths of hose for a few more years.

Low budget dog pool

The dogs have also dug themselves various holes and dens around the property to beat the heat.

Free dog house and shade hole

“K” Litter

We moved the “K” Litter to my house last week so that Aaron could go on a fishing trip and so that I would have a chance to evaluate the pups and do picks.

I will be working on my breeder picks for the “K” litter over the weekend and will have them finalized by sundown Tuesday.  So “K” litter future owners, be prepared for some questions over the coming days.  I have a few that I’m settled on already, but still need to go over my notes from talking to folks in the past and doing some more evaluating on the pups themselves.

Here are some shots of our kennel techs and the move.

Aaron’s kennel techs Avery and Josie with the pups and Velma loaded in my truck.

A closeup of the pups

Two of my three kennel techs: Conrad and Cordelia moving the pups from the truck to the kennel.

They have gone to straight dry kibble and I am feeding Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy.  If you are looking to pick some up to transition your pup home, here is the store locator: http://www.diamondpet.com/where-to-buy/

Over the weekend, I will post a list of recommended supplies for when you bring your puppy home when I post the new individual pictures.  Oh but here is a photo of the doggy dinner pile:

K Litter chowing down

They also like to get out and about in the yard.  Here are just some random shots.

“L” Litter

Well in spite of my efforts and hope, I did end up losing those two males last weekend.  I rode it out without going to the vet to put them down, but it was a pretty rough ride.  Right before I brought the “K” litter over last weekend, I moved the “L” litter inside to try to help those two.  The basement was too cold, so we settled on the upstairs living room for a few days.

Indoor setup

My smallest kennel tech, Caleb.

Once the two undeveloping pups were lost, I knew that I needed to start to condition them to the heat, so they were back in the garage with a fan on them.  They are stumbling around a bit and their eyes are open.  I will get individual photos over the weekend.  Random shots.

They have also started on canned puppy food:

And then finally yesterday, with a heat index of 110-115, I had to move them outside.  I knew that I couldn’t keep the garage cool enough.

Oh and a few parting shots before I go and run dogs around some more.  I had to get an updated photo for the magazine earlier this week.  It is the puppy issue after all.  But then I wanted you to see what I really look like coming out of the kennel area.

What the world thinks a dog breeder looks like. Photo by Charles Upchurch

What a dog breeder really looks like.  Note the sweaty t-shirt.  I had washed the dog hair off of my arms though. Photo by Cordelia Upchurch

Time for more dog adventures, talk at you soon.  I will come bearing videos as well.

Note:  All of the puppies are spoken for at this time, but if you would like to be on the contact list in the event of a last minute back out, please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com.

I think it is so funny when people admit that they’ve been following my blog and YouTube channel for several years.  It makes both parties feel embarrassed, but it is really flattering.  If I think about it too much it makes me so self-conscious.  My personality is very split between extrovert and introvert.  When I’m around people, I’m very outgoing and talkative.  But I also love to spend lots of time home alone, just hanging out with the dogs, watching the birds, and doing the endless chores that go along with three kids and small dog kennel.

Oh and “the magazine” as it is known around here.  It takes a lot of time and patience.  It is like having to do a quarterly summative grad school group project.  I lose sleep over it and it makes me crazy.  But when it comes in the mail all shiny and chrome, it’s like “damn, we did it again”.  Thanks to my very good friend Amy Caswell-O’Clair of Soonipi Point Griffons in Newport, NH for doing this life with me.  It is great to work with someone so smart and kind.  She knows so much about griffons and training and grooming and breeding, it is fun for us to to share our experiences and knowledge with each other.  To get this amazing magazine, the Griffonnier, you have to join the AWPGA, the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association https://awpga.com/membership

Oh and while you are joining clubs, join NAVHDA, the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association.  At their training days, they can help you train your dog.  And you get a magazine each month.  And it brings you good hunting karma (I made that part up).  One of my Facebook friends just got his premium membership package the other day and was so excited about it that he took a photo and posted it. http://navhdastore.org/membershippackages.aspx

NAVHDA Premium Membership Package.  Photo by Matt Kadlubowski

So if you want to be in the cool dog nerd clubs, there you go.  Okay puppies, must talk about the puppies.

“K” Litter

It is hard to believe that the “K” Litter is four weeks old today.  I was over at Aaron’s on Sunday and got some pictures and video.  Sorry that I’ve been slow to post them, between the magazine and the kids and the “L” Litter and the other dogs and Charles has been traveling for work…it’s just a lot.

Aaron and I were really busy talking, so I didn’t get many photos, but I did get some video.  I go and pick the pups and Velma up tomorrow to bring them over here while Aaron is on a fishing trip.  Plus it will be good to spend time with them to evaluate them and start to think about who goes where.  So I’ll be in touch with the future owners over the next week about specifically what you’re looking for in a pup and what I’ve got.

“K” Litter at 3 weeks old chowing down

Here is the video that I took of them: https://youtu.be/tmL7ve7C3V0

“L” Litter

Nine puppies of the “L” Litter are big and developing, with their eyes starting to open and starting on puppy mush.  Puppy mush is where I take canned puppy food and mix it with puppy milk replacer.  Right now they are eating it off of a spoon.  Once they get up on their legs over the next week, we’ll transition to eating from a dish.  Notice that I said nine.  Four males and five females.

11 were born, but there are two males that are just not developing correctly.  Amy has had similar situations where they just fail to thrive.  The other puppies are nursing from BB and eating from the spoon and getting big and fat, and starting to open their eyes.  I can’t get these two to latch on to BB and I have to basically force feed them because they won’t suck from the bottle.  They are wasting away and I can’t bear to watch it.  So I have an appointment at the vet to have them put down tomorrow.  Something like this is caused by internal organs not developing correctly and there is nothing that I can do to fix it.

This isn’t Disneyland.  Being a breeder isn’t all fun and playing with puppies.  I am sad, but in my sixth year as a breeder I’ve learned to harden my heart a bit to this.  There were years that I was just destroyed and crushed over losing pups.  But now I know that it is the nature of things and the reason that even though I have a health guarantee, I’ve never had to replace a pup or give a refund.  Because I am honest with my buyers that I’m not going to coddle a reject and send it home with them.  So may their little puppy souls rest in peace.

(Post-Script:  I had an honest conversation with Dr. Andrew Kliewer, DVM this afternoon.  He said that his wife, Susan, checked their hearts and initial internal organ function when I brought them in for tails and dew claws.  He said that when there is a large litter, it is possible that there are “premie” type pups.  Where they are internally normal, and will eventually function and perform the same as the advanced pups, and just need a little extra time.  And that two weeks is too early to make a call.  That there is not necessarily anything congenitally or genetically wrong with them.  As if the two male pups had read my post about having them put down, they started spoon feeding with their bigger siblings tonight.  Honestly, I cried when it happened.  I hope that they “power up”, as my kids say in video gaming.  I am not taking reservations on them until they establish themselves in the pack, but should they be ready for homes eventually, I will seek them locally.)

Here are some pics and a short video of the nine cute and healthy pups.  Two week-old puppies are just not very exciting.  It is amazing to look at the difference one week makes.  The next week of their lives is huge: https://youtu.be/dhphJSjuA_Q

We are getting into some dangerous heat over the next few days, so they might have to spend some time in the cool of the basement.  Our property is really shaded in, so we won’t have the worst of the heat, but I will have to keep a close eye out to make sure that they aren’t overheating.

Okay it is noon and it is 91 degrees already and I need to move some pups.  Talk at you soon.

RIP Sam

Sam (Sweetgrass Plainsman Samson, UT III) was our foundation stud who was retired on a sheep farm near Bowling Green, Kentucky.  On Saturday he ran out on to the road in front of a teenager speeding on an ATV and was hit and killed.  He will live on in the 70-some puppies that he produced, and I own his daughter, Fire and his grandson, Chief.  His painting hangs on my wall and he will never be forgotten.  I will pay him a more fitting tribute later in the summer when I’m not so busy with puppies.  But he was a damn fine dog and feel lucky to have had him in my life.  Sorry to Troy and Cris for their loss, they really loved him too.

“K” Litter at Two Weeks Old

All of the puppies of “K” and “L” litters 2016 are spoken for at this time, please e-mail bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you would like to be on the contact list in the event of someone backing out at the last minute.

As I said in my last post, their eyes are all open and they are eating mush of canned puppy food and puppy milk replacer.  They are starting to get their legs under them a bit.  They are three weeks old now, but I’ve been busy with this new litter and family in town, so it probably won’t be until Sunday until I get back out to see them again.

Here is a video of them hanging in the yard with Aaron and I over at his house.  The editing is kind of bad because movie maker was giving me fits today, but the puppies are still cute with bad editing.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG1jQJYFZ2o&feature=youtu.be

I give my puppies names, just so that I can keep them straight as I’m photographing and evaluating them.  I don’t actually call them by their names.  I call them all “puppies” as a group and you’ll see that they’ll actually respond after about 5 weeks or so.

You can’t tell anything about size by these photos because they are not always at the same distance away.  It is mainly for my records with coloration.  This has nothing to do with picks.  I do breeder picks between 5-6 weeks old.  They are not old enough to tell anything about them by these photos.  Except that they are cute, of course.

So here they are:

Karen face, female

Karen body, female

Kalli face, female

Kalli body, female

Kylla face, female

Kylla body, female

Keri face, female

Keri face, female

Kennedy face, female

Kennedy body, female

Krystal face, female

Krystal body, female

Karma face, female

Karma body, female

Kristov face. male

Kristov body, male

Klaus face, boy

Klaus body, boy

Karl face, male

Karl body, male

Kato face, male

Kato body, male

Konrad face, male

Konrad body, male

Kaden face, male

Kaden body, male

Okay, that’s everybody!  I’ll be back soon to post some one week video and pics of the “L” litter and 3 week old video and pics from the “K” litter.  Thanks for stopping by.

All of our puppies are spoken for at this time, please e-mail bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you would like to be on the contact list in the event that someone backs out at the last minute.

Puppy Placements

I will give you the short business first, then tell you the dramatic tale second.

On March 29th we had an unplanned breeding between Bourg-Royal CB Bluestem JH, NA I UT III “BB” and Bluestem’s Otoe Chief, NA II “Chief”, so we have puppies available.  BB is imported from Quebec and Chief is the grandson of our foundation pair who was crossed on to a De Jac’s female.  These are going to be amazing hunters and family companions.  They were born on Friday, May 27: 6 males and 5 females.  Five of the males and three females have been spoken for at this point, so that leaves 1 male and 1 female available.  They will be ready to go to their new homes starting Saturday, July 23 and need to all be in their new homes by Sunday, August 1st.

I prefer to place my puppies in hunting and/or NAVHDA homes but will also consider quality companion homes with an active/outdoors lifestyle.  The deposit to reserve a puppy is $200, with $900 due at pickup for a total of $1100.  The pups come with tails docked, dew claws removed, de-worming, first vaccinations, microchip and a 3 year guarantee against fatal genetic defects or hip dysplasia.  The puppies do not automatically come with breeding rights, if you are interested in possibly breeding the dog down the road there are additional steps that you can discuss with me.

I ship via Delta Pet First/Air Cargo for and additional $500 out of Omaha Eppley Airfield, which is about 15 minutes from my house.  Includes airfare and shipping supplies.  The puppies take the first flight out in the morning and arrive at their destination midday.  It will be the heat of summer when these guys go and there is a strong possibility that flights can be rescheduled due to the heat on the tarmac at the connecting location.  I would really prefer if folks drove to pick up if possible.

I like to do phone interviews prior to taking a deposit, therefore if you are interested in going forward with trying to get a pup either give me a call at (402) 682-9802 or send me an e-mail to bluestemkennels@gmail.com with a phone number and a good time to call.  Placements go quickly when I have puppies available.  I look forward to speaking with you should I get a chance.

“L” is for Love

March 29th was my son Caleb’s 7th birthday and I remember it well.  It was state testing time and I had been called in to school to do elementary pull-out special education reading.  There was no room for us to work in the building, I had to just sort of make space in the band room or in people’s offices or wherever.  At one point in the day, I was up teaching in the foyer of the building.  Can you imagine trying to teach 6 little boys, some with mild autism, while people were coming and going?  Anyway, I was frazzled when I got home.  The dogs were all having fits in their kennels and I really just wanted some peace and quiet.  So I let them all out.

Charles gets home an hour later, looks out of the kitchen window and says, “BB and Chief are tied”.  Oh man.  I called the 24 hour emergency vet clinic and they didn’t do a morning after shot.  I called all over Lincoln and Omaha, no more morning after shots.  Where did all of the morning after shots go?  We did this a few times 20 years ago (not with griffons, but with our English Pointer and Brittany getting into the neighbor females).  I’ll have to see if I can order it from Australia and do it myself next time.  Yet I digress.

There’s a vet in Lincoln who will do dog abortions at 30 days with a positive pregnancy test.  So we do the relaxin test and it comes back negative.  BB didn’t look pregnant then.  Life goes on.

(Post-script: Folks have asked me why I wanted to terminate the pregnancy.  Several reasons: 1) Timing: this is a difficult time of year for hunters to take on puppies.  Really these dogs won’t have any leg for hunting until late season. 2) Heat: it is tough raising puppies at this time of year due to the heat.  I will basically need to be home all of the time over the last few weeks to watch them.  The heat also makes it difficult (but not impossible) to fly the pups.  3) Stud age: Chief is my next stud dog.  He just got a few months head start on me.  He won’t be of age to get a hip scan for a few months.  I am bound by the AWPGA Code of Ethics that states that I should only breed dogs over 2 years of age with hip scans.  I have had this litter approved by the AWPGA Board of Directors as an accident.  None of his ancestors have had hip issues and he has gone a full hunting season (including a full week in North Dakota) without issues.  I am still guaranteeing this litter against hip dysplasia.  It is a very desirable breeding and was actually planned for 2 years down the road.  They just beat me to the punch.  Maybe this is all too much information, but I suffer from a serious case of brutal honesty, so I know that dog breeder reality is a bit overwhelming for some, but I prefer that to the alternative.)

Then out of nowhere like 2 weeks ago, we’ve got teats and a belly.  Crap.  Maybe it is a false pregnancy?  Then like two days before they were born, I feel them move.  Crap again.  It was only one tie, it can’t be that many, right?

I wasn’t expecting them until Saturday.  I wasn’t ready for them.  I was out visiting the “K” Litter at Aaron’s place and picking stuff up for my older son Conrad’s 12th birthday and my 15 year old-daughter, Cordelia, calls me, “BB is having puppies.”

“Okay kiddo, you’ve got this, I’ll be home in 20 minutes.”

Cordelia, BB and the first 5 puppies

Here I was worried about raising city kids.  Cordelia is a star student and just made the varsity show choir as a sophomore.  But she knows how to get it done on the dog farm.  I also have to put in a plug for K-9 Kondo of Stapleton, Nebraska.  That house right there is their Dog Den 3.  You pull the roof off and you have a whelping box.  http://www.k-9kondo.com/

As there was a thunderstorm imminent and sprinkles were felt, the first thing that I did was put a tarp over the kennel so that I would have time to get my laundry room converted into the emergency whelping area.

Emergency whelping area

With a few ex-pens, a kiddie pool and some cedar chips, the emergency whelping area was deployed.  Saturday we finally got the garage kennel all ready to go.  Please ignore my junk.

Garage kennel

Whelping box

We were at the vet’s door at 7:30 AM this morning for tail docking and dew claw removal.  And puppy cuddles from all of my great vet techs at Heartland Pet Hospital.

A laundry basket full of puppies at the vet

That is the dramatic tale of the arrival of the “L” litter.  Everyone seems to be doing great.

“K” Litter

Rewind back to Friday, before the arrival of the new litter, I was spending time with Aaron and the pups at his house about 20 miles away from mine.  I was wearing these ghetto gym shorts with no pockets and I threw my van keys in the van and shut the door.  The stupid van computer locked me out.  So poor Aaron had to run me all the way back into town to meet Charles at the movie theater where Conrad and his friends were going to X-Men Apocalypse for his birthday.  But at least Cordelia was home and I was back on the road in time to relieve her before the storm.  I am feeling like a whirling vortex of drama this week.

But the two week old puppies have their eyes open and are really active.  They have started puppy mush of canned puppy food mixed with puppy milk replacer.  I am going to hold off on the detailed update on them for another day or so because I really need to get this post up and these “L” puppies some homes!  I have individual puppy photos to post and I need to pick out their “K” litter names.  I also have lots of video footage, so tomorrow I’ll get on that.  I will probably just add them to the end of this post, so just make sure to check back if you want to see all that stuff.  Until then…

The 13 “K” Litter pups and Velma

Chief’s NAVHDA Natural Ability Test

On Saturday, May 14, Bluestem’s Otoe Chief earned his NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II, 107 points.  Thank you to Jeff and Kris Hill for hosting at their gorgeous farm near Brainard, Nebraska.  Thank you also to judges Jason Marzolf, Chuck Casanova and Tracey Nelson for taking the time to evaluate our dogs.

We started the day out in the bird field, where Chief took off with lots of speed but either wasn’t really aware of the task at hand or wasn’t using his nose, but it took him awhile to get on to the birds.  He was not gun shy, but instead looked for birds when the gun was fired.  Once he got started, he was all over it.

Chief on the run

Finally getting down to business

Puppy Enthusiasm!

So that was where we lost our one point, we got a three on search and fours on everything else.

The water was a gimme, he did great there.

Git-r-done

Evaluation of Attributes

Teeth, eyes, and testes: normal.  Temperament normal.  Coat: medium dense, medium harsh.

The track was a little tricky for him, he stood there and pointed the pile of feathers for a solid minute.  We were wondering if he was ever going to get started.  But once he was on the task, he did great.

Is he ever going to move?

On the track

Although we love our Prize I, 112s, this was a solid performance and we’ll take it.  He was at the end of his age eligibility, so it was a make or break deal.

It was really a perfect day for a test, nice and cool with a little breeze.  The food at lunch was super delicious and plenty of good company.  The boys (ages 12 and 7) came along and we all had a fun day of it.

To find a NAVHDA chapter near you: http://www.navhda.us/chaptmap.aspx

Oh and welcome to our new neighbors, the MoKan Chapter, serving Kansas and Missouri!  We look forward to seeing what you all get going: http://mokannavhda.org/

“K” Litter One Week Old

Here are a couple of new puppy pictures, but I really like the video much better.  In the second part of the video where Velma is nursing, she suddenly took off because we had the garage door open and another dog came by.  Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7lGBpMbmfg

Wednesday night a female was lost.  It was big and hefty, so it isn’t like it wasted away.  I would rather have that happen then get to the vet appointment at 7 1/2 weeks to find out that there is some sort of internal organ problem.  But it is sad, even though it is the nature of things.

The first day that puppies can go home is Friday, July 8.  I would like to have them all sent home by Saturday, July 16.  I will be on the road running kids to camps on July 17 and would like to have Velma’s pups with their new people.

Folks have asked about picks.  I do breeder picks at around 6 weeks of age.  I will informally evaluate the puppies personalities and ask the owners what they are looking for in a dog, then go from there.

Well, that is all for now, check back with you in a week or so!

At one point, I took my phone number off of the website so that I wouldn’t get 4-5 calls a day, even when I didn’t have puppies.  But Velma has put me to shame.  Last year she had a smaller litter of 7, two months earlier in the season.  So I had 8 or 9 reservations ready for pups to go home right now.  Well, since I don’t force people to keep their reservations with me and things seemed strange with the timing, folks found pups elsewhere and I returned their deposits.  I wasn’t taking new ones because I hate taking reservations, then being like, “I don’t have a puppy for you.” So as of Friday morning, I have five reservations, and a gentleman this morning saying that the check is in the mail.  When that arrives, that’s six. (I got a call while I was writing this and now have seven reserved theoretically.) Update Monday, May 16th, all of the puppies have been placed.

Velma had fourteen (14!!) puppies yesterday, started at midnight, went all day, and she continued to whelp into last night.  What a mama!  I am so proud of my females and their powers of natural birth.

AKC/NAVHDA De Jac’s Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah, NA I “Velma” and the fourteen pups of Bluestem Kennels’ “K” Litter

Puppies will be ready to go home the weekend of July 9-10.  They are sold with limited AKC and NAVHDA registration, which means that they do not automatically have breeding rights.  Please speak with me if you hope to breed the dog in the future.  The cost is $1100 for the pup, a $200 personal check deposit mailed to me, and $900 cash at pickup.  This includes tail docking, dew claw removal, first vaccinations, deworming, microchipping, and a 3 year health guarantee against fatal genetic defects and hip dysplasia.

I will ship puppies to approved buyers via Delta Air Cargo Pet First out of Omaha Eppley, which is about 15 minutes from my house.  They would take the first flight out at 7 AM and arrive at their destination midday.  Shipping during the heat of summer is a challenge and the flight could be rescheduled due to temperatures on the tarmac at their connections.  If at all possible, please plan to pick up the puppy at my home.  The cost to ship is about $500 between the flight itself and the supplies that I need to do it.

This is a breeding that we believe in, as we kept a pup from the first litter last year to raise up as our future stud dog.  He will be doing his NAVHDA Natural Ability Test tomorrow.  Here are a few photos of Chief doing his work over the last few weeks.

Chief heading out to retrieve a dummy

A closeup of Chief on the water retrieve

Chief at full stride in the field

Chief in the grass

I don’t have very many good photos of the sire, Ben.  His owners are not camera hogs like I am.  I do have this photo of when I finished grooming him a few months back while I was working on getting him and Velma bred.

Ben fully groomed (please excuse my junk)

Ben is the son of our foundation pair, Sue and Sam, who were both preserve guide dogs and avid upland and waterfowl hunters all over the Great Plains.  There are gobs of photos of our foundation pair on the About Us/Contact page, but these are a couple of good retrieve photos from December 2010.

Our foundation bitch, Sue, mother of Ben

Our foundation stud, Sam, father of Ben.

This is one of my favorites of Aaron and Velma (Sorry for the low quality, I would have to go back to an old computer to get the original.  Maybe later.)

Aaron an Velma at her NAVHDA Natural Ability Test

Not having enough owners yet is actually really exciting for me.  As I was typing this I got a call from a US Navy Aircraft carrier out in the ocean and it looks like one of the females will be going to a Navy Pilot who will be working with the San Diego NAVHDA chapter.  So, if that goes through I’m down to seven spots.  How exciting!

This is also exciting for me as a breeder to see the work of a closely managed natural breeding.  No hormone testing, no reproductive assistance, no c-section.  Just old school farmer skills that must come from generations of knowledge.  Some of my cousins are respected cattle and horse breeders, so it must be in our genes.

I also wanted to drop in our most recent issue of The Griffonnier, the magazine of the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association.  To receive this great magazine in the mail, please join us at awpga.com/membership.  I am the co-editor of the magazine and it keeps me busy.  Amy and I are very proud of it!  GriffonnierSpring2016_web

I will be heading out to Aaron’s to see the puppies tonight, check their palates and their overall health, and talk to Aaron and Keri about how we’re going to do all of this puppy rearing.  And of course take more pictures.  They already have an appointment at the vet on Monday to get a health check and their tails docked.  I will post up some new pics of them along with the final gender count tonight.  It was a pretty even split as we went along between males and females.

Talk at you later tonight.

Post-script: 10 PM

There are 8 girls and 6 boys and they are gorgeous.  Time to get ready to leave for Chief’s Natural Ability test in the morning, so I’ll write more on Sunday.

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We are five weeks from Ben and Velma’s first breeding date and she is visibly pregnant.  So that puts us between May 11-17 for a whelp date.  Just a quick update today.

Charles and I have been called in to evaluate some rescue dogs from time to time.  If a dog has been exposed to overly harsh hunting training, it will do what is called “blinking the bird”.  It knows that a bird is in the field and will physically acknowledge it only briefly, but then move away from it in fear.  I have been doing that with this blog.  I know it is here and that I need to engage, but have been turning away from it.

I’ve been devoting most of my free writing time to serving as co-editor of the Griffonnier, the magazine of the AWPGA.  The American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association is the AKC Breed Parent Club and is dedicated to the preservation of the breed through promoting good breeding and training practices.  You can join at: https://awpga.com/membership.  My friend and co-editor, Amy Caswell-O’Clair of Soonipi Point Griffons in Newport, New Hampshire, have been working hard at putting out a great quarterly magazine.  Our graphic designer has encouraged us to the enter the Dog Writers Association of America Breed Club Magazine contest for 2016, so we are really pouring ourselves into putting out a great product because we want to win.  So that is part of the reason why I’ve been absent.

Charles and I have also been very busy with home improvements.  Earlier this year, we finally took out the living room carpet of a million puppy pees and had the oak flooring underneath refinished.  No more puppy pee carpet!  If you love dogs, solid flooring is the only way.  Our latest project has been putting up a sheep and goat fence on our back 3/4 acre for the dogs.  So now we are a true urban dog farm, free range dogs and all.  It sure cuts down on having to take them out for walks, they can just run around the yard themselves.  And where they used to be able to run three neighborhoods over when they wanted to on walks, there is no more of that.  Here’s some views of the new fence from the kitchen window:

But I guess I still need to catch you up on the end of hunting season and the beginning of puppy season.

January 2016 Hunting

We managed to get out in the Sandhills over Christmas break, but with no success.  We walked 5 miles over 4 hours and didn’t see a single grouse.  We then flushed up a flock of 15 with our truck as we were driving out and they sailed far away.  But that is why it is called hunting and not just killing.

Charles and some friends made it back down to Matt’s for some more quail action and he had another hunt with Matt where it was too dark for them to take photos of the roosters and quail, but we did get some shots from our January hunts.  Early in the month, we did a hunt near the Missouri River.  We had been hunting for awhile when Charles got his rooster on the day.  He was walking north towards me along the bank of the river and I was walking towards him southbound when a rooster got up.  It flew over the river and he nailed it good.  I was so scared for the dogs and the big icy river, but luckily the rooster had landed on the edge of the ice and wasn’t floating away.  Fire was in the lead on the retrieve with stupid pup Chief and retrieve-hog BB tailing her.  Luckily, Charles was able to call the two misbehavers off of the bank before anyone had to fall through the ice.  The rooster was in the bag.

BB, Fire and the ice rooster

The last day of the season was January 31st and we took advantage of it.  Charles had his “best last day ever” taking two quail and two roosters.

BB and Fire with Charles on the best last day

Puppy Season 2016

If there is one thing that I’ve learned from this year, is that I will never attempt an off-site litter again.  I hate not being in control.  When Velma didn’t cycle at the same time as she did last year, it was very stressful.  Did she cycle early and we missed it?  Just as I had almost given up hope, Aaron finally noticed signs of proestrus around March 9th.  I had him bring Velma (that we co-own with Aaron) and the stud, Ben, (who is from our “B” Litter between Sam and Sue) over to our place on Friday the 11th.  Breeding started on the evening of Sunday, March 13th and concluded on Wednesday, March 16th.  So assuming that all goes as planned, the puppies will be born mid-May and go home mid-July  (All of the puppies are spoken for at this time).  Aaron will do the whelping and have the pups until my family returns home from 4th of July travels.  I’ll have the pups the last two weeks and for the new owners to pick up here.  I didn’t get any great pictures of Ben and Velma while they were here, so these will have to do:

Velma and Ben in a tie in the kennel.

Ben earned himself a grooming for all of his hard work

It is a huge relief to have this breeding done.  As far as looking ahead to 2017, I am pretty doubtful that I will do a litter.  I do not have a homegrown stud dog up and ready (Ben has fulfilled his contract and will be neutered), with Chief only a year-old right now and no hunt tests.  He will be doing his NAVHDA Natural Ability either in May with the Heartland Chapter in Brainard, Nebraska, or in June with the Midwest Tri-State Chapter in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I would like to wait until Chief has a Utility Test under his belt before breeding him.  My female from Quebec, BB, has her NA and UT tests, but I would have to use an outside stud in order to have a litter.  I just don’t feel the need to put in the time and expense for all of the hormone testing and stud service to time and have an outside stud litter, when I am not in a situation to keep a pup out of it myself.  I don’t want to 100% say, no, I won’t do a litter in 2017, but I’m about 90% sure.  I have a 90 year-old grandmother and 95 year-old grandfather that I have to get out to California to visit right when school lets out in 2017 and I can’t let anything get in the way of that.

But back to talking about NAVHDA testing, we are looking to have Fire ready to Utility Test this Fall.  That means that every weekend from here on out, we are going to have to be working with her to get ready.  It is an exciting time, but also a lot of hard work.  Last weekend, we started our big walks with all of the dogs since it was dry enough.

Bluestem’s Otoe Chief, “Chief”

Bluestem’s Prairie Fire, NA I “Fire”

Bourg-Royal CB Bluestem JH, NA I UT III

Here’s just a random shot of Fire and Chief on the kitchen floor being buds:

Fire and Chief having a nap in the sun

Pupdates

Lots of birthdays this time of year, I can’t keep track of all of the dates!  It is hard to believe that our “A” litter is six years old now!  Happy birthdays to everyone.

Our retired female, Mae, is now a grandmother with the birth of Midge’s (from our 2013 “F” litter) pups at Vigilante Griffons in Helena, Montana.

Midge (“F” litter) and her puppies at Vigilante Griffons

I love this picture of her older brother Chester (from our “C” litter Sam/Mae in 2012) and his owner Sal in New York by Field Dog Imagery:

And here’s Chester’s sister and littermate, TracHer in North Dakota:

It’s always fun hunting in ND

Chester and TracHer’s little sister, Josie, from Mae’s last litter (our “H” litter) in 2014 celebrated her 2nd birthday up in South Dakota with a swim:

Josie (H litter)

Rob here in Omaha sent an update on Maggie, from our “E” litter in 2013 (Sam/Sue):

It has been too long since I have reported on Maggie (Edna from Feb. 2013). As I have said before she is constantly impressing me and never disappoints. I have never hunt tested her but we do a lot of wild bird hunting around Winner and Presho, SD. Our family friend who owns the land that we hunt also wants us to start guiding some of his paying customers that he has a few weekends a year. This is not the lodge type setup as it is all wild birds, but the bird population is great and we love it there. The best part is he has no concerns with Maggie being used with paying customers as she is a fantastic hunter and very well behaved, and not even 3 years old yet!!

At home she is great with our 7 year old daughter, whom you met when we picked her up, and our 22 month old son who came after we added Maggie to our family. Her only downside is if I get up from my recliner she likes to jump in it and try to steal it from me, and she will growl her disapproval when lying on the foot of our bed and I want to move my feet making her move! We have to keep an eye on our son because he likes to pull on her beard while trying to kiss her, but she is so patient that we never worry as she will just smother him with kisses until he backs off.

Maggie with some pheasants

A great day for Maggie and Rob

Maggie’s sister/littermate Zoey in Oklahoma had some fun blood tracking some hogs recently:

Maggie and Zoey’s older sister, Dottie, from our “D” litter in 2012 (Sue/Sam) is still around town here in Omaha and getting out and chasing birds.  Her owner Rick said,

It’s been a while since we’ve sent you an update on Dottie.  She’s been absolutely great!  The absolute best mix of a solid, reliable hunting dog and a family companion.  I’ve attached some pics from our youth outing last weekend and our open day haul today.  We’re so happy you introduced her into our family.

Dottie (D litter) with quail and roosters

Dottie was queen of the youth hunt

My dog Fire’s sister, Willow, just celebrated her second birthday with her owner Kaylee making a cute card.  The picture on the left was taken by me at my house when she picked up her puppy and the one on the right is the same pose now.  Love it!  Fire and Willow are from Sam and BB’s “G” litter.  Kaylee and Willow live in Missouri.

Willow and Kaylee, then and now!

Willow’s little sister, another Maggie, from our 2015 “J” Litter (Sam/BB) just turned one.  This Maggie lives in Iowa.

J litter Maggie is 1

Last but not least, Chief’s brother Cooper also celebrated his first birthday with his owner making a cute card.  Chief and Cooper are from our 2015 “I” litter between Ben and Velma.  Cooper lives in North Dakota.

Retirement Update

Sam is enjoying life on the sheep farm near Bowling Green, Kentucky.

I haven’t had any recent pictures from my brother of Mae, but he recently texted me that she is the “funniest dog ever”.  She hangs out with my brother and his crazy Siberian Husky in Valentine, Nebraska.

Conclusion

I had this whole pheasant noodle soup recipe of Charles’s with pics and stuff ready to go, but this post has become an epic tome and I’ll save it for another day.  Good luck to everyone out there with spring training and testing.  If you love your griffon, or any versatile dog for that matter, test it in NAVHDA.  It is fun and important.  If you are not yet a member, please join at: http://www.navhda.org/sites/www.navhda.org/files/assets/Mem_NewMemFrm.pdf

Happy Spring!

Please note that if you are shopping for a puppy, I am currently full on reservations for my 2016 litter.  Due to several other things taking my time, I am a few weeks behind on kennel e-mails.  I will respond to them as soon as I can.  I am also behind on returning phone calls and have taken my phone number down again due to the volume of calls that we’re receiving.  If you would like to be placed on a contact list for this year’s litter in the event that there are additional pups (which is fairly unlikely), if you have questions about the breed, or would like a recommendation on a breeder, please e-mail instead of calling.  I am not responding to anything in a timely fashion right now.  I hope to get back on track and getting all of the phone calls and emails returned once the holidays are behind us.

Yesterday was nearly a perfect day for hunting: around 50 degrees with a solid cloud cover but no precipitation.  It was a bit breezy, but nothing compared to some of the gale-force winds we encounter farther west and north.  The corn and soybeans are all harvested and the southeast Nebraska winter farm-scape makes for a rather bleak picture without snow.

The Lakota have a legend or a prophecy that one day the earth as we know it today will all roll back and will return to what it was before all of this industrialization.  It fascinates me that so many people in this country are wrapped up about the Amazon rainforest or the African savannah, but don’t realize that the most endangered ecosystem on the planet is right in our own backyard.

The tallgrass prairie of the North America is gone.  If you have ever driven US interstate 80 between Grand Island, Nebraska to around Cleveland, Ohio, you know that it is wall-to-wall corn and soybeans.  That all used to be a beautiful blend of native grasses that grow up to 8 feet tall.

Aside from limited government land and one Nature Conservancy preserve in Oklahoma, it is only through US Farm Bill Programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that pieces of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem still exist.  Even if you are not active with a local chapter of Pheasants Forever, it is important to keep your national membership up so that we can maintain pressure on the folks in Washington in order to preserve this national treasure.

Our hunt yesterday took us to a half-section of private CRP thanks to Charles’s friend, Matt.  I saw more bobwhite quail yesterday than I have in the whole rest of my life put together.  I have encountered a handful of coveys over the years, but was never able to put together a shot.  Our hunt consisted of Matt on the left outside, Charles in the middle, and me on the right outside, with Fire and BB as our dogs for the day.  We were probably 15 yards from the truck when one got up on my right and flew to my left.  I swung on it and connected on the first shot.  I had to grit my teeth to keep myself from screaming out loud.  But there was definitely a “Yesss!” and a fist pump in there.

Charles takes the retrieve of my first quail

Matt was on the edge of the brush, then Charles, with me out in the middle of the grass.

Another 40 yards down the line, a full covey got up with none taken since most of them flew right over my head.  Then another 30 yards down, a covey got up and Charles took one out of it.  As we worked our way around, we got up another two coveys and no birds taken out of them (but great pointing action from the dogs regardless).  When we got to the far end of the property, we were probably 45 minutes into the hunt and had seen 80 birds.  Right as we had changed direction, BB went on point not too far away from me.  I hustled up to her and fully expected to kick up a pheasant in the tall grass.  But instead out popped a single quail and once again I took it down with one shot.

Then it was Charles’s turn for a singleton.

Fire is obviously excited about her retrieve

As we were nearing the truck, Charles took one more single bird for his total of three.  There were more birds getting up right before the truck that we missed.  This got Charles all fired up, so he took the dogs and headed back through a small area that we hadn’t thoroughly covered.  Matt and I were like, “Go for it,” and stood there chatting as we watched Charles and the dogs work the area over.  Sure enough, Matt and I were dive-bombed by three and Matt took his single bird right over our heads.

The dog work was excellent on this trip, lots of great points and downed bird finds that we never would have gotten without them.  Even on the blind retrieve on Matt’s bird where they were 50 yards away on the other side of a hedgerow, once Charles brought them around, BB and Fire wasted no time in locating our quarry.  I need to carry a notebook with me on trips and write more details about the dog work on our drive home to share with you all.  The shots always stand out in my mind, but even though their hard work is extraordinary, it all becomes a blur.

Even as we were approaching the truck and unloading, there were birds getting up.  I bet that we saw close to 100 in total.  Completely amazing, to have a bird that was almost completely gone from our area of the state come back with such power.  The incredible forces of nature at work.

Since these were my first quail, I had to get a photo with the dogs.  It took me 17 years, but I having finally completed the Nebraska upland bird hunting grand slam.  A Nebraska upland bird hunting grand slam (in the order that I harvested them), is: sharptailed grouse, greater prairie chicken, rooster pheasant, and bobwhite quail.

Last night, Charles and I were talking about what a North American Upland Game Bird Grand Slam would consist of.  Here is what we came up with (I am doing this as much for myself as I am for you, I’m afraid I’ll lose my list):

Prairie Grouse: Sage, Sharptailed, Greater Prairie Chicken (the Lesser Prairie Chicken of Kansas is no long able to be hunted as of recently) [3]

Rooster Pheasant

Mountain Grouse: Ruffed, Blue, Spruce, Dusky [4]

Woodcock

Quail: Bobwhite, California (Valley), Mountain, Mearns, Scaled, Gambles [6]

Partridge: Hungarian (Gray), Chukar, Himalayan Snowcock [3]

Ptarmigan: White-Tailed, Willow, Rock [3]

Is that a bucket list?  I think so.  Charles has one on me that I don’t have: the Hungarian/Gray Partridge he took in North Dakota in 2014.

Several of these we’ll have a chance at during our trip next year to Montana for the AWPGA National Specialty.  There will be some trips to Wisconsin, Arizona, California, and Nevada for sure in this lifelong effort.  The long shots will be the ptarmigan and the Himalayan Snowcock.

But alas, it is time to prepare for some Christmas travels.  I do have some pupdates, but they will have to wait for my return.  May the peace and joy of Christmas be with you all, here is a photo of “Chief” and Caleb from earlier this week, who didn’t quite make it through the movie of “A Christmas Carol”.

The merriest of Christmases and a Happy New Year to you all!