Home

“W” and “X” Litter Homegoings

August 17, 2025

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

All of our 2025 puppies have gone to their new homes and we are going into a semi-retirement period with no current breeding plans. We have two adult children in Nebraska and our youngest is a junior in high school, so we would like the freedom to travel right now. This is our fifteenth year straight of breeding Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and breeding requires considerable time at home. This isn’t a permanent closure, just a temporary pause. We’ll keep our social media and website updated as to when we have some breeding plans established.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The song “Everytime You Go Away” from the mid-80s has been playing in my head a lot lately, with these two litters going home over the last couple of weeks. I will try not to make this post too sappy. It really helped to go through the photos and look at all of the happy families after we spent the weekend putting away the puppy things. I cry very little, but there were some tears shed this weekend since we are doing a semi-retirement to take a break and slow down our breeding program as we get older. My term as secretary of the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association also expires at the end of the month, so it will be a nice time of renewal and rebirth as I go back to teaching middle school English Language Arts full time.

I’m just going to post the photos in the order that I have been posting their puppy photos.

“W” Litter Homegoings

Wynonna went out to the coast to Charleston, SC with Erin and her daughter.

Wynonna on her way to Charleston, SC

Winston went across town to the other side of Charlotte with Lisa and her family; this is their second Bluestem puppy. Also pictured is Roux from the “T” litter between Obi and Ruth.

Winston with Lisa and family of Charlotte

Wade flew back home (to us) into Omaha to live on the other side of the Missouri River in Iowa with Joe and family. This is their second Bluestem puppy, also having Gus from the “Q” litter.

Wade and Joe of Iowa

Waylon is staying right here on Lake Wylie with Marcus.

Waylon and Marcus right down the road

Wycliffe went up to Maryland with David.

Wycliffe and David on their way to Maryland.

Washington will live with Joanne and family in the North Carolina Sandhills on the other side of Charlotte.

Washington with Joanne and family of the NC Sandhills

“X” Litter Homegoings

Xander went home with Zach down into Central South Carolina. Zach got extra redneck bonus points for wearing a King Ropes hat, of which I’ve not seen one since leaving Nebraska.

Xander and Zach of Central South Carolina

Xavier went up to Virginia with Brianna and her husband

Xavier with Brianna and her husband off to Virginia

Xerxes will live between South Carolina and Mississippi with Reed and his family.

Xerxes and Reed headed for adventures in South Carolina and Mississippi

Xena will live in Georgia with Jon and family.

Xena off to Georgia with Jon and his family

Xantia joined the Air Force, currently stationed in Mississippi with Alec and his wife.

Xantia with Alec and his wife

Xaria went to Upstate New York with Dara and Pericle.

Xaria with Pericle and Dara of Upstate New York

Xandra went up to Maryland with Amy.

Xandra with Amy of Maryland

Xyla went home to Ohio with Aaron (with the beard). I am pretty terrible with names unless I have them written down, so I know that the younger man is his son. This is his third Bluestem puppy, having an old girl from our “D” litter still going and another from our “Q” litter.

Xyla going to Ohio with Aaron to be his third Bluestem puppy

So that is it for puppy homegoings for awhile. I do hear from owners with photos and updates, so slowing down with breeding will give me a chance to share more of those. And of course we’ll still be testing and hunting. Stay tuned in the future, even if I don’t post as frequently, I’ll try to get on once a month. Get ready for fall, here it comes!

“W” Litter Seven Weeks Old

July 23, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies , , , , , Leave a comment

All puppies currently have homes, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com in the event that anyone backs out at the last minute.

The six puppies of the “W” litter have had their leash and bird exposure, as well as plenty of kids’ cap gun fire. They’ll get their crate exposure after they come home from the vet’s office on Friday. At the vet, they will have their exam, first shots and microchip.

Of course here is the last weekly silly YouTube video:

We decided to forego the posed shots and just use action shots this week. These were actually taken on Sunday when everyone in the household was around to help. The “X” litter will go through the same process this coming Sunday.

Female:

Wynonna

Female Wynonna on a leash walk
Female Wynonna checking out the pigeon
Female Wynonna with a dead chukar

Males:

Winston

Male Winston on a leash walk
Male Winston checking out the pigeon
Male Winston with the dead chukar

Wade

Male Wade on a leash walk
Male Wade checking out the pigeon
Male Wade with the dead chukar

Waylon

Male Waylon on a leash walk
Male Waylon checking out the pigeon
Male Waylon picking up the dead chukar

Wycliffe

Male Wycliffe on a leash walk
Male Wycliffe checking out the pigeon
Male Wycliffe with the dead chukar

Washington

Male Washington on a leash walk
Male Washington checking out the pigeon
Male Washington with the dead chukar

Now normally we use a dead quail for the dead bird exposure, but our dead bird refrigerator died (things that you have when you train dogs) a few months back, so all I had was a chukar. I use zero pressure, there is no expectation for them to pick it up. New puppy owner can get bird wings online and yank them around the yard with string like I did here if they would like. I just put them in an exercise pen and drag the dead bird around until it gets their attention.

I also like to keep the live bird caged so that they can’t put their mouth on it. We don’t want to create any bad habits by letting them chase or put their mouth on the live bird. You can let puppies chase live birds for a little bit, but I think it is better to keep them on a check cord to not create a bird busting habit.

The first puppy from this litter goes home July 31 and most leave the weekend following. It’s always a joy to raise a litter and I can’t wait to see how happy all of the new families are when they pick up their new puppies.

We’ll be back one more time with puppy photos and videos on Sunday with the “X” litter, then it will be time to post homegoing photos after that.

“X” Litter Three Weeks Old

June 29, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

All puppies have homes at this time, but email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to be on the contact list in the event that someone backs out at the last minute.

We’re in our last few days indoors with the pups and this housekeeper will be so happy for it. There’s just a funk that goes along with keeping animals, no matter how clean you keep it.

The puppies will transition this week from canned puppy food all the way up through kibble. Once they move outside, they are given strictly kibble, the canned puppy food draws too many flies. So the “W” Litter goes out on to the covered back porch Wednesday, then this group will follow (in a separate kennel, there is room for two) a week from today.

Here’s the YouTube video for the week:

And here are the individual photos for the week, males first. And my camera has been acting up in portrait mode, which makes the flash go off a bunch of times right in the puppy’s face. So I opted to get sort of low light crummy photos instead of having them flinch a bunch of times from the flash.

Males:

Xander

Male Xander face
Male Xander body

Xavier

Male Xavier face
Male Xavier back

Xerxes

Male Xerxes face
Male Xerxes back

Females:

Xena

Female Xena face
Female Xena back

Xantia

Female Xantia face
Female Xantia back

Xaria

Female Xaria face
Female Xaria back

Xandra

Female Xandra face
Female Xandra back

Xyla

Female Xyla face
Female Xyla back

I wish that they would all pose nicely at this age, but the honestly don’t at all. There are no really good photos until you get them outside running around. They are kind of awkward before that. I’ll be back on Wednesday with the four week update on the “W” Litter.

“W” Litter Three Weeks Old

June 25, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies , , , , , , Leave a comment

All puppies have homes at this time, but email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to be on the contact list in the event that someone backs out at the last minute.

Here is the three week update of the “W” Litter:

It has been unbearably hot here the last few days, but luckily all of the puppies are in the basement until they are four weeks old. Once they reach that age, they are able to regulate their body temperatures, plus they just get too stinky to be inside.

I haven’t started feeding these guys mush yet since they are so big and fat on mom. With there only being six, she can easily handle them. I will start mush tomorrow, just so that we can start the process over the week of them being able to gnaw on kibble once they get outside.

When I walked in this morning with the cameras they happened to be nursing, so I pulled a chair up to the kennel and stood leaning over the top to make this video:

When they are in this “in between” stage before they are running the yard, these are the worst individual photos to take. The lighting isn’t great, they don’t want to hold still, just not my best photography. But here they are anyway:

Female:

Wynonna

Female Wynonna face
Female Wynonna back

Males:

Winston

Male Winston face
Male Winston back

Wade

Male Wade face
Male Wade back

Waylon

Male Waylon face
Male Waylon back

Wycliffe

Male Wycliffe face
Male Wycliffe back

Washington

Male Washington face
Male Washington back

I’ll be back on Sunday with the three week update of the “X” litter!

“X” Litter Two Weeks Old

June 22, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Puppy Update , , , , , , , Leave a comment

All puppies have homes at this time, but email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to be on the contact list in the event that someone backs out at the last minute.

Here’s today’s two week update of the “X” litter pups between Obi x Sally.

Sally and the “X” Litter pups

Everyone is developing as they should, with their eyes opening and scooting around on their little legs. Here is the YouTube video for the week:

Here are their individual photos. We don’t even start the process of evaluating for homes until around the 5-6 week mark, but this is where we start to be able to tell them apart. I do not call them by these names, these are just for online identification purposes only.

Males:

Xander

Male Xander face
Male Xander body

Xavier

Male Xavier face
Male Xavier body

Xerxes

Male Xerxes face
Male Xerxes body

Females:

Female Xena face
Female Xena body

Xantia

Female Xantia face
Female Xantia body

Xaria

Female Xaria face
Female Xaria body

Xandra

Female Xandra face
Female Xandra body

Xyla

Female Xyla face
Female Xyla body

I’ll be back on Wednesday with the three week update of the “W” litter between Duke and Briar. They are getting really big and active, so it will be fun to try and put it all together in this heat! Try to stay cool out there!

“V” Litter Seven Weeks Old

February 16, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , Leave a comment

If you’d like to inquire about future litters, feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com. I have been quite busy as of late and am a few days behind on responses, so I apologize if you’ve sent an email this week and haven’t heard from me. Tomorrow is email day and I’ll get back with you then.

Yesterday the pups got their first shots, microchips and veterinary examinations at Steele Creek Animal Hospital right across the border in Charlotte. I’ve been going there for my orthopedic tests since we moved to the Carolinas, but the vet that I normally use doesn’t have weekend hours so I wanted to see how these folks did. I was very impressed with the professionalism, they even checked for the boys testicles without me having to ask. All of the pups checked out with a clean bill of health, weighing in between ten and twelve pounds.

Dr. Schuver of Steele Creek Animal Hospital of Charlotte

Here is this week’s YouTube video:

Here are the last individual photos of them. We did live bird and dead bird introductions. They were smitten as expected!

Female:

Female, Victoria, checking out the live quail
Female, Victoria, picking up the dead quail

Males:

Male, Vaughn, pointing the live quail
Caleb walking Vaughn from the live bird to the dead quail station

I would have gotten more leash pictures, but I have a feeling that my telephoto lens is on its last legs and it was struggling to focus while they were walking. Each pup was walked on the leash by Caleb.

Male, Vaughn, picking up the dead quail
Male, Valentino, checking out the live quail
Male, Valentino, picking up the dead quail
Male, Vincent, checking out the live quail
Male, Vincent, picking up the dead quail
Male, Vance, getting walked out to the live quail
Male, Vance, checking out the live quail
Male, Vance, picking up the dead quail

This is the exact sequence that I’ve been following with my pups for several years now and it seems to be a good first impression on birds. Of course, the owners need to continue the process of bird and noise exposure, but at least it isn’t a brand new process starting out.

Really there is nothing left to do now but send them home! I’ll make sure to catch up on the phone one more time with all of the new owners before you head over to my house. Looking forward to meeting everyone in person and getting these little monsters home!

“V” Litter Four Weeks Old

January 26, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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!

Female:

Female, Victoria, face
Female, Victoria, profile

Males:

Male, Vincent, face
Male, Vincent, profile
Male, Valentino, face
Male, Valentino, profile
Male, Vaughn, face
Male, Vaughn, profile
Male, Vance, face
Male, Vance, profile

They’ll really start growing from here on out, so keep an eye on the blog next weekend for another update. Talk at you then.

“V” Litter Three Weeks Old

January 18, 2025

Charity Upchurch Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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, face
Female, Victoria, back

Males:

Male, Vincent, face
Male, Vincent, back
Male, Valentino, face
Male, Valentino, back (you can see his heart spot, hence the name)
Male, Vaughn, face
Male, Vaughn, back
Male, Vance, face
Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Male, 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.