Where has the time gone? How has it been three months since I’ve written my last blog post? We’re in semi-retirement right now with no firm breeding plans. I appreciate y’all who have been checking in, you never know if an accident could happen with two females and a male on the property.
I also love the pupdates coming through email and text. I have totally neglected re-posting those, I feel terrible. Let’s plan those over Christmas break, since I decided to go back into teaching middle school English this year and it is hectic just keeping up with the dogs and a son in his junior year of high school. My head kennel tech/son Caleb is currently holding straight A’s since freshman year with hopes of going to either Clemson or The Citadel to major in urban planning and civil engineering. Our older son Conrad is getting ready to graduate from Metropolitan Community College Omaha with an Associate’s Degree in Information Technology. Our oldest, daughter Cordelia is the sales manager at an optometrist and is thinking of finally using her finance degree in banking.
Duke was our first dog to go into retirement this year, he went out to Oregon to live the good life with Ben. We really appreciate Ben giving Duke a great home. Duke has put out some nice puppies but we really want to focus on higher level hunting test dogs. A NAVHDA UT III is respectable, but there are enough VCs nearby between our Obi and our friend’s dog Gauge that we think that we have what we want for males here.
Duke and his new GSP buddyDuke with ducks and Ben
Briar has gone to live another fantastic retirement life in Virginia with Priscilla. I absolutely love Briar’s size and she is the sweetest dog, but she just didn’t have what we wanted in the ability to take pressure in training. She was my pick of that litter, we bought her back from someone and love her genetic contribution to the breed, but whatever happened with guns and pressure in training while she was away was not good. She has her Junior Hunter, but we were nervous to try more advanced things with her. So she is a beloved family pet to a couple who spends a lot of time with her along the James River.
Briar’s adventures in retirementMore of Briar’s adventures in retirement
Sandhills Hunting
Charles and the rest of the pack: Obi, age 6, Sally, age 5, and Belle being almost two went out to the Nebraska Sandhills at the beginning of October for grouse and ducks this year and it was rough hunting. Caleb went with him and got skunked. Here is the run down of the game bag:
It was day four of the hunt when he and Belle got on the board with two grouseDay five was one snipe with BelleBelle with a limit of woodducks at an old creek haunt of ours
After a week, Caleb came back home to get back to school after fall break. The dogs and Charles spent a few days of working in Nebraska, then they made their way up to North Dakota. The hunting is never a giveaway up there, but it was more productive in a short amount of time than the Sandhills this year.
Day One North Dakota: Obi and Belle with two roosters and a grouseNorth Dakota Day 3: Sally, Belle and Obi with two ducks (one a nice drake mallard) and three roostersNorth Dakota Day 4: Belle and Sally with three roosters and a grouse
Charles is actually packing up today to go out to South Central Nebraska for pheasants. It is going to be a snowy trip, so it will be interesting to see what comes of it. I will be back sometime over Christmas break, I hope that everyone enjoys their holiday season!
I’m pretty sure that everyone is going to show up to pick up their puppies, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com in the event that someone doesn’t show up. We don’t have any immediate breeding plans for the future and are taking a little semi-retirement, so we’re not taking deposits or reservations on future litters at this time.
It is super hot here and these guys are all super crazy, so it keeps us super busy. Here’s the photos from the leash and bird exposure this morning.
Males:
Xander
Male Xander on the leashMale Xander looking at the pigeonMale Xander with the dead chukar
Xavier
Male Xavier on the leashMale Xavier checking out the pigeonMale Xavier with the dead chukar
Xerxes
Male Xerxes on the leashMale Xerxes looking at the pigeonMale Xerxes with the dead chukar
Females
Xena
Female Xena on the leashFemale Xena checking out the pigeonFemale Xena with the dead chukar
Xantia
Female Xantia on the leashFemale Xantia checking out the pigeonFemale Xantia with the dead chukar
Xaria
Female Xaria on the leashFemale Xaria checking out the pigeonFemale Xaria with the dead chukar
Xandra
Female Xandra on the leashFemale Xandra looking at the pigeonFemale Xandra with the dead chukar
Xyla
Female Xyla on the leashFemale Xyla looking at the pigeonFemale Xyla with the dead chukar
And here’s the last video for this litter! Next blog posts will be of the photos of the new families. Always a fun and exciting time for everyone!
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 four week update on the “W” Litter.
Here is the video of the litter shot today:
Here are their individual photos, starting with the female.
Wynonna
Female Wynonna faceFemale Wynonna body
Males:
Winston
Male Winston faceMale Winston body
Wade
Male Wade faceMale Wade body
Waylon
Male Waylon faceMale Waylon body
Wycliffe
Male Wycliffe faceMale Wycliffe body
Washington
Male Washington faceMale Washington body
They’ve made the transition to the outdoor kennel and are now on hard kibble as well as nursing from mom however much she’ll tolerate it. They’ll get daily time in the yard and lots of play with Caleb and I. I’ll let folks know once availability ends and the spot has been taken, then come back on Sunday with the four week update on the “X” litter. Stay cool and enjoy the 4th of July safely!
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 faceFemale Wynonna back
Males:
Winston
Male Winston faceMale Winston back
Wade
Male Wade faceMale Wade back
Waylon
Male Waylon faceMale Waylon back
Wycliffe
Male Wycliffe faceMale Wycliffe back
Washington
Male Washington faceMale Washington back
I’ll be back on Sunday with the three week update of the “X” litter!
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 faceMale Xander body
Xavier
Male Xavier faceMale Xavier body
Xerxes
Male Xerxes faceMale Xerxes body
Females:
Female Xena faceFemale Xena body
Xantia
Female Xantia faceFemale Xantia body
Xaria
Female Xaria faceFemale Xaria body
Xandra
Female Xandra faceFemale Xandra body
Xyla
Female Xyla faceFemale 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!
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 two week update of the “W” Litter:
We are planning a temporary retirement from breeding starting in 2026. Our youngest is an upperclassman in high school and our two older are back in Nebraska, so we’re needing a bit more freedom of movement than producing litters every year. 2025 is our 15th year in a row (minus one year off for COVID lockdown) and we feel like we deserve a break.
I’ve decided to have a blog post for each litter, rather than trying to cram them all in to one post. So “W” Litter will be on Wednesdays and “X” Litter will be on Sundays. So here is the video and individual photos of the “W” Litter 2025 between Cedar & Spruce’s Apollo NA III UT III “Duke” x Bluestem’s Carolina Briar Thicket JH “Briar”.
Female:
Wynonna
Female Wynonna faceFemale Wynonna back
Males:
Winston
Male Winston faceMale Winston back
Wade
Male Wade faceMale Wade back
Waylon
Male Waylon faceMale Waylon back
Wycliffe
Male Wycliffe faceMale Wycliffe back
Washington
Male Washington faceMale Washington back
Oh and last but not least, here is the YouTube video. It was a hot one, but it was their first time outside and it didn’t seem too traumatic for them.
Thanks for checking in on us, I have to get ready to put dinner on the table and then hop on to an AWPGA board call so I will talk at you again on Sunday with the “X” litter.
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.
The puppies chose not to wait until I was done teaching school for the semester and arrived during the last week. Briar and Duke’s “W” Litter arrived on Wednesday, June 4th. Luckily Caleb was home to watch over the process. He is not the first one of my children to whelp a litter of puppies, Cordelia helped BB whelp a litter 8 years ago to the month. There are five boys and one girl in the litter of six.
Sally and Obi’s “X” Litter pups arrived on Sunday, June 8th. Puppies started arriving about 10:30 AM and we were done by 3:30 PM. There are three boys and five girls in the litter of eight. No stillborns in either of the two litters. They both have their whelping boxes and kennels in the basement until the pups are four weeks old, when they get too stinky to be inside and they are able to regulate their body temperature.
So that brings us to a total of eight boys and six girls between the two litters, for a total of fourteen puppies. I need to reach out to folks with 2025 reservations to see if they are confirmed, then check in with the people who have reservations for 2026 to see if they want to move up a year. Then I would be open to taking new deposits.
My females absolutely hate the camera at this point, so I try to limit the exposure. At around two weeks when the puppies’ eyes are open, we can start taking individual pictures.
Here are the Briar and Duke pups at one week old:
Six snugglers of Briar and DukeBriar and the pupsCloseup on a yawnerFaces
Here are the photos of the three day old litter between Sally and Obi:
Nursing babiesSally and the pupsCloseup of nursing pups
So like I say, right now my priority is getting in touch with my folks with deposits down and figuring things out from there. Briar and Duke’s litter will be 8 weeks old on July 30th, so that is when they can start going home. The weekend following is August 2nd and 3rd. Sally and Obi’s pups will be 8 weeks old Sunday, August 3rd, so that is the first day that they can go home. The following weekend is August 9th and 10th. All puppies need to go home by Sunday, August 10th due to my school schedule next year.
Thanks for reading and I’ll post again a week from today when the “W” litter is two weeks old!
All of these pups are spoken for, but feel free to reach out to bluestemkennels@gmail.com about our future plans.
The “V” Litter is getting downright crazy these days. Their teeth are coming in, they love to run and fight with each other, they are attacking my fan palm tree, biting my pants and shoes, you name it, they are up to it. We’ve made it through picks and so here are the pups and where they are heading.
Males:
Male, Vance, face. He’s going to New Jersey.Male, Vance, side profileMale, Vaughn, face. He’s going to North Carolina.Male, Vaughn, side profile.Male, Vincent, face. He’s staying in South Carolina.Male, Vincent, side profile.Male, Valentino, face. He’s going to Arkansas.Male, Valentino, side profile.
Female:
Female, Victoria, face. She’s going to Kentucky.Female, Victoria, side profile.
I almost forgot to add the YouTube video for the week!
We also pulled out the kiddie pool today since it was 75 degrees out and let the pups splash around in there. This week I start with cap gun fire while they run and play. They get their first vaccinations and microchips on Saturday, then Sunday they’ll get to meet some live and dead birds. Next Sunday will be our last blog post update before the puppies go home! Talk at you then.
All of these pups are spoken for, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com regarding future litters.
I’ve had a busy weekend getting the puppies de-wormed and keeping them fed, exercised and their kennel cleaned, so I’m a little late on posting. I took the photos out of normal order, so I’m going to drop those in first, post my YouTube video and I need to get on my way for the evening and get ready for the week.
I’ll be getting with the future owners over the next week and a half about what we think is the right placement for everyone, the males are all so even, it is going to be a tough decision. They all look great as you can see! Catch you all next week!
All of these puppies have homes, but if you’d like to talk to us about future litters shoot us an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.
I’m a day late to post because yesterday the basement was just beyond stinky with the pups and the weather was nice enough to move them and their kennel to the back porch. They’ve made the transition from puppy mush to kibble over the last week and they still nurse when Briar lets them.
Here is this week’s YouTube video:
And here are their individual photos. Although most of the new owners and I don’t decide who is going where exactly for a couple of more weeks, we did decide that the girl is going to Kentucky to live with an electrical lineman and his girlfriend since he is gone for long periods of time during storms and she’ll be able to handle the female better. Now it is just a matter of figuring out which male will go where!
Bluestem Kennels 