Korthals Griffon | Bluestem Kennels

Mid-season Slowdown, Pupdates and Happy Holidays!!

December 13, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Bird Hunting, Duck Hunting, Korthals Griffon, Korthals Griffons, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Nebraska Sandhills, Pheasant Hunting, Puppies, Sharptail Grouse Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

After the big hunting trip to North Dakota for Sam, BB and Charles, filling the game bag has taken a pause. It isn’t that we haven’t tried! Charles went out for deer the first two weekend in November on our friend’s land on the Platte River and saw deer but didn’t have any good shots. Our freezer is full of birds anyway, so I think he was really just getting out of the house. The latter part of November and the first part of December he’s gone out for ducks, pheasants and quail, with very few sightings and no shots. There were two weekends where he drove 3 hours one way (in different directions), even going down into the Flint Hills of Kansas, but still no luck. We are hoping that when the snow finally comes (we’re at a historical record for days without snow), that we might be able to come across a few roosters, but are really looking forward to our planned grouse hunt on the Sunday before Christmas up in my Nebraska Sandhills home. For the most part we’ve given up on Eastern Nebraska this year and are going to turn our attention to getting Sam and BB trained up to take a shot at some legs of the AKC Senior Hunter test over the course of 2013.

Looks like we’re getting closer to breeding with Sue and I suspect that Mae won’t be too far behind. I won’t have an exact calendar of events until pro-estrous (bleeding) actually starts, but there are definitely changes going on and I just have to keep watching.

Yet despite our slow time here lately, things appear to be going well in other parts of the country with our puppy owners! Aaron of Ohio and “Pepper” from Sam and Sue’s 2012 “D” litter (age 6 months now) posted an update on our Facebook page saying:

Pepper, aka Derry, from the D litter is doing very well. We worked her on quail in a call back pen all late summer and early fall until the quail “went native”. On Monday we decided to shoot over her for the first time after a fair bit of work with a starter pistol. She pointed and retrieved two chukars with no concern for the gun fire. She trailed a wounded bird to a groundhog hole where it escaped. She is also doing great in the house.

It’s so exciting to keep up with all of the pups and how they are doing, knowing how much joy a good dog brings to the home and field. Randy and “Roxy”, from Sam and Sue’s 2011 “B” litter, out of Utah are having an outstanding year. Randy wrote:

Man, has the light ever came on with Roxy. She did all that could ever be wanted while hunting Iowa, North Dakota, and Utah this year. Best all around dog I have ever had in the 50 years of hunting. I will attach a few pictures. Thanks you guys for making my hunting career come together.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge:

Randy, Roxy (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female) and company after a great day in the field

Randy and Roxy (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female) had a great time in North Dakota!

Another great day for Roxy (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female)!

I really love the last photo of Randy and Roxy because aside from being absolutely gorgeous, it’s a great shot showing that she looks exactly like Sue’s head on Sam’s body. Of course, having a hunter say that you’ve given him the best hunting dog that he’s had in 50 years of hunting makes a person feel like a million bucks!! But that is our goal!!

Cliff down in Oklahoma and his pup “Belle” out of Sam and Mae’s 2012 “C” litter, which is 9 months old now, are having a great time thus far in Kansas and Oklahoma:

Wanted to give you a quick update on Belle. We’ve been out every week since the season opened in OK & KS. I had to work the weekend of Nov 10th & 11th, but that was just as well because it was so warm and windy. Belle & I hunted the following Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning in KS. Saw very few pheasants (no quail) and bagged the only one I shot at. That was Belle’s first pheasant. Attached is a picture of us with #1.

The following weekend in KS we got 2 more pheasants. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we hunted Kansas once again and got into a covey of quail and bagged 2 birds. Belle as having rock solid points and also found a bird that had been hit and flown a considerable distance to which we only knew a general location. With the quail, Belle made the connection that she was to bring them back to me, so she now brings the birds back to me in addition to fetching the paper daily. So far the hunting reports across the state of Kansas are what I have experienced. The bird population has been severely impacted.

Yesterday was opening day for pheasants in OK. When I got up it was 59 degrees and windy. The high got up to 76. I should have had my OK limit (3 roosters), but missed the easiest shot of the day . We saw a good number of birds, but with the weather most flushed far ahead.

Overall, I am very pleased with Belle’s performance. Responds to commands, hunts close, has a great nose, does not flush birds wildly, and has learned to hold point and to find and retrieve downed birds. I just need to keep giving her the opportunity to hunt so that we can refine her skills. I have attached additional pictures.

Cliff and Belle (9 month old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) with her first pheasant

Belle (9 month old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) and the Oklahoma opener game bag

Awesome success, Cliff and Belle, so happy for you!! It gives us hope that there is still upland bird hunting to be had out there since honestly, we’ve been in a bit of a funk about how things have been going lately. I have pictures from the 1990’s of Charles and our Brittany “Sheaf” going out every weekend and getting a limit of pheasant here in Eastern Nebraska. It really hurts my heart that those days are probably gone and we’re going to be stuck with three options: 1) extended bird hunting safaris to the Nebraska Sandhills, North Dakota and other states with sustainable bird populations 2) joining a hunt club 3) buying and planting our own birds on the local dog training wildlife management area or on a friend’s land.

Okay, back to something happy for the holidays!! Joel and Jenn from Kearney, Nebraska shared this picture of Roxy’s brother, Mowgli, from Sam and Sue’s 2011 “B” litter. He looks like he enjoyed the snow that they had out there! What a face!

Mowgli (18 month old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) chillin’ in the snow

Keeping in the holiday spirit, Sal and family in New York were kind enough to mail us a Christmas card with a cute photo of Belle’s brother, Chester, also from Sam and Mae’s 2012 “C” litter (9 months old):

Merry Christmas from Chester (9 month old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon)

Many thanks to all of my puppy owners for making this blog fun to put together and read! You really go out of your way to take the time to send us great photos and write-ups and it is appreciated more than I can ever express. We put a lot of time and love into our puppies, so it is a big warm fuzzy to see that loving spirit carried on in their lives in their forever homes.

Wishing all hunters and lovers of griffons, our puppy owners, friends and family the Merriest of Christmases, from Bluestem Kennels and the Upchurch family!

“Not a creature was stirring…” Clockwise from top left: BB, Mae, Sam and Sue.

News Galore: Upcoming Breeding, AWPGA National Specialty and Pupdates

November 21, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update 2012 AWPGA National Specialty, AKC, AWPGA, Korthals Griffon, Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter, NAVHDA, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, WPGCA 1 Comment

Upcoming Breeding

Sue is coming into the very first stages of heat. I’m going to take photos and document the whole process for a future article, which I don’t think will be of much interest and will probably kinda gross out some of my readers, but when I was getting my internet education and book learning on the physiology of a female’s heat cycle, the only photographs I could find were from toy dogs and it helped me out some, but I would like to get it down for the future of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed.

But back to Sue, she is probably 2-4 weeks away from breeding, so that puts whelping in February-March and puppy homegoing in April-May. I currently have six reservations with deposit, therefore the entire breeding may already be sold, but there is a possibility for additional puppies from this litter. We will also have a litter from Sam and Mae this spring. For information about our current breeding dogs, please click on the “About Our Dogs” button up at the top of the page. This will be Sue’s fourth and last litter.

Hunting Season Progress

Charles, Sam and BB had a great trip to North Dakota at the end of October, make sure to check it out on the Hunting Blog (versatilehunter.com or just click the button at the top of the page). We’ve all taken a mid-season break, Charles has been spending time in the deer woods (even though our freezer is full of birds and I keep begging him not to go since we don’t have room for one) and I’ve had a spell of illness. I know that Charles and his friend Matt have a trip to Kansas planned for next weekend, but I probably won’t get out in the field until Christmas, as I had surgery on my upper jaw a couple of weeks ago and I want that to fully heal before putting a shotgun up to my face. So my dog time has mainly been spent in just daily exercise and socialization.

Caleb and Sam enjoying some play time

Cordelia and Conrad having a slumber party with BB

A Brief History of the AWPGA

I recently had an e-mail question from a puppy buyer about the AWPGA vs. the WPGCA. I might as well take the time to explain it here for everyone’s benefit. Back in the 1980’s there occurred what I call “The Great Schism”. Similar to the medieval division of the Christian church, Griffondom came to a loggerhead and there were two groups who could no longer co-exist. The WPGCA was the original breed club in the United States, but many of the controlling individuals were concerned that the hunting ability of the purebred genepool at that time was compromised and that there was an irreparable genetic depression that required an infusion from another breed to avoid total collapse in not only the health of the breed, but in their abilities as Korthals intended. Therefore this group decided to crossbreed with the Cesky Fousek, a similar breed from then Czechoslovakia. A detailed history of the breed and the club can be read in Joan Bailey’s book Griffon: Gun Dog Supreme. Mrs. Bailey was part of the crossbreeder element and stayed with the WPGCA, so the breakup is not mentioned in her book.

In crossbreeding, the WPGCA created dogs not recognized by the American Kennel Club or the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association. They intentionally created a designer hunting mutt.

A brave group of individuals decided to leave the WPGCA and form the AWPGA to preserve the purity of the breed and retain purebred status with the AKC and NAVHDA. Through concerted private effort across North America, AKC/NAVHDA breeders took steps to ensure that the genetics and hunting ability were bolstered. Importations of purebred griffons occurred at that time and continue to this day from the Netherlands, Germany and France. Hunt testing through NAVHDA and the AKC has been emphasized. Participation in AKC conformation dog shows is yet another important element to make sure that our breeding stock is fitting the original mold intended.

The effort has been an astounding success. The breed had its first sporting group placement at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in 2011 by GCH Fireside’s Spontaneous Combustion. Griffons were the second largest group of Utility Prize I dogs tested for their Versatile Champion title at the NAVHDA Invitational this year.

We continue to promote genetic diversity through a team approach, making sure that our bloodlines do not become too tightly inbred by buying breeding stock from one another or utilizing outside studs. With 30 years of hard work behind them, the veterans of the AWPGA can declare a victory in this battle and us youngsters can appreciate their efforts and continue the work that lies ahead.

AWPGA National Specialty

Every year in October the AWPGA has their National Specialty dog show and convention in a different region of the United States. This year was the midwest region’s turn and it was being held right up the road in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Plus it was being chaired by my friend Kay Farris, who is just an amazing lady. She has handled her own dogs to conformation championships and is organizer extraordinaire for the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter, which also moonlights as an AKC club called the South Dakota Pointing Dog Club. Kay and I have gotten to know each other through showing our dogs this summer up in Minnesota, plus she has been test secretary at all of the testing we’ve done or have considered doing in Sioux Falls.

I almost cancelled my reservation to nationals at the last minute. It was my first time going and breeders have a bad habit of thinking that we have seances with Korthals himself, know exactly his intentions for what the breed should be and everyone else just doesn’t quite have it exactly right. I thought for sure that I would be picked on and snubbed as a newcomer. But I was excited to meet the people that I had been talking to online and at a minimum I knew Larry and Paula Woodward are nice, as we’ve tested with them around here before. So we went. Charles, BB and Sam met Mae and I on the night of Wednesday, October 24th on their way home from North Dakota at the host hotel, the Best Western Ramkota Inn in Sioux Falls.

We had decided to attend Thursday’s NAVHDA Natural Ability test handler’s clinic for a couple of reasons. The first being that even though Charles handled BB to a Prize I with a maximum score of 112 at the Heartland Chapter’s Spring NAVHDA Natural Ability test, we were winging it to an extent. We knew the elements that were to be tested, just assuming that our normal training and exposure for hunting would suffice and it did. Yet we wanted to learn the specifics of the judging of the elements being tested. Secondly, I’d been dying to meet one of the presenters, Bill Jensen. Bill has owned and bred Wirehaired Pointing Griffons as Alder’s Edge Kennel of Minnesota for decades and has also served as a longtime NAVHDA judge. Joan Bailey’s book Griffon: Gun Dog Supreme gives credit to Bill and his late wife Barb as being instrumental in establishment of the breed in North America. (You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them)

Bill Jensen gives instructions for the field portion of the handler’s clinic

Early morning lots of big, fat, wet snowflakes fell upon the dog walkers. We were all walking griffons, so we greeted one another with a nod or a grunt, but it was too cold and dark for proper introductions just yet. Luckily, Kay had accounted for the morning weather for our NAVHDA Natural Ability test handler’s clinic that day and we were first meeting for explanations from and discussions with our presenters at the hotel up until lunch time. In addition to Bill, we had two other experts present: Larry Woodward of Aux Lake Kennel in Kansas who has successfully handled in countless NAVHDA and AKC tests, including NAVHDA Invitational and AKC Master Hunter.

Larry Woodward (left) giving additional instruction for the field portion of the handler’s clinic

Our third expert was NAVHDA judge and new griffon breeder from Connecticut, Mike O’Donnell.

Mike O’ Donnell prepares to throw a chukar into the water for a dog who was struggling to retrieve the bumper

There were close to the maximum of 25 attendees at the session, with most of us being relatively new to the breed (we’ve had griffons for 8 years, compared to some who have 30-40 years) and spent a good three and a half hours at the hotel talking to the experts about training and testing. We then went out west of town to the field grounds and had a delicious lunch of chili, BBQ sandwiches and fixings graciously prepared by Cliff Koele (also an expert handler for NAVHDA Invitational and breeder through Coppershot Griffons of Iowa), Rick Farris (Kay’s husband, UT I handler and Dakotah Griffons breeder) and the other members of the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA chapter.

Field lunch on Thursday, Cliff Koele standing in the middle

After lunch we hit a very cold, wet and windy field to practice judging two different pups in a mock NAVHDA Natural Ability test. The first had never been tested and had little field training, whereas the second had a Prize I with a 112 score on the test. It was very interesting to judge each of the elements and talk to one another and the judges about we agreed or disagreed on the scoring. By the time we wrapped everything up around 4 PM, we were down to less than half of the number of people we started with due to the cold and wet. Even though Charles and I were very underdressed (we thought we were tired of wearing our hunting gear and foolishly wore street clothes), we shivered our way through the end, but there were many from the southern climes that just weren’t used to it. We really enjoyed the clinic and it was a great way to get to know our fellow attendees before the whole social scene hit.

There was just enough time to head back to the hotel and thaw out before the welcome reception Thursday evening. There were lots of yummy hors d’oeuvres (you know, snacks) and as one of my friends said, it was “Facebook comes alive!” It was fun to finally talk face to face to some of the people I had been chatting with on the internet for some time and have a few drinks with them, but the festivities didn’t last too long because Friday was an early morning at the dog show.

Chatting around the hors d’oeurves table, the folks I recognize (from L to R): Pat McKinley, Vicky Foster, Amy Caswell-O’Clair, Bill Jensen, not sure of the lady getting food, Charles Upchurch (at the back of the room), Meghan Sweeney-Vos, Anne Summerfelt (I think, back of her head) is facing Dawn Connor-Wood, with Kristi Rogney on the far right.

The dog show folks started rumbling around the hotel at about 5 AM, getting the dogs walked and gear loaded up to move over to the fairgrounds, we were setting up grooming tables between 6-7 AM, with the first of the griffs in the ring at 8 AM.

Reserved grooming area for Wirehaired Pointing Griffons. Jody Kirtley grooming, Willie Garrou grooming, Brooke Garrou walking dog.

2012 National Specialty bling, organized by Tajia Retzlaff and Meghan Sweeney-Vos

Mae and I had spent months practicing conformation handling at the local dog club, but you never know how a dog is going to perform from one day to the next. I am an inexperienced handler and Mae was really a stubborn pain, so this was her first and last time in the ring. I was very shocked that we actually took home a ribbon, I call it my pity prize. We took 2nd in Hunting Bitch class and I’m so tickled over it that this is still my profile picture on Facebook:

Charity and “Mae” AKC/NAVHDA Little Lady Aspen NA II take 2nd place in the Hunting Bitch Class at the 2012 American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association National Specialty

Close-up of my ribbon

The whole day was very emotional and intense, especially seeing between 25-30 griffs in the ring for the Best of Breed competition. I have no idea how long it took the judge to evaluate all of the dogs, but it felt like time was standing still and that nobody was breathing.

Everyone in the ring for best of breed. This one is tough to label, I see Lisa Durand’s pro handler on the far left, I see Lorraine Rothrock with her back to us with the blonde ponytail kneeling down and Larry Woodward is on the very far right with the blue shirt.

Dawn Connor-Wood’s female “Wilo” won best of breed, which was met by many tears from the owner and much excitement from the crowd. The full results from the National Specialty dog show are available at http://www.onofrio.com/execpgm/wbsrbred?wtsrk1=EMPI1619041WPG

Wilo’s handler, Dawn Connor-Wood and Wilo, 2012 Best of Breed.

We were supposed to go into the annual meeting one-half hour following the dog show, but everyone was so emotionally drained from the intensity of the morning that it was delayed until our pizza supper in the evening. Many of us spent the afternoon touring and shopping in Sioux Falls.

Pizza dinner and annual meeting. Front table (L to R) Meghan Sweeney-Vos, Tajia Retzlaff and Kendall Santos.

The annual meeting lasted around four hours, from 6 PM until 10 PM, but it still felt like we had only scratched the surface of what we all wanted to talk about. I’m sure that if we had started the meeting at 1:30 PM as was planned, we would have been there all day AND all evening. It was all very civil discourse and debate.

Many of us did the dog show on Saturday, others ran in the Korthals Cup competition, which I never made it out to, but I assume was very similar to the NAVHDA or AKC Hunt Test formats. But my highlight of the day was the Saturday night banquet and auction. Not only was the food delicious (prime rib and all the trimmings), but we all just really had a good time after getting to know each other over the weekend: having drinks, sharing more stories, cheering for the award winners and bidding up auction items to fund the club. There were a lot of laughs shared that night, it was awesome.

Kay Farris addresses the crowd at the banquet

There were folks still going Sunday morning, some headed back to the dog show, others back to the Korthals Cup with the final event of the wild game lunch at the field, but Charles and I needed to go home. The kids were crying that they hadn’t seen their dad in two weeks and mom had been gone too long. I wish we’d had more time to chat with everyone in Sioux Falls, it just felt so crazy and intense the whole time.

There are so many people I’ve neglected to mention and shout out to, I’m just going to run down a list. Thank you, Dick Byrne (Flatbrook’s Sporting Dogs, California), veteran member, for making us feel welcome. Thank you, Kristi Rogney (Whiskeytown Sporting Dogs, California), then acting president, for tactful management of the annual meeting and of course, your friendship. Thank you, Dawn Connor-Wood, for an amazingly professional treasury report. Thank you, Willie and Brooke Garrou, for hanging out with us at the specialty dog show. Thank you, George Kline, for being a humorous emcee of the banquet and just an all-around funny guy to hang around (oh, and I got the car magnet that you sent us, thank you again!!!). Thank you, Patty Geist of Kearney for showing up so that we weren’t the only Nebraskans! Thank you, Vicky Foster for helping me in the show ring, you are my new hero for expertly handling your own dog in both the show ring and field tests. Thank you to Glenn Kroese for showing me how to put my show lead on the dog correctly after the judge got after me about it. Thank you, Elaine Hunsicker (Fireside Sporting Dogs, Maryland) for chatting with me about “The Great Schism” at the dog show, it was cool to finally meet someone in person who was there when it happened and willing to talk about it. Thank you to Julie Carlstrom (de Jac Pine Kennels, Wisconsin), judge at the Korthals Cup, for chatting with us about our recently acquired co-owned female, NAVHDA de Jac Pine’s Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. I know that Charles would like to thank Mike O’Donnell for lots of good conversation.

Thank you to all of our other many new friends that we’re so excited to hang out with again next year in Colorado. If you are a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon enthusiast, are reading this and are not a member of the AWPGA, please consider joining by going to awpga.com, click on “The Club” at the top, read the By-Laws and the Code of Ethics in the dropdown menu, then go all the way to the bottom of the dropdown menu and fill out an application form. Then plan on joining us in October of next year in Denver, Colorado for the 2013 shindig!!

Pupdates

Seven month old TracHer, from our Sam/Mae C Litter is out chasing lots of pheasants in North Dakota!

Seven month old TracHer, female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, practicing her retrieve on a pheasant in the snows of North Dakota.

TracHer’s C Litter sister Frankie, who lives in Colorado, took a trip to Kansas where she worked hard searching the fields, having some stylish and staunch points.

Frankie, 7 month old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, searching the fields of Kansas for some roosters.

Five month old Gomer, from our Sue/Sam D litter is learning how to retrieve antlers out in Illinois.

Gomer, five month old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, looking handsome in the yard.

Gomer’s D Litter sister Dottie followed along with some other dogs on opening weekend in Nebraska. She’s just learning the ropes with pointing and retrieving, but loved to pose for this photo.

Dottie, female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, 5 months, with some Southeastern Nebraska roosters

Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a very blessed Thanksgiving. I am very thankful for my readers, who seem to enjoy partaking of this silliness. I am also thankful to be healthy enough to finally write a post, as obviously I’ve been holding it all in and had to spend most of today writing!

More Field Trial Action and Pupdates

September 28, 2012

Charity Upchurch Field Trialing, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons AKC Field Trials, Amateur Walking Derby Stakes, American Field Region 19 Field Trials, Bird Hunting, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 2 Comments

On Field Trials

Saturday, September 22nd was a big day for AKC field events in the Lincoln, Nebraska area, so the kids and I hit the road to visit friends and family involved. Our first stop was the Missouri Valley Brittany Club’s AKC Hunt Test at Yankee Hill Wildlife Management Area just southwest of Lincoln, near Denton. Although Charles and I lived in Lincoln for a couple of years in the 1990’s, I had never been to this WMA. It is very nice, lots of good cover and space, I can see why the Nebraska Game and Parks selected it as a new spot to plant pheasant for the youth hunting weekend in October. Yet I digress.

I was headed to the test to visit with my friend Sally Jo Hoagland from North Platte. Although she is probably closer to my mom’s age than mine, she is one of the top (if not THE top) Weimaraner breeders in Nebraska (Weimshadow Kennel) and one of the only professional dog trainers in Central Nebraska (Four Paws Dog Training). We had met at the Grand Island Kennel Club Dog Show earlier in the year after first connecting on Facebook, due to our mutual involvement with NAVHDA and AKC. It was funny that at the hunt test I not only knew Sally Jo, but probably 90% of the people at the test and what was even funnier is that we were not the only family of spectators.

The hunt test environment is very family friendly, there are usually multiple families with elementary age children running about, so we all look out for one another’s kids and there is never any worry about any of the dogs being mean. The dogs typically sit quietly in their crates or on their stakeout chains and love to have the kids mess with them.

Following lunch at the hunt test and a good visit with friends and fellow local hunt test junkies, we loaded up and headed north to Branched Oak Field Trial Grounds near Raymond. Although we had been there for hunt tests in the past, this field trial environment was completely different. The German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Nebraska’s field trial over last weekend was four days long and had 235 entrants, making it one of the largest AKC field trials of the entire year. Our “camp” was out in the back 40, so when the kids wanted to go to the clubhouse to get some sweets and sodas, we had to wade through the melee. As most field trials are on horseback, most of the other camps consisted of a camper/horsetrailer/dogtrailer combo, a stakeout chain of 10-25 dogs and at least one horse. Anytime someone walked down the dirt road in the midst of the gypsy village, all 235 dogs barked and spazzed out on their chains. This was with the exception of BB of course, who really wanted her people very close to her in this strange setting. I don’t think that any of us were comfortable and felt pretty alien: a family with small children and one griffon surrounded by herds of barking shorthairs, German Wirehaired Pointers and Vizsla dogs along with their owners who reminded me of the rodeo crowd; not sure if their faces are red from being sunburned or last night’s whiskey, or both. The only time that I saw any other women is when they came out of their campers to water their dogs or smoke a cigarette.

A string of German Shorthaired Pointers at the AKC Field Trial on Saturday

Maybe I’m only drawing these caricatures because I was nervous and scared that my 3 year old was going to wade into a pack of freaked out hunting machines. I don’t want to hurt any field trialer’s feelings and I’m sure we’ll be back for more, so I’ll get more comfortable and quit seeing things that make me want to point them out. But as the hunt testing environment is where my fellow griffoniers find themselves, I wanted to point out the differences before anyone else decided to strike out into the field trial world. Not that I have any serious ideas of other griffoniers going this route, as a few of them have raised questions about participation.

Our take on it is that Korthals wanted to breed a foot hunting dog that was faster than the bootlicking continental breeds of his time. We do not believe that hunt testing does enough to test the athleticism and endurance of the animal, as it is a brief exercise that is only looking for the dog to satisfy the training requirements of the test (search, pointing, retrieving, steadiness, honoring etc.). Even in NSTRA and BHU trials, the field is too small for it to be a valid test of athleticism. We intend to continue to participate in walking stakes at AKC field trials and other trialers at the event encouraged Charles to look into American Field’s Region 19 events.

In my brief readings on American Field Region 19, these are events that last longer than an hour and are on open terrain and wild birds, which is a lot like what we are doing for hunting anyway, where we walk for at least an hour before stopping for water and usually two hours before we really stand or sit around for any lengthy period of time. I would suspect that BB would be the first griffon to ever participate in American Field, should we decide to check it out.

BB placed 4th out of 5 in the Amateur Walking Derby stakes last Saturday, beating out a Vizsla her same age, working the terrain more thoroughly and having the one bird find of the run. Although we are flying in the face of current convention with the breed, we worry more about the prevelance of designer house pets and conformation show-only dogs than about our involvement in walking stakes at field trials. I really just wish we could channel the spirit of Korthals to ask him himself, but in the meantime we’ll just keep doing our research to support our methods and having fun with our dogs.

BB’s Fourth Place Ribbon.

Pupdates

TracHer is busy as usual in North Dakota, she’s 7 months old now and been out on a few sharptail grouse and Hungarian Partridge hunts. She’s even retrieved a few of them! Most recently, she brought a live rabbit into the house through the doggie door while company was over, luckily they were fellow hunters!

TracHer on left (7 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) with Susan and her old buddy Zephyr with Tom and their limit of sharptail grouse!

TracHer and her bunny (7 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon)

TracHer retrieving a sharptail grouse (7 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon)

Mike out in Colorado has also been working with TracHer’s “twin” sister Frankie on some pheasants. He’s been working on steadiness on the point and he says she’s doing a great job! Both TracHer and Frankie are from our 2012 “C” litter with Sam and Mae.

Mowgli is 18 months old and is from our 2011 “B” litter out of Sue and Sam. Quite the looker! I saw his brother Duke’s owner at the movie theater when I was taking the kids to see Finding Nemo 3-D, so hopefully I’ll get to see him soon.

Mowgli (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) and his neighbor friend the Dachshund chilling on the deck

Coming Soon to Versatile Hunter

Well in less than a week, we’ll be headed back out to the Sandhills for some more hunting. There are no words for how terrible Eastern Nebraska has been this year thus far. The swamps are too dry for early teal and snipe, then the prairie chicken grounds have all been mowed for hay. Damn drought. We are going to have to start commuting to not only the Sandhills, but the Rainwater Basin of Central Nebraska, the pheasant fields of South Dakota and Southwestern Nebraska as well as the quail fields of Kansas. I hope that this is a temporary blip in the hunting situation in this part of the state because I don’t see us moving anytime soon. But we are in fear of this being the beginning of a total collapse in hunting in Southeastern Nebraska.

Shirts!!

Oh and one last thing, be sure to check out the new t-shirt designs on our Shop!! You can either click the button at the top of the page or go directly to http://www.wirehairedpointinggriffongear.com Buy a shirt to show your griffon pride, 100% made in the USA, from the shirt itself, the artists designs to the embroidery and screenprinting!!

BB’s AKC Field Trial: Amateur Walking Derby Stakes

August 29, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update AKC Field Trials, Amateur Walking Derby Stakes, Branched Oak Field Trial Grounds, German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Nebraska, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

On Saturday, August 25th, Charles handled our 17 month old female pup, Bourg-Royal’s CB Bluestem JH NA 1, more commonly known as “BB” to a 3rd place finish in the Amateur Walking Derby stakes of the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Nebraska’s AKC Field Trial at the Branched Oak Trial Grounds near Raymond, Nebraska. We were in total shock. Charles stayed for the placement announcement, but somehow didn’t hear (a bad case of shotgunner ear) that BB won third. I was at the house and got a phone call from the trial grounds letting me know about it. We had been texting all day while he was waiting for his run and his phone was dead on the drive home, so he didn’t find out until an hour and a half later when he got to town.

The amateur walking stakes setup is nearly identical to a hunt test. The dog works planted quail for 30 minutes braced with another dog. No live fire though, the handler shoots a starter pistol on the flush. Places are awarded instead of pass/fail. I’m still learning the specifics about how it is judged, but in general it is based on covering ground/desire to search and bird finds/points. I think BB had a lot of individual finds/points and also backed her bracemate on another point.

As all of the fellow competitors were either Vizslas or German Shorthaired Pointers, we were quite excited to show them the potential of a good griffon who can run. The griffon will never range as wide as the big running dogs and that isn’t the point (ha, ha). BB was able to outscore her competitors with bird finds and tractability. BB’s bracemate ran like a bat out of hell and the owner spent most of his time trying to chase it down. It blew past a number of birds that BB was able to locate because of her attentive nose and appropriate pacing. There were only 7 dogs in the stakes, so the placement did not count for FC title points, but it was still the highlight of our weekend. I’ve only been able to find one other griffon within the last 10 years who has placed in an AKC field trial (in online research) and I haven’t had a chance to talk to the AKC about the rarity of the event.

I wasn’t there to take live photos and we have no rosette to pose with yet (it’s in the mail), so I’ll have to just post a past photo of BB. This is from her perfect score of 112 NAVHDA Natural Ability test in April.

Bourg-Royal’s CB Bluestem JH NA 1, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

So, for my birthday and Christmas this year I got myself the GoPro Hero2 camera to wear hunting. I should have enough battery and memory card power to just let it run all day (as long as I switch out the battery every 2 hours and the 32 GB memory card every 4), so it should be fun to watch me cuss, lose my breath, fall in coyote holes, miss easy shots and get lucky every once in awhile. It does get a little heavy on your head, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to convince Charles to try it, but I’m going to work on him. I took the camera out to the pond with us on Sunday, but I was pressing all of the wrong buttons and got nothing, but the videos of the week are two unedited GoPro videos of Caleb and I walking the dogs (first Sam and Sue, then Mae and BB) in the back yard. I should have edited them, but just really don’t have the time this week, sorry. Part I with Sam and Sue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbp7jhB2KCk Part II with Mae and BB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znd2BiO–14

Susan and Tom in North Dakota are always sending me great pictures of TracHer from our “C” litter earlier this year. She’s coming up on 6 months of age and is working good on pointing and retrieving!

TracHer on point, 6 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

TracHer looking pretty in the sunflowers, 6 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

TracHer after she retrieved the goose Dokken, 6 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

I also received an update from Rick who just lives on the other side of town with 3 month old Dottie from our “D” litter (the family liked her litter name so much that they just decided to keep it). She is the star of the neighborhood and is on track with her growth, as well as work in the yard and field.

Dottie pointing the pheasant wing, 3 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

It’s time to move on to filling out more AKC event premiums and packing for the big weekend grouse/prairie chicken and dove hunting trip. It is supposed to be extremely hot, so we only see ourselves in the field for a few hours every morning. I hope we’re able to capture some cool moments on film to share with you and we’re always good for some long-winded tales. Wish us luck!

How to Groom a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

August 23, 2012

Charity Upchurch Dog Grooming, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Brushing Dog, Cleaning Dogs Ears, Dog Grooming, Korthals Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 4 Comments

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about grooming the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and to this day it is one of my most visited. As I’ve since learned more about the process, I wanted to provide my readers and others scouring the internet for information with my most up-to-date knowledge.

Most of my grooming comes out of necessity, as my property is wooded and contains burr bearing plants. There are things that those grooming for show do that I don’t, which I’ll talk about at the end of my explanation. My grooming is very utilitarian and only very infrequently for the show ring, but I will talk about show grooming techniques later on.

It is important to have good supplies. I’ve acquired my collection of brushes, combs, scissors and other necessities over the years, but would think that starting out with a complete set and knowing how to use them would be helpful for a relatively new griffon owner.

Brushes and combs: Multi-width metal comb, wide-toothed burr remover, undercoat comb, universal brush, slicker brush. I also have a dog shampoo brush that I failed to include in my video, but it looks something like this: http://www.petsupplies.com/item/groomaster-rubber-brush-for-dogs/494975/

Shampoo: For dogs under 6 months of age, I use a multi-purpose puppy shampoo of any brand. Once they are over 6 months, I use Hartz Flea and Tick Dog Shampoo. I do not recommend using the flea and tick shampoo within 2 weeks of having the dog’s coat evaluated, because it strips the oils from the coat. If you must wash the dog (like if it gets in the mud or something) within 2 weeks of going to a dog show or NAVHDA test where the dog’s coat is evaluated, use Bio-Groom Wire Coat Shampoo. I have yet to try it out, but I do have a bottle and know the vast majority of griffon owners swear by it. Due to my dogs spending so much time in the woods and field, I feel like I need to use the flea and tick shampoo in addition to my monthly flea and tick preventative regimen.

Ear cleaner: My vet prescribes DermaPet Malacetic Otic solution, but any vet recommended ear cleaner should be purchased in the largest dispenser possible.

Scissors: I have a round-tip pair with a 1″ blade if I need to trim around their eyes (I don’t like hair blocking their vision), then a normal pair of round tipped shears for the body and ears and a pair of thinning shears for flattening out anywhere it is not level for the show ring.

I start out brushing the entire body of the dog with the wide-toothed burr remover, then repeat the process with the undercoat comb, then finish with the universal wire brush. I just purchased a grooming table over the summer and am really enjoying it, saves me all of the bending over from when I used to brush them on the ground.

If the dog needs a bath, I then bathe them with one of the above listed shampoos, scrubbing them down with the rubber shampoo brush. I’m in the process of creating a spot in my garage stall (that I’m slowly turning into a dog room) where I will have a dedicated grooming tub that is elevated, but as of right now my dogs are bathing in the kiddie pool in the summer and the human bath tub in the winter.

I then go through the process of cleaning my dog’s ears. Holding the dog’s head still, fill the entire canal with the ear cleaning solution, put the ear flap down begin massaging the entire ear structure on the dogs skull vigorously for a few minutes. They will shake out most of the excess. You can either wipe out any excess and leftover dirt or simply let them drip dry. Here is a video of me cleaning Sam’s ears: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjgP6KNDfi8

That’s pretty much my basic regimen that keeps them clean and healthy. If I’m going into the show ring, I will trim them after brushing and before bathing. Please keep in mind that I’ve only started showing this year, but we did win Reserve Winners Bitch at our first major, so I must not have done too bad of a job. Here is where I trim: probably the most important is leveling out the head furnishings. Trim the hair at the bottom of the ears so that it is even, even out the head furnishings a bit, trim around the snout so that it is somewhat uniform and then level out a well combed out beard. If the hair on top of the ears is not laying flat, use thinning shears to even it out to lay down. Also make sure that the fur on the back of the head is under control, in order to accentuate the head furnishings. Here is the photograph that I use for a guide (thank you to Paige Pettis of Pageska’s Griffon Town in Nova Scotia, Canada for use of the photo):

Two very handsome Wirehaired Pointing Griffons ready for the show ring in Quebec, Canada. Photo property of Paige Pettis

I then move on to make sure that the body hair is even. Make sure that the feather on the back of the front legs is straight, trim any “sticky-outies” on their underside, trim the top of the tail if necessary and level out the feather at the bottom of the tail if you have a longer tailed griff like BB. Here is the photograph that I use as a guide on the body (Thank you to Kristi Woods Rogney and her handler Amy Rutherford of Whiskeytown Sporting Dogs in California for use of the photo):

A Wirehaired Pointing Griffon ready for the California show circuit. Photo property of Kristi Woods Rogney

There are things that most griffon show groomers do that I do not due to our dogs spending most of their time in the field. I do not finger strip, use a stripping stone, knife or furminator on my dogs’ coats. Once you’ve seen a dog hunt cattails for a few hours, you’ll know why. I do not pluck my dogs’ ears, so I end up cleaning them quite a bit. My vet recommended not plucking them to make sure that field debris does not end up in the ear canal; I have a friend whose lab has his eardrum punctured by dried grass last year. I have yet to learn how to clean my dogs’ teeth and right now rely on bones to keep them clean, but it is on my to-do list of things to learn (many folks have this done at their vet). I do not trim my dogs’ claws because they get naturally worn down in daily exercise. These are other things that you might want to think about and research elsewhere.

A little too much adventure…

August 15, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Lost Hunting Dog, Missouri River, Swimming, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

It was our second Sunday in a row for an all-pack walk, so we thought we would mix things up a little and try a different spot than normal. This area is along the Missouri River, south of Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Even though the road we were walking on is a good 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the Missouri (when it is cooperating with channelization) the area was completely submerged in about a foot or more of water all last summer. So, even though we are in a drought this year and the vegetation is shorter than normal in most other places, due to the remnant moisture in the soil, the cover was 4-8 feet tall.

All was going well until a mile or so into the hike, when the 3 year old child decided he needed a break. The road had ended anyhow and Charles and the dogs would have to wade through zero-visibility tall weeds for a half-mile or so to get to the river. Here is a video of short clips of our hike up until the point of us stopping for a break, including some random shots of sunflowers at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s0jYVoPoeU

About a half hour or so later, Charles turned back up, sounding rather disgusted. “Is BB with you?” he queried. She wasn’t. He hadn’t seen her since before he reached the river. Given the fact that she ranges farther than the other three dogs and that it was pretty warm (probably 85, not heatwave hot), he thought that she had jumped in the river and gotten sucked downstream in the strong current. My gut told me otherwise. I’ve seen BB go for a long time without drinking and she is way more into running than swimming. She’ll get out in the water if there is something to retrieve or if there are people or other dogs out, but I just couldn’t see her navigating the steep bank of the Missouri into the swiftly moving river.

Standing in the tall vegetation, we called and called and whistled for BB. I kept the other three dogs and the kids at our spot in the shade, calling and whistling from where we were while Charles headed back down to the river calling for her. 20-30 minutes of calling and searching. The vegetation was working against us and absorbing our noise. We ran out of water and since we’d been in the field for over 2 hours and it was another mile hike back to the truck (which takes about 30 minutes with the kids), it was time to move. We were hoping that maybe BB was back at the truck, but otherwise we’d replenish our water supplies and continue our search. It was only 3 PM and we had another 6 hours until dark.

Caleb fell behind and wanted to take a break, playing in the dirt on the road next to a soybean field. As the soybeans are only shin high and it was about a 20 acre field, I thought that this was probably my one chance to have my voice project and echo off of the nearby valley hills to the west. I spent a good 5 to 10 minutes calling her name to the sky and whistling. Looking back at Caleb playing in the dirt, I swore I saw a little reddish brown fur pop around the bend of the soybean field. I ran over and thank God it was BB! At first she was happy to see me, but then she got really “low dog” with her tail between her legs. She knew she had been bad, meaning that most likely she got onto and chased a deer.

Every one of our dogs has had the experience as an older pup/younger dog of being overpowered by prey drive and the desire to run, chasing a deer, getting lost for a few hours, but then pulling their wits together and finding the pack. It scares everyone, but is an important learning experience for the dog to keep checking back with the people. This is an essential skill to keep Wirehaired Pointing Griffons as foot-hunting dogs and not just another out-of-control field trialing breed.

It felt good to be heading home together with all four Wirehaired Pointing Griffons we arrived with!

On the ride home, I found out that not only did BB have a misadventure, but when Charles came up on the Missouri, Sam piled in and swam about a third of the way out into the main channel, then realizing he needed to get back, tried to swim against the current to make his way back to shore, but was no match to the Mighty Mo. Sam was sucked around a bend where Charles couldn’t see him. The frightened owner ran the bank around the bend, calling for the dog. The echo off of the other bank was confusing the dog, thinking that his boss was on the opposite bank. Luckily Charles had Conrad’s blaze orange shirt in his hand, so he began waving Sam into the approaching wing dam. Sam successfully made it to the calm upstream from the wing dam and climbed the rocks out of the churning channel.

That particular area is a bit too wild for all of us. Maybe Charles with one dog can handle its peril, but the pack will stick to our usual spots.

In other news, I did receive a cute picture of Kyle and Jenna in Illinois, along with their puppy, Gomer, formerly known as “Darryl”. They will be getting married soon and their pup will be their first baby (as was our first pup together):

Jenna and Kyle in Illinois with their 10 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Gomer, from our recent “D” litter

Susan and Tom in North Dakota sent over another great photo of TracHer on one of her first wild bird points, on sharptail grouse at 5 months old:

TracHer in North Dakota from our “C” litter on point, 5 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Sixteen more days until opening day of hunting season for us! I plan on getting some videos made showing my grooming techniques this weekend to post for next week’s check-in, then it will be time to shift gears into the next phase of my writing year. Thanks for coming along!

Pupdate: Seven Weeks!

July 26, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 2 Comments

Today the puppies were given their final health examinations prior to homegoing and they all received perfect scores from Dr. Kliewer! We are getting prepared for departures, our first one being this Sunday. I couldn’t be more pleased with how they have all turned out and quite surprised that we were totally victorious in our battle against this heatwave. It feels like over the last month we’ve hit highs between 97-107F every day, with the exception of a handful of days. I’ve been spending hours a day back in the woods with the puppies, letting them dig themselves wallowing holes in the deep shade midday and soaking them down in cold water afterwards, in addition to their typical morning and evening run/playtime. Here is a video of the kids and pups in the woods on a morning runabout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nb3jyStko4

Last Friday we ended up down at a pond that we have access to south of town. At least two, maybe 3 puppies swam on their own. You don’t see it in the video, but the rest I carried out a little ways and set them down in the water and let them swim back to shore. Everyone made it back in on their own steam, so we’re good there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjDGsJ80rrg

This week we’ve been starting individual crate conditioning and socialization. It has been too hot to drive them around in the van and run errands with them, so we had to take that part out of the routine (they got plenty of driving in the crate during pair conditioning, coming and going with vet needs and going down to the pond). So the individual routine has been to pick a pup each day to bring in the house individually, crate the pup for 1.5-2 hours, take it out in the front yard on a leash for 5-10 minutes to potty, then bring it back into the house for the kids to play with for another couple of hours.

Caleb messes with the pup while Cordelia squeaks a toy, with friend Allena waiting her turn to play

Really all there is left to do with the pups at this point is finish up individual crate conditioning and socialization, then do their brief introduction to a live bird. Aside from that I need to get my office work on and get all of the invoices, guarantees, health documents and transfer forms completed and bundled up.

“Doris”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Dottie”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Derry”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Daisy”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Don”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

“Darryl”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

“David”, seven week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

The kids and I have big plans for the last couple of weeks of summer post-puppy and pre-beginning of school. I have a few griffon “how-to” items up my sleeve for this blog before we get ready to fire up the hunting blog for the season. Charles and I collaborate on the hunting blog, it has a bit of a different voice and structure than this, the kennel blog. Check out some of our posts from last year if you like by clicking the “Hunting Blog” button on the top navigation bar of this site.

D Litter: Six Weeks!

July 19, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Puppy Guarantee, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Wow, the pups are really starting to keep me busy! They love attention and running around the woods. In this week’s first video, my favorite part is right at 1:28 when Caleb is running up the hill, the last puppy in the line stops and points his siblings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f7KfMe1ic0

Between Sue and the pups, they are eating two big coffee cans full of food a day. I’ll find out their exact weights when we go to the veterinarian for first shots a week from today, but they are big and stout.

Charles used some live quail for training on Saturday, so Sunday the puppies had some little bird carcasses to investigate and carry around: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDhvHOCd-LY

“Doris” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Dottie” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Derry” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Daisy” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Don” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

“Darryl” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

“David” 6 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

Here is a shopping list for traveling by car with a puppy:

1) Crate (he/she will probably get held a lot on the way home, but it is good practice)

2) Small food/water dishes

3) Bottled water and a small supply of dry dog food

4) Collar and leash. Today I just upgraded them to the Medium (5/8 inch wide, 10-16 inch length), but I keep ahold of these collars for future litters.

5) Paper towels and baby wipes, in case of any messes.

6) Plastic bags for waste clean-up if you stop. I like to recycle my newspaper bags for this.

I know there are some super excited kids and adults out there ready to give these puppies some fabulous homes! These puppies are getting to be almost more than I can handle on my own, so I know that means that they are ready for their own people.

The puppies will be missed, but looking at my 2012, I’ve been working on something to do with breeding constantly since January, whether it was getting them mated, watching over a pregnant female or whelping and raising puppies. It is so fun and rewarding, but I’ll be ready for my few weeks off between this litter going home and the opening day of hunting season on Sunday, September 1st.

For those of you joining us in the heatwave, stay cool until next time! If you are getting drenched with rain over in Europe, stay dry!

Pupdate: Five weeks!

July 13, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 4 Comments

Kallie holding a 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppy Sunday

Last weekend brought a few kennel visits from some families considering puppies from future litters. The “D” litter pups had a good time with their visitors!

Rick and his daughter pose with a 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppy last Friday

Most notable is that the puppies have starting exploring the area outside of the kennel, which is the subject of this week’s YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGncSlePLvI (I realized as I was posting this video that I accidentally left last week’s video where the pups are messing with the pigeon carcasses locked as private, so if you would like to go back and watch it, it is now available). At this point I’m just opening the door and letting them check out the area just surrounding, but later this week I will take them to the back of the property and have them follow me back to the kennel, so that they can start learning the layout of the area. They also finished their 20 lb. bag of dry puppy kibble, so now they are on “big dog” food with everyone else (Diamond Performance).

This week will also be the beginning of crate conditioning and individual work with the wing. They have grown and changed so much in the past week, here are their updated photos:

“Doris” 5 week old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

“Dottie” 5 week old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

“Derry” 5 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppy

“Daisy” 5 week old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

“Don” 5 week old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

“Darryl” 5 week old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

“David” 5 week old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

I also received a few photo updates from some of the “C” litter puppies who are now 4 months old:

TracHer in North Dakota playing with toys, 4 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

TracHer in North Dakota attacking the camera, 4 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Belle in Oklahoma checking out a trapped armadillo, 4 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Belle in Oklahoma playing lap dog on her owner, Cliff. 4 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

So now that the temperatures in the triple digits are gone, things are pretty well back to normal around here. Not having to soak down the kennel every couple of hours and enjoying our time outside. Three more weeks until the puppies go to their very excited new owners!!

I’d like for you all to check out my latest project called Griffon Gear. I’ll be adding more to it, like shirts, books, cards, stationary and training supplies, but right now I have some nice home decor items available from some talented American artists across the country (including TracHer’s mom, Susan, who is a potter in North Dakota!). I’ll let you know as I get more “gear” available, but as of right now I’m just happy to have the site built and fully functional as well as having some great partners in the art world on this! http://www.wirehairedpointinggriffongear.com For future reference, the link is also available to access through the “Store” button on the top navigation bar of this site.

Pupdate: Four weeks old!

July 5, 2012

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training with Pigeons, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment

The puppies are getting quite lively at 4 weeks old, it’s hard to believe that we are half way through our journey before sending them off to their forever families. The puppy formula/soft canned dog food mush was transitioned to straight soft canned puppy food and they’ve since moved on to dry puppy kibble mixed in with their soft canned puppy food. They are now wearing collars and are almost ready to start playing in the woods.

“Doris” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Dottie” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Derry” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Daisy” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female

“Don” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

“Darryl” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male in the dog house

“David” 4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon male

When they are awake and not eating, they spend most of their time barking at and chewing on each other. They aren’t quite steady enough on their feet yet to run after each other too much, but they are able to manage the steps in and out of the dog house.

Charles took Sam and BB out for some training with live pigeons over the weekend and brought the carcasses back so that I could show them to the puppies, as you can see in this week’s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEexjh0p7Hc

Puppies and pigeons

4 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppies sniff a dead pigeon

We’ve been battling 100 degree heat over the last week and it doesn’t appear we’ll get a break until Saturday. I make sure I’m getting out to the kennel every couple of hours to soak the puppies down and cool the stone floor with a few gallons of cold water. Even though they are in the shade, there’s no way to get around the fact that it is hot!

The puppies’ first outside visitors were my grandparents from California, who had flown into Omaha to attend my grandmother’s 70th high school reunion in Valentine, Nebraska.

Hope (age 86) and Ken (age 91) enjoying 3.5 week old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppies

The kennel beckons for dog and puppy cool down time, so I’ll catch up with you all next week! The dog days of summer!!

Bluestem Kennels