The “T” Litter of 2023 between Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT I “Obi” and Bluestem Peaches En Regalia NA I, UPT II, UT III arrived the morning of Saturday, July 29th. We had three live births and a few angel puppies. The live births were two boys and a girl.
On Sunday afternoon it became apparant that Ruth was rejecting one of the boys. He was cold to the touch no matter how much I tried to incubate him and whenever I tried to get him to latch, Ruth was pushing him away, even going so far as to pick him up and move him away from the others. I attempted to bottle feed him and keep him warm, but eventually let nature take its course and put him back with mom. I’ve seen other breeders attempt to hand raise rejected puppies, only to have to put them down for internal defects at 5-7 weeks old.
As much as we try for large, perfect litters (and I’ve been blessed with many in the past) we don’t always get those. I had a breeder friend this spring lose an entire litter to spontaneous abortion a week before the puppies were due, with no explanation.
So here’s the two “T” puppies today. It is difficult to get photos when they are young like this, where the mom is constantly cleaning and fussing over them.
Boy and girl puppies nursingRuth cleaning the girlThis is the majority of what goes on at this age: nursing and cleaning
We were scheduled to go to the vet this morning to have everyone looked over, but they pushed us back to tomorrow morning. Ruth will be examined for breeding clearance one more time prior to retirement. This time she’ll be paired with our young male from Iowa, Duke, who comes out of Coppershot bloodlines, to see if we get higher productivity. There is also a litter planned between Ruth’s younger sister, Sally, and Obi. But that’s to talk about another time, back to puppies.
I’ve had questions about the wood chips in the past. It is just what has always worked for me. They are absorbant, sanitary and easy to clean up a spot if they get soiled. Any time I have tried any sort of pads or fabric, the dam digs all around and ends up burying the pups and they get all tangled, which is unsafe. The female wants to spend most of the time quiet and alone with the pups, so if I’m worried about pups in fabric it is counterproductive.
That is not to say that I don’t spend a ton of time with the pups. I go down about every hour to make sure everyone is warm and where they are supposed to be. And of course Ruth needs feedings and potty breaks. Right now I have Ruth mostly eating canned puppy food since it is high nutrition and supplements the moisture from her drinking water so that she can produce milk.
She has plenty of good milk and her teats are all working. While the struggling third boy was alive she was pretty fussy, but now that is resolved she has settled down into the routine of being a mom. I’m not seeing any off-color discharge or feeling anything retained in her uterus, so I’m hoping for smooth sailing from here on out. Once the puppies hit the two-week mark on August 12 I will feel in the clear.
I’m going to be totally frank, having angel puppies and losing ones born alive completely sucks. I cry and pout. That’s why you’re just hearing from me now, I had to get all that out of my system and get Ruth, the puppies and I in a good place before I sat down to write. But these are the fires that forge animal breeders. At this point, we’re one of the longest consistent breeders of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons. In order to produce what we want in hunting dogs and to continue this passion project of ours, we have to push through the sorrow and aggravation.
In other news, Charles continues to train Obi for Invitational and Sally is signed up for a Utility Test in Virginia at the end of this month. We just did all of Sally’s health clearances and are waiting for the results to come back, Obi goes in for elbows and thyroid in a week, then everyone gets their eyes looked at by an ophthamologist in the middle of the month for the OFA certification. I have Duke’s K-Locus DNA coat test sitting on the dining room table. Never a dull moment around here.
So, I’ll check back in on the blog when the puppies are a week old, please keep us in your prayers for everyone’s continued health. Best wishes to everyone else out there with pups and training for tests. Email bluestemkennels@gmail.com with any questions.
Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to inquire about future litters.
Yesterday Caleb and I took Ruth down to York Vet for a pregnancy confirmation ultrasound. At 44 days it was about 10 days too early to do a puppy count x-ray. Since the possibility exists that some of the skeletons showing are not viable puppies, I don’t do puppy count ultrasounds or x-rays. I just do an ultrasound to confirm a pregnancy and that there are enough puppies en utero to trigger a natural whelping. In the event of a one or two puppy pregnancy (which thank the Lord I have not encountered) the puppies don’t generate enough of the hormone that makes labor start, so folks have to c-section those pregnancies.
Ruth with a vet tech and Dr. Ashley Goforth of York Vet doing the ultrasound yesterday.
My biggest preoccupation with Ruth right now is balancing outside time and staying cool in this heat wave. I let her out to run morning and midday, then bring her inside early and late afternoon. She is still comfortably fitting in her crate at night, but the indoor kennel is set up for when she needs to move over to sleep in there in a week or so. We are also feeding her extra midday, focusing on things like meat, bones and vegetables to give extra puppy development nutrition. Now we just wait the two to three weeks for the little ones to arrive!
Ruth taking a nap and keeping cool in the house a couple of afternoons ago
Keep on Trainin’!
Last weekend we found a great pond to work with Obi on blind retrieve for NAVHDA Invitational. The blind retrieve skill is where the dog is sent, does not do a duck search and goes directly to the far end of the pond, retrieves the duck, then swims back to the handler on the other side of the pond. Charles says that the Invitational pond is around 100 yards across one direction, the one that we were practicing on was right at 125 yards.
Typical for when you are starting off on a skill, the dog needs commands to complete the task. On the side of the pond where the duck is placed in plain view (in a gap in the vegetation), someone hides in the shrubbery to briefly call the dog in the event that the dog gets confused about what is going on and turns back towards the handler. The first time we did it, Obi needed two re-directions, the second time he only needed one, the third time he did it with no commands. After three back-and-forths across the pond the dog had swam 750 yards, so that was enough for one day. Plus the oppressive Southern afternoon heat was creeping up on us!
I’m going to once again put the training photos in a gallery, if you want to see enlarged versions you just click on the first photo then page to the right with the arrow to the see the remaining photos.
Obi swimming to the bank for the duckObi picking up the duckObi swimming with the duck to CharlesObi bringing the duck to the bank to CharlesObi’s second swim across with a duckObi’s third pond swim coming to CharlesObi’s third water retrieveObi closing in with the duck in mouthObi retrieving to handObi looking at Charles after his third retrieve
Tomorrow Charles, Caleb and the dogs will be up to Rimrock Preserve in Statesville, NC at the Foothills NAVHDA training day. It sounds as if there will be other Griffs and owners there too if anyone wants to pop in and observe. My gang usually doesn’t get a bunch of training done on those days, with Charles helping other handlers and dogs on their skills quite a bit.
Health Testing Updateand Breeding Thoughts
All of my dogs are seen by a vet at least twice a year, actively breeding females usually three or more. In the past, I’ve only done OFA Hip or PennHIP x-rays. I’m in the process of getting my three younger dogs through OFA CHIC certification, in the long form that is the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals Canine Health Information Center. For the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed, the screenings needed for CHIC are: hips, OFA elbows, ACVO Eye Exam and an Autoimmune thyroiditis blood panel from an approved veterinary laboratory. Keep in mind that these are simply certifications of clear health that we already know exists through close veterinary observation. I will post the results to the blog as they come in (everyone but Sally already has hips, Sally is x-rayed hips and elbows in a couple of weeks) and update my About Our Dogs page as well.
Some points of clarification about health testing in general. The health tests for OFA CHIC do not cover all of the genetic problems known in the breed. You need to trust your breeder to be educated about other issues, to know how to watch out for them, and to be honest with their breeding to exclude dogs exhibiting them. I do that. Making a laundry list of the problems in our breed is not within the scope of this blog post, maybe another day. Additionally, health testing an individual dog does not certify a clear pedigree. Puppies have been bred with hip dysplasia (not by me) that have had generations of clear ancestors. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants and trusting that those who have gone before us have made sound breeding decisions.
Breeding is a passion project for us. Working to recover what Korthals intended for the breed and creating a healthy hunting dog with family member temperament is for our purposes as well as spreading the joy to others. We will be keeping a pup out of this litter and keeping one in the spring as well.
It’s strange when a hobby takes over your life. Nineteen years of owning and hunting with Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and thirteen years of breeding them. This will be my twentieth litter whelping soon, all natural breedings (no artifical insemination) and natural whelping (no c-sections). Charles and Obi are heading to our Super Bowl of hunt training, the NAVHDA Invitational, in September. It has been a grand adventure and I pray that we can keep it going.
Conclusion
This is a deadly heat wave, keep the dogs cool! If they are outside, make sure that they have access to shade and water. Exercise them early in the morning. Keep them brushed out so that their fur isn’t holding in heat. Make sure that they have access to open water or a pool after exercise. Know the signs of heat stroke in dogs and how to save them if they start to stroke out (oops, there’s another article). Everyone stay cool, hydrated and safe now. Keep us in your prayers. Talk at ya later.
Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com regarding future litters. Ruth is at right around 30 days gestation (God willing) and is starting to show. We go to the veterinarian for an ultrasound on July 13 and will hopefully see a pregnancy. I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted here, on Facebook, and on Instagram as news develops. Here are a few photos of her from the last couple of days:
Ruth having a rest on the living room floor yesterdayRuth side profile in the drivewayRuth having fun in the yard
Dogs generally don’t show much in the first 30 days, but I can definitely see and feel a little pooch. Keeping her cool in the heat and spending plenty of quality time with her indoors are a priority right now for the completion of a successful pregnancy. Please send us good thoughts and prayers for the weeks ahead.
Training
Charles is out dog training pretty much every weekend and spends time working on skills with the dogs daily. I went out for a training day with the Carolinas Chapter of NAVHDA towards the beginning of June and got some photos. My camera seemed to be focused on Sally, so here is a gallery of her training photos. You can click the first photo of the gallery to see an enlarged version, then page through the remaining enlarged photos.
Sally on pointSally pointing while gunners shootSally retrieving chukarSally retrieving to CharlesSally close-up on pointSally runningAnother shot of Sally retrievingClose-up of Sally retrievingCharles sending Sally to duck searchSally with the duckSally shaking off after giving up the duckSally swimming through water liliesSally with a duck retrieveCharles working with Sally on steady by blind
Her training day was basically a mock Utility Test and Sally is probably at the level of passing this fall, fingers crossed.
We also worked with Duke on skills for the Utility Preparatory Test and Obi for Invitational, but my photos of them were not as focused or plentiful. Here’s Duke’s selection:
Duke on pointCharles walking in to Duke’s pointDuke in the fieldDuke retrieving a bumper in the water
And last but not least, by a long shot, Obi:
Obi bringing in the dummy in the double mark retrieveCharles watching Obi work on the double mark retrieveObi on left with “S” litter pup Chase on right at a NAVHDA training day. Photo by Ian Taylor
One of our puppy owners caught the above photo of Obi with one of his pups and posted it to Instagram on Father’s Day, so cute!
Otherwise, when we’re not out training, we’re just hanging around the yard. Charles had some quail escape and Ruth found one in the back driveway.
Ruth pointing a wayward quail
With the temperatures rising, it was time to get the kiddie pool out for the dogs. They each have their own style of getting wet.
Ruth likes to sit in the pool and scoot aroundObi gets his whole body wetSally usually ignores it, but sometimes digsDuke doesn’t want his rear wet
So those are the goings on here lately, I will be sure to post in a couple of weeks once we get the ultrasound results on Ruth. Everyone have a safe and Happy 4th of July, please be sure to keep your dogs crated in a safe area while lighting fireworks (typing that just brought up a childhood memory of our family cocker spaniel attacking a Roman candle as it was going off). Dogs and fireworks don’t mix. The biggest problem with trained gun dogs is that they’ll run towards the sound of the shot thinking that there is a bird down and you lose your dog in the commotion if you’re not careful. So for everyone’s sanity, put the dogs up.
Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com with inquiries regarding future puppies. Due to the high volume of telemarketers and robo-callers, I discontinued releasing my phone number online. Once you’ve emailed your interest we can arrange a time to talk.
As of right now, I have thirteen reservations with deposit for this litter that was just bred. As my deposits are fully refundable until the puppy is three weeks old, I can and do have folks back out or move their reservation to the following year at the last minute.
I will not be like the breeders in Europe who post photos of their mating dogs in a tie, that is just too graphic for me. We had our first breeding on May 30 and our last tie on June 2, so four days of breeding and one of those days had two ties. We’ve walked Obi and Ruth together since and he has shown no sign of being interested in her any further, so we’re going to assume that the breeding was a success.
The first week of July, I will take Ruth to the vet for an ultrasound to confirm pregnancy. We will not know the size of the litter at that time. I do not take my females for a puppy count ultrasound due to the risk of disease exposure. A nearby breeder lost a litter to disease exposure from the vet going for a puppy count ultrasound and I just do not like the risk. After thirteen years of whelping puppies, I know what is going on during the whelping and when the female is finished, so a puppy count is not necessary.
Here are some photos of Ruth today, so that we have a benchmark to watch her tummy develop. I have recent photos of Obi that I’ll share in the training news.
Ruth running in the yard
We will repeat the breeding of Obi and Ruth one last time in the Spring of 2024, so anyone who puts down a deposit will roll over to that litter should they choose to do so. It is a double NAVHDA Utility Prize breeding, Ruth with a Prize III and Obi with a Prize I. Obi will be going to NAVHDA Invitational in Ohio in September. We will be keeping a female pup either from the litter this fall or the one in the spring (it is already factored into the reservation numbers), so it is a breeding that we’re relying on to produce great hunters and healthy family dogs.
Spring 2024 will also be the first litter between Duke and Sally. Sally just achieved her AKC Senior Hunter and has a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II under our Junior Handler son Caleb. Duke has his NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize III also with our son as Junior Handler. Sally is preparing to run the NAVHDA Utility Test in the Fall right after Obi goes to Invitational. Duke is still young, but has fantastic hips and health with an amazing wire coat. I need to start compiling the stats (health clearances and hunt tests) for the two young dogs since Spring 2024 may bring their litter to the ground first, we just have to see what the good Lord and Mother Nature brings us.
“A” Litter 13th Birthday
Speaking of thirteen years, we can barely keep track of our human children’s birthdays, so we are bad about marking litter birthdays. April 30th was the 13th birthday of our “A” litter between Sue and Sam. I was staying home with my youngest son Caleb, who just turned 14, and decided that it might be fun to have puppies.
Little did I know that I was making a decision that would change the course of our lives entirely! Breeding and training Wirehaired Pointing Griffons has become our lifestyle. Care of the dogs and making sure that they are healthy and ready for both bird hunting season and hunt tests is ingrained in our daily routine.
I am in touch with two of the owners of “A” litter puppies who are still thriving! Whiskey is still going strong out in Nevada:
Old man Whiskey at thirteen from our “A” litter between Sue and Sam
Winston has a young niece from our 2018 “O” litter between Fire and Chief, so by my best guesstimate that makes Winston her uncle. They live together out in Colorado.
On the left is Breeze from our “O” litter, with her big uncle Winston from our “A” litter at 13
NAVHDA Invitational Training
Charles and Obi have been training for NAVHDA Invitational nearly every weekend. Last weekend a group from the Carolinas Chapter got together and we were lucky to have Terry Ann Fernando of The Accidental Bird Dog podcast and blog https://accidentalbirddog.com/ available to photograph. We appreciate her willingness to donate her talents.
Obi and CharlesObi on pointObi on point with the bird right in front of him.Obi holds his point while the gunner takes a shot.
Even though Sally is not going to Invitatational, she tagged along for the training to prepare for her Utility Test in the fall.
Sally stopped (looks like either a back or a stop-to-flush)Sally on point.A tongue-out point from Sally at the hot end of the day.
Speaking of end-of-training-day heat, Sally is going out again tomorrow with Charles and Obi to trains and she has some shag on her, so it is time to groom. Best wishes to everyone out there doing spring hunt testing and having puppies, I know that I missed my little ones this spring because of my daughter’s college graduation back in Nebraska. But hope springs eternal around here with the cycle of new life and I’m looking forward to puppies arriving at the beginning of August!
Charles, myself, the graduate Cordelia (22), Conrad (19) and Caleb (14) at the graduation reception.
Pending AKC approval, Sally is now Bluestem Sally Forth SH, NA II! She and I got our last AKC Senior Hunter pass at the Rappahannock Brittany Club AKC Pointing Dog Hunt Test in Dillwyn, Virginia on Saturday, April 29th. Since we did not title her in Junior Hunter, it took five passing runs for the title. The first four we received at the AWPGA Eastern Regional Specialty in March. We went five passing runs in a row, which was very exciting.
I appreciate all of the judges assistance in guiding me through my first hunt test title. I’ve been in the gallery for 10 years now and it was finally time to step up to the plate. I have to give the most credit to Charles for training her; all I did was go in and drive a truck that he built. This is not going to be a common event for me until I get my last child out of the house in four years. Even then, I expect it to be infrequent since I enjoy wild bird hunting more.
This photo was taken right after we jumped out of the truck at our AirBnB at the end of the day, so my jaeger lead is not on correctly. Also, I am in sneakers instead of my boots. Of course it bothers me now looking at the picture, but I was too excited and tired at the time to care.
Charity and Sally with their last SH pass ribbon in Virginia
Our second new title comes is one that has been a long time in the making! Plus it was the same weekend that Sally finished Senior Hunter. At eleven years-old Bluestem TracHer became an AKC Master Hunter at the North Dakota Pointing Dog Club/Montana Brittany Club joint AKC Pointing Dog Hunt Test. TracHer is from our “C” Litter between Sam and Mae (both of whom have crossed the rainbow bridge). Congratulations Susan on a job well done and staying with the dream for so long!
Bluestem TracHer MH with owner-handler Susan and Wirehaired Vizsla, Condi, and her first Senior Hunter ribbonBluestem TracHer MH, the spitting image of her dam Little Lady Aspen, NA I “Mae”
Also at the Rappahannock Brittany Club test, Charles and Obi got their first AKC Master Hunter pass. AKC Master Hunter takes six passing runs for the title, so we’ve got some miles to travel before that is done.
Charles and I both had some fashion faux pas in our photos. He’s already changed out of his hunt test hat and boots in the photo. Do not try to handle dogs in Crocs:)
Obi and Charles with the first AKC Master Hunter pass ribbon.
Before we worry about finishing Obi’s AKC Master Hunter, we have to get through NAVHDA Invitational in September. Charles traveled with some dog training buddies out to Moberly, Missouri this past weekend for some in-depth training.
Obi with Charles backing Tracy Johnson’s Vizsla way off in the distance at Missouri Valley OutfittersA liver German Shorthaired Pointer backing Obi’s point
The perspective of the following photo is interesting since it was taken by the person who planted the duck for blind retrieve practice on the bank of the pond opposite Charles as the handler. So Obi was sent from the far side of the pond to swim across and retrieve the duck on the bank that is in the foreground of the picture.
Obi retrieving a duck to Charles, in orange on the far bank.
I wish that I could give credit to the folks who took the photos out in Missouri, but Charles didn’t give me any names. He seemed very pleased with the results of the weekend training in Missouri after being a little disappointed in not getting more passing runs in Virginia the weekend prior.
Duke is a year and a half old and is currently zero for eight runs in AKC Senior Hunter. He is a young, stubborn pup with a lot of prey drive. He does not want to hold still when that bird is getting kicked up, even with commands. We have a long road ahead and he is doing many things right, it only takes one mistake to get pulled from an AKC test. Here he is looking cute at the vet office for his rabies shot.
Duke is cute at a year and a half and 62 pounds
Ruth has become my dedicated canicross dog. Canicross is a sport that is more popular in Scandinavia and Canada, where the handler wears a hip harness with a bungeed dog lead attached to it and you go hiking. Right now we are exploring the trails of Kings Mountain National Military Park, where the American Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain took place. It is a good way for two old moms to get out, plus I take our fourteen year old son Caleb too.
Ruth on the canicross harness back at the beginning of April, it is much greener here now.
One of our “P” Litter puppies from our surprise litter between Ruth and Stonyridge Zoro got out preserve hunting with her girl in Kansas at the end of March. Great job Madilynn and Rose!
Rose and Madilynn excited about their first rooster together!
I don’t have whole lot to say about the Westminster Kennel Club dog show this year since I was teaching swimming lessons and busy around the dog farm here. One thing that stood out to a lot of us long time followers is that the stands were completely empty. I hope that in the future the club is able to move it back into Manhattan at Madison Square Garden in February for the experience that we all miss. The last MSG show was in 2019 before COVID. I just feel blessed that our daughter Cordelia and I were able to go in 2018 since there is a chance that it may never happen again in Manhattan. The Piers where the benched show and breed judging happened are completely falling apart into the Hudson River, so we all may be stuck going to the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens in the future.
Empty stands at WKC 2023, I stole this screenshot out of someone’s Facebook video.
Charles will keep plugging along here with training for Invitational and I’ll be prepping for breeding season here in a couple of months. I’m expecting Ruth to come into season late July with pups whelped in September and going home around Thanksgiving.
I currently have thirteen reservations with deposit for our Fall 2023 litter. As my deposits are fully refundable until the puppy is three weeks old, this list often shakes up at the last minute with folks having life events that lead them to hold off until the following year. If anyone is reaching out at this point looking for a pup, they need to be comfortable with the fact that it could be Spring 2024 before I have any puppies available. But it is all up to the good Lord and Mother Nature, so we’ll see what is provided to us. Email bluestemkennels@gmail.com for inquiries.
I apologize for my absence from the blog and social media in general. Organizing the trophies for the Eastern Regional Specialty Dog Show in York, Pennsylvania has taken up so much time. Not only did I have to figure out all of the placements for three shows, but then I had to figure out the budget for each placement and order a prize. I think that I’m getting closer to the end of the process. The trophies are all hunting dog items, so where I’ve written for hunting dog catalogs and have just been a bird dog junk junkie for 15 years it was actually fun to shop for the items. I was able to give business to all of the major players: Cabela’s, Orvis, Filson, Gun Dog Supply, Lion Country Supply and Ugly Dog Hunting. Those are all unpaid shout outs and they all had something unique to contribute to the cause.
So here is the basic schedule: Thursday is the Field Day at York Pointer and Setter Club, Friday is ALL DAY of dog shows: Sweeps, Supported Entry and Regional Specialty. For those of you new to dog shows, what will happen is that the classes of the first show run, then we go through best of breed for that show. Then we go to the second show where the same thing happens, you go through the classes, the best of each class is awarded, then it goes to best of breed. We do it a third time for the Regional Specialty. It will be a very exciting day to see many old friends, but also stressful and chaotic with so much going on. I have never helped with that many shows all in one day, they are usually spread out over multiple days. This whole schedule is intense, since we are doing double/double AKC hunt tests Saturday and Sunday.
Due to the intensity of the schedule for the performance events and the fact that it is St. Patrick’s Day that Friday night, there is no banquet scheduled. Those of us who are running dogs Saturday morning in the hunt tests have to be at the field ready to go by 7:30 AM, so we’ll need to start moving in the morning around 5:30 AM. We’ll probably get some dinner groups together at the show for Friday night just by word-of-mouth and those of us who have to be up early the following day will be done by 9 PM.
I am running our young dogs Duke and Sally in AKC Senior Hunter at the York Pointer and Setter Club. Since it is a double/double, I’ll be doing four runs a day (two runs a day with two dogs) for a total of eight runs. There will be lunch available to purchase at the hunt tests both Saturday and Sunday. Once again, there are no formal dinner plans and we’ll just bunch up and figure things out during the day.
My hunt test style from 2020A more recent photo in travel mode
In the event that you are looking for me at the shows or the hunt tests, here are some pictures of me. I am usually behind the camera instead of in front of it. I have a blaze orange knee length dress that I am planning on wearing to the shows, so I should be easy to spot.
Breeding Update
As of right now, I have eleven reservations with deposit for my Fall 2023 litter between Obi and Ruth. As my deposits are fully refundable until the pups are three weeks old, these numbers can change rapidly depending on peoples’ life situations. I have frequently had four or five folks defer to the following year in those first three weeks. Obi and Ruth will be having their last litter before Ruth’s retirement in the Spring of 2024, so should there not be enough pups in the Fall of 2023 the reservations can roll over. We’ll also be breeding Sally and Duke in Spring 2024. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to express interest in the litters. I know that I have a few emails sitting in my inbox needing responses, so if one of those is yours from the last few days, I will be getting to them this afternoon (I also had to get my tax information to my accountant this week, so I’m sort of on brain fry mode, sorry).
As far as the specific breeding schedule for the fall, Ruth had her winter heat cycle at the end of January. So that means if my experience from the past is correct, her summer cycle will be at the end of July. Pups would then be born at the end of September and go home around Thanksgiving. That is all guesstimation from past experience and Mother Nature is in control.
Social Media Info
I am not going to be on TikTok. I downloaded the app and started looking at videos one day and the very next day the financial information stored in my phone was compromised. I caught it before my bank did since I was looking for it. So no TikTok for me.
Instagram is a lot of ads. Also, the AI censors hunting photos from hashtags. So if I have dead birds and a gun in my pictures, it gets wiped from the hashtag almost instantly. I am going to use it sparingly. Once I start backing up old hunting photos again this summer, I will get those posted. I will try to be more active on it, but like I say, I am a bit salty about the censorship. The two pups from the “R” Litter are very active on there under the accounts @griffons.griffon and @thelifeandtimesofbeatricebriar. The first one follows Chase Wiley with his family here in the Charlotte suburbs, the second follows Beatrice Briar as a Kentucky ultramarathon trail dog with her veterinarian dog dad.
Even though this blog/website is thirteen years old and my photo galleries are pretty sketchy with their organization (I will fix it this summer), this is my primary tool. I have to use my English degree skills somewhere. I am not good at little tidbits of information spread out through days and weeks. I have to sit down and write you an essay. I also like Facebook since it is full of Boomers and Gen X, those are my people. My page there is old and has a lot of followers, so I’ll just keep riding that until we are all in the nursing home I guess. I do not have anyone else with login access to this blog. I do not have a “last post” written and in storage anywhere. The thought of doing estate planning on this website does not appeal to me and I’m just not there yet. So hopefully the construction dumptrucks of the Carolinas continue to avoid hitting me.
YouTube is what I use to make videos of puppies anymore. I would love to do grooming and training videos someday, but I need to figure out the whole Patreon racket so that I get paid for views. And although I have the hardware to do video content, I also need to invest in Adobe Creative Cloud software, specifically the Premier Pro video editor, to do my art the way that I want it to look. And then I need to train myself on it. So hopefully more YouTube content will be rolling in the next year or so (weekly low budget puppy videos will continue as normal without change for now).
South Carolina Woodcock
Charles and Obi wrapped up the woodcock season at the end of January with one in the bag. I have to be honest, as much as I love the Carolinas, Charles is dying to get back to Nebraska at some point. The hunting here is not what he wants. I’m in love with the Carolinas and am determined to stay here. Although we have a piece of raw land way out in Western Nebraska, we’re talking about having a second home close to our kids in Omaha so that he can go out and hunt, he can work remotely and access the airport if needed. Both of us moving back and forth as needed. We are at least a year away from that possibility with two kids in college right now, but that is in our minds pretty seriously. Send us good intentions for the manifestation of that dream.
Oh, but the woodcock with Obi! Here it is:
The trusty SKB 12 gauge, Obi and the woodcock from the end of January. Photo by Charles.
Fire in Retirement
I loved seeing this picture of Fire (now “Bella”) on the right, enjoying her retirement life moving between Arizona and Minnesota with one of our old pals from Pheasants Forever in Nebraska. Out getting in on some wild quail action in Arizona with her GSP buddy. Thank you Ron for giving her a great retirement home. She is the mother of our current females, Ruth and Sally.
Fire/Bella on right enjoying her retirement with some Arizona quail.
Well the day is getting on and it is time to wrap up the blogging. I have a gobzillion dog hunting items to unbox sitting in my entryway! Spring is really springing here and I hope it makes it out to the frozen wasteland in North Central Nebraska and South Central South Dakota. They are in a top 10 snowiest year on record and folks are pretty miserable about it. Keep our beef cattle ranchers in your prayers as they are having a tough start to calving season.
Good luck to everyone with spring pups and doing training/testing. Talk at you again soon with the update from Pennsylvania.
Happy New Year from Bluestem Kennels, the South Carolina home of hunting AKC and NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons!
We are still awaiting Ruth’s winter heat cycle, but it looks like it will be any day now. We are taking a break from breeding this cycle, but that will drive when she comes into season this summer for our Fall 2023 litter with Obi. We still have spots left on the 2023 reservation list and then we’ll also go for one last litter from Ruth in Spring 2024 before she retires from breeding. Most likely we’ll also do a first litter of Duke and Sally for Spring 2024. Contact us at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you’re interested in a pup from us in the future.
Puppy Brag!
While I was busy with puppies in the fall, I missed an accomplishment announcement for the first Ruth and Obi pup to NAVHDA test Natural Ability. Congratulations to Clint and Bluestem Ramble on Rosalind “Rosie” on their NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II, 101 points at seven months-old! They tested on September 10, 2022 with the Keystone Chapter in Central Pennsylvania. That is an amazing accomplishment for a first-time handler and young pup, we couldn’t be more proud!
Congratulations to Clint and Rosie on a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize II at seven months-old!
Duke’s Health Scans
Then right after the pups went home at the end of October, I got Duke over to Steele Creek Animal Hospital in Charlotte for his hip and elbow x-rays and advanced bloodwork. We are so happy that everything came back looking good! It is only through close work with our veterinarians that we keep our dogs and puppies healthy for hard hunting.
If you look at the graph on this report, the square represents that average of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed. Duke’s chances of developing hip issues are significantly lower than the average. Obi’s are slightly lower, but both are perfect for stud dog purposes.
Also his elbows show no sign of problems, which is another good thing. We had extensive bloodwork completed on his thyroid, liver and kidneys and that all came back normal. The reason that we tested the liver and kidneys even though it is not required by any breed clubs is that there are starting to be problems in certain bloodlines in the Upper Midwest where the pups are getting liver and kidney problems at young ages. We have a friend with a pup (not from us) who is battling it now and it is not something that we want to bring into our breeding program.
East Coast Griffon Event Announcement
I almost forgot this! The AWPGA is hosting a regional specialty event in York and Wellsville, Pennsylvania from Thursday, March 16 through Sunday, March 20th. Thursday is a field training day, Friday is the regional specialty dog show in York, Saturday and Sunday are AKC Hunt Tests in Wellsville. I will be driving up on Thursday so I’ll miss the field day, but I will be hanging around at the show on Friday, then running Sally and Duke in AKC Senior Hunter on Saturday and Sunday. After spending ten years in the gallery and helping out at hunt tests, I’m finally going to handle myself. I don’t know that I’ll get any passes, but we’ll have fun running anyway. There is a Facebook group called “AWPGA Eastern Regional Events 2023” that has all of the details. https://www.facebook.com/groups/375079241463081
Our Training
Charles has been working with training Obi for NAVHDA Invitational, Duke and Sally for UPT or AKC SH, and Ruth just to keep her active. Here’s just a couple of random training photos from the last couple of months where he is working with our Griffons and the English Pointers of the neighbors’.
Ruth with the green collar on backing the Pointers in December.Obi on the right backing one of the Pointers yesterday.
We hope that every one of our puppy owners and followers had a blessed holiday season. We were lucky to have our two adult children come back to us in South Carolina from Nebraska. Here is a photo of the five of us at the harbor in Charleston: Charles, Conrad is 18 and an Information Technology student at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Cordelia is 21 and a senior in Agribusiness at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Caleb is 13 and is in eighth grade here in SC and then me.
I’ll get back on the blog once Ruth comes in to heat here in the next few of weeks, then we’ll know a little bit more about our puppy making schedule this summer and fall. Stay warm until then, especially my poor people up in North Central Nebraska and South Central South Dakota who have snow drifts up to ten feet tall and are still getting roads and driveways cleared for travel. They have my prayers daily.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Bluestem Kennels, home of hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons! It is crazy to think that we are going into year thirteen of breeding AKC and NAVHDA registered Griffons. Our next litter is planned for the Fall of 2023 between Obi and Ruth, feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are interested in getting on our reservation list.
We spent Thanksgiving at my cousin’s in Tennessee, then Charles and the dogs made their way out to north central Nebraska and south central South Dakota for some more hunting. It wasn’t an incredibly productive trip as far as birds in the bag, I only got one photo with a Nebraska pheasant and some dogs.
Ruth and Duke bringing in the Nebraska Sandhills swamp pheasant
They did locate a covey of Hungarian Partridge in south central South Dakota, which was unexpected. But by and large the roosters were sparse and getting out farther than what he could reach with the twelve gauge. It was also quite cold to Charles’s thinned out southern blood. Not that it was anything that kept him home, but I doubt that he’ll be going out for the late season in the west again any time soon.
The benefit to me in all of this is that it put Ruth back into shape and pushed her heat cycle out a bit. I’m hoping that she comes into heat here towards the end of this month or the beginning of next month, which would put her summer heat cycle into July. We have our daughter Cordelia’s graduation in May, then after Caleb gets out of school he heads to camp for two weeks, then I’d like to get a family vacation in to the founding father’s area of Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston right before breeding season hits. I am typically home with pups in the Spring and early Summer, so it will be nice to get out and about for a change instead.
The area that Charles just hunted is currently socked in with two feet of snow with eight to ten foot tall drifts in some places. Many ranchers are struggling to get to their livestock and lots of long haul truckers are stranded out there, so say some prayers for those folks. They don’t get a lot of air time in the media, but they are near and dear to my heart since that is my home.
Hunting season is getting ready to get going here in South Carolina with woodcock. I’m thinking I’ll pick up my licenses here after the new year and start chasing some around with Charles and Caleb. Charles is also starting to prepare Obi for NAVHDA Invitational 2023, so we’re all excited to see how that goes. Luckily Charles has found some neighbors here with bird dogs who like to help with dog training, in addition to the time spent with the NAVHDA chapters.
But this week it is time to welcome the two adult kids from Nebraska, I pick the first one up at the airport tomorrow! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, surrounded by good food, abundance and the love of family.
Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are interested in reserving a pup from our planned litter for Fall 2023. We will not be breeding or hunt testing in the spring due to some family travel obligations.
While I was in South Carolina wrapping up raising our last litter of pups, Charles took Obi, Sally and Duke out to the Sandhills of Nebraska and the prairie pothole region of North Dakota for some mixed upland and waterfowl action. The trip was a great success, especially with the new technology allowing Charles to work his regular job remote for a few days, then hunting a few days.
I don’t have a ton of details except that the dogs covered lots of ground and had plenty of wild bird action.
The first morning in the Nebraska Sandhills with a limit of sharptails. Obi, Sally and Duke.Duke went solo went some teal (also on Day One in the Sandhills)The end of the day photo from the first day in the Sandhills: a grouse limit, a woodduck and four teal.
The second day he had to work for his grouse limit, which he didn’t wrap up until the middle of the afternoon. He added one teal to this photo before he headed back to my mom’s house.
Grouse limit for day two in the Nebraska Sandhills. Obi, Sally and Duke.
He spent the next three days working, then picked back up for another grouse limit and a ringneck duck.
Sally (farthest away), Obi (on left) and Duke (in the foreground) pointing an antelope.Sally, Duke and Obi with the three sharptailed grouse and a ringneck duck on the third day of Nebraska Sandhills.
Charles then worked another handful of days before heading out again. I was really surprised with all of the negative reports that I had been hearing from locals and ranchers due to the drought that he had such great success each day.
His last day in the Sandhills was a super windy day (you can see by the dogs’ head furnishings blowing in the wind in the photo) and he decided to focus on waterfowl for the day. He took Duke out for the three snipe and Sally for the mallard drake. Mallard drakes are super difficult to jump hunt and Charles just happened to pop over a hill and the the duck was right there as he got up from the water. I have never shot a mallard drake.
Duke and Sally with three snipe and a mallard drake for the last day in the Sandhills.
Charles had another first when he shifted his hunting to the prairie pothole region of North Dakota. The very first spot that he and some of our neighbors down here in South Carolina hit had a low flying flock of Canadian geese. Charles was able to snag a goose out of the bunch. Although Sally is pictured here, none of the dogs really knew what to think of the goose flopping around since the largest birds they’ve ever messed with up to that point were mallards and pheasant.
Sally and the North Dakota Canadian Goose from day one.
Although he and the neighbors were there for four days, I didn’t really get a good run down of the bird numbers. As near as I can gather from our texts, the second day the neighbors got three roosters, Charles got two roosters and four ducks.
Griffons, pointers and setters on the prairie, with the neighbor Quentin on the right.
I don’t have any photos from the third day, but the report was that Charles got a pheasant double off of Obi’s point, two grouse and one duck.
The fourth day was another mixed bag, with the neighbors getting one rooster, Charles got three ducks, a snipe and the most exciting part was a Hungarian partridge! This is only the second hun that Charles has shot. I’ve only flushed one covey up in Montana in 2016 but never got in a shot.
The excitement of a North Dakota hun!Duke, Obi and Sally in harvested corn in North Dakota
So that was a wrap! Here’s the traditional North Dakota trip game bag shot, with the dogs posed underneath:
Obi, Sally and Duke with the 2022 North Dakota game bagThe beauty of a North Dakota sunrise
Aside from missing the hunt, I missed seeing the usual people of the towns that we visit down there. They are such interesting characters, I’m glad that Charles went and laid eyes on them. The cafe is still going, the same ladies are at the registers at the grocery store and the gas station owner still recognizes the regulars. Charles headed home after a long journey but the neighbors continued on to South Dakota where they had better pheasant numbers. But to us, sometimes the comfort of tradition beats the number of birds in the bag.
I have more news about some hunt testing success of some of our progeny, some health test results for Duke and social media pages where you can follow some of our pups, but I need to get on with the day for now. Good luck to those out in the hunting fields, Charles will be at it again in a few more weeks. I am going to wait patiently for woodcock hunting down this way after the first of the year. Talk at you more in a week or so.
I know that I have a couple of emails in the inbox asking about 2023 litters (I promise that I will respond by Monday), we are planning a litter for the Fall/Winter 2023 as our next. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com for further details.
It’s tough for me to believe that it’s been two weeks since these bird exposure photos were taken and a week since the puppies went home. I’ve been avoiding making this post a little since it is a bit sad to see them go. But knowing that they are making their new owner’s lives happier makes it all worth it.
The setup that I did this time for bird exposure is having a chukar in a wire crate down by the barn, then the dead quail on a string in an exercise pen in the backyard. I took the pup out of the kennel and put them on a leash for the first time. It was a bit of a rodeo as usual, where they want to tug on the leash or bite it. They get the hang of it pretty quickly though. So we walked through the yard down to the chukar in a wire crate and let them look at it.
Then we walked back up to the backyard and I took them off of the leash and put them into the exercise pen for the dead bird exposure. This was a quail that Charles had trained the big dogs with and shot, which we kept in the barn fridge for this purpose. So I put the dead quail on a string and dragged it around a bit to get the pup’s attention. They all either chewed it a bit, picked it up and ran with it, or a little of both.
Although it isn’t a complete training for the field, it is a good start to making a Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon.
Sebastian, male pup:
Simon, male pup:
Samson, male pup:
Simi, female pup:
Spokanne, female pup:
Sue, female pup:
And here are the pups going home, in the order that they left:
Samson is Bill’s second Bluestem puppy (also an “H” Litter male) and flew home to NebraskaLee took Simon home to his son on the South Carolina coastRocky took Sue home all the way back to TexasTonya, Ian and the kids took Sebastian to the north side of CharlotteHaley and Dalton took Simi to CharlotteLuke took Spokanne up to Hickory, North Carolina
I am so thankful for these loving families to send the pups home with! I hope to see some of them again and maybe get a pup out of one of those girls.
While I was home with puppies, Charles was out chasing birds with Obi, Sally and Duke in Nebraska and North Dakota for a good part of a month. I will have to save that update for another day, but it feels good to finally have the posts about the “S” Litter wrapped up. I’m excited that the young dogs got out west for some good wild bird hunting, which is better than all of the yard or test drills in the world. So I’ll save that for next week.
Good luck to all of these new owners and please stay in touch!
Bluestem Kennels 