NAVHDA | Bluestem Kennels

So much to be thankful for…

November 23, 2014

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, AWPGA, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, North Dakota pheasant hunting, South Dakota Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

I really should not be blogging, but I know how much y’all have been missing me. Well, not so much me these days as these fab updates from our owners. But that comes later. First of all, I wanted to say that I had no idea how much work it takes to run an AKC breed parent club. Boards, committees, and lots of blood, sweat, and tears from dedicated volunteers. I am really stressing about my first issue at the helm of the Griffonnier, but it looks like it is coming together well. “How do I get this Griffonnier,” you say? You have to join the AWPGA: http://awpga.com/

Another awesome must-have magazine is Versatile Hunting Dog from NAVHDA. I’m excited/embarrassed to be in the November 2014 issue. Guess how you get Versatile Hunting Dog: you have to join NAVHDA.http://www.navhda.org/. I went ahead and scanned a copy of the article so that the non-members can check it out.

Thanks again to New Englander Jason Wade for coming all the way out to Nebraska/Iowa to put it on, and to Tracey Nelson for being a great hostess. Also thanks to the people who let me ask about their recent Handler’s Clinic experiences: Susan Davy, Dan Dorfschmidt, and Matt Heard.

I was also recently published in Tufts University Seabird Ecological Assessment Network’s publication Field Guide to Beached Birds of the Southeastern United States. The field guide will be used to help citizen scientists to identify bird carcasses. They needed a photo of a female canvasback carcass and found it here on the blog. Here is the link to the guide, my photo is on the bottom left hand corner of page 72: https://app.box.com/s/k01qk2eic0ojc0h0tjv7. I’m always happy to donate my work in the name of science and conservation.

Birthday Hunt

I bagged my first official shot-it-all-by-myself Nebraska rooster on my 40th birthday. That’s about the best present I could get. I’ve been attributed to some Nebraska roosters in the past, but it was always up for debate since others had also put pellets in it. But not this time.

I love chocolate cake, but I love birthday roosters more.

So that was the high point of the hunt. The low point of the hunt was at the end where we had to cross this shallow creek into a fallow field that was all plowed up and uneven. I tripped on a giant dried up dirt clod and didn’t even catch myself. It was a full-on face plant into the dirt. I may not be known for my gracefulness, but I have become an expert in totally wiping out safely while holding a firearm.

Oh yeah, and Charles got a rooster too. But you expected that.

That is my poor photography skills with the glare, not evidence of any supernatural forces.

That is my poor photography skill with the glare, not evidence of any supernatural forces.

Pupdates

Bob and Ed, who hail from Minnesota (and from our “E” Litter 2013 between Sam and Sue), had a great hunt up in North Dakota this year:

What a fantastic trip to North Dakota for Ed again this year! 5 guys hunting and we brought home our limits even with the tough wind we had. Ed’s performance was fantastic and I could not ask for anything else from him. He is a solid pointer and retrieves to hand with no hesitation. He proved his worth when he found a bird we knocked down which ran into a cattail slough. I am once again very happy for having found you while researching the breed. I can’t wait for our trip in 2015! Bob

Ed, Bob, and the birds in ND.

Trucks, dogs, and birds is where it’s at!

Jealous! In more news from North Dakota, Susan and TracHer (2012 “C” Litter between Sam and Mae) took out some roosters in the western part of the state:

A good friend got permission from an old high school classmate who farms in western ND, but north of I-94 (where the famed pheasant hunting area is) yesterday. I experienced an all time first in my hunting life. I shot a double, and was the first in our party of 3 to get birds. I end up in that category of, I GOT ONE! only to be told by the guy hunting to either side of me, that no, they got it. I’m a little slower to shoot so do better when I can get away from the others enough to get a bird on my own time, and it happened in spades yesterday!! TracHer did great again…in the pics she is bring my bird back to me, with our friend Don Winden in the pic as well. There were, indeed, a huge number of pheasants out amongst the oil drilling rigs and wells…The birds seem to have adjusted alright for now.

TracHer on retrieve with Don looking on.

Closeup of TracHer and the pheasant.

TracHer and the cows

I love how she manages to shoot with a gun and a camera! I need to work on that. Staying in the North Dakota theme, Ernie put together this cool video with footage from his GoPro and some tunes, “Country Boy” by Aaron Lewis and “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynard.

Here’s a photo of Ernie and Duncan (from our “H” Litter 2014 of Sam and Mae)

Duncan, Ernie and a North Dakota pheasant limit.

A bit closer to home, it looks like Rob and Maggie of Omaha (from our 2013 “E” Litter between Sam and Sue) had a great trip to South Dakota:

Maggie did fantastic for the start of her second season. She works perfectly in my opinion. She stays close, her drive is fantastic, she is very methodical and thorough yet not too slow and her nose is awesome. She points solid and does a great job at retrieving, especially the sneaky ones that are hard to find. When I turn her loose I almost never even have to direct her. Just when I think that she might be nearing a range that I would consider being too far out she puts her head up to check where I am at and readjusts to stay in the working distance that I prefer. Sometimes it’s like she can read my mind. I’m sure I am biased but I just can’t say enough about how well I think she hunts. I love this dog! Take care. Rob

Rob, Maggie, and roosters.

Taking it way down south, I got an update from Charbel in Mexico with Freyja from our 2014 litter of Sam and BB.

I’ve been off the grid lately with lots of work but finally manage to find some time for R&R. Sorry I couldn’t send you pictures sooner but here are a couple. This is Freyja´s first hunting trip in the beginning of November, we went Dove hunting, it wasn’t a good weekend because of the climate but we manage to get a few doves and the dogs had a lot of fun.

I have her leashed to me or to a long check leash since she still need to learn that there is no point in chasing flying birds, she will run all the way trying to follow a bird that fly’s by specially falcons when they are kiting the area and she tends to draw out thorns like a magnet, specially one I hate don’t know how its called but its a round seed fool of thorns that acts like Velcro. Took me more than an hour to remove all the thons from her, the bright side is that the thorn never actually gets it the skin but it does tangle in the hair. But I would let Freyja run free after every hunting morning.

The second morning while we were lunching in the field she dash into a corn field, after a few minutes suddenly a entire covey of quail flush out and 2 seconds after that Freyja came out of the field with that smiley doggy face she makes. We were all shocked since no one was expecting that. It was amazing!!!

This weekend we are going to be flying to Mexicali Pheasant hunting I´ll send you pictures after we come back.

Best Wishes, Charbel

Freyja ready to go.

Charbel and Freyja taking a break from dove hunting for a selfie.

Four labs and a griff cooling off.

Freyja coming back in.

Wow, thank you owners! You force me to come back and blog even when I don’t think that I want to. Then when I’m done, I see how much fun you have with your pups and it makes everything worth it.

The week of Thanksgiving is upon us, isn’t it? So that means that we go hunting, right? I hope so. I’ve been stuck at home the last couple of weekend with deer season. Charles didn’t see one big enough to shoot out in the Sandhills last weekend and went out yesterday for a doe along the Platte River and didn’t see anything.

We really should be thankful to God every day. As my grandfather says, “You’ve got a roof over your head and food on the table”. We take important things for granted, like clean water. 1 billion people on Earth don’t have access to clean water, and we’re lucky enough to be able to fuss over hunting dogs.

I am thankful for you, my readers, for hearing what I have to say and enjoying what my kind puppy owners are nice enough to share with me.

Full on pheasant season

November 5, 2014

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized Blood Tracking Big Game, NAVHDA, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North Dakota hunting, Pheasant Hunting Leave a comment

I will be 40 on Sunday. Not sure how to feel about that. Hopefully I get at least 40 more years and I get to hunt for most of them. We plan on going out to dinner Saturday night and probably chase some birds either Saturday or Sunday. The other day we’ll spend with the kids and my mom. I’ve told everyone no gifts since I’m spoiled enough as it is.

Brian over at Ultimate Upland wrote a post this week about slowing down as a hunter as we age http://www.ultimateuplandnews.com/upland-with-friends/. Charles and I have been discussing the same thing this year. I can remember being in our 20s and how we would hunt all day, then party for most of the night back home in Valentine for several consecutive days. Over the years, the beers have become fewer and evening hours have grown shorter progressively. I’ve actually given up drinking altogether as of two months ago (I’m making it official here on the blog since I’m going to stick with it this time). I hope that is enough oversharing for everyone this week.

AWPGA

Mr. T says so http://awpga.com/index.php. Since you get to read my blog free from advertising, with the exception of the junk WordPress puts at the bottom, I am going to start plugging AWPGA membership. Especially those of you who own griffs and do NAVHDA testing. Now that I’m working on the Griffonnier and Charles and I are starting to help with the field committee, I see that probably less than 10% of those prizing are AWPGA members. We are going to change that. Plus, we are looking to get more AWPGA sponsored field events across the country. I am very excited to be helping out the elders who have been doing this for a long time and using my blog as a way to help get the word out.

AWPGA Database: I have not yet added my litters to the database, but will have done so by the next time I post to the blog. That will allow any of my puppy owners to add health and title information. Griff owners can add information at http://awpgadb.com. This is not only for AWPGA members, but any griff owners.

Pheasant Season Update

I was out of commission last weekend with a cold, but Charles and his friend, Matt, made it out into the field with Fire and BB. Charles got a rooster and the world’s smallest quail and Matt got two roosters.

Charles with Fire, Matt with BB

Pupdates

Sounds like last weekend was beautiful up in North Dakota and there were plenty of birds to be had. Ernie, Duncan and a large party of fellow hunters and dogs found a mess of roosters! Duncan is from our 2014 “H” Litter between Sam and Mae and is 7 1/2 months old.

Duncan and a big pile of ND roosters

Of course, TracHer, Susan, and Tom are out chasing roosters again. They were joined by Jim Borg, participant in the 2014 NAVHDA Invitational and owner of VC Agate Hill’s Akeeta (who had to sit out of the hunt due to injury).

Susan said, “The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous for this time of year and we are so glad we can take advantage of it. TracHer really is coming into her own…she’s showing great drive, points, retrieves—I couldn’t ask for more from her, and it took until this season for her to come into her own. We hunted with Jim Borg today with his 12 year old Griff Max.”

TracHer on point. She is from our 2012 “C” litter between Sam and Mae.

Jim with TracHer and Max on point

Close up of TracHer and Max on point.

TracHer, Tom holding Max the GWP pup, Susan, Max the griff, Jim, and Zepher.

An aside for those of you who are not familiar with the NAVHDA hunt testing system. The Invitational is held every year for those dogs who earn a Prize I in the Utility Test. From the NAVHDA website:

Field work consists of a search, pointing, steadiness, backing and retrieving with the dogs being run in braces. Water work consists of a blind retrieve, double-marked retrieve and honoring a retrieve. Cooperation, obedience, desire and nose are judged throughout the entire test. Dogs successfully completing the Invitational Test with a passing score will receive the title of “Versatile Champion,” further recognized by placing VC before their names.

Susan does such a great job keeping me in photos! I hope to make it up to a Central Dakota Chapter NAVHDA Test one of these years so that I get to meet all of these great griff hunters who are members up there.

Danny down in Texas has Fern from our 2013 “F” litter from Sam and Mae. He said:

We work on upland, waterfowl, fur and tracking. This morning I shot a doe and she tracked it about 100 yards. I was so proud of her, even though it appeared to be super easy for her. We start duck season next weekend, so with a deer in the freezer we can concentrate on what she/I love the most.

We moved this summer to a house on ~6 acres. It’s fully fenced and she is a hunting machine. She spends so much time hunting at full throttle that I was remiss in her training for a couple of months. We have stepped up our effort and she is getting back to her old obedient self.

Fern’s blood track

That is so cool, we have never used our griffs for blood tracking big game, but it is one of their historical purposes and it is great to see one of our owners out there doing it!

Rob lives just across town here in Omaha and has Maggie, who is from our 2012 “E” litter between Sam and Sue. He said:

Maggie is doing fantastic. She hunted last year at 9 months and our hunting friends were shocked she was that young, because of how well she did. Since then we have been training all the time, in the hope that she will be better at hunting than I am at training!! And it’s going well. This is us working on retrieving, and hopefully I will get some great photos, or maybe video, after we spend next week in Winner, SD chasing those roosters.

Maggie and a rooster

Wow, owners, thanks for all of the great updates! The day is getting away from me and I need to fix supper. I have some big projects due for grad school coming up, so I don’t know if I’ll be back in one week or two. But God willing, I’ll be back. Talk at you then.

Introducing Ben, etc.

July 15, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Uncategorized Heartland NAVHDA Chapter, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

Introducing Ben

We will be using Ben as the sire on the litter planned with Velma (De Jac’s Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah) for 2015. Ben is from our 2011 “B” Litter between Sam and Sue. We had him here as an overnight guest last week in order to get his hips X-rayed, which is really just a formality as there is no sign of anything wrong. It is just one of those things that you are supposed to do before breeding a dog.

Ben has a wonderful temperament: he only barked once or twice out in the kennel even though it wasn’t home and he let me mess with him up on the grooming table without putting up a fight. He is strictly a wild bird hunter of quail, sharptailed grouse, and pheasant here in Nebraska. He lives on a farm outside of Lincoln with Nate and his family. We plan on taking our next stud puppy out of the Velma and Ben litter, they really compliment each other well in their conformation.

Ben on point last fall on a hen pheasant.

Ben au natural, before any grooming

Ben after being brushed, before trim

Ben after a full trim and bath

Ben with Nate ready to head home

I was really blown away by Ben’s head furnishings, neither of his parents have anything near that long. I would put his eyebrows and beard at around 4 in. long. His face really makes me think of the West Coast show griffs. His body coat is more of the hunter lines liver coat, but it isn’t flat like some, it does have a curl to it like Sam’s. Then the chest and the legs have lots of gray fringe on them. He also isn’t too big, 64 lbs. and probably 23 in. at the shoulder, so really the perfect size and right in breed standard. We hope to get out this fall and do some hunting with him too, so I’ll have more pictures of him then.

Retiree Update

Mae is doing really well with my brother Ron, and his Siberian Husky Whisper. Whisper used to escape and run away all of the time, but that has changed now that he has an old lady. Mae was fixed before I moved her, so there will be no griff/husky cross puppies (although it was much talked about in jest beforehand). They sit around the yard all day, then play fight in the house at night.

Mae and Whisper doing what they do best.

Stan shared a cute picture of old Sue running with Savannah down the driveway, she seems to be very happy playing with the kids. Trey is 12 this year and passed his hunter’s safety, so game birds in Mellette County, South Dakota be warned.

Sue and Savannah on a jog.

Fire Training Update

Last weekend, Charles took our 5-month old puppy, Fire, out to Skyline Sportsmen’s Club in Thurman, Iowa for training with the Heartland NAVHDA Chapter. She did her first exercise with live shotgun fire and did just fine. She also retrieved bumpers from the water. The veterans of the chapter said that she is ready for her Natural Ability test, so we will go ahead and move that up to October of this year. We were talking about doing it in the spring, but will go ahead and move it up and do the UPT test in Spring of 2015. That way we can get her through the Utility Test prior to her coming into breeding age, probably Fall of 2015.

Pupdate

Cliff in Oklahoma sent over a great update on Bluestem Belle, from our “C” litter of 2012 between Sam and Mae. That would make her a littermate to Chester in New York and TracHer in North Dakota who we get frequent updates from. Here’s what Cliff had to say:

Belle has been just almost the perfect pet. She is so personable and most always very obedient. I will take partial credit on the obedient attribute. We had her spayed prior to her coming into heat the second time, so about 16 months ago. After going through one cycle of wearing doggie diapers and having to be careful what dogs we hunted around that first fall, I didn’t want to go through that again! She is an inside-outside pet. Inside when we are home, but outside if we are going to be gone more than a couple hours. We got our yard fenced shortly after bringing her home, so she has about half an acre to be in.

I continue to be amazed on how smart she is. She can open doors (we have door handles instead of door knobs), know toy names, and last week she fetched my socks and shoes to put on so we could go on a walk! When we go to our public walking area, I usually don’t have her on a leash unless we are about to walk past another dog or geese. She always wants to get in my truck to go someplace. There is a pub in Stillwater that allows pets on leash. Attached is a picture of her in front of a menu board.

She does great hunting, super nose and follows commands: verbal, whistle & hand directions. One of our most fun days out last season was the Jan 31st in north-central Kansas. We woke up to new and continuing snow. Belle loved hunting in that cold and snow. Attached are a couple pictures of her that day. She was caked in snow and had a vast number of icicles in her beard.

I look forward to seeing more of your posts.

Belle at Finnegan’s Pub

Belle in the Kansas snow

Belle on point

Thanks so much to Cliff for that update, I am pleased with how all of these pups have turned out and it really bolsters my spirit to hear from my owners. Infinite gratitude.

General Blog Ramblings

It is hard to believe that I’m fast approaching 300,000 lifetime hits on a totally homemade blog about an obscure breed of hunting dogs written by a gal who considers herself half redneck and half intellectual. I suppose I could sell ads on my YouTube videos and convert this over to a site where I could put ads on it, but it is a passionate hobby and am fearful of taking myself too seriously. But when I am able to see folks from all over the world reading it, like daily hits from Brazil during the World Cup (probably some Dutch and German griffon enthusiasts), it makes me feel pretty self-conscious and aware that I’m representing my breed and my sport internationally. I need to do a better job of being a professional about it and not so flippant. I appreciate you, my readers, for making me feel appreciated and tolerating my sometimes lazy and goofy posts.

I have also finally committed to going to Maine at the end of August for AWPGA National Specialty and the Korthals Cup. I am looking forward to seeing some good friends and meeting some of the East Coast US and Quebec griffonniers that I’ve only encountered online. If you’d like to join us, registration is open until August 1st http://www.awpganationalspecialty.com/.

Enjoy the end of summer and stay cool. Griffs love kiddie pools, so bust one out if you haven’t already.

One last thing: I finally updated the gallery on the About Us/Contact page to include the last two years of our adventures, so be sure to check that out. The button is in the brown top navigation bar.

Training and Testing

June 3, 2014

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Montana Sharptail Chapter NAVHDA, NAVHDA, nevada chukar, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 3 Comments

Puppy Homegoing

I received a picture of Hez in his new home in Bangor, Maine with Tyson and family. He also has a big golden retriever friend named Ferg and they are all getting along splendidly!

Hez (now Moose) and family in Maine

Shipping a puppy by air cargo

Someone asked me recently about how I ship puppies by air cargo. Well, I get an interstate health certificate from the veterinarian (needs to be dated within 10 days of travel). Then I buy the intermediate level crate, which is 22 inches tall, 28 inches long, and 22 inches wide. I take all of the plastic hardware off of the outside of the crate and replace with metal nuts and bolts, then fill the crate about 1/3 full of shredded newspaper. Each side of the crate has “Live Animal” signs taped on to it, with a leash, a small bag of dog food, and the shipping/care instructions taped to the top. I attach food and water dishes to the inside of the crate, then simply place the pup in the crate with his collar on. I always have the pup take the first available flight out of Omaha Eppley so they are more mellow. I am about a 15 minute drive from the airport, so I feed and water the pup, give it a walk to go potty, and away we go. I use Delta Pet First/Air Cargo. I check the dog in at the air cargo office (which is over with the FedEx and UPS buildings), they pull the pup out of the crate and inspect the crate for any contraband, put the pup back in and ny-tie the door closed. All of the holding areas in both the airports and the planes are climate controlled so that the pup never experiences extreme temperatures. I wish I could put a little camera in the crate and see what the pup sees when he is being shipped, it must be exciting. But I think that the cargo folks are really nice to the pups because they’ve never come out of their crates traumatized. I’ve shipped 15-20 puppies this way and have never had a problem at all. Some breeders do not ship air cargo from reading a story or two on the internet, but it is like anything you read from questionable sources.

Grooming of the young griffon

I also had a question about what type of grooming to do on a young griffon puppy. Aside from giving it a bath once a month with puppy shampoo and cleaning its ears with Malascetic Otic solution, very little. I don’t recommend aggressive brushing like I do with adults, as I accidentally overbrushed a young puppy once while its puppy coat was coming out and the adult coat still hadn’t come in. I had an almost bald griffon in October. Charles was not happy. So don’t do that:)

Fire’s training

Fire is coming along nicely at 15 weeks old; Charles has been planting birds for her once a week to point and flush. He has switched from using the kiddie cap gun to the .22 starter pistol with blanks and she couldn’t care less about the noise. He’s talking about incorporating the remote bird launchers as to avoid any accidental “traps” (when the live bird gets caught by the dog). Then once he feels comfortable there, probably mid-July, will try the first live-fire exercise with a shotgun. I will try to get out to catch some video of this process.

First NAVHDA Test Pupdate of the Season

Congratulations to owner/handler Lou Volpe and Bluestem’s Big Sky Rendezvous “Midge” on a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize I with a perfect score of 112 at the Montana Sharptail Chapter test over the weekend! Midge is from our 2013 “F” Litter from Sam and Mae. Great job everyone!!!

“A” Litter Pupdate

Back at the end of April, my very first litter from Sam and Sue turned 4 years old. Here are some recent owner photos from the litter that changed my life for good!

Maggie is a good kid pillow

Maggie keeps her coat trimmed for the Alabama heat

Maggie showing off her beautiful eyes

Whiskey is a handsome dude

Whiskey (front) and friends beating the Nevada heat

Whiskey bringing Dad (Pete) his croc

I also saw a cool video on Whiskey’s mom’s Facebook page of him hunting chukars with his girl, Andi.

More training

Susan and Tom have been working with TracHer on preparing for her NAVHDA Utility Test and sent me some pictures of her retrieving a giant Muscovy duck. The first picture is of her retrieving it after a 60 yard dryland track from a drag and the second is a water retrieve. TracHer is from our 2012 “C” Litter of Sam and Mae.

TracHer and the duck in the field

TracHer’s water retrieve

I have one last bit of media to share with you and that is a YouTube that I made from a couple of video clips that new owners of this year’s litters sent to me. You can see the pups style and personality already starting to shine through!

Many thanks to all of my generous owners who take the time to update me with photos and videos so that I have something to share with you! It is greatly appreciated and keep it coming! Hope that everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer and I’ll check back in soon.

H Litter Homegoing

May 27, 2014

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Gun Dog, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

I am officially puppy-free for the rest of the summer (aside from Fire, of course)! Everyone went home on their 8-week birthday on Tuesday, except one who went home on Sunday.

Herbert went across town with Bill and family.

Harriet’s went to South Dakota with Matt and family.

Hope went to Wyoming with George and his wife. (Photo courtesy of George)

Harold went to North Dakota with Ernie and family.

Hez is not pictured because he took a plane all the way to Maine! He arrived safely without even messing in his crate. Maybe one of these days Tyson will have a chance to send us a photo.

Mae did well with her spay and is ready for retirement. We took Sam, BB, and Fire out on Memorial Day for Fire’s first swim.

Fire swimming with the kids.

Sam found himself a big stick.

BB and Fire having a run on the shore.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their extra day off! Spring NAVHDA tests are upon us, so I’ll be looking forward to any pupdates on that front and any others! Fire is due for her last round of shots this week, so then we’ll be ready to start going to training days. I also need to think about getting her trained up to go into the show ring at least once. Maybe we can learn to enjoy it because BB, Mae and I really did not. But if at first you don’t succeed, try again, right?

Welcome “G” Litter 2014!

February 12, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Natural Ability Test, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

I can’t believe that this is the “G” litter for Bluestem Kennels, coming into our 4th year of breeding. And “H” and “I” should be coming in a month!

The 13 puppies of Sam and BB’s “G” Litter were born on Sunday, February 9th and it literally took the whole day. We were up walking around at 5 AM and went to bed at 10 PM. There are 8 girls and 5 boys. BB has decided that her favorite time to get attention, be fed and go walking outside is between midnight and 2 AM, so I haven’t had the best nights of sleep, so I apologize to the new owners for not getting e-mails or phone calls out yet.

BB with 8 puppies in the whelping box

I thought for sure that with 13 that I would be bottle feeding, but BB has been doing awesome with nursing them well. It really helps that we have them right in front of the wood burning stove, so that they are not having to expend energy keeping warm. With normal-sized litters we’ve been able to keep them in the basement utility room or in the garage with space heaters and heat lamps, but this cold weather and with there being so many of them, they need to be where it is extra warm. It is also nice that my youngest boy, Caleb, will be 5 next month and has finally learned to not mess with the puppies at this age. The weather is supposed to warm up and they will get bigger and able to regulate their body temperature, so I won’t have to have puppies in my living room forever.

First night by the fire

I didn’t have anything set up by the fire after they were born, so I just put them on a blanket and slept next to them that night. I did have to fish a few out of odd places in the middle of the night, but they survived it and stayed warm. They are now set up with the small kiddie pool with a blanket in the bottom, with the x-pen around it to deter kids and other dogs.

They went to the vet Monday morning for their tail docking, dew claw removal and vet check. Dr. Kliewer at Heartland Animal Hospital checked them all over and said that they are perfect! I was sure that with so many of them that there would be a “dud”, but there’s not a single one. These are the individual puppy photos that I store on here for my records and so we can track their development. Try not to get too attached to any of them! They are all spoken for and I will do my best to get them all grown up, but one never knows. I also name them for tracking purposes and don’t expect the new owners to keep these names. They never get called anything other than “puppy” by me:) They are completely in random order and may be taken from different distances which might account for size differences. The coat differences I note only help me to tell them apart as they grow. Photos taken at 1 day old, right before we went to the vet for claws and tails.

Girl: Ginny

Ginny has a white blaze on her forehead and small liver spots on right side, above the tail, then most of the tail is liver.

Girl: Garnet

Garnet has a white dot on her forehead, a white dot on her neck, a tiny liver spot on the left bottom part of her back and a larger liver block on her right belly.

Girl: Gayle

Gayle has a solid liver head and her entire left side is liver. She also has liver spots on her right neck, underarm, belly and above the tail.

Girl: Gertrude

Gertrude has a small white dot on her forehead and is spotted liver heavily all over her body. Liver on most of her right side.

Girl: Gemma

Gemma has a white dot on her forehead and two large liver spots set on a diagonal on her back, the left one higher than the right. Small liver spot on left belly and above tail.

Girl: Gabriella

Gabriella has a think white blaze on her forehead, has a large liver spot on her back that is shoulder to shoulder, a tiny liver spot on her lower left back, then a liver spot above her tail that extends down into the tail.

Girl: Gallixe

Gallixe has a white blaze on her face and an entirely white back with a small spot above the tail. Her neck is 1/2 white and 1/2 liver.

Girl: Gisele

Gisele has a white blaze on her face and and entirely white neck and body except for a small spot above the tail.

Boy: Gene

Gene has a white dot on his forehead, large liver spots set diagonally with the right higher than the left. A tiny liver spot on his right belly and a large liver spot above his tail.

Boy: Gus

Gus has a white blaze on his face with two large diagonal liver spots that do not touch at the back. The right spot is higher than the left. The rest of the body is white.

Boy: George

George has a liver head and white upper back. His lower back has a large liver spot in the center, with a smaller one on the left. Also has a small liver spot above the tail.

Boy: Gascon

Gascon has a white blaze on his face, a white upper back, a small liver spot in the center of his lower back and a liver spot right above his tail.

Boy: Gilbert

Gilbert has a tiny white spot on his forehead, his body is entirely white except for a small liver spot above the tail.

Okay, that is everybody! Here is a shot of them today at 3 days old.

“G” litter 3 days old

I will be sure to get phone calls and e-mails out to the new owners before the end of the weekend. As this was a large litter, I am willing to take a few more deposits for possible 2014 puppies. Right now I have 10 other reservations and 2 more litters on the way, so there is a possibility of having more than 10 puppies yet this year. There are no guarantees, so I just ask that anyone who wants to make a reservation at this point be flexible and open to getting a pup in Spring 2015.

Pupdate

I was just thinking about Gomer from Sue and Sam’s 2012 “D” litter after I saw his NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize I with a Perfect Score of 112 points at the Spoon River Chapter Fall Test in the latest edition of Versatile Hunting Dog magazine. Lo and behold, I just got some new photos of him and his family, with the announcement that he will be a big brother to a human sibling soon. Congrats to Kyle and Jenna!

Kyle, Gomer and Jenna

Gomer and Jenna in the pool last summer

Gomer says, “Who needs a dog box, I get to ride in the front?!”

Thanks to Kyle for the update and his great work with Gomer towards the Natural Ability Prize.

Well, it is time for me to go to my son’s Valentine’s Day party at school. I will be sure to keep you posted with the new puppies and the upcoming litters. Oh and Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Puppies on the way and pupdates!

January 20, 2014

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons chukar hunting, Duck Hunting, Elevage du Bourg-Royal, Hunting Nevada, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Quebec, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 2 Comments

Sue’s retirement

Sue out on the South Dakota prairie

12 year old Trey gave me an update on how 10 year old Sue is doing up in South Dakota. He says that he is finally licensed and has a shotgun and is ready to shoot some birds over her. We miss Sue and my youngest boy Caleb (age 4 1/2) asks about her at least once a week. We want to keep our dog numbers at 4 here at the house, so that we can hunt them regularly and give them personal attention, so retirement and re-homing is a necessary sadness. But we are so happy to give folks an opportunity to experience the griffon who might not be able to afford or have no desire to raise a puppy. I can’t wait to see pics of Trey and Sue with some birds in the fall!!

Sue’s sweet face

Pupdates

I really appreciate all of my puppy owners who contribute photographs and stories of their dogs as they grow up. It is truly the reason why we do this.

Pete, Whiskey, Andi and chukars in NV

Great job to sharpshooter Andi and our oldest boy Whiskey, who will be four years old soon! He is from our first, or “A” litter in 2010 with Sue and Sam. Andi and Whiskey really tore it up in the chukar field and we couldn’t be more proud!! Thanks to Pete, Deborah and Andi for giving him such a great life out in Nevada!!

Sal and 2 year old Chester

We received a lovely Christmas card with photos of Chester from Sal and family out in New York! When Chester isn’t out with Steve “Hoss” Anker training or out with the Hudson Valley NAVHDA Chapter, he’s having a good time at home on Long Island. He is from our 2012 “C” litter from Sam and Mae. Sal has done a great job working with this dog and he has a bright future ahead!

Chester taking a rest

Chester’s “C” litter sister TracHer is having a good season up in North Dakota. She has a new brother, a 10-month old German Wirehaired Pointer named Max. Thanks to Susan and Tom for the lovely Christmas card with photos. Tom had surgery is on crutches from a knee injury incurred while hunting, so we send prayers for a speedy recovery.

TracHer and Susan in the ND snow

Chester and TracHer’s little sister Zoey, from our “F” litter in 2013 also from Mae and Sam, is having a blast down in Oklahoma with Jimmy and Sandi. Here’s what Jimmy had to say:

This girl is the best thing that every happened to Sandi and me. Here some updated photos. She is now 10 mos old and weighs 55 lbs. We just bought some land in the badlands of SW Oklahoma and she loves it. Here is some photos of her expeditions so far. She loves hunting antlers and when go into the shop she will go to the gun safe and sit there until I either get a gun out or tell her we aren’t going hunting.

Jimmy and Zoey

Zoey on point

Zoey water retrieving a stick

Zoey retrieving an antler

Zoey patiently waiting for the ducks

Zoey and her mallard haul!

Thank you so much again to all of my owners for contributing to this and keeping me up to date on how their dogs are doing. It is really important for us to see their success, it keeps us going during the times that we find the pressures of breeding overwhelming. Watching the gun dog lifestyle continue in our pups is one of our greatest joys.

I will be sure to keep everyone posted on the upcoming litters. BB is already heavy and I need to get some pictures of her, along with updated shots of the rest of the dogs. I’d also like to do video of Tor. Now that I’ve recovered from travel, the holidays and a major plumbing project, I will do a better job of keeping the blog updated. Charles and Matt are out right now trying to spook up some pheasants, all of the chaos lately has really cut into their time in the field. Until then, stay warm and don’t blow away in these winds!

North Dakota Trip, AWPGA Nationals, Nebraska Pheasants and other news…

November 6, 2013

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized AKC Hunt Tests, Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Duck Hunting, Ducks, grouse hunting, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Hunting Nevada, Hunting North Dakota, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Pheasant Hunting, Pheasants Forever, Puppies, Quail, Sharp-tailed Grouse Hunting, Southeastern Nebraska, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 2 Comments

When you go three weeks without blogging, stuff piles up, so I apologize if this seems a bit like a random barrage. What most people come to my website for is to find out about new litters, so I suppose I will start there. Mae is starting to have changes and Sam wants to be in the kennel with her, so by the looks of things we will have a breeding between them within the next month. So, let’s project that they breed at the beginning of December; that would have puppies being whelped at the beginning of February and going home at the beginning of April. This is all just my somewhat educated guesstimation and by no means guaranteed. Mae is 6, so I suspect that she will have a litter around the same size as last year, which was 4. BB (who lives with us) and Velma (who lives with a friend) are set to have their first litters this year. They should come into season anytime between now and April. I will not breed after late March because any pups after that would interfere with being able to take a summer vacation before school starts for the kids and hunting season starts for us. Right now I have 12 reservations with deposit and other folks trying to decide. I could have anywhere from 12-30 pups if all goes as I plan, but it isn’t up to me.

October 19-24 Charles, BB and Sam met up with Lou, Murph and Midge in North Dakota for a pheasant/duck hunt combo. Also along was deer camp friend, Ozzie, and Lou’s father, Lew (AKA Lou Senior or Old Lou). They saw some stuff. They shot at some stuff. They stayed in a cabin and cooked on a Coleman stove. I’ll spare you the second-hand details and get down to the bird totals and photos.

Saturday, October 19, 2013: Charles and Young Lou got 3 sharp-tailed grouse.

Sam brings in the sharpie retrive with BB on backup. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck

Sam brings in the sharpie retrieve with BB on backup. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck

Sam bringing the sharpie into Charles. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck

Young Lou, Murf, Sam, BB, Midge, Old Lou, Charles and the sharpie. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck

The day’s stringer of sharpies back at camp. Photo by Charles

Sunday, October 20, 2013 – skunked

Monday, October 21, 2013: Charles got 2 roosters

Charles and the first pheasant of the trip. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck

Tuesday, October 22, 2013: Charles got a rooster pheasant and a mallard hen late in the day.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013: Charles got one rooster

Thursday, October 24, 2013: Young Lou got two roosters (no photo available)

Random pic of Lou cooking since there is no pheasant pic. It snowed Saturday night, so this must be Sunday morning.

The trip was more about the memories and the time spent together than the bird totals anyway. I hope that the guys enjoyed themselves even without game bags overflowing.

The griffon masters

As Charles was driving home from North Dakota, Cordelia and I were on the road to the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon National Specialty in Greeley, Colorado. We missed the fun hunt, specialty show and annual meeting, but managed to see the supported entry show on Saturday and go to the banquet. We also had an awesome sojourn into Boulder to shop and eat on Pearl St. and do some hiking in Boulder Canyon and at the Flatirons.

Cordelia and Charity in Colorado for AWPGA Nationals

It was great to catch up with some griffoniers and talk dog nerd talk freely. AWPGA National Specialty 2014 is on for Kennebunk and Union, Maine from August 25-31. In addition to the events held this year in Colorado, they’ve got the Korthals Cup back on and there will be AKC and NAVHDA hunt testing opportunities available (in place of the fun hunt), and an interesting grooming and handling seminar. I hope to make it out, but it is cutting it awfully close to the opening of dove and grouse Sept. 1. I encourage any and all griffon enthusiasts to join the AWPGA and attend a specialty, so much fun! Here are Susan Edginton’s photos of this year’s specialty dog show, if you want to check those out:

http://sedgintonphotos.photoreflect.com/store/ThumbPage.aspx?e=9111641&g=1ZZR001G02

Last weekend also had plenty of excitement! Charles and Matt went out on Saturday in search of rooster pheasants and actually found some! Nebraska Game and Parks planted 4000 pheasants this year on public land across Eastern Nebraska (finally). If you’ve read my blog during pheasant season over the past few years, you know how much I like to whine about the decline of pheasants in our part of the state and how much NGPC needed to stock. Well they have heard the desperate pleas of the hunters and “did us a solid” (as my kids would say). The Pheasants Forever Rooster Road Trip party took 17 pheasant out of Northeastern Nebraska in one day off of public land. We are very excited for this pheasant season in Eastern Nebraska, now that we know that we actually have a chance. Both Matt and Charles took their limits and Charles got a quail too. In total he said that they saw 20 pheasants and 50 quail.

Mid-day bag in Southeastern Nebraska

End of day bag. One of Matt’s roosters somehow got away.

By the time they pulled into the driveway, it was dark and the kids and I were in the middle of dinner, so no great photography went down. Sorry.

On the same day we found out that our new male was born!! He will be coming from Bourg-Royal Kennel in St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, Quebec, Canada, the same kennel as BB. Different parents, both French imports. We are very excited to bring him home around the first of the year!

Cristal and the 4 puppies: 1 male and 3 females

Announcement in the last Griffonnier with the parents’ credentials

And the blog post wouldn’t be complete without some pupdates. Here’s Midge (who went on the North Dakota trip), from Sam and Mae’s 2013 “F” litter with a big haul of pheasants from Montana. Charles said she is a hard charging little dog with a great coat and lots of prey drive.

Midge and Montana Pheasants

Midge’s older sister TracHer from Sam and Mae’s 2012 “C” litter has been having a great season up in North Dakota and is showing off all her skills. According to Susan, “Gorgeous day today….we limited out 50 miles from home. TracHer retrieved 4 of the six birds, one in water with cattails.”

18 month old TracHer on retrieve of a North Dakota rooster

TracHer on left with Tom, Susan with Zepher (griff unrelated to my dogs) and their friends, the week prior to the close-up photo

And one of my first dog babies, Whiskey from Sam and Sue’s “A” litter 2010, took his girl Andi out on her first duck hunt out in Nevada. They did so awesome and I love how much Whiskey is Sam Jr!

Andi, Whiskey and some ducks

Well, that pretty much wraps it up for right now. Charles and I are heading out on Saturday in hopes of some pheasants and ducks. We are still debating about where, but it will be pretty close to home. I’ll keep you posted. Until then, stay warm, winter is coming!

Our First NAVHDA Utility Test

August 26, 2013

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update AKC Hunt Tests, Korthals Griffon, Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Utility Test, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Sioux Falls South Dakota, Steady to shot, Utility Prize III, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 1 Comment

On Saturday, August 17th was our first North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) Utility Test in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter. In the running were Sweetgrass Plainsman Samson “Sam” age 5 and Bourg-Royals CB Bluestem “BB” age 2 with my husband Charles handling both dogs. The Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter is one of the best in the country and folks come from all over to participate in their events.

They came from far and wide…

The Natural Ability dogs were first in the field on the day, with Sam as the first Utility Dog who ran. His very first point was not on one of the planted chukars, but was a wild rooster pheasant! The gunner said that he was twitching to fire, but it isn’t that time of year just yet! Sam did fairly well on his first three finds, but it just started to get out of control. The field was packed with birds and he was finding them every 45 seconds in some places. He just came apart. Sam has been hunting wild birds his whole life but has only received steadiness training in the past year, so he just couldn’t handle the overwhelming number of birds. His pointing and retrieving never fail, but his habit of breaking on the shot came out in full force. He probably had 10 total finds, but only held on maybe 3 or 4 of them. Afterwards, Apprentice Judge Leo Boman told us that we need to go ahead and make a correction with the dog in the field, not letting him mess up over and over without trying to right it. This is different than AKC, where the dog is supposed to work without correction and commands or face an order from the judge to “pick up your dog” (meaning you failed). So that was a great tip for future handling.

Charles walking in on one of Sam’s points

Although it shows Charles carrying a shotgun, it is not loaded and only the two chapter gunners do all of the shooting for the test.

A bird in the air, Sam breaking on the shot

A bird in the air, Sam breaking on the flush

Sam on retrieve

Charles was pretty disgusted as he walked out of the field with Sam, but I knew that was where the dog would make mistakes and his time to shine would come later on in the day. We had to shake it off quickly because we were running 2 out of the 3 utility dogs that day, so it was a short break until it was BB’s turn.

BB has become an outstanding field dog and proved in this test that she is ready to move on to Master Hunter runs in AKC (American Kennel Club) Hunt Tests. She had 4 or 5 finds and every single one was textbook steadiness. There was even a point where Charles chose to run after a bird to try to flush it and BB just stood there stone still.

BB stands steady with a bird in the air (see it up between the trees?)

BB retrieves to hand

Another bird in the air with BB standing steady

BB on retrieve

Moment of Impact: BB stands by as a bird gets hit in front of the smaller cottonwood

We walked out of the bird field with BB feeling as if we’d taken our first steps toward a Utility Prize I. We were very hopeful. It was time for a delicious lunch of chili and cornbread. You can’t beat the food at NAVHDA tests!

The next order of business was the duck search for the utility dogs. Sam was up first and we had no worries about his performance. Swam the full 10 minutes and searched the pond thoroughly. He did not find the duck, but that isn’t the point of the exercise.

Sam going hard on the duck search

BB’s weak spot is the water. With Sam always dominating the retrieves while we are duck hunting, she just hasn’t had a chance to get fired up about it. She did an okay search, then came and sat down by Charles at around the 7 minute mark.

BB out on the duck search

Afterwards we talked to Dan Griffith, who is a full time trainer of German Wirehaired Pointers and a very experienced Utility Tester. We were wondering if Charles should have re-cast her out into the pond. Dan told us that if you re-cast without judge’s instructions, it is automatically a one point deduction. If the judge wants you to re-cast, they will tell you. Do not re-cast on your own. Another great handling tip for the future.

The Natural Ability dogs did their duck retrieve first (which BB had no problem with at her test, NA Prize I with a perfect score of 112). The setup for the Utility dogs was that they walk on leash on heel through a set of posts to the blind. The dog is released from the leash and “whoaed” behind the blind. Shots are fired and the dog has to stay steady behind the blind. The dog is then moved just outside of the blind so that he can mark where the throw of the duck lands. More shots are fired and the duck is thrown.

Sam marks the throw. You can see the heeling posts in the foreground.

We were in no way prepared for the 50 yard duck retrieve that they set up for the Utility Dogs. The throw was way outside of shotgun range and it is only because of Sam’s absolute love of swimming and water that he was able to pull it off. We had not trained for that distance at all.

Sam brings in the duck

At that point, we knew that it would take a miracle for BB to get that duck. She did great in the blind and I saw her mark the throw, but she got distracted by the decoys next to the shore and would only go about 20 yards out to search (within shotgun range). We tried to cast her farther, but to no avail. BB did not get the duck and received No Prize as a result.

The final event was the track. Flight feathers are pulled from a pheasant or duck and left in a pile at the start. The pheasant or duck is either allowed to run and hide on its own, or if a carcass is used, it is dragged to a particular spot. Sam never follows a track from point A to point B. He knows that the bird is there, he just wants to go to points C. D, and E, then pee on them, then find the bird. So he did the track…sort of:)

Sam comes back from his track with the duck

BB does an amazing job of tracking and always goes from point A to point B flawlessly. But as she didn’t get the duck, it was all for naught. So we ended the day with Sam earning a Utility Test Prize III. It was our first test and I was just happy to bring home a prize, especially on Sam who has just been a wild bird hunting dog for so long. BB was perfect in everything but the water. We will hunt her alone on wild ducks down in Missouri for early teal season in a few weeks and then Nebraska High Plains duck season a few weeks after that.

It was a great time in Sioux Falls and we learned so much from folks. It was great seeing Cliff Koele of Coppershot Griffons, home of several NAVHDA Versatile Champions, who recently announced his retirement from testing and breeding. He will now focus on fishing and mentoring other breeders/trainers. We had so much fun with all of our fellow handlers, the volunteers and the judges. We learned and laughed. It’s just dogs after all.

Congratulations to our fellow griffoniers who also participated in the weekend from Aux Lake Kennel! From left to right: Keith Feldhaus and Deke UT I, Scott Moore and Josie as observers, Rick Jones and Jessie NA II and the godfather himself: Larry Woodward and Holly UT I. Thank you Kim Jones for allowing me to use your photo. We had a chance to spend time with the Joneses since Jessie ran on Saturday, but only saw everyone else briefly as we were ships passing in the night. Their UT dogs ran on Sunday.

Aux Lake Crew

Wow and a big thank you to the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter for a great test. We will be back.

I have so much more to write about, but am just out of time for today. I will be sure to post again later this week before hunting season starts on Saturday!! I have some pupdates that I need to clear out of my queue before I get way behind! Talk at you later this week.

Summer comes to a close…

August 13, 2013

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update Korthals Griffon, Lion Country Supply, Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, OFA, Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, Pheasant Bonanza, Sioux Falls South Dakota, Utility Test, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

It has been a very busy summer of work, family, travel and dog training here. Sorry that I have not had a chance to keep you all updated, with the kids all at home with me, it makes it challenging to find the time and quiet space to do it all. I suppose it would make the most sense to me to work backwards chronologically with the news.

On Friday we will be traveling up to Sioux Falls, SD to run Sam and BB in the NAVDHA Utility Test at the Fall Test of the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter on Saturday. They have been doing well in practice and I’m hoping that they both prize. Some folks grumble about whether they get prize I, II or III, but it is one day in the life of a dog. If the dog is having a bad day, there is something in the environment that they don’t like, the conditions are not what we are used to, etc., etc., the dog might not get the prize we want. In the recent issue of Versatile Hunting Dog, NAVHDA’s magazine, two of my most respected dog training mentors ran dogs in UT and NA and didn’t prize at all. These are folks who have been doing this way longer than we have, or most folks I know have, for that matter. We don’t reach some sort of state of dog perfection and never have a bad day or a bad score. So any and all NAVHDA prizes are celebrated here!

The last couple of weeks we have been on the road on summer vacation. The dogs stayed over with our friends at Pheasant Bonanza in Tekamah, Nebraska (http://pheasantbonanza.com/) while we were gone. They have a full training and boarding set-up there, we elected to board only. It is nice to take your dog specifically to a place for gun dogs that is clean and well-maintained. The dogs came back healthy and happy. (Not a paid endorsement)

BB’s OFA hip certificate came in the mail while we were on vacation, so she will be ready to be bred sometime around the new year. We are still working out who we are going to use as a stud, so we will be sure to keep you posted.

While we were traveling, I spent the day in the Lion Country Supply office. Right now, I am in the process of updating their catalog of over 2300 dog training supplies. It was cool to meet the people and see the facility. My favorite part of the office was the gun dog humor found on the restroom doors. Instead of Women and Men it was Setters and Pointers, ha!

Setters and Pointers on the restroom doors at LCS

The kids dropping me off at the office.

Before we left for vacation we were training every chance we had! Every weekend was spent on trips to the pond and field. Even when we were sitting around the backyard, we were practicing blind dummy retrieves and “whoa”.

Sitting in the yard: Mae, BB and Sam

BB brings in the goose Dokken Dead Fowl dummy from a blind retrieve

Sam’s goose blind retrieve

I suppose I should explain a blind dummy retrieve. That is where the dogs have to stay in the yard on “whoa” and one of us goes way back into the woods and hides the dummy without them seeing where we placed it. One of the dogs is then released to go fetch the dummy. The dummies are not scented and the dog is only finding them by sight, which is fairly difficult for them.

We had a cool new dog box shipped out to us from Michigan. It is a hound style box and the dogs have lots more room and are able to stick their heads out of the side of the box. It will make the long distance trips much more comfortable for the dogs and we are glad to have finally retired the “slave ship”. It was a nice enough dog box, but it just didn’t have enough room for multi-day roadtrips.

BB and Mae getting ready to depart on the maiden voyage of the dog box

Sam and Mae at the pond in the new box

Well that pretty much sums things up for the time being, I will be sure to update you all next week as to the outcome up in Sioux Falls, keep your fingers crossed for a good Saturday for us! I am still running behind on returning voice mails and e-mails, so I apologize to those of you who have reached out to me and I haven’t gotten back to you. I have dedicated time set aside this week to get caught up before we head north on Friday. Talk at you next week!

Oh and hunting season starts in two weeks! Woot!

Bluestem Kennels

So much to be thankful for…

Full on pheasant season

Introducing Ben, etc.

Training and Testing

H Litter Homegoing

Welcome “G” Litter 2014!

Puppies on the way and pupdates!

North Dakota Trip, AWPGA Nationals, Nebraska Pheasants and other news…

Our First NAVHDA Utility Test

Summer comes to a close…

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