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Welcome to the Northwoods Bird Dogs website. Please bookmark us and visit this page for info on
planned breedings, training progress, field trials and other newsworthy items. |
Sunday, January 29. 2012
 … for the birds are such inveterate runners that unless they are bunched, running themselves en famille, in some southern nook, there will be no scent-cue wanting when once you have come near them. ~Ruffed Grouse Hunting, by Arthur Burdette Frost, Shooting Pictures magazine, 1895 More than 100 years later, Frost’s words still ring true. When a grouse is pursued by a bird dog and a hunter, they will run. In fact, I’ve seen them run and walk fast and rarely in a straight line. Sometimes they will even circle back behind their pursuers. Grouse also do a combo thing—they’ll run for a bit, then flush and fly some distance, then perhaps land and start running again. And they’re not running randomly. They are going to places where they’ve escaped pursuers many, many times before. Running grouse pose a special challenge and provide the ultimate test for a pointing dog. Few have the knowledge, experience and talent to follow a running grouse for as far as it takes to ultimately get the bird pointed. Those that do are, in my opinion, real grouse dogs. These special dogs don’t just run through the woods looking for a grouse. Instead they are constantly seeking even the vaguest trace of grouse scent, maybe long after the bird moved through the area. Once the dogs get a whiff, they have the ability to determine which way the grouse went, follow it and point it. The expertise necessary to follow a running grouse is not acquired in one season. It might take two years, three years or even more. And some won’t ever figure it out.
Friday, January 27. 2012
The stack of books on my bedside chest is full of new books about dogs. I bought the three books on dog behavior and the other two are thoughtful Christmas presents.
Dog Sense, by John Bradshaw, is a very well-done book by an Englishman who specializes in animal welfare and behavior. He debunks some common perceptions and attempts to put dogs in their proper place. I like this sentence from the dust jacket:
…we too often treat dogs like wolves or, just as hazardously, like furry humans. The truth is: dogs are neither.
The Fragrance of Grass, by Guy de la Valdene, is the third book of his I own now. His two previous—Making Game: An Essay on Woodcock and For a Handful of Feathers—are among my favorites. In his beautiful prose, de la Valdene reminisces about his early hunting in France, trips to the western U.S. and his 800-acre “farm” outside Tallahassee, Florida. The title of the book comes from Jim Harrison:
Between the four pads of a dog’s foot, the fragrance of grass.
On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals, by Turid Rugaas. Rugaas is a famous Norwegian dog trainer and behaviorist who seems, on the surface at least, a bit like our Cesar Milan.
Dogs, being flock animals, have a language for communication with each other…Canine language in general consists of a large variety of signals using body, face, ears, tail, sounds, movement, and expression.
Dog Language, An Encyclopedia of Canine Behavior, by Roger Abrantes, was a popular book when first published in 1986 in Denmark. I have an English version, which was first published in the U.S. in 1996. It is organized dictionary-style—an alphabetical listing of 293 expressions and postures. Very nice black-and-white drawings are included.
Everything in the way you or I, or our dogs, appear to one another is behavior.
What makes a social animal special is its ability to compromise, to win and lose and still get the best out of every situation.
Among these champions of compromise, we find wolves, geese, chimpanzees, humans and their best friends, dogs.
Canine Body Language, Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog, by Brenda Aloff, is a fascinating examination of how dogs communicate through expressions and body language. Hundreds of photographs are included to clearly show each pose. Among the entries are Curiosity, Rolling, Fear, Look Away, Tongue Flick, Yawning, Paw Lifts, Butt Sniff, Pass By, Guarding, Warning, Prey Bow and an entire section on Play.
Thursday, January 26. 2012
 Jerry and I and 20 dogs arrived safely in Atwood,
Tennessee, at about 10:30 pm on Tuesday night. We had delayed our trip by one
day due to some nasty weather along our route in Wisconsin and Illinois that would
have made for a difficult and perhaps dangerous trip.
It is very nice here this morning—54 degrees and the air is
moist due to soft rain that fell during the night. One daffodil blossomed in
the front garden under the boughs of a monster white oak. The dogs settled quickly into their new digs and now seem
eager and excited. There are so many new smells and sounds down here.
Due to technical difficulties beyond our control, we encountered trouble setting up our Internet connection. For perhaps as long as 10 days to two weeks, we’ll have limited access to the Internet and our email accounts…but we will respond. Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.
Tuesday, January 24. 2012
It was confirmed last week that Houston’s Belle’s Choice is pregnant with frozen semen from Blue Chief. Jerry, the vet and I saw at least 7 and maybe 8 puppies during Choice’s ultrasound.
This could be a breeding of the best to the best.
Blue Chief (1996 – 2008) was one of our earliest dogs but turned out to be one of the best. He was a dream come true for Jerry.
 Jerry had long envisioned a classic grouse dog. It would look like the dogs in the old paintings—an even-masked, tri-color setter male with a square head. He would be big and powerful. And he would be a strong bird finder.
We bred Finder’s Keeper to an outstanding dog from the East Coast, CH First Rate, in 1996. Keeper only whelped five but among those was multiple grouse champion CH A Rolling Stone, owned by Scott Anderson, and our Blue Chief.
Chief had uncanny, raw, bird-finding talent. He hunted with a strong, smooth stride and a high head. He hunted hard but always handled. He naturally backed and retrieved with a soft mouth. Chief had a kind disposition and rarely barked.
Chief was never a field trial champion but he found birds in almost every trial—whether in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He was named closest to the winner in several championships including the 2002 Grand National Grouse Championship with 76 entries.
Chief’s legacy is in his progeny for he had the ability to pass on his incredible natural abilities. He sired almost 50 litters when he was alive. This will be our first frozen semen litter out of Chief.
One of our best setter female dams is Houston’s Belle’s Choice.
Choice is a daughter of 2X CH/4X RU-CH Houston’s Belle and Gusty Blue and carries their best attributes. She is an even-masked, tri-color with beautiful style in motion—smooth and strong. She also has an exuberant and infectious verve that is fun to see. Choice points with loftiness and is a natural backer.
Choice herself has an impressive list of field trial wins but, more importantly, is an excellent grouse hunting dog.
We plan to keep the entire litter. We’ll raise and develop them and some will become available as started or trained older dogs.
Saturday, January 21. 2012
The 2011 grouse hunting and guiding season is over but not forgotten. For everyone at Bowen Lodge, it was a great fall. The majority of days were sunny and warm and the woods were very dry. The guides definitely needed to know the location of beaver ponds so the dogs could drink and cool off. There were fewer grouse than last year but plenty to make for good hunting. The dogs did a tremendous job of finding and pointing them--but some were more difficult because there were more old grouse than young. A high note was the good numbers of woodcock we found--more than most years. All-in-all, we had a wonderful fall with beautiful days, good friends and fine bird dogs.
Tuesday, January 17. 2012
 Cotton was special from the beginning. She was whelped on Easter Day in 2006 out of Blue Silk bred to the talented I’m Houston’s Image, call name Jake, owned by Paul Hauge. Jerry and I were renting a pole shed that housed both our living quarters and the dog kennels while our own buildings were being constructed.
The facilities were perfect and we loved living there but something strange happened in the kennel area when the litter was about four weeks old. A slight gas leak was ignited by a spark from the water pump and caused a ball of fire to roar down the kennel aisle, past the astonished adult dogs and the temporary kennel we’d created for Silk and her puppies, before it finally died.
Luckily Jerry and I were in the kennel when it happened. We quickly threw dog water buckets on the remaining flames and then calmed all the dogs. Everything turned out fine with the exception of Silk’s eyebrows and whiskers. They were singed.
The litter was auspicious in other ways. Among Silk’s puppies were two future grouse champions—I’m Blue Gert owned by Dave and Rochelle Moore and Satin From Silk owned by Greg and Diane Gress. Jerry and I kept three outstanding puppies: two females and a male. The male we named Boomer (in honor of the explosion) and the females became Moxie and Cotton. Moxie was a black-and-white spitfire—aptly named—and the other was Cotton. She was orange and white with almost no ticking and beautiful dark eyes and nose.
We had such fun with Moxie, Cotton and Boomer throughout that summer and fall. We took them for long walks with our Labrador, May. We played with them on the soft green grass of our rental place and we developed them on pigeons and quail. Eventually, all three ended up with great families.
With Cotton, though, Jerry and I wanted rights to one breeding. We valued her talent and temperament and felt she carried characteristics that we wanted passed on. In 2010, Cotton was bred to Blue Riptide, a big, handsome male (Blue Chief x Blue Blossom) owned by Rodney Klimek from Alexandria.
Among that amazing litter were three females that were bought by three friends who spend their autumns and at a hunting camp in north central Wisconsin. Cotton’s bird-finding ability and sweet disposition are clearly evident in Piper, Sage and Rosie.
Cotton’s family let us know that she died in December.
She will be missed…..but will never be forgotten.
Sunday, January 15. 2012
Frank LaNasa and I spent a few days in late December with Sean Derrig of Erin Kennels. Sean is a serious, very successful amateur all-age field trialer who also holds his own in open competition. Last year, he qualified and ran four dogs in the National Championship. Sean breeds, trains and develops his pointers at his farm near Tiskilwa, Illinois. He has 500 acres of land with about 220 acres groomed for running dogs. These are the most beautifully and intensely managed grounds I’ve ever seen. We worked dogs all day long and every brace had multiple finds on large coveys of good flying bobwhite quail.
It was exciting to see Sean’s string in action including CH Erin’s Stony River, CH Erin’s Whisky River, CH Erin’s Bad River, CH Erin’s Kentucky Gambler and Erin’s Braveheart. Frank worked his champion females, CH Homemade and CH Lil Miss Sunshine, as well as Houston’s Blackjack and True Confidence.
The trip was fun and a learning experience, too!
Thursday, January 12. 2012
Jerry and I are happy to report that Northwoods Chablis was bred to Northwoods Blue Ox on January 8. Dan Stadin handled the whole thing perfectly as Jerry and I were in Georgia taking some time off and visiting bird dog friends. (More on that later.)
Chablis should whelp in early March.
This is a repeat breeding from 2011 when Chablis had seven tri-color puppies—two males and five females. Six of the seven were here for some puppy training last summer so Jerry got a great look and could really evaluate them. He was delighted. Most importantly, all the owners are happy with their dogs and had a very good time hunting with them. We got glowing reports!
The other female was bought by a family in Arizona. We heard from them over the holidays.
“The whole family loves her, she is the sweetest dog we have ever had. She is very calm in the house and will sit on your lap all day if you let her, but when you take her in the field she's a demon!...Thank you for breeding such an excellent dog!”
Sunday, December 25. 2011
Thursday, December 22. 2011
Dog training—whether as passion or profession—is a continual learning experience. One of the best ways to learn is to hang around experts. I was fortunate enough to spend some time recently in Arizona with Bill Gibbons. Bill has been training dogs for more than 39 years and is widely renowned and admired. He first trained and handled vizslas on the field trial circuit for 15 years and then worked with pointers and setters for another 10 years. He now trains dogs for bird hunters and field trial competitors. Over the years, I’ve researched many different training techniques and styles. Even though Bill’s philosophy is quite different from the way most bird dogs are trained, it definitely resonates with me. Central to Bill’s philosophy is the belief that a bird dog learns best from the birds themselves. He trains using dog psychology and creates situations that allow the dog to make its own decisions about how to act around birds. Bill uses a short check line, pinch collar and an ecollar to communicate to the dog. I plan to post more about my time with Bill but here are some quick observations. • All of Bill’s training takes place on the ground in areas where birds are present. He never does traditional yard training. • Bill doesn’t have mechanical bird releasers. He uses wild-caught pigeons that are attached by a short piece of yarn to a cardboard square. The pigeon can fly at will but not very far because of the cardboard. In the desert, the pigeons are spooky and take flight as soon as a dog gets near. • Bill trains daily with an ad-hoc group of amateur trainers and dog owners. At any time, there might be three or more dogs working in the field at the same time. • He never talks to the dog and instead lets it learn from the birds. (I never heard him say “whoa.”) A soft stroke and a pat on the side shows the dog it did well. You can read more about Bill in Karoleigh Nitchman’s interviews. The Magic Man and The Magic Man, Bill Gibbons
Tuesday, December 13. 2011
The Minnesota DNR Grouse Management Plan was just released and is available online. It includes information on the DNR’s long-range goals, issues and strategies for ruffed grouse.
An equally important part is that the DNR is seeking feedback from grouse hunters. The deadline for input is Monday, December 19.
Go to http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/grouse/input.html to view the plan and to take the online survey.
Let’s be heard.
Saturday, November 26. 2011
Jerry was recently featured in a podcast interview on the Strideaway website. Chris Mathan, of both Strideaway and The Sportsman's Cabinet, conducted the interview when she was here in October. The topic is the importance of females in a breeding program.
To read the story and listen to the interview, click here
Monday, November 21. 2011
For the better part of October, I was guiding grouse hunters out of Bowen Lodge and Dan was in charge of developing puppies at the kennel. Throughout November, Dan and I have worked the puppies together.
And do we have puppies! We have nine from our two line-bred-Houston litters that were born in June. Five puppies are out of our repeat breeding of Blue Shaquille to Houston’s Belle’s Choice and four are from Northwoods Chardonnay and Houston’s Blackjack.
It is so much fun to turn them loose and work them on quail and grouse. It is even better now to see them hunt hard, point and back.
Heading for grouse cover! 
Point, back, back, back, back 
Jeter (Shaq x Choice) 
Morris (Blackjack x Chardonnay), Maggie and Sue (Shaq x Choice) 
Pete (Blackjack x Chardonnay) 
Sue (Shaq x Choice) 
Sue, Tyler and Zep (Shaq x Choice) 
Tyler and Zep (Shaq x Choice) 
Vixen (Westfall's Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer)
Friday, November 11. 2011
Common sense should tell us that the best and most efficient way to get a dog with the inherited ability to find and point ruffed grouse would be to get one from a line of proven grouse dogs. But common sense, often, is not so common. People mistakenly believe that any well-bred bird dog will make a grouse dog, even if none of the dogs in the pedigree have ever hunted, much less pointed, a grouse. While some could develop into fine grouse dogs, the odds don’t favor them.
What are the genetic qualities of a grouse dog?
To start:
• strong hunting instincts • above average intelligence • right amount of point
Also important, though:
• physical strength and stamina • desire to hunt in heavy, punishing cover • good hearing and eyesight
Finally, a little fine-tuning:
• the instinct to range in a manner that effectively covers ground and yet stays in contact with the hunter • scenting ability that allows accurate location of a bird while the dog is moving through the woods at a fast pace • capability to follow a running bird, possibly for hundreds of yards, and get it pointed
So, you bought a puppy prospect with the right genes; now the work begins.
It will take about three seasons of consistent exposure for that prospect to develop into a grouse dog. Consider a good year when one could average three grouse flushes per hour. For a hunter walking at 2 mph, that’s about 1.5 grouse per mile. If you hunt four hours per day for 10 days, you will have walked 80 miles to flush 120 grouse. (4 hours x 10 days = 40 hours. 40 hours x 2 mph = 80 miles. 80 miles x 1.5 = 120 grouse).
After three seasons you’ll have walked about 240 miles!
Bottom line? Buy a puppy from a line of proven grouse dogs and buy two pair of good boots. Find hunting spots with good grouse habitat. Turn your dog loose and start walking.
By the time both pairs of boots are worn out, you’ll have a grouse dog!
Friday, November 4. 2011
Jerry and I just finished planning our litters for 2012. Two are repeat breedings from successful litters this year: Northwoods Chablis x Northwoods Blue Ox and Northwoods Prancer x CH Westfall’s Black Ice. We are also breeding second-time dam, Northwoods Chardonnay (Chablis’ sister), to Ox.
We’re excited about a first breeding of a very talented dog, Snyder’s Liz, owned by client Steve Snyder, to Blue Shaquille, one of our best dogs ever.
Please visit Litters for complete information.
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