The weather has been warm and beautiful and the puppies don’t need the whelping nest as much……but it seems they still like to curl up with their littermates.

Their eyes are open now and they are getting more active. Ghost continues to be a wonderful dam and we are extremely grateful that all are healthy and robust.

We mistakenly reported the litter breakdown. There are 2 tri-color males, 2 tri-color females and 2 black-and-white females.

Ms. Pearl Delight whelped five puppies during the evening hours of May 25. There is a good mix:  two orange-and-white (one male and one female) and three liver-and-white (one male and two females). These puppies are big! They are almost as large as Ghost’s litter…..and they are 10 days older.

Pearl is quite protective of her puppies and is utterly content to spend most of her hours nursing and caring for them.

We are very excited about an upcoming pointer litter which crosses CH Centerpiece with Ms. Pearl Delight. Pearl is due to whelp May 25.

CH Centerpiece is a handsome, 55-pound, liver-and-white male. He is also a six-time champion, two-time runner-up champion with excellent focus on finding birds and lofty style on point. Centerpiece has an outstanding pedigree full of dogs that have proven themselves on wild birds, including ruffed grouse and woodcock.

Pearl also is liver and white with a great attitude and personality. She has experience on all kinds of wild birds with uncommon bird-finding ability and natural staunchness.

See Litters page for photos and pedigrees.

During the early morning hours of Saturday, May 15, Ghost whelped six puppies—three males and three females. All are either tri-color or black and white…which is wonderful but we’re sorry to lose Ghost’s beautiful coloration of orange and her dark nose and eyes.

The sire of this litter is the extremely handsome and talented Blue Riptide, out of our excellent nick of Blue Chief x Blue Blossom.

All are doing just fine and first-time dam Ghost is very attentive and protective.

The seven puppies—all-tricolor—out of Northwoods Blue Ox and Houston’s Belle’s Choice (Jill) are healthy and growing fast. They walk/waddle around the whelping nest and play gently (so far!) with each other.

Jill is still providing all the nutrition for the litter but this weekend we’ll begin the weaning process.

Spring is a great time to be in the grouse woods and there’s no better way to spend it than with others who share our passion for good grouse dogs.

The above-average temperatures in early March that quickly melted our winter snow was followed by a substantial lack of moisture for most of March and April. The dry conditions, low humidity and warm temperatures made for tough scenting conditions during most of the trials. 

Most of our shooting dogs are young and we were happy with all performances—even though there were some tough breaks. Merrimac’s Adda Girl, Blue Shaquille and Northwoods Blue Ox gave good ground efforts, but like most competitors, just didn’t come up with a bird. It was, as usual, veteran grouse dogs that took home most of the spring shooting dog placements and put their accumulated savvy to use in finding and pointing the wily spring grouse.

The highlight was the success of our young dogs in puppy and derby stakes. This is a talented group and we expect more great things in the future.

Northwoods Lager

Northwoods Lager, setter male, owned by Jim and Nina Bires, had a tremendous  go of it. He won 1st place in the MGDA Open Puppy stake with a hard-charging, focused ground effort. Lager placed 2nd in the Moose River Open Derby (and he’s a puppy!) with a strong hunting effort and a lofty point on a woodcock. This was a competitive stake with 17 derbies entered. He won another 1st place in the Sooner Pointing Dog Club Open Puppy stake in Oklahoma with two pointed quail and a mature hunting race. In Lager’s first four trial starts, he has two firsts and a second.

Northwoods Chardonnay

A litter sister to Lager, Northwoods Chardonnay, owned by NBD, had one start in grouse trials this spring.  In the first MGDA Open Derby stake, she ran a mature, stylish race and won 2nd place in a field of 18 entries. Chardonnay also placed second to Lager in the Sooner Pointing Dog Club Open Puppy stake in Oklahoma with one pointed quail.

Snyder's Liz

Snyder’s Liz, setter female, owned by Steve Snyder, was run in two grouse trials. In the MGDA Open Puppy stake, she placed second with a hard-hunting effort.  She also placed third in the MGDA Open Derby (and she’s a puppy!).  She ran a forward, strong race in warm conditions in a field of 14 derbies.

Houston’s Blue Zipper, owned by Paul Hauge, won 1st place in the second MGDA Open PuppysStake. Zipper hunted well and had an  “almost” broke, solid point on a ruffed grouse in the single course stake.

Paul Hauge deserves much credit because, amazingly, he bred all these winners. Zipper is sired by Paul’s producer, Houston, out of Northwoods Blue Babe. Lager and Chardonnay are line-bred to Houston through their sire, Blue Shaquille, and dam, Houston’s Belle’s Choice. Paul also bred Snyder’s Liz, sired by CH Magic’s Rocky Belleboa and his pre-potent winner, CH Houston’s Belle.

Wirthall Dali, setter female, owned by Justin Hall, is another derby we competed. Her lone placement was a convincing 1st place win of the Sooner Pointing Dog Club Open Derby stake with five steady-to-wing-and-shot finds. Although she didn’t place in the grouse trials, we had great training workouts with her and feel she will be a fierce competitor in shooting dog stakes.  Dali is also a granddaughter of Paul Hauge's Houston.

It was a good spring for our clients who handled their dogs to placements. Merrimac’s Adda Girl won 1st place in the MGDA Amateur Shooting Dog stake, handled by her owner, Ben McKean. Dave Moore placed his CH I’m Blue Gert (I’m Houston’s Image x Blue Silk) and Seattle Slew in MGDA Shooting Dog stakes. Brent Sittlow’s pointer, Emma, capped off the spring with a well-earned 1st place in the Moose River Open Derby stake. Greg’s Gress’ CH Satin From Silk (I’m Houston’s Image x Blue Silk) competed in the prestigious Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational held in Michigan. She also won 1st place in the Minnesota Bird Hunter’s Isaac Holtan Shooting Dog Classic. 

Lastly, but just as rewarding to us, are the winning dogs directly related to our breeding program. Congratulations to Scott Anderson and his three fine shooting dog winners, Tom Jones, Rolling and Tumbling and Dynamite Deb. All three are out of his grouse champion, CH A Rolling Stone (CH First Rate x Finder’s Keeper), who was bred by us. Ed Graddy placed his exciting derby, Abby, who was sired by Blue Wind (CH Pennstar x Blue Blossom). Shooting dog winner Goodgoing Hannah Montanta, was sired by our Dashaway and handled by Brett Edstrom. Congratulations also to Bill Frahm with Kobey and Bert Benshoof with Jack, winners of 1st and 3rd at the Moose River Open Puppy stake. Both of these setter males were sired by CH Magic’s Rocky Belleboa.

Jerry and I say this every time:  This is the cutest litter ever.

All seven puppies are healthy and even seemed to have become more similar in size. Perhaps one or two are a bit bigger but now the smallest puppy has caught up with her littermates. Jill is doing a wonderful job nursing and caring for them all……and, equally important, maintaining her own good health.

While in Oklahoma this past winter, A.G. Murray Jr. and Dave Faulkner, both of Claremore, drove out to see us. A.G. has been a friend since 1995 when he and his wife MaryBeth made the long drive north to buy a puppy from us. A.G.’s Colonel was one of eight puppies from our beginners-luck, first-ever litter out of Spring Garden Tollway and Finder’s Keeper. Littermates included our champions Blue Streak and Blue Smoke.  

Colonel is now approaching 15 years of age but is still happy and healthy despite many seasons of tough Oklahoma quail hunting.

More exciting news! We just received word from our vet that Blue Ghost (Cotton) is pregnant. We expect her whelp date to be mid May.

During the late evening and early morning hours yesterday and today, Houston's Belle's Choice (Jill) delivered seven puppies--six females and one male. All are tri-color with various markings and all are healthy and vigorous. This litter is from the breeding with our Northwoods Blue Ox.

Jill is a bit tired today but otherwise retains her normal perkiness. She is a very attentive mother to her puppies. I’ve never seen a dog lower herself so gently into the whelping box and tenderly move the puppies aside.

Photos will follow.

On Saturday, March 27, Belle whelped her what will most likely be her last litter and is now caring for three healthy puppies--two females and one male. The puppies are tri-color with either a full mask or a patch on one side of the head. That distinct patch is from Belle's sire, Houston. All puppies are spoken for.