Northwoods Prancer and Northwoods Blue Ox

When Jerry and I designed our kennel building, we thought long and hard about the size of the runs—both inside and outside. Since our goal was a small yet efficient space, we wanted to keep the number of total runs to 20 but how big to make each run was our conundrum.

After many drawings, lengthy discussions and permutations, we ultimately settled on 16 regular-size runs at 4’ in width and four larger runs at 6’. The larger spaces would be for whelping and raising litters.

An unforeseen benefit has been the opportunity to keep two dogs together in one run. The dogs seem to enjoy it and, in fact, become pals. (Jill and Shaq are currently together as are Prancer and Oscar.)  They sniff and nuzzle each other, roll around in their runs and play together with their chew toys. Jerry is careful who gets kenneled together and there is always one male and one female. He also considers size, age and temperament.

Jerry and I walk down to the kennel about 9:00 pm each evening to make one final check and to give all dogs a nightly biscuit. After treats are given in the larger runs, the two pals drink together out of their water bucket, curl up next to each other on the bed and settle in for the night.

Most businesses are nothing without the dedication and reliability of hard-working employees. Northwoods Bird Dogs is no different.

Three years ago, Jerry and I took a big step when we decided that we couldn’t do it all ourselves anymore. The business had grown, thankfully, and to serve our clients in the way we wanted to, Jerry needed help with training and kennel chores.

Through the grapevine we heard about Zac Colton, who was 15 years old at the time. After meeting and talking to Zac and his parents (and his parents checking us out, too!), we hired him. Zac lives about 15 miles away on a hobby farm with four horses and a couple of dogs. Now a high school senior, he is involved with basketball and golf.

We feel extremely fortunate that Zac has returned each summer to work for us.

Our neighbor, Jeff Hintz, comes over three days a week to help.  He’ll do anything but his main job is as shooter. He works for free access to our wireless home network so after work each day he stops by the house and downloads whatever he needs to his iPad. 

Jeff is retired from a successful career in the Twin Cities and who, along with his friend, Ron Watson, has owned a chunk of Pine County land for 25 years. The two are avid grouse and woodcock hunters and spend a good share of their summers and falls as our neighbors at their hunting lodge.

Thank you, Zac and Jeff!

Ron Nielsen Family.

The puppies from our Blue Riptide x Blue Ghost litter were eight weeks old last weekend and Jerry and I had a steady stream of families here to pick out their puppy.

This was the second Northwoods Bird Dog puppy for two of the buyers. As we all know, it’s a small world. In 2006, Kevin Sipple first bought a wonderful tri-color female that is a littermate to this litter's dam, Blue Ghost. This year he picked a matching, even-marked, tri-color female. Dwayne Splan is also back. His first puppy was a male out of Magic’s Rocky Belleboa x Old Glory Bluebelle in 2008 and, again, he was on the list for another male.

Splan clan

It’s a sad day for me when the puppies go…but we’re grateful to the new owners and happy for the puppies.

"Great to see you guys…Again, we really appreciate all your care and attention to these pups for their first 8 wks. They are so very much better socialized, confident and relaxed among people as a result.

"Our pup took about a half hour to get acquainted with her new surroundings, and then she acted like she'd been living here for her entire life. My wirehair treated her gently, and they have been getting along fine. I'm happy to report that she didn't make a noticeable sound last night--to our great surprise and delight. She regaled us most of the way home when she wasn't sleeping, but I put her kennel right next to our guy Chance last evening, and that may have made all the difference."

Matt 

What a cute puppy pile! Most of the litter is taking a post-breakfast nap but I caught the orange-and-white male just waking up.

Our litter of five from CH Centerpiece x Ms. Pearl’s Delight are 28 days old today. Jerry and I are very happy that Pearl is keeping them all gleaming white and with full tummies. Today, though, we’ll start weaning them.

The puppies are darling! Most are about the same size but one male is a bit smaller. The coloration is finally coming out on the orange-and-white female….and it is a lighter orange than on the male. Most are very even marked and a couple have very sweet freckles.

Chris Mathan, a friend and owner of The Sportsman’s Cabinet, visited us while in Minnesota on business recently. We have known and worked with Chris for many years. She is a marketing specialist geared toward the outdoors and developed the brand and website for both Northwoods Bird Dogs and Dazzle Gardens, my horticulture business.

In addition, Chris is an excellent photographer and has provided us exquisite photographs of dogs, training sessions, flowers and landscapes. She has an extraordinary sense of style and a keen artistic eye. She perfectly captures her subjects and her photos are, literally, breathtaking.

Chris and I also collaborated on a 2010 calendar project, Why We Love Flowers.

We feel fortunate that Chris brought her camera and took time to photograph some of our dogs. Luckily also, the pasture was in full bloom when Chris photographed Blue and Cash, 9-week-old littermates out of Northwoods Blue Ox and Houston’s Belle’s Choice.

Check out more of Chris’ photography—including shots of Bird Dogs, Field Trials, Upland Hunting and garden photos—and her other work at www.sportsmanscabinet.com.

This is the cutest litter ever. But then, as you know, Jerry and I always say that.

Even though the six puppies from our Blue Riptide x Blue Ghost (Cotton) litter are walking and getting stronger legs, they still sleep a lot.….and usually piled on top of each other. Cotton makes the most of the opportunity and heads outside to check out any pigeons flying around.

The puppies will be four weeks old this weekend and we’ll begin the weaning process. They grow up so fast!

Happy new owners picked up their puppies from the Northwoods Blue Ox x Houston’s Belle’s Choice litter in the last 24 hours. We’re down now to the four we’re keeping and it looks pretty lonely in their run. We know we can’t keep them all; more importantly, we’re thrilled for the puppies and their owners.  

Two of them are three-time puppy buyers from us including a buyer from our very first litter in 1995. This time he drove—marathon style—from his home in northeastern Oklahoma to pick out his female. Another is an avid (maybe manic is a better word) hunter and he also chose a female to go with his previous two males. The final female went to a wonderful family with three sons. Who will have more fun in that home—the puppy or the kids?

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.