The eight puppies out of Northwoods Bismuth by Northwoods Grits are now seven weeks old and have grown into little dogs.
Very considerate on the part of Northwoods Carbon, Jerry and I thought, that she whelped a litter of eight during the afternoon on May 12. No bleary-eyed, middle-of -the-night vigils this time. All eight are tri-color and look like miniature versions of their dark-headed parents. The sire of this litter is Northwoods Nirvana.
Northwoods Carbon whelped seven females (!) and one male on May 12. Here on Day 4, they are still tiny but healthy with round, full tummies.
This brings our total number of puppies in the kennel to 23. That’s not a record…but darn close. Within 10 days of each other in 2015, dams Northwoods Carly Simon, Vixen and Chablis whelped 24 puppies.
Joining Carbon this year are Northwoods Bismuth and Nickel. Bismuth’s litter by Northwoods Grits is now seven weeks old. Completely independent of Bismuth now, they have their own kennel run, eat real food and lap water out of a bucket.
The seven puppies out of Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel at two weeks of age just about fill up their heated nest. Too, they weight an average of two pounds…more than doubling their weight .
Also sired by Grits, Nickel whelped her litter of four males and three females on May 1. With the exception of one male that is orange and white (Grandsires Shadow Oak Bo and Northwoods Blue Ox are both orange), all are tricolor.
By two weeks of age, eyes have opened. A Grits x Nickel female give me a sleepy stare.
It seems miraculous that within eight short weeks, tiny creatures that start out totally helpless and weighing less than one pound grow into 10-pound, independent beings that look like little dogs.
A. J. Kalupa, flanked by Rochel and Dave Moore, happily poses after an open shooting dog placement with I’m Blue Skye.
The spring field trial season is winding down across the country and here are some dogs out of our kennel that placed.
Congratulations to dogs, owners and handlers!
A special combination of dogs/owner/handler is happening on the western field trial circuit. Bill Owen campaigns two dogs he bought from us as puppies—one setter and one pointer. Bill handles them in amateur stakes but has entrusted Travis Gelhaus to handle them in open stakes.
Handler Travis Gelhaus poses with first place derby Northwoods Blackhawk Sage (first dog on the right). Sage is owned by Bill Owen, the guy in the cowboy hat on Travis’ left.
Northwoods Blackhawk Sage (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015), a big, handsome liver-and-white male, won the National Chukar Derby Classic. Bill’s setter, Northwoods Charles (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), was named champion in the National Chukar Shooting Dog Championship. The stakes were held in Sunnyside, Wash.
Newly crowned champion Northwoods Charles is posed by handler Travis Gelhaus while owner Bill Owen, in the green hat behind Travis, wears a nice smile.
In Wisconsin, I’m Blue Skye (Northwoods Grits x CH I’m Blue Gert, 2014) placed third in a Chippewa Valley Grouse Dog Association open shooting dog for A. J. Kalupa, her new owner. A. J. had recently bought Skye from Dave and Rochel Moore, who also own Skye’s dam, CH I’m Blue Gert. Amazingly, this trial was the first A. J. had entered.
Winners pose after a Moose River Grouse Dog Club open derby stake held in Wisconsin. From left: Rod Lein with his third place setter, Jerry with second place Northwoods Gucci and Sig Digetz with his winning setter.
Northwoods Gucci (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2015), owned by Paul Hauge, had never competed in a field trial. But this spring, Paul thought she was ready so I handled her in three open derby stakes in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She won one and placed second in two. In those outings she earned enough points to share the derby of the year award with Sig Digetz’ setter Opie.
Northwoods Nirvana (CH Houston’s Blackjack x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2011) continues to produce winners. The latest is Phillips Spitting Image, owned by Matt Phillips, who placed fourth in the U.S. Complete Shooting Dog Futurity.
