Northwoods Bird Dogs is now producing the eighth generation of English setters and sixth generation of pointers. Detailed here are past-generation females that were vital contributors to the breeding program
Northwoods Minerva Setter, whelped November 16, 2016, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon
Northwoods Minerva is a proven producer of outstanding puppies. She whelped four litters by three sires and all puppies exhibited her best qualities. Minerva displays beautiful conformation and is among the nicest setter females ever owned by Northwoods Bird Dogs. She weighs 44 lbs. and has a white body with an evenly masked, tricolor head. She is an eye-catcher in motion and runs with a smooth, easy gait. Minerva has tremendous loftiness and intensity on point and is a natural backer. She hunts at a close-to-medium range. She is out of a stellar breeding of RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon.
Northwoods Nickel Setter, whelped August 8, 2014, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
CH Shadow Oak Bo x Northwoods Chardonnay Pedigree
Northwoods Nickel is a tremendous bird dog with beautiful conformation, inheriting the best from sire Shadow Oak Bo and dam Northwoods Chardonnay. She is a leggy, 42 lbs. and has the long, easy stride of her dam. Nickel has a sweet disposition and an exceptionally calm and inquisitive demeanor. She displayed a natural inclination to point, back and retrieve at a young age. Nickel is a strong bird finder and has pointed many grouse, woodcock and bobwhite quail on Jerry’s guiding string. She hunts at a medium range, handles easily and is a good warm-weather dog.
Northwoods Carly Simon Setter, Whelped June 18, 2011, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice Pedigree
Northwoods Carly Simon weighs 39 lbs. and has a lightly ticked body. She is evenly masked with intelligent, dark brown eyes. Like all of the breeding females at Northwoods Bird Dogs, Carly is a naturally talented wild bird dog that gets hunted. At two years of age, she played a big part in the grouse guiding string. She is an incredibly balanced dog with a quick, easy gait and a high tail, both running and on point. She is steady to wing and shot and naturally backs. Carly doesn’t beat herself up in any cover and has good endurance. She is an excellent house dog with a sweet disposition. Carly is line bred to Houston and inherited his intensity and loftiness on point.
Northwoods Vixen Pointer, Whelped April 17, 2011, White, Liver & Ticked
CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer Pedigree
Northwoods Vixen is a leggy, 40-lb. dog with an evenly masked head and white body. Her coloration is black/orange with a dark nose and sharply intelligent brown eyes. Vixen is a dream to have in the house and gets along well with any dog. She is a hard-hunting dog that handles easily, backs naturally and retrieves. She is beautiful to watch in the fields and woods—whether in motion or on point, intense and stylish. She has pointed wild birds from northern Minnesota to southern Georgia. Vixen is out of CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, a stellar litter of females that are excellent house dogs as well as wild bird dogs.
Northwoods Chardonnay Setter, 2009 – 2016, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice Pedigree
Northwoods Chardonnay was a leggy, 40-lb., dog with a beautiful head and uncommon markings. She was a strong bird finder, was naturally staunch and backed. Chardonnay had a long stride that easily carried her over the ground and a style in motion that was both exuberant and exciting. Her loftiness on point was breathtaking—whether pointing ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse or woodcock. She placed in every grouse trial she entered and won the Minnesota/Wisconsin Derby of the Year award in 2011.
Northwoods Chablis Setter, 2009 – 2021, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice Pedigree
Northwoods Chablis weighed 38 lbs. and had a mostly white body with a spot at the base of her tail. She had dark, lively eyes and an attractive marking by her right eye. Chablis was owned by a client of Northwoods Bird Dogs who proclaimed she was one of his absolute best-ever dogs on ruffed grouse and woodcock. Chablis was early-maturing; she found and handled many ruffed grouse her first season. She hunted hard, handled and was staunch. Chablis is line bred to Houston and inherited his intense style and loftiness on point.
Houston’s Belle’s Choice Setter, 2005 – 2018, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
Gusty Blue x CH Houston’s Belle Pedigree
Houston’s Belle’s Choice was an athletic, 42-lb., dog with an even mask. She had beautiful style in motion—smooth and strong. Choice pointed with loftiness and was a natural backer. She has an extensive list of field trial wins but, more importantly, was an excellent grouse hunting dog. She had extensive experience on grouse—whether hunting with her owner or on Jerry’s guide string. She was a sweetheart around the kennel and got along extremely well with people and her kennel mates. Choice has been bred several times and was a superb producer.
Northwoods Prancer Pointer, 2008 – 2016, White, Orange & Ticked
Dashaway x Fallset Fate Pedigree
Northwoods Prancer was a beautiful, 45-lb., dog with a gorgeous head and an even mask. She was intelligent and had a wonderful disposition. Prancer had a great nose, naturally backed and retrieved to hand. She was impressive to watch with her driving, powerful stride. Prancer was a focused hunter but hunted at a moderate range and handled easily—perfect qualities for a member of Jerry’s grouse-guiding string. She was out of Dashaway x Fallset Fate and so came by her grouse-finding ability naturally. Prancer’s first litter by CH Westfall’s Black Ice produced eight exceptional females, including Northwoods Vixen, a puppy Jerry and Betsy kept.
Houston’s Belle Setter, 2001 – 2011, 2X CH / 4X RU-CH, White, Black, Tan & Ticked
Houston x Forest Ridge Jewel Pedigree
CH Houston’s Belle was bred and owned by Paul Hauge of Centuria, Wisconsin, and was the essence of his 30-year setter bloodline. Paul used frozen semen from Houston (see Houston) on his line-bred Tekoa Mountain Sunrise female, Forest Ridge Jewel. Belle epitomized such fine Houston qualities as smooth gait, lofty style on point, strong bird-finding and natural backing.
Paul recognized Belle’s talent early and entrusted her to Jerry for training when she was 15 months old.
Belle had an uncanny internal compass and even though she took in a lot of ground, she always handled. Belle easily adapted to the cover—whether in the grouse woods or on the prairie—and became a versatile winner. She placed in cover dog stakes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and in wild bird horseback trials.
Beginning in 2005, Belle was among the top point-earning grouse dogs in the country for three years running. She won two championships in 2005, Wisconsin Cover Dog and Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship. In 2006, she won runner-up in the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship and was runner-up in both the Minnesota Grouse Dog and the Lake States Grouse Dog Championships. Her final win was in 2007 when, again, she was runner-up at the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship.
No other dog has placed in the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship three times. Belle finished her career with two championships and four runner-up championships.
Belle was bred five times to five different sires. Her first litter by Gusty Blue produced Houston’s Belle’s Choice, a talented grouse dog and excellent producer herself.
Blue Silk Setter, 1999 – 2013, White, Black & Ticked
CH First Rate x CH Blue Streak Pedigree
Blue Silk was a smaller dog at 36 lbs., but that size belied her strength. Silk was out of 4XCH/4XRU-CH Blue Streak and CH First Rate, a multiple champion in horseback field trials. From both she inherited uncommon stamina and a tenacious application but had her own sweet disposition and even temperament. Similar to her uncle, CH Blue Smoke, Silk had a very accurate nose which allowed her to pin birds with precision. She placed in several field trials, one time even besting her famous dam. In 2001, Silk won the Minnesota/Wisconsin Derby of the Year. For several years, she was a first-string member of the grouse-guiding team.
Throughout her life, Jerry and Betsy co-owned Silk with Paul Hauge. Even though she lived at Northwoods Bird Dogs, Paul was always involved in her training and breeding and was exceptionally proud of her.
Silk was bred just three times. Her first litter was by Paul’s great dog, Houston, using frozen semen. Next, Jerry and Betsy chose a talented son of Houston, I’m Houston’s Image, and for her last litter, they went to the East Coast for CH Peace Dale Duke. She was an exceptional producer of both grouse dogs and field trial champions. Silk whelped two excellent sires, Blue Shaquille and Northwoods Blue Ox, in addition to field trial champions, 2XCH/RU-CH I’m Blue Gert and CH Satin From Silk.
Blue Streak Setter, 1995 – 2006, 4X CH / 4X RU-CH, White, Black & Ticked
Spring Garden Tollway x Finder’s Keeper Pedigree
CH Blue Streak was whelped in Jerry and Betsy’s first litter out of Spring Garden Tollway and Finder’s Keeper. She was a 35-lb. black-and-white spitfire that lived for the hunt. She had endless stamina and an uncommon level of focus when hunting. She was always sure and intense on point and no cover, whether in Minnesota and the Dakotas or Pennsylvania and Texas, ever deterred her.
Streak was aptly named for when she started winning, she was untouchable. The streak began in 2000 with a first place win of the Region 19 Walking Shooting Dog Championship followed by first place wins in her next four trials.
In 2001, she was named runner-up in the Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational, National Amateur Grouse Championship and Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship. She then won the Wisconsin Cover Dog Championship and the Pennsylvania Grouse Championship.
Due to those stellar accomplishments, Streak won the 2002 Michael Seminatore English Setter Award and the William Harnden Foster Award. That fall, she won the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship.
Streak’s final championship placement was unforgettable. In the first brace of the first day of the 2005 Grand National Grouse Championship, she laid down a savvy, hard-hunting, forward race and had two grouse finds and one woodcock find. At the age of 10, Streak was named runner-up champion over a field of 81 younger entries.
In addition to her field trial accomplishments, Jerry used Streak in his guide string. She is famous at Bowen Lodge for leading guests on spectacular hunts into unknown territory.
Streak was bred twice. Her daughter Blue Silk produced two outstanding sons, Blue Shaquille and Northwoods Blue Ox. In fact, Betsy and Jerry are whelping litters that have Streak as a great-great-grand-dam.
Jerry and Betsy will always be on the lookout for a competitive, fearless, black-and-white puppy…..one that just might be small in size.
Dance Smartly Pointer, 1991 – 1999, 2X CH, White, Liver & Ticked
CH Northern Dancer x CH Vanidestine’s Rail Lady Pedigree
CH Dance Smartly was Jerry and Betsy’s first champion and will forever be revered as a special dog. She was liver-and-white and beautifully marked with an even mask. Her body was white with the exception of a spot at the base of her tail. Dancer was intelligent and had a wonderful disposition. She loved people and couldn’t wag her tail hard enough when anyone got within petting distance.
Dancer moved with a remarkable grace that belied her strength and had incredible bird-finding ability. But perhaps she was most stunning on point—completely composed, nose in the air, eyes on fire.
Dancer came by her talents naturally. Her sire, CH Northern Dancer, and dam, CH Vanidestine’s Rail Lady, were both multiple grouse champions.
For a span of three years, Dancer dominated the grouse field trial circuit. She was invited to the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational three times. She was also named Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Shooting Dog of the Year in 1994, 1995 and 1996.
Her major wins included runner-up placements in the 1993 Wisconsin Woodcock Classic and first place in 1994 and 1995 before the trial became a championship. She also won its inaugural running as a championship in 1996. She won the 1995 Minnesota Grouse Championship to her sire Northern Dancer’s runner-up placement.
An injury in 1997 forced Dancer’s retirement from field trial competition but she reveled in her status as a cosseted pet. She was bred three times. Her first litter by CH Brook’s Elhew Ranger was outstanding for that produced, among others, Dashaway, predecessor to Northwoods Prancer and Northwoods Vixen.
