The dog cards for Royce and Vixen: Royce (age 10) now has 12 cards stapled together and Vixen (age 12) has 15.
There will be no admonition about the importance of a healthy dog in this post. Nor will there be finger-pointing about overweight dogs, a too-common issue.
Rather this piece is about performing a simple monthly routine and keeping track of your dog’s health. You might say, “I know all that,” but when questioned, you can’t remember when your female came into heat, mumbling “Sometime last August, I think. Or maybe July.”
Truly, Jerry and I know. For no matter the number of dogs you own, it is, practically speaking, impossible to remember all pertinent information regarding your dog’s health—from something as simple as whelp date to specific issues, vaccinations, injuries, surgeries and medications.
To accomplish this, we recommend monthly Dog Care for each dog and always keep a log.
Begin monthly Dog Care On about the same date each month, set aside about 20 minutes for what we simply call Dog Care. This is a focused time to thoroughly examine your dog—independent from petting it while you read the newspaper after a hectic day.
• Weigh, using a scale. • Check ears, eyes, inside mouth, teeth, paws, pads, toe nails. • Feel body for scrapes, hair mats, ticks, other bumps and bruises. • Trim nails and dew claws as necessary. • Administer medications (heartworm and flea/tick medication) as necessary.
Keep of log—by dog—of all pertinent information For each dog, Jerry and I use 8” x 5” heavy-duty index cards and staple the most current card on top. Vixen (age 12) has 15 cards now and Royce (age 10) has 12. A notebook kept by the kennel or in the feeding area could work. Creating something online could also be an option.
We record all health-related issues by date. (This should be easy because you’re now doing monthly Dog Care, right?) You can jot down weight, any issues and meds administered. Also note seemingly insignificant issues, such as vomiting or diarrhea. We also record trips to the vet, vaccinations and heat cycle dates.
Feeding amounts & weight issues (Sophie’s card) Part of our monthly dog care includes weighing each dog. While we can usually catch weight issues—whether too thin or too heavy—by looking and feeling, weighing a dog is irrefutable evidence of a problem. If too thin, we increase amounts or feed twice per day. If too heavy, we cut back amounts or move to lower calorie food.
Trips to the vet (Sophie’s card) For all trips to the vet, we note the diagnosis and any prescribed medications—including dosage and administration instructions. This information can be useful if the same problem occurs on the same dog or another dog.
Vaccinations (Queen’s card) I know most people simply rely on their vet to track vaccination dates and send out reminder postcards but why not know exactly when your dog’s last Rabies vaccination was given?
Day #1 of heat cycle (Dusty’s card) The is good information to note for short-range and long-range reasons. It’s important to get a feel for timing of your dog’s cycles and then be able to gauge when the next cycle will be. Too, since several of our females have had false pregnancies (symptoms include not eating well and swelling of mammary glands), the behavior is easily explained if it happens about nine weeks after Day #1.
Best of all….whelping dates (Comet’s card) Jerry and I both agree that the best part of our business is whelping puppies. Even after more than 80 litters, we still are in awe when a dam whelps. It is at once miraculous, exhilarating and joyful. Log the whelp date and start a card for the litter.
Northwoods Comet (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen) with her one-day-old puppies by CH Southern Confidence (HOF CH True Confidence x Southern Songbird).
A couple final ideas! 1. Find a great vet and develop a great relationship. Bring the staff cupcakes. They are invaluable! 2. Be proactive about your dog’s health. Become familiar with recommended vaccinations, i.e., what is it really for and when does it expire. What is a “wellness exam” and does my dog really need one every spring? 3. A picture is worth a thousand words. Take a photo of a wound, injury or even a nasty stool. It could help in an emergency consultation with your vet or it could help track improvement.
The extraordinary pointer male, CH True Confidence (2009 – 2023), will be awarded a bird dog’s highest honor when he is inducted into the Bird Dog Hall of Fame on February 10, 2024. The prestigious event will take place in Grand Junction, Tenn., home of the National Bird Dog Museum. CH True Confidence, call name Bob, was owned by Frank and Jean LaNasa of Isanti, Minn.
Bob had a distinctive pedigree. He was sired by Two Acre Bulldog, a son of CH Funseeker’s Rebel out of Rester’s Tiny Dancer, a granddaughter of this year’s other elected Hall of Fame dog, CH House’s Rain Cloud, through his son CH House’s Rain Water.
Bob’s dam, Bar P Annex, was sired by Bar P Shadow, bred to Bar P Xena. Xena is the daughter of CH Front N’ Center (another dog Frank and Jean owned) bred to CH Hard Driving Bev, a multiple grouse champion.
In stature, Bob was stunningly handsome with a beautifully shaped head and perfect conformation. He was mostly white with dark orange ears and a distinguished mark on the right side of his muzzle. Bob’s temperament was a 10 and on point, he exuded confidence and poise. Never hardheaded or willful, Bob was, as his pro handler Luke Eisenhart mentioned, “a dog handler’s dream.”
Perhaps, most importantly, Bob had uncanny intelligence—clearly evident in his keen, brown eyes. He adapted to all terrains and cover types and could find and point birds anywhere.
As a two-year-old, Bob won his first runner-up championship placements at the Region 19 Amateur All-Age and National Prairie Chicken Open Shooting Dog trials. His next three placements—two championships and another runner-up—were in shooting dog stakes.
At these trials, Frank handled Bob and Jean scouted. But when Bob was six years old, they decided to give him the best opportunities and, in 2015, placed him on the open all-age circuit with pro handler Luke Eisenhart.
Over the ensuing five years, Luke was phenomenally successful. Bob placed in 11 championship stakes and on five different birds—from prairie birds to bobwhite quail.
Bob’s tally of placements and honors is exceptional.
• 6 Championship wins • 11 Runner-up placements • 2 First Place and 2 Second Place honors in classics • 6 consecutive years qualified for the National Championship • Top qualifier in 2019 and 2020 Continental Championships
One of Frank’s fondest memories was Bob’s last trial. As usual, Bob was part of Frank’s string when he trained on the North Dakota prairie during late summer.
“In 2020, I decided I would run him in one last trial after he had a really good summer. I entered him in the Dr. D.E. Hawthorne Open All-Age Border Classic (held in Columbus, N.D.) and he placed first among 35 contenders at 11½ years of age,” Frank said.
Besides placements, another measure of a dog’s worth is what it produces. So far, Bob has sired eight champions with a 29-36-164 record. Jerry and I vouch for Bob’s prepotency and our progeny should soon add to those numbers. We bred Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen) to Bob in 2021 and to Bob’s son, CH Southern Confidence (call name Big), in 2023. Every puppy of both litters shows the bird-finding, style, poise, intelligence and temperament of the sires. (Interestingly, the sires of both Big and Comet, parents of the 2023 litter, are now in the Hall of Fame.)
Frank and Jean retired Bob from the field trial circuit in 2021. He lived his last years in the house and even though the kennel was about 100 feet from the house, “We could never get him to get near the kennel again!” Frank said.
Congratulations to Frank and Jean on this most prestigious award for your most deserving dog, CH True Confidence.
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What is the Bird Dog Hall of Fame? Bill Brown, long-time editor of The American Field, initiated the idea for a Hall of Fame in 1953 and simple rules were announced one year later. The first year of the awards followed in 1954 when five dogs (must be deceased) and five people (living or deceased) were inducted. Since that initial year, two dogs and two people are inducted.
CH Northwoods Sir Gordon (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016), is owned and handled by Ben McKean.
In the Winter 2024 issue of Gun Dog magazine, Jeremy Moore’s column highlights Ben McKean and CH Northwoods Sir Gordon, Ben’s seven-year-old setter male out of RU-CU Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon.
Jeremy mentions Ben’s decades-long history of grouse hunting but the focus of his piece is field trials and Ben’s championship placement with Gordie in April 2023 at the Region 19 Amateur Shooting Dog Championship.
Jeremy describes several of Gordie’s attributes: “Built long, tall, and rugged…a sight to behold…evenly masked blocky, black head….a powerhouse of a dog with magnificent carriage on point.”
He also writes, “…Gordie arguably runs as well as he has in his career. Maybe better than any dog Ben’s ever owned and competed with before. Their target is on winning field trials…”
Santa Claus and his team of nine reindeer didn’t miss a stop at our winter kennel here in the Red Hills region of southwestern Georgia/northern Florida.
All dogs received special treats in their dog dishes this morning.
From all of us at Northwoods Bird Dogs, a very Merry Christmas to you, your friends and family!
Sig (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, 2019), on left, and Rob Roy (Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis, 2012) ~ Chris Bye, Wisconsin
For a business idea that originated in the grouse woods of the Lake States, dogs out of our breeding now live and hunt wherever there are wild birds.
This selection of photos from clients shows dogs pursuing not only ruffed grouse (including one extremely steady setter) but Hungarian partridge and ring-necked pheasants. Correspondence from other clients mentions chukars, prairie chickens, woodcock, blue grouse, sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and California, Gambel’s, Mearns and bobwhite quail.
Junie (CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021) ~ Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress, Montana
Pearl (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016), on right, and her shorthair partner ~ Caleb Johansson Family, Minnesota
Fitz (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019) ~ Ted Sommer Family, Wisconsin
The geography in Hun country can be as picturesque as it is steep. Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018) beat Northwoods Gucci (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2015), on left, and Northwoods Jane Eyre (Northwoods Louis Vuitton x Houston’s Dancing Queen, 2022) to the find at the top.
Even though Northwoods Bird Dogs was conceived decades ago in the grouse woods of the Great Lakes states, Jerry and I have also trained and hunted our dogs in the open prairies of places far to our west. That we now have clients spread across the country is a testament that our dogs do equally well in either terrain.
Just to be sure, though, Jerry loaded up the dog box and dog trailer with as many dogs as would fit—from seasoned adults and young dogs to puppies—and spent virtually the entire month of September in western North Dakota and Montana. The objective was coveys of Hungarian partridge and sharp-tailed grouse.
Here are highlights of his trip.
In a lovely, undulating valley, Northwoods Rolls Royce (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2013) points a big covey of Huns.
What a fine training moment for three young setters on a Hungarian partridge covey. Northwoods Charlotte Bronte (Northwoods Louis Vuitton x Houston’s Dancing Queen, 2022) is credited with the find while Northwoods Snow Swept (CH Northwoods Sir Gordon x Northwoods Valencia, 2023), on right, is next to the find, followed by Northwoods Snow Boots (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Northwoods Stardust, 2023).
Setters and pointers alike take a well-deserved, midday rest.
Northwoods Stardust (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019) inherited that high-headed pointing style from her dam.
Hun country is incredibly scenic. On a gentle hillside, Northwoods Jane Eyre (Northwoods Louis Vuitton x Houston’s Dancing Queen, 2022) honors a find by Northwoods Redbreast (Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Minerva, 2021).
Don Julio is a nice sippin’ tequila to toast a special day in the field.
“I wanted to better understand mechanics, timing and how to effectively use tools like releasers and launchers…That’s stuff you can read about or watch as many videos as you want, but won’t truly understand until you see, feel, and do.” ~ Jeremy Moore
Northwoods Bird Dogs—both our dogs and Jerry’s training style and technique—were featured in the November 2023 issue of Gun Dog magazine. Jeremy Moore of Pulaski, Wisc., is a columnist for the magazine and even though he has been to our kennel several times, those are the reasons he visited last summer.
We’ve known Jeremy since the summer of 2020 when he first visited us. He subsequently reserved a female setter puppy and in early 2022, he picked up Maquina (CH Northwoods Sir Gordon and Houston’s Nelly Bly).
Jeremy nails what, I think, makes Jerry the trainer he is. Jeremy comments on Jerry’s confidence and calmness and how well he reads a dog.
In the end, though, Jeremy writes: “Jerry has given me the confidence to ‘do it’ rather just ‘think about it.’”
Elsewhere in the issue, editor Kali Parmley described a “milestone” hunt with Jones, the young setter male she bought from us 2020. Jones (Northwoods Grits x Houston’s Nelly Bly) is her first bird dog and in previous Editor’s Letters, Kali has shared some of the issues of raising and training a pointing dog. This piece was different.
“The image of my soaking wet setter locked on point with a wave of fog blanketing the mountains behind him is an image that will forever be ingrained in my memory. He was beautiful. These are the reasons we hunt and the milestones we dream of for our bird dogs.”
