“Good Dog” by Alex Gregory. Originally published in The New Yorker.
The month of January can be brutal in Minnesota, especially for residents who like to be outside with their dogs.
Although not the coldest state in the country (Alaska and North Dakota are #1 and #2), the winter weather here is formidable. Single-digit days, sub-zero nights and a biting wind from the north are bad enough but most troublesome are seemingly endless systems called “clippers” that drop enough snow to force Jerry and me outside with snow blowers and shovels and brooms to keep the driveway open and the kennel runs clean.
The dogs are snug inside the kennel due to in-floor electric heat and comfy Kuranda beds. In the evenings, Jerry and I hunker down. The NFL playoff games have been spectacular; and we can totally escape by bingeing on Yellowstone episodes.
As always, though, it’s good to keep things in perspective…and to laugh. We spotted this New Yorker cartoon by Alex Gregory while at Dr. Wayne Scanlan’s Otter Lake Animal Care Center last week.
This is a framed greeting card by very clever cartoonist Sandra Boynton. I bought the card at least 30 years ago in The Bibelot Shops, a favorite St. Paul store, sadly now closed.
“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.” ~ Henry Beston, The Outermost House, 1928
For one year, Henry Beston lived in a small—but not austere—cottage on Cape Cod. His original intent was a two-week visit but he was totally enraptured by all that surrounded him and so he stayed.
Comparisons to Henry David Thoreau’s year at Walden Pond have been made but, in my opinion, Beston out-Thoreau’s Thoreau. There is no ego, condescension or New England ascetism evident in Beston. More importantly, Beston is a superior writer; his prose is eloquent and strong. The ocean, beach, wind, storms, birds and animals of the Cape all inspire him.
In a passage that leapt off the page, Beston wrote poignantly about mankind’s relationship to animals.
All dog lovers will understand.
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Juniper (CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021) retrieves a big, fat rooster. Juniper is owned by Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress of Montana.
Jerry and I consider the first hunting season of a puppy’s life to be a crucial element in its development. A puppy’s mind is like a sponge, eager to absorb anything and everything.
For the owner of the puppy, that first fall can be a blast. There’s no pressure. Very little handling is necessary and definitely no “Whoa” command is involved. Just take the puppy onto the prairie and into the woods and expose it to as many wild birds as possible.
Even though Nemadji (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Stardust, 2021) has one sharp-tailed grouse in her mouth, she’s eyeing others on the ground in front. Madji is owned by Ron and Lora Nielsen of Minnesota.
The puppy can really do no wrong. Use its nose to hunt for birds. Find the bird. Flush it. Loose the scent entirely. It doesn’t matter. The puppy is learning with every exposure.
Eventually, the proverbial lightbulb goes on and the puppy gets it. The puppy points, perhaps momentarily, but it does stop.
After a successful hunt, Rickey (CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021) looks cool and calm. Rickey is owned by Jake and Nicole Beveridge of Minnesota.
Puppies from our pointer litter out of Comet by True Confidence and our two setter litters, Grits x Stardust and Rolls Royce x Minerva, had ample opportunity.
Kudos to the owners for taking their puppy hunting. And the scenery is pretty nice, too.
Lupin (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Stardust, 2021) is learning so much during her first season on the prairie. Lupin is owned by Tom and Tammy Beauchamp of Indiana.
A picturesque North Dakota morning. A majestic point by Northwoods Rolls Royce (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2013). Not too shabby.
September seems to be when a good number of our clients who live in the Midwest head to North Dakota and Montana. Judging by the reports and the accompanying photos, both owners and dogs had fun.
Jerry, too, headed west. He loaded up our trailer with seven bird dogs—five adults and two puppies.
• Northwoods Grits (Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis, 2011) • Northwoods Rolls Royce (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2013) • Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018) • Northwoods Stardust (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019) call name Dusty • Northwoods Gale (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Minerva, 2020), call name Windy • Northwoods Redbreast (Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Minerva, 2021), call name Robin • Northwoods Talisker (Swift Rock Jetson x Swift Rock Granny, 2021), call name Tally
The dogs Jerry chose for this hunting trip are (front to back): Grits, Windy, Dusty, Royce, Comet, Robin and Tally.
His first stop was a visit with my brother, Jake, who owns a nice piece of property in east central North Dakota. Jake is a passionate waterfowl hunter but was tickled to take a walk for sharptails with Jerry and a couple setters.
Jerry then headed farther west and teamed up with Minnesota friends Ian Mactavish and Frankie Kartch. Besides the good hunting, they ate well. One tradition is always sharptail kabobs, grilled over charcoal.
Two clients who met Jerry in western North Dakota for a couple days of hunting are Tom Beauchamp with his two tricolor setters Lupin (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Stardust, 2021) and Ellie (Northwoods Grits x CH I’m Blue Gert, 2014); and Frank Ilijanic with his black-and-white pointers out of CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, Jade in 2015 and Jax in 2018.
Later, he hunted with Frank Ilijanic and Tom Beauchamp, clients from Michigan and Indiana, respectively. The idea was first hatched this summer when Frank and Tom picked up their eight-week-old setter puppies out of the Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Stardust litter.
Frank’s young pointer Jax (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018) bounds across the prairie, happily retrieving a sharptail.
Frank deserves an award of some kind for not only was that setter his second puppy this year—his first a pointer female out of Northwoods Comet by CH True Confidence—but these puppies join two other Northwoods dogs. In 2015, Frank bought Jade, a pointer female out of CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen. He was on our list for a repeat of that breeding in 2018 when he chose a male, Jax.
In addition to Tom’s 2021 puppy, he brought Ellie, his first Northwoods dog, a seven-year-old female setter out of CH I’m Blue Gert by Northwoods Grits.
The only items you need to induce emesis in a dog is a bottle 3% hydrogen peroxide and either a large syringe (no needle) or a turkey baster.
Some rudimentary medical knowledge can be very helpful when caring for a bird dog. In some circumstances, that knowledge can be vital to the dog’s life.
Inducing emesis, i.e., vomiting or throwing up, is one of those pieces of information.
Jerry and I have induced emesis several times. Once was when actual tick collars were still common and one dog ate the tick collar off its playmate in the exercise pen. Another time a dog ate an entire hard plastic chew toy that was rated for “Serious Chewers.” (We could actually piece the toy together afterward—not a bad way to ensure all the pieces are accounted for.)
Here’s a list of potentially dangerous items. • chewed material from collars, chew toys and and other small items • cleaning products • human medications and pain relievers • toxic foods like chocolate, grapes and raisins • poison from garden and yard chemicals • mouse, rat and insect poisons • poisonous plants
Inducing emesis is an easy solution. The crucial element is time. The procedure must be done when the contents are still in stomach, which means within about 2 hours.
The only medication you need is a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide. The only tool you need is a big syringe (140cc with no needle) or a turkey baster.
Use 1 teaspoon hydrogen peroxide for every 10 lbs. of dog weight. (For example: use 4 teaspoons for a 40-lb. dog.) Squirt into the dog’s throat, behind the tongue. Wait for 10 – 15 minutes. It’s always worked on that first dose for us but, if necessary, repeat once more.
If your dog is showing signs of an adverse reaction or you’re at all unsure, call your vet and/or contact a poison hotline.
Do NOT induce emesis if the ingested item could be: • glass, other sharp/hard object, batteries • chemicals like bleach, oven cleaners, drain cleaners • petroleum products such as gas, kerosene, motor oil
Possibilities of problems with those dangerous items are ingested include further damage to the esophagus or the possibility of the substance getting inhaled into the lungs.
Northwoods Jones (Northwoods Grits x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2020)
Northwoods Jones is one of seven tricolor puppies whelped out of our 2020 breeding of proven sire Northwoods Grits to first-time-but-oh-so-worthy dam, Houston’s Nelly Bly.
Jones is a perfect male model for that litter as he has the handsome, blocky head and muzzle spots of his sire and the warm, expressive eyes of his dam. Most essential, from both parents he inherited prowess in the field—bird finding, confidence, style—and an ideal temperament for the home.
Jones is owned by Kali Parmley of Utah. Kali is the editor in chief of Gun Dog and Backcountry Hunter magazines. What a perfect fit for Jones.
Northwoods Queen Anne’s Lace (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Minerva, 2020) Photo by Eukanuba Sporting Dog
On a quintessential summer day last July, Zenas Hutcheson and his wife, Susanne, from Minnesota, chose a pretty, orange-and-white female puppy from the litter of mostly tricolors.
The puppy—call name Lacey—matured over the winter months into a strong, beautifully conformed dog. This spring, Zenas and Lacey attended a woodcock banding certification session at Pineridge Grouse Camp in Remer, Minn. A Eukanuba photo shoot was also taking place and Lacey was chosen to be photographed.
Even though Lacey is still young, Zenas reported that she did “very well on all but one test. Next spring she will be ready.”
Twelve-day-old puppies out of Northwoods Stardust by Northwoods Grits snuggle in their nest.
Jerry and I never tire of watching puppies of any age. There is something especially endearing, though, about tiny, vulnerable puppies when they’re sleeping. Not only do they always snuggle together in some conglomeration of bodies and limbs but they seem to dream.
Against the quintessential backdrop of longleaf pines and live oaks on a Georgia plantation, half siblings Northwoods Istanbul (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Nickel, 2018), on left, and Della (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2019) await the whistle.
Well, it’s been a while since we’ve posted here. We’re sorry about the inconsistency but rather a lot has been going on.
Big considerations that most of us are no doubt weary of—things like the pandemic, political hubbub, civil unrest, important international issues —take their toll and time. But with vaccinations and the arrival of spring, we’re happy and hopeful for the year ahead.
So far in 2021, we’ve bred three dams and three litters have whelped. While the numbers of puppies have been disappointingly low, we’re grateful for their health and thrilled with every single puppy.
• CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet: Confidence is nationally renowned as a stellar performer with a wonderful temperament. Comet continues our decades-long line of favorite pointers. She has it all—build, brains, personality and talent.
• Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Minerva: Royce is a son of Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, one of our best setter pairings. This was Minerva’s fourth litter—a testament to how much we think of her.
• Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Stardust: Grits is now 10 years old and for much of his life, he was a premier producer of who he is—an outstanding grouse dog with an off switch for the house. Stardust is a first-time dam but so worthy.
On a warm morning, Northwoods Valencia (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Carbon, 2018) points a covey. Strut, the Tennessee Walking Horse Jerry rides, ground ties.
This winter was our ninth in the Thomasville, Georgia, area where we feel quite at home. We’ve made many friends and do our bit for the local economy in the town’s shops, restaurants, vet clinic, library and YMCA. Thomasville is the center of the historical tradition of hunting bobwhite quail on plantations under majestic longleaf pines. We live on a 600-acre (small) plantation but the dogs are trained on a 6,000-acre (mid-size) plantation of plentiful wild birds.
Our Georgia training began in December and wrapped up in March. We brought 21 dogs with us but others joined from Colorado, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Illinois. It was go-go-go for six days each week but we felt fortunate to develop such a talented group of dogs. Puppies from our 2020 litters gained invaluable experience on wild birds where their natural pointing and backing instincts blossomed. Veterans Vixen, Grits, Royce, Valencia and Stardust excelled on the temperate grounds where they did what they always do—find and point wild birds.
It’s fun to work four puppies at a time but when all are littermates, it’s exhilarating. Four-month-old puppies out of the 2020 Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Valencia breeding stop on a chopper trail. In front, Jet points into the cover while siblings, clockwise from left, Strike, Dewey and Earl back.
We’re now happily settled back into our home and kennel in Minnesota and looking forward to two summer training sessions. It’s always exciting to see our clients and to see the young dogs they purchased from us. In addition, we’re planning more setter litters.
As always, we’re grateful for the loyalty of our clients to our enterprise and for the hunting opportunities and devotion they give their dogs.
For a glimpse of the experience of working pointing dogs on a quail plantation, here’s the view from horseback. Black-and-white male Northwoods Hercules (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) and Patty hunt the course.
Found pointing on a chopper trail, Northwoods Rolls Royce (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2013) shows poise and confidence after the covey wings its way towards the woods.
One aspect of developing puppies on wild game is allowing them to determine the exact location of the birds. They can only learn how close is too close by bumping birds. Northwoods Gale (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Minerva, 2020), in front, boldly follows her nose while Northwoods Lightning (Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Valencia, 2020) backs.
We plan to update this blog site about every two weeks with a variety of posts and photographs. We look forward to staying in touch!
