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!
The photo of the serious yellow Labrador puppy on the cover of the current issue of Gun Dog magazine is just one reason to buy it. That it’s the annual puppy issue is another. Too, the perfect-bound redesign is beautiful, including the larger format and matt finish on the cover. Finally, amazingly, Northwoods Bird Dogs is well represented.
• page 60: Super Puppies by Brad Fitzpatrick • page 84: Building a Bird Dog by Tom Keer (This piece includes many of our photos, including an awful one of me. Thankfully, the sleeping puppies are adorable.) • page 94: The Journey by Kali Parmley
Last summer, Jerry and I met Kali, Editor in Chief of Gun Dog, when she drove from her home in Utah to our Minnesota kennel to pick up her eight-week-old setter puppy out of Houston’s Nelly Bly by Northwoods Grits. She hauled a very cool camping trailer and brought her Labrador retriever, Lincoln, too. She wrote an excellent piece about her decision and ensuing journey to add a pointing dog to her hunting string.
Other pieces deserve mention.
Chad Hines of Willow Creek Kennels in Little Falls, Minn., is quoted in Debunking Puppy Development Myths by Tony J. Peterson. Chad and his wife, Tracy, bought two setter puppies from us recently. The first was a male out of CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Nickel in 2018 and, just one year later, they added a female out of Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva.
Jeremy Moore from Pulaski, Wisc., is a columnist who writes in every issue. Even though he’s a passionate Labrador guy, he’s intrigued by pointing dogs and has a deposit with us for a female setter puppy.
…owning a dog promotes the flow of oxytocin, a hormone that decreases our heart rate and fosters feelings of well-being and relaxation. ~ Dr. Lauren Powell, Wall Street Journal, January 9-10, 2021
The Wall Street Journal Weekend edition is outstanding and surely among top editions of any newspaper in the country. The paper’s strength is ordinarily focused on big topics like national and international business, finance, economics and politics. But in Weekend, it lets its hair down a bit with features on books, culture, design, fashion, food, wine, cars and sports.
The Review section is a favorite and often takes me several days before finishing. In the Mind & Matter column last weekend, Susan Pinker wrote about her experiences of being a new dog owner. She received a four-month-old puppy last summer as a birthday gift. Leary at first, she is now “besotted” with Otis, which led her, as a psychologist and author, to study dog ownership.
Pinker sites a 2019 study led by Dr. Lauren Powell that explored “whether getting a dog improved the owner’s activity level, cardiovascular health and psychological state.”
The psychological impact was the most amazing discovery for Dr. Powell. Besides the oxytocin flow, dogs ‘“encourage their owners to get out in nature, maintain a sense of routine, and stay in touch with their neighbors.’”
Perhaps all this is preaching to the choir. Just as Jerry and I have known for decades—and as our clients also know—dogs give us profound, immeasurable, never-ending “feelings of well-being.” But sometimes, it’s nice to have it recognized and corroborated.
On a rare, quiet afternoon at Northwoods Bird Dogs recently, Jerry was interviewed by Tony Peterson for the Sporting Dog Talk podcast.
Tony is the host and co-creator of the podcast and is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable dog lover and hunter. He and Jerry discussed many aspects of owning and training a bird dog.
Tony Peterson, host of the podcast Sporting Dog Talk, and his Labrador, Luna.
The bird dog world is a small one, and so, it seems, is the dog world in general. Tony owns a Labrador but became aware of us through two of our clients—Kali Parmley and Jeremy Moore.
Jerry and I got to know Kali this summer when she drove from Utah to pick up her 8-week-old male setter puppy from us. Her day job is editor of Gun Dog Magazine and Backcountry Hunter. Tony does freelance work for Kali.
Jeremy Moore is another freelancer for Kali. Jeremy and a group of friends visited our kennel last summer and, even though he is a Labrador guy like Tony, put his name on our 2021 puppy list.
Twenty-month-old Northwoods Cedar (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019) poses, head high, with her blue ribbon and the Reuel Henry Pietz Derby Classic trophy.
What an extraordinary wave of firsts.
First-time competitor Lindsey Saetre handled Northwoods Cedar, her first pointing dog, in Cedar’s first field trial to a first-place finish in the Reuel Henry Pietz Derby Classic held by the Minnesota Grouse Dog Association.
Cedar was whelped in 2019 out of Northwoods Carly Simon by RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus. Cedar is owned by Lindsey and her husband, Eric, of Minnesota.
And out west, Northwoods Charles (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013) continues his amazing string of championships and placements. Charlie won the Northwest Chukar Open Shooting Dog Championship. He placed second in the CanAm Open Shooting Dog Classic. Charlie is owned by Bill Owen of California.
Congratulations to Cedar and Lindsey…and to Charlie and Bill!
Northwoods Charles (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), owned and handled by Bill Owen, won the Northwest Chukar Open Shooting Dog Championship.
The only setter among the winners, Northwoods Charles (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), placed second in the CanAm Open Shooting Dog Classic. Charlie is owned and handled by Bill Owen.
Many years ago, a friend and I attended an all age field trial held near Mortlach, Sask. A highlight for me was riding the brace when Ferrel Miller handled his 2002 National Champion, a liver-and-white pointer male named Miller’s True Spirit.
Ferrel is well-known in the bird dog field trial world. He was highly successful as an amateur handler who also bred a string of mostly white pointers. He was honored by the sport when he was elected to the Field Trial Hall of Fame in 1993. But his penchant for bending ownership rules and falsifying pedigrees for dogs he bred cost him dearly. Ferrel was banned for life from competing in American Field trials and from registering any dogs in the Field Dog Stud Book.
Ferrel Miller and CH Miller’s Happy Jack (from dogsanddoubles.com)
The brace broke away in late morning on a course of sparse, slightly rolling, short-grass fields and cattle pastures, bordered by brushy tree lines.
Twenty minutes into the heat, as we all passed through a barbed wire pasture gate, True Spirit stopped. He was directly ahead about 30 yards, but on the opposite side of the fence. We rode parallel to the fence line and stopped to watch. The other handler and his judge continued across the pasture.
True Spirit stood amid that short grass—little cover for a bird—but Ferrel dismounted, crawled through the fence strands and did his best to flush. The birds weren’t there. Ferrel walked back to his dog and released him to relocate. True Spirit moved cautiously down the tree line 50 yards and stopped again.
This time Ferrel vigorously and thoroughly kicked the grass far in front of True Spirit in his attempt to flush the birds. But again, nothing flew. And again, Ferrel tapped his dog to release him.
By now, the gallery had ridden off to catch up to the other handler and judge, which left only Ferrel, his judge and me.
We watched True Spirit continue to work the tree line. About 60 yards ahead, almost to the last of the scrubby trees, True Spirit pointed. Ferrell hustled to flush and, this time, a nervous covey of Hungarian partridge lifted about 40 yards out.
Ferrel fired his gun, walked back to the still-composed True Spirit, patted him a couple times on the side and then led him through the barbed wire fence and released him.
As Ferrel mounted his horse, he turned to us, smiled knowingly and said, “Trust your dog.”
Trust your dog. That’s a great line. What does it mean?
Trust in a bird dog means the handler intimately knows the dog and is confident in its ability to do its job. When the dog smells game and points, the handler trusts there are birds. When the dog makes a far cast around some distant objective, the handler trusts the dog will check back or be found on point. When another dog is on point, the handler trusts his dog will back. And yes, when the dog is working running birds, the handler trusts it will get them pointed.
But trust in your dog doesn’t just happen. Trust is earned by the dog but created by the handler. Trust starts when the dog is a puppy.
The puppy needs to be developed properly, exposed to different situation and allowed to exercise judgement. Trust grows by letting the dog make mistakes without constant fear of reprisal. Trust matures by consistent expectations, more exposure and coaching. Trust does not develop with micro-management, reprimand and intimidation.
Northwoods Nickel (CH Shadow Oak Bo x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2014)
Jerry and I have just released three setters for sale. Northwoods Nickel, a six-year-old female, is a “10” in every aspect. She is beautiful and intelligent, stellar in the field and a calm companion.
Northwoods Istanbul and Northwoods Geneva are two-year-olds out of Nickel by CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock. These young dogs have it all—wonderful disposition, physical conformation and fully trained on ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, woodcock and bobwhite quail.
Nick Larson, on left, of Project Upland, interviews Jerry in the kennel office for Nick’s podcast.
On a recent summer morning, Nick Larson of Project Upland visited the kennel. Although he brought his six-year-old setter Hartley (Northwoods Grits x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2014) for a nice run in the pasture, his main purpose was to interview Jerry for the Project Upland podcast.
Besides lots of talk about bird dogs and grouse hunting, specific topics include how we raise puppies and what a new buyer should do during the puppy’s important first season.
Northwoods Madison (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2018) and Jerry. Photo by Ben McKean.
At the age of one, Northwoods Madison (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2018) is precocious—and not only in desire and focus but in stamina. From the moment she’s released at the breakaway, Madison has one thing on her mind. Birds. During this morning’s session, she finds and points four coveys.
The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. When the sun is out and the wind is still, You’re one month on in the middle of May. But if you so much as dare to speak, A cloud comes over the sunlit arch, A wind comes off a frozen peak, And you’re two months back in the middle of March.
~ Robert Frost
Northwoods Geneva (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Nickel, 2018) on a sunny afternoon in the woods.
Evening meal of sharp-tailed grouse from last fall.
