Merry Christmas!

Northwoods Brie (Northwoods Blue Ox x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2010)
Photo: Chris Mathan

From all of us in southwestern Georgia, wishing peace, love and joy to our bird dog friends this holiday season.

Like father, like daughter

In the grouse woods, not many dogs are as fast, focused and unrelenting as Northwoods Grits (Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis, 2011). Back in the hunting cabin though, Grits’ style is altogether different. He is utterly at ease relaxing and snoozing—especially in the lap of his owner, Bob Senkler.

“Like father, like son” is the usual idiom but in the case of some of our setters, I prefer “Like father, like daughter.”

Northwoods Blue Q Tip (Quinny) was whelped in early April 2017 out of Northwoods Bismuth by Grits. Even though just a puppy, Quinny has had a stellar first season. Not only did she find plenty of grouse but she even pointed some.

In the evening after a long day in the woods, Quinny finds solace in precisely the same manner as Grits—sprawled in the lap of her owner, Brody Dietz.

Setter puppies enjoying the summer

Dixe Mae (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Bismuth, April 2017) is part of a Kowalski family trout fishing trip in Montana. She clearly loves goofing around in the stream.

This will be the final post of the season filled with puppy photos. Puppies from our last three litters—born within weeks of each other in April and May—are happily settled into their new homes.

As always, many thanks to our wonderful clients for staying in touch and sending photos…but most of all for giving the puppies loving homes and fabulous starts to their roles as bird dogs.

There could be two themes for this last puppy post. It seems our puppies thoroughly enjoy being in the water and also display an early proclivity to point.

Luna (Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, May 2017) is “a quick study” for the Conaway family in Maryland, already proficient at many commands. Pro Jeanette Tracy is also training her on pigeons.

Josey (Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, May 2017) found the perfect cooling-off spot on a terrace of the Clark family home in Georgia.

Finn (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, May 2017) displays good intensity pointing a bug in the backyard of the Edwards family home in Minnesota.

Puppy, mom, son and trout in a Montana stream. Doesn’t get any better than this!

August, bird dogs and sharp-tailed grouse

CH JTH Izzie (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011). Look at her eyes.

August is an auspicious month for bird dog owners. First of all, autumn is in the air—especially on cool evenings. Too, even though they might have been conditioning their dogs all summer, they now begin training in earnest on wild birds.

JTH Scion (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015). It doesn’t get any better than this.

Jeff Hintz is an excellent example.

He owns two white-and-black pointers: JTH Izzie (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011) and JTH Scion (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015).

Big bluestem, purple blazing star and yellow sunflowers are a pretty backdrop to a pointer hunting for sharptails.

The preparation and training is, for him, as much fun as the hunting. Since June, Jeff has been preparing his dogs for the hunting season. Scion, the younger dog, needed finishing work on manners around birds. He conditioned both off a reconditioned golf cart, and now is training them on wild sharp-tailed grouse. These birds can be found in open, native grasslands or thicker, mixed cover of oak, alder and prairie plants.

JTH Scion on a foggy morning.

Tracks of a sharp-tailed grouse.

Photos by Jeff Hintz.

Midsummer at Northwoods Bird Dogs

Northwoods Rhea (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017) loves her clicker training sessions with Jerry in the kennel office.

Summer in Minnesota is a great season…perhaps only bested by autumn, the obvious bird hunter favorite.

While most of our fellow Minnesotans are heading to their lake cabins or hauling a trailer somewhere, this summer for Jerry and me has meant puppies—lots of puppies—and groups of talented dogs in for training.

Three litters that whelped within a six-week time frame produced 24 puppies. While dams did the bulk of the work, it meant plenty of chores for us but also hours of enjoyment.

Northwoods Nickel, on left, and Northwoods Carbon reared their litters in neighboring runs.

Eight puppies were whelped on April 3 out of Northwoods Bismuth by Northwoods Grits. Grits was also the sire of our second litter, this one out of Northwoods Nickel, whelped on May 1. Last with her litter of eight was feisty Northwoods Carbon by Northwoods Nirvana on May 12.

The only male puppy of Northwoods Carbon’s litter of eight by Northwoods Nirvana litter has the perfect home with Brandon Eales.

Jerry and I kept six puppies from this group but the rest are very happily living in their new homes (at least according to enthusiastic emails and text messages!). Puppies were picked up by families who drove from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota while other puppies flew to Helena, Seattle and Philadelphia.

Dogs bring the neatest people together and we always like to meet new clients. But, too, Jerry and I were especially delighted to see Dick and Melanie Taylor and Mike McCrary again who bought second setters from us this summer.

Staunchness training for Northwoods Blitzen (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016). Photo by Jeff Hintz.

Out in the field, summer means gun dog training using pigeons in releasers, backing dummies and dogs dragging check cords. Jeff Hintz, our friend and neighbor, has helped Jerry for many years. They are an impressive team, easily communicating with hand signals, head nods and grins.

Loki (CH Shadow Oak Bo x Northwoods Carbon, 2016) is owned by James Anderson. Photo by Jeff Hintz.

Nick (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016) is owned by Larry Young.

Gunner (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) is owned by Kevin Zubich.

Bismuth, Nickel and Carbon care for their puppies

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.

Northwoods Bismuth whelps pretty litter of eight puppies

With the NCAA championship basketball game streaming from my laptop in the background, Northwoods Bismuth whelped her litter of eight puppies by Northwoods Grits on Monday, April 3. In less time than the game took, Bismuth easily delivered four males and four females. All are tri-color.

The litter is now almost three weeks old. They have grown from tiny creatures to vigorous, plump, easily distinguishable puppies. They crawl out of the nest to relieve themselves but still spend most of their time either nursing or sleeping in an ever-changing pile.

Bismuth was whelped in 2014—the year Jerry and I chose the elements as our puppy naming theme. It was a very good year! Among others whelped that we still own are Carbon, Nickel and Platinum while two other outstanding dogs, Mercury and Gold, were sold.

Northwoods Bird Dogs are stars!

Northwoods Jeter (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2011), owned by Sam Gary, Jr., was featured in a recent episode of Outdoor Bound TV with Kurt Walbeck.

Jerry and I watched two recent videos where three English setters—all bred and trained by us—are stars. They are equally exciting and humbling to see.

The first footage features Bill Heig, owner with his wife Gail of Bowen Lodge in northern Minnesota. Bill was the subject of an episode of Outdoor Bound TV with Kurt Walbeck, a Midwest-based hunting and fishing show.

This program follows Bill and Sam Gary, Jr., on a hunt at Bill and Gail’s bobwhite quail lease in Texas. Bill and Sam have bought many dogs from us over the years—setters and pointers, males and females—but for this hunt, both chose English setter males. Bill took out Louis (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2014) and Sam wanted his favorite, Jeter (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2011).

The Texas ranch setting is beautiful. The dog work is sometimes extraordinary and other times, especially for the younger Louis, earnest. The shooting by Bill and Sam is expert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juyL9GDOtTI&feature=youtu.be

The next footage was shot by Nick Larson, a regional director for the Ruffed Grouse Society. Nick was out in the woods near his home in Duluth, Minn., with his setter male Hartley (Northwoods Grits x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2014).

In a fantastical setting of aspen trees and fluffy snow, Hartley pointed and a grouse flushed. The bird then careened off through the woods. Nick captured the whole thing in slow motion on his cell phone and sent it to A.J. DeRosa of Dangerous Cow Publishing for some expert editing.

Nick writes, “For most people, I think the flushing bird is probably the star of the show. It’s a great flush no doubt, but for me, Hartley is definitely the real star because without him I never would have captured the shot.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtrMNRq80ns

Riptide x Chablis puppies now five weeks old

During the evening of January 9 and lasting into the early morning of the 10th, Northwoods Chablis whelped five puppies—four males and one female. This litter, by Blue Riptide, is her last.

On both top and bottom, this litter represents the origins and core of our setter breeding program. On the top, Riptide is out of Blue Chief, one of our most prepotent sires, while his dam Blue Blossom through CH Blue Streak goes back to our first setter litter in 1995.

Chablis is out of one of our favorite nicks, Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice. She carries the best of CH Houston’s Belle, CH First Rate, CH Blue Streak and CH Blue Smoke, which again, goes back to our first litter.

Chablis’ puppies are now five weeks old. On a warm, sunny winter day in Georgia, Jerry and I carried them onto the grass and brought along play toys and a bowl of water.

The puppies romped and scampered until they could no more and then curled up for naps.

Setter puppies go to their new homes

Five of the eight puppies out of Northwoods Carly Simon by RU-CH Erin’s Promethus are now with their new families. Three males flew to Minnesota, another male flew to Virginia and one female puppy landed in Wisconsin.

That leaves three with Jerry and me. We kept two puppies for ourselves and the male chosen by the owner of Prometheus, John Mathys, will live with us until spring.

The reports so far are very good. Not much is more fun or more heartwarming than pupppies but they do require attention, care and diligence, especially at the beginning.

Ben and Maureen sent photos, too.

Just so you know, we really love this puppy!!! He is a bit of work but tons of fun. We have ice fished 5 days and he seems to like it as much as I do.
~ Maureen & Ben, Minnesota

This little man has taken Richmond by storm. Eeryone loves him, especially us. As you’re well aware, he’s a feisty one. We love that (although not sure my 9-year-old Lab would agree). Thanks so much.
~ Beth & Vance, Virginia

We just wanted to send you a note that we are so in love with our puppy already. He is such a good boy and is so fun to be around! He is learning very quickly and we are so impressed. Our other older dog is thrilled to have a playmate and they have been enjoying each other’s company.
~ Annie & Dan, Minnesota

He is doing great!! Very few accidents in the house!! We go for walks, just short ones. Everybody absolutely loves him where ever we take him!!
~ Teresa & Kevin, Minnesota