Montana is for young dogs

The posture of Chet (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) on this staunch point is impressive, especially for a six-month-old puppy.

“There comes a time when it is absolutely necessary for the breaker to go afield with his dog and do nothing but let the dog develop.”
~ C. B. Whitford, Training The Bird Dog, 1908

The key word in the quote is develop. This isn’t the time to train the dog. It’s the time to let the dog learn without interference from the handler.

Further, it’s a time specifically for a young dog. Betsy and I believe this time is crucial for a young dog to figure out its purpose, to learn from the birds, to let it make mistakes around game and to get excited about hunting and finding birds.

Rudy (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023) chases a big covey of Hungarian partridge.

In addition to developing them, though, it’s a perfect time to evaluate a young dog in all sorts of ways—from seeing how it runs the country and uses its nose, how it acts when game is scented, whether it is bold or cautious. Also, it’s time to observe gait, carriage and the dog’s ability to orient to the handler.

All of that was the focus of my trip to Montana. The eight young dogs in my string ranged in age from five to 20 months. In the trailer also were Comet and Robin, two experienced bird dogs.

The dogs gained knowledge and experience and we all had a blast.

Cupid (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023) backs her dam, Comet (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018).

Robin (Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Minerva, 2021), on left, and her daughter, Dilly (CH Woodville’s Yukon Cornelius x Northwoods Redbreast, 2024) share point on sharptails in front of a thornapple thicket.

The views are spectacular! Rudy (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023) backs Robin (Northwoods Rolls Royce x Northwoods Minerva, 2021).

Foxy (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) and her littermate, Chet, made the trip. Foxy had a nice find and point on huns.

In pretty late afternoon light, two five-month-old littermates out of CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet stand on a find. Tyler, owned by Josh Matel, is backed by our puppy, Dahlia.

The Pointers of Northwoods Bird Dogs

Northwoods Comet (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018)

Even though Jerry and I are primarily known for breeding setters, we also have had a line of pointers for 27 years. It doesn’t have the breadth of our setter breeding program but there is length and incredible strength.

It began inadvertently but we’re so proud of the outcome.

When we started in the 1990s, not only were we neophytes in trialing but in breeding, too. We were fortunate, though, to own an extraordinary liver-and-white pointer female, registered as Dance Smartly. We called her Dancer. Her sire, CH Northern Dancer, was a grouse champion and her dam was ultra talented 6X CH Vanidestine’s Rail Lady. Besides her parents, the top and bottom of her pedigree included three HOF males—Smart, Pork Roll and Guard Rail.

CH Dance Smartly (CH Northern Dancer x CH Vanidestine’s Rail Lady, 1991)

Dancer was a beautiful dog with an evenly masked head and near-perfect conformation. She had intelligence, strength, grace and incredible bird-finding ability. Dancer was stunning on point—confident, composed, nose in the air, eyes on fire. She loved people and couldn’t wag her tail fast enough when anyone got within petting distance.

For a span of three years, Dancer dominated the grouse field trial circuit in our region. She won the 1995 Minnesota Grouse Championship and the 1996 Wisconsin Woodcock Championship. Before the Wisconsin trial was a championship, she was named runner-up in 1994 and won first place in 1995.

Dancer was invited to the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational three times and was named Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Shooting Dog of the Year in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Northwoods Prancer (Dashaway x Fallset Fate, 2008)
© Chris Mathan Sporting Dogs

Jerry and I were novices in breeding knowledge and experience, but we knew Dancer was worthy. Since we had a strong female line as a start, we looked to the best-of-the-best field trial champions for sires. Two are Hall of Fame males—Rock Acre Blackhawk and True Confidence—and all but one are champions in various venues. The lone non-champion was Dasher, our own dog out of the Dancer’s first litter. Dasher was rarely competed but did have several field trial placements. Most importantly, we valued his qualities and strengths—and he proved crucial to the line’s continuation.

Perhaps it was beginner’s luck or serendipity, or both, but our strategy worked. Through almost three decades, we’ve continued our pointer line and are now producing the sixth generation.

Northwoods Vixen (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011)
© Chris Mathan Sporting Dogs

We’ve kept the reindeer theme blithely started with Dancer. Just this year with our youngest female, we ran out of reindeer so Dahlia is the first of our flower-themed pointers.

Dancer (CH Northern Dancer x CH Vanidestine’s Rail Lady, 1991)
Dasher (CH Brook’s Elhew Ranger x CH Dance Smartly, 1997)
Prancer (Dashaway x Fallset Fate, 2008)
Vixen (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011)
Blitzen (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016)
Comet (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018)
Cupid and Rudolph (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023)
Dahlia (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024)

Cupid and Dahlia are next in line to continue our pointer breeding program and will, hopefully, produce the seventh generation.

Passionate hunters from states in all parts of the country—east to west, north to south and every place in between—own pointers from our breeding. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, Jerry and I are so proud. We’re thrilled to give our pointer puppies their best lives possible with these truly wonderful people.

Murphy (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016)
~ Tony and Cheryl Follen, Montana

Northwoods Juniper (HOF CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021)
~ Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress, Montana

Northwoods Timber (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024)
~ Randy Ott and Kim Olson, Minnesota

Northwoods Easy Keeper (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024)
~ Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress, Montana

Attie (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023)
~ Jeff and Carol Hintz, Arizona

Jade (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015)
~ Frank Ilijanic, Michigan

Jordy (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Prancer, 2014)
~ Mark and Janie Fouts, Wisconsin

Belle (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023)
~ Kevin Sipple, Wisconsin

Lacey (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016)
~ Brian Smith, Pennsylvania

Autumnal musings from “Peanuts”

© Peanuts Worldwide LLC

Here are two depictions of autumn as imagined by the brilliant Charles M. Schulz. Only he could have conceived of and drawn Snoopy dancing with a falling leaf.

In the second strip, Woodstock reviews various signs and finds the correct way to fly south.

© Peanuts Worldwide LLC

Even though Schultz died in 2000, the wonderful characters he created are still available in myriad forms, including books, buttons, calendars, lunchboxes, magnets, pins, stuffed animals, memorable television specials (“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a holiday tradition in our house) and even on spatulas from Williams-Sonoma.

There’s 355 million—the number of world-wide readers of “Peanuts” according to Schulz’s obituary in The New York Times–reasons “Peanuts” is still wildly popular. In addition, Schulz created about 18,250 strips in his almost 50 years of drawing the daily comic and his work has been translated into 20 languages.

“Smoky gold” and other observations from Aldo Leopold about a grouse hunter’s favorite time of year

Photo courtesy of Rob Zimmer

“There are two kinds of hunting: ordinary hunting, and ruffed-grouse hunting.

“There are two places to hunt grouse: ordinary places, and Adams County.

“There are two times to hunt in Adams: ordinary times, and when the tamaracks are smoky gold.”

Thus opens the chapter titled “October” in A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold. He ranks among the very best nature writers of all time. Not only did he deeply understand the true nature of nature but he simply, yet with eloquence and elegance, describes its splendor.

What grouse hunter doesn’t relish the month of October? Previous months can be taken up with various preparations—training and conditioning the dogs, gear preparation, travel plans—but, still, everything is focused on October. It is the perfect time to be walking along a tote road in the woods with dogs.

Leopold continues:

“The tamaracks change from green to yellow when the first frosts have brought woodcock, fox sparrows, and juncos out of the north. Troops of robins are stripping the last white berries from the dogwood thickets, leaving the empty stems as a pink haze against the hill. The creekside alders have shed their leaves, exposing here and there an eyeful of holly. Brambles are aglow, lighting your footsteps grouseward.”

Several paragraphs later, Leopold notes:

“The tamaracks grow not only in the swamp, but at the foot of the bordering upland, where springs break forth. Each spring has become choked with moss, which forms a boggy terrace. I call these terraces the hanging gardens, for out of their sodden muck the fringed gentians have lifted blue jewels. Such an October gentian, dusted with tamarack gold, is worth a full stop and a long look, even when the dog signals grouse ahead.”

Tamarack (Larix laricina) is a member of the Larix, or Larch, genus and Pinaceae, or Pine, family. Another name is the Eastern Larch. While the tree is a conifer (cone-bearing) and produces needles, it isn’t an evergreen. Instead, this genus is cool because its needles are deciduous and so are shed in the fall.
Photo courtesy of Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy

Leopold finishes the first section:

“Lunch over, I regard a phalanx of young tamaracks, their golden lances thrusting skyward. Under each the needles of yesterday fall to earth building a blanket of smoky gold; at the tip of each the bud of tomorrow, preformed, poised, awaits another spring.”

Leopold’s final sentence of the chapter:

“I sometimes think the other months were constituted mainly as a fitting interlude between Octobers, and I suspect that dogs, and perhaps grouse, share the same view.”

Northwoods Atlas: May 2017 – July 2024

Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017)

Most often, I write these remembrances when, after living a long life, a special dog passes. In those cases, you see the end coming and you can, somewhat, prepare yourself. But when a favorite dog dies suddenly, without warning, in the prime of its life, the heartache and pain are almost unbearable.

Atlas died like that on July 11.

Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017), call name Jet, was owned by Greg and Michelle Johnson of Wisconsin. Previously they had owned Gordon setters. Jet was the first dog “white dog” Greg trained and entered in cover dog field trials.

From the beginning, Greg and Jet were a winning duo. From his first derby placement through two runner-up championships, Jet placed in almost every trial—whether in Minnesota, Wisconsin or North Dakota and whether in wild bird or planted quail trials. The stake wasn’t over until Jet ran.

A stellar field trial season placed Greg and Jet as winners of both the amateur and open 2024 Minnesota/Wisconsin Shooting Dog of the Year awards.

Jet had all the characteristics of a champion—style in motion, style on point and the ability to find birds. In addition, Jet had consistency. In 2024, he won a distinctive honor by taking home the Minnesota/Wisconsin Shooting Dog of the Year for both open and amateurs. Jet was invited to the 2023 Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational field trial, the most prestigious in the cover dog world as only the top 14 point-earning dogs are invited. Most likely, he would have been invited again in 2025.

Jet possessed another attribute: he passed on his special qualities to his offspring. He sired only four litters but there are many happy dog owners to whom Betsy and I have sold puppies. Jet had a bright future in our breeding program and he leaves a big hole. In addition, one son, Big Big Energy, won the 2024 Minnesota/Wisconsin Open Derby of the Year award, so a father/son pair won in the same year.

On a vacation to the Southwest last winter, Michelle and Jet rest in rugged terrain.

It’s said that actions speak louder than words. Seeing Greg and Michelle interact with Jet in their day-to-day lives, at field trials and on vacations, they didn’t have to talk about how deeply they loved him and were devoted to his health and well-being. And knowing Jet as we did and watching him, it was clear the feeling was mutual.

National caliber cover dog winner, excellent producer, devoted companion. What more could a dog give?

RIP sweet Jet. We will always remember.

A pointing dog’s first season

Photo © Chris Mathan Sporting Dogs

The process of developing a puppy into an experienced bird dog should be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. That process begins with the all-important first season. Not only is the young dog at an impressionable age, but the experience and knowledge gained from that time in the woods and fields will create a foundation the dog will depend on and use in future seasons.

The first year is primarily about exposure. The goal is to have the puppy hunt for and find wild birds. Owners shouldn’t worry if the dog doesn’t point the bird or hold point for long. Both will come with repeated exposure, maturity and training.

The key is wild birds
Most of what a dog needs to know about finding and pointing wild birds is learned from the birds themselves. The owner’s job is to put the young dog into birds—lots of birds.

The puppy will learn key details about birds.
• Where they’re most likely to be found.
• How to differentiate where the bird is as opposed to where it was, i.e., old scent vs. new scent.
• How close is too close before the bird flushes.
• It can’t catch the bird.
• How to follow running birds.

Handling in the woods and fields
Handling is often a big issue with owners. Jerry and I have a simple handling theory. As long as the young dog goes with us and looks to us for direction, we say the minimum necessary to control it. Over-handling, in terms of too much calling, whistling or constant encouragement, can distract and confuse the dog. We only use two commands: HERE and calling its name. HERE means come to us. When we want the dog to turn, we call its name. At a certain point we enforce the commands with an ecollar

Expecting your puppy to be always in sight or range at a certain distance is unrealistic and, in fact, can inhibit its bird finding. As long as it’s checking in and hunting in the direction we’re headed, we don’t say anything.

In this field, Sage (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024) looks staunch on point. But was there a bird? If so, did she hold point until owner Joey Paxman of Montana could flush?

Puppy mistakes
Expect your puppy to make mistakes—flush birds, chase rabbits, not pay attention and, at times, just act like the immature dog it is. Be patient. Remember it is still just a young dog. Take a break. Call it in to you, talk calmly and stroke its back.

Be prepared
A few important points need to considered prior to the hunting season. The foremost is proper introduction to birds and gunfire. The young dog should be conditioned to an ecollar for the basic HERE command and for turning. A GPS collar is excellent for peace of mind.

Also, the young dog should be accustomed to wearing a bell or beeper and comfortable both with being in a crate and riding in a vehicle.

Proper physical condition is always crucial. The young dog should be at the proper weight. A couple extra pounds can make a big difference, especially on those hot, early season days.

Finally, remember!
Have fun with your young dog. And savor this first, special season.

Jerry and I wrote a piece for the September 15, 2013, issue of the Minnesota StarTribune. Some parts of that have been reprinted here.

Gallery: September 2024

Beginning with their first dog in the late 1990s, Barry and Jill Frieler have owned six setters out of our dogs. On a recent afternoon in their Minnesota home, the current pack found a sunny spot for napping. Clockwise from top: Northwoods Highclass Kate (Northwoods Blue Ox x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2010), Madison (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2018), Ellie (CH Ponderosa Mac x Northwoods Redbreast, 2022) and Jack (CH Houston’s Blackjack x Northwoods Highclass Kate, 2013).

When Sig (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, 2019) isn’t in the grouse woods or in wide open Montana places, he accompanies his owner Chris Bye of Wisconsin on trout streams.

Lacey (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Minerva, 2020) flies across an open field on Nantucket where owner Zenas Hutcheson conditions her for the hunting season in their home state of Minnesota.

There are good reasons Northwoods Comet (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018), a female pointer Jerry and I own, is one of our best of all time. On a recent training run for sharptails, in addition to her breathtaking poise, style and composure, her blazing eyes tell the story.

Dogs make people better

Tally (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) is at Northwoods Bird Dogs for puppy training and accurately locates a pigeon on her first puppy point.

As are many of our clients, Joe Wech and his wife Deb are repeat puppy buyers. This summer, they picked up their second from us, a female setter out of May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust.

Tally is her name and she joins Georgia, the first setter they bought in 2015. Georgia is out of Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Carly Simon. In a bit of serendipity, their two setters are related. Stardust is Carly Simon’s daughter.

Joe is a pilot for American Airlines and commutes from his home in the Twin Cities to Texas. That commute gives him hours of quiet time to think.

In a recent email, Joe shared some of the musings from time in the air. Not only were his sentiments totally new to me, they were, all at once, insightful, profound and uncomplicated.

Here is a passage from Joe’s email.

“I think every child can learn so much if they are lucky enough to be around a dog. They make the child feel loved. They give the child something to be responsible for and care for, to not only think about themselves, but of someone else who needs them. So because of you, your puppies and your training, my family is better, and my kids and grandkids are better people.”

Note: A quick glance through the photos under “From field and home” on the right is all the proof one needs about the truth of Joe’s words.

Spring 2024 pointer puppies in early training

Sage is a female owned by Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress from Montana. Sage joins another female pointer and two male setters they have from us.

The puppies out of Northwoods Comet by CH Miller’s Upgraded Version are in the early stages of puppy development and training by their owners.

The exercises being introduced include clicker training, retrieving and pointing exercises. It’s never too early to start.

Timber is a female being worked in her northern Minnesota training grounds by owner Randy Ott. She is Randy’s fourth Northwoods dog.

Racer’s owners, Doug and Nicole White, are from Oregon and are trusting their friend Joey Paxman for some early training.

Izzy is in the very capable hands of her owner, Robby Graham, of Maine for training. She is the second female pointer Robby has from us.

Dally is the female Jerry and I kept. She is a soft-mouthed but enthusiastic retriever.

Spring field trial review: Minnesota, Wisconsin and others

Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017) strikes a stunning pose for owner and handler Greg Johnson. They had just won the Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Shooting Dog Classic.

Cover dog field trials in Minnesota and Wisconsin are thriving. The number of dogs entered at spring trials often reached 30 dogs. Many handlers of those dogs are relatively new, as are spectators walking in the gallery. These newcomers are grouse and woodcock hunters and they come not only to watch good dogs perform but to enjoy the camaraderie of others who share their passion.

Cover dog trials are run on ruffed grouse and woodcock. Two handlers, followed by two judges, two scouts for the handlers and the gallery, walk on pre-determined courses through native habitat of aspen forests, thick hazel understory and lowland edges. The handlers’ two dogs search the course for birds—similar to a hunting situation—and the dogs are judged on how they respond to their handler, how they move through the cover, how they interact with their bracemate and, ultimately, how they find and point birds. The dogs are run with only a bell to track their movement; no GPS collars, beepers, or e-collars are allowed.

There are three levels of competition based on ages: Puppy, Derby and Shooting Dog. Different standards exist for different levels but all levels must have the drive and desire to hunt through punishing cover in search of a bird. Then, while focused on hunting, the dog must keep track of its handler so that when it finds a bird and points, the handler can find the dog. When pointed, the dog should exhibit poise, confidence and accurate location of the bird.

A dog that competes at the shooting dog level must be steady-to-wing-and-shot and, if the opportunity arises, back its bracemate. In addition, the dog should move and point in a manner that excites and do it with minimum direction from its handler.

In short, the winners of shooting dog stakes are very high-class bird dogs—with physicality, stamina, focus, bird-finding, style and verve. In other words, most serious bird hunters would be proud to own these winning dogs.

To win in field trials, though, takes more than a talented dog. It takes an extremely committed owner willing to start with a young prospect and wear out several pairs of boots in the dog’s development, training and competition. The owner must be dedicated to spend time in the field to bring that prospect to its full potential—and that time isn’t counted in days or months but rather in years.

It’s always fun to see the group photo after a weekend of trials. Pictured with Greg Johnson and Northwoods Atlas are judges, handlers, other participants and spectators.

When it all comes together, though, and the handler’s name and dog are announced as winners, the feeling of exhilaration and of accomplishment render most handlers speechless and all that time is forgotten.

Listed below are winners of field trials in Minnesota and Wisconsin this spring. Congratulations to our clients and their dogs who have put in the effort and felt the thrill of winning.

2X RU-CH Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017), owned and handled by Greg Johnson.
• 1st place Chippewa Valley Grouse Dog Assoc. Open Shooting Dog stake
• RU-CH Region 19 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog Championship, sponsored by Minnesota Grouse Dog Assoc.
• 1st place Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Shooting Dog Classic
• Winner of Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Dog Open and Amateur Shooting Dog of the Year

Eric and Lindsey Saetre, owners and handlers of Northwoods Cedar Edge (CH Snyders Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), and Edge’s silver trophy as Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Dog Amateur Derby of the Year.

Northwoods Cedar Edge (CH Snyders Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), owned and handled by Eric and Lindsey Saetre.
• 3rd place North Country Bird Hunters Assoc. Open Derby
• 3rd place Minnesota Grouse Dog Assoc. Open Derby
• 2nd place Minnesota Grouse Dog Assoc. Open Shooting Dog
• Winner of Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Dog Amateur Derby of the Year

Northwoods Cedar (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019), owned and handled by Eric and Lindsey Saetre.
• 1st place North Country Bird Hunters Assoc. Open Shooting Dog

Ruffed Country Sweet Lily (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, 2018), owned and handled by Jordan Pharris.
• 2nd place North Country Bird Hunters Assoc. Open Shooting Dog

Northwoods Paco (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023), owned and handled by Josh Matel.
• 2nd place Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Derby

CH/RU-CH Northwoods Sir Gordon (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019), owned and handled by Ben McKean.
• 1st place Midwest Field Trial Assoc. Open Shooting Dog

Northwoods Eddie Setter (CH Northwoods Sir Gordon x Northwoods Valencia, 2023), owned and handled by Ben McKean.
• 2nd place Midwest Field Trial Assoc. Open Derby

Pretty cool for first-time trialers Mitch Anderson, on right, and Brad Gudenkauf, center, to place first and second, respectively. Even cooler, the two derby-aged dogs are littermates.

Northwoods Homer (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), owned and handled by Mitch Anderson. (These were the first field trials for both Mitch and Homer.)
• 2nd place Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Derby
• 1st place Minnesota Grouse Dog Assoc. Open Derby

Northwoods Pied Piper (CH Snyders Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), owned and handled by Brad Gudenkauf. (This was Brad and Rigby’s first field trial, too.)
• 2nd place Minnesota Grouse Dog Assoc. Open Derby

And in other parts of the country…

Riley Crumbie, on left, and Pine Fair Lady (Northwoods Parmigiano x Northwoods Rum Rickey, 2014).

Pine Fair Lady (Northwoods Parmigiano x Northwoods Rum Rickey, 2014) owned by Pine Fair Plantation and handled by Riley Cumbie.
• 1st place Georgia/Florida Hunting Dog Invitational, Aucilla Plantation, Thomasville, Ga.

Northwoods Sunny Day (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Northwoods Stardust, 2023), owned and handled by Tom Keiffer.
• 3rd place Black Moshannon Field Trial Club Open Puppy, Philipsburg, Pa.

CH Charlie’s Zip Tie, sired by CH Northwoods Charles (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), is owned and handled by Bill Owen of Santa Barbara, Calif.
• 3rd place Cahaba Bend Field Trial Club Amateur Shooting Dog Classic, Greensboro, Ala.
• RU-CH California Open Shooting Dog Championship

In addition, it’s worth noting that winning carries on when dogs out of our breeding are crossed with other dogs.

An impressive father/son duo: Jordan Pharris, on right, is owner/handler of Big Big Energy and Greg Johnson, on left, is owner/handler of Northwoods Atlas, and Energy’s sire.

Big Big Energy (sired by RU-CH Northwoods Atlas) is owned and handled by Jordan Pharris. Call name “Lotto” won the Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Dog Open Derby of the Year. Amazing fact #1: Lotto is the first puppy-age dog to win the Derby of the Year Award in its 34-year history. Amazing fact #2: This is the first time in the Shooting Dog/Derby of the Year that a father/son won.

Over The Hill Morgan (sired by JTH Cooper (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015)), is owned and handled by Rod Lein. She won 3rd place in the Chippewa Valley Grouse Dog Assoc. Open Shooting Dog.

Kona’s Blue Sky (sired by CH Northwoods Sir Gordon) is owned and handled by A. J. Kalupa. Sky placed 3rd in the Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Shooting Dog.

Note: Scroll down to a post written by Betsy, dated May 1, 2024, for an in-depth piece on the Dog of the Year awards.