When I think of CH JTH Izzie, a two-year-old pointer female owned by Jeff Hintz, I’m reminded of the Enjoli perfume ad from 1980. Hopefully many readers are old enough to remember this evocative television ad with the catchy song. The woman who wears Enjoli can do everything. She can “bring home the bacon…fry it up in the pan.”
Izzie, too, can do everything but it’s due to a combination of inherited potential and Jeff’’s development, exposure and training.
In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Izzie has hunted woodcock and ruffed grouse in the woods and sharp-tailed grouse on the sand barrens. She has hunted three quail species of the desert southwest: Mearns, Gambels and scaled.
Izzie has placed in field trials on all those birds and in all those locations and she doesn’t seem to care whether Jeff is on foot or horseback.
Izzie is “dead broke… a strong marker…and retrieves to hand,” says Jeff.
Izzie swims. She rides shotgun in Jeff’s golf cart. And she loves to watch tv.
Oh, and did I mention that Izzie won a championship at the Region 12 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog trial when she was 20 months old?
Izzie was the last pick of an all-female litter out of CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer in 2011. Just like Izzie, Ice was evenly marked, black-and-white, compact, strong and talented. He was a 6X CH/7X RU-CH owned by Bill Westfall out of Missouri and campaigned off horseback. Prancer is a big, powerful female and beautiful with classic Elhew looks. We don’t compete her in field trials but save her for our guiding string where she is first-rate.
Here is Izzie’s impressive list of accomplishments…at just two years of age!
• Champion, Region 12 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog, January 2013
• Minnesota/Wisconsin Derby of the Year, 2013
• Minnesota/Wisconsin Amateur Derby of the Year, 2013
• Region 12 Walking Shooting Dog of the Year, 2013
• 1st Place, Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Derby, Wisconsin, 2012
• 1st Place, Danforth Social Society & Fine Bird Dogs Open Derby, Minnesota, 2012
• 2nd Place, Region 19 All Age Derby, Wisconsin, 2012
• 2nd Place, Reuel Henry Pietz Derby Classic, Minnesota, 2012
• 2nd Place, High Country Bird Dog Club Amateur Derby, Arizona, 2013
• 3rd Place, Arizona Pointing Dog Club Open Derby, Arizona, 2013
The only field trial that Jerry competed in this spring was held over the weekend of May 3 at Crow-Hassan Park Reserve outside the Twin Cities. This is a horseback trial hosted by the Northwest Field Trial Association on liberated quail.
The Open Shooting Dog Derby was a big stake with 18 entries including 12 setters and 6 pointers. Our thanks to Frank LaNasa for the use of his horses and to Greg Gress for scouting.
Grits ran in the third brace under overcast and blustery conditions. From the breakaway, Grits had birds on his mind. His race was strong, forward and focused. His first find was forward and 300 yards to the right of the course on a tree line. Jerry flushed a quail and Grits was perfectly steady to wing and shot.
As they caught up to the forward party, his bracemate was on point. Grits backed and stood composed while his bracemate relocated several times. There was no bird.
Grit’s second find was at about 20 minutes, again along a fence row but dead ahead on the course. Again he stood high and tight throughout a lengthy flushing effort by Jerry. A single was seen twittering and running on the ground and eventually disappeared into the dense cover. Jerry shot his gun and took him on.
Grits wasn’t done yet, though. His last eight minutes were forward and reaching and at time he was still hunting far to the front.
Grits is owned by Bob Senkler and is out of our 2011 breeding of Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis.
We handled four other derbies and are proud of their performances: Trudy (Steve Snyder), Trixie (Greg Gress), Slash (Dan Stadin) and Chet (Nathan Friend).
Snyder’s Liz (Steve Snyder) competed in the Open Shooting Dog stake and did a fine job but had no birds.
This the second son of Ox to place in this derby stake. In 2012, Northwoods Parmigiano (Northwoods Blue Ox x Houston’s Belle’s Choice) won second.
CH Houston’s Blue Diamond (Houston x Forest Ridge Jewel) is posed by his owner Ross Leonard, on left.
Congratulations to Ross Leonard for handling his setter male, Houston’s Blue Diamond (call name Sam), to first place in Region 4 Amateur Shooting Dog Championship held recently near Berea, Kentucky. Most of these horseback trials are dominated by pointers and this was no different—18 pointers and eight setters competed.
Sam was whelped in 2006 out of Houston (via frozen semen) and Forest Ridge Jewel at the kennel of Paul Hauge. This was a repeat breeding for Paul…and for a very good reason. The first litter in 2004 produced multiple champion and extraordinary dam, CH Houston’s Belle. Sam is a handsome dog with a blocky head and the distinctive “Houston” mark around his left eye.
Sam was one of five puppies. Two of his siblings, Fireside Fleetwood and Fireside Blue Zephyr, are also field trial winners.
I developed and trained Sam for Paul that first year—on the North Dakota prairie, in the grouse woods and in Texas on bobwhite quail. Ross bought Sam from Paul in 2007 and, after furthering his training, has successfully competed in various field trials.
RU-CH Landcruiser Scout (CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle)
Landcruiser Scout, five-year-old setter male owned by Mike and Patricia Cooke of Rochester, New York, was recently named runner-up champion at the Eastern Open Shooting Dog Championship. Four setters and 28 pointers competed in the trial which was held near the Virginia and North Carolina border. Scout is trained and handled by professional Jeanette Tracy.
What a family! Scout is out of a litter of six males and two females that Paul Hauge, Jerry and I co-bred—CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle—in 2008. Two litter brothers are champions in horseback field trial competition, CH Ridge Creek Cody (Larry Brutger, St. Cloud, Minnesota) and CH Houston’s Blackjack (Frank LaNasa, Isanti, Minnesota).
In addition to delivering Scout on his way to field trials in Pennsylvania that spring, Jerry met Joe Zimmer of Chamois, Missouri. Joe’s dog, Fritz, is a winner in walking field trials.
While a judge watches, Shawn Kinkelaar shoots over Ridge Creek Cody just seconds after the covey flushed.
Besides the opportunity to train on a quail plantation, a compelling reason to live in southwest Georgia for a winter is its proximity to lots of cool dogs and field trials. The most prestigious horseback shooting dog trial, The National Open Shooting Dog Championship, began February 4 on the historic and beautifully groomed Sedgefields Plantation, just outside Union Springs, Alabama. Fortunately for me, Jim and Kathy Tande invited me to ride a morning with them.
You know you’re in bird dog country when a life-sized, bronze statue of a pointer (sculpted by Bob Wehle) that’s mounted on an 8-foot-tall column graces the middle of a main intersection of town; and when that town, Union Springs, claims to be the “Bird Dog Field Trial Capital of the World.”
Jim and Kathy Tande graciously offered me one of their horses so I could ride a morning brace of the National Open Shooting Dog Championship.
Betsy and I have known Jim and Kathy for a long time—going back to our years as competitors on the grouse trial circuit. Jim and Kathy still have a place in northern Minnesota but now winter near Arlington, Georgia, where Jim trains, competes in horseback field trials and is a sought-after judge.
This trial, now celebrating its 53rd anniversary, is unique in that dogs must quality by placing in specific trials and each brace is 90 minutes. Most of the handlers are professionals but a few amateurs compete, enticed perhaps, by the $10,000 purse. The birds here are bobwhite quail—all wild coveys—and are plentiful due to excellent management at Sedgefields.
Shawn Kinkelaar has an impressive string of championship dogs including Covey Rise Offlee Amazin, Skydancer Dancing Bell, Miller’s Atomic Rain and Ridge Creek Cody, the setter in the front.
This year 47 pointers and five setters competed. In a strange bit of kismet, Paul Hauge, Betsy and I bred two of the setters. CH Ridge Creek Cody (owned by Larry Brutger and handled by Shawn Kinkelaar) and Land Cruiser Scout (owned by Mike Cooke and handled by Jeanette Tracy) were littermates out of CH Can’t Go Wrong and CH Houston’s Belle in 2008.
Defying even more odds, Cody and Scout were in the same brace! Both dogs hunted hard, looked good running and scored a back. They each tallied four covey finds and stood staunch as their handlers fired blank .410 shotguns. Neither dog placed on this day…but I was very proud of them both.
Sedgefields Plantation built a very nice clubhouse that’s used for The National Open Shooting Dog Championship.
Maybe Izzie is as sharp as Snoopy and can read. One look into her beautiful, brown eyes does reveal her intelligence and good sensibility.
Izzie has been featured in three recent blog posts and perhaps has glanced over Jeff’s shoulder when he powers up his Ipad. She is definitely our poster child for “How to pick a puppy.”
November 28, 2012: How to pick a puppy “Since at eight weeks of age it’s impossible to definitively know what the puppy will become, any puppy should be ideal—no matter the picking order, no matter whether it’s the first pick or last.”
About two years ago, Jeff was in the market for a puppy and, in exchange for his work with us, we made a deal. He could have the last pick of our Ice x Prancer litter.
November 21, 2012: Winning wild bird field trial championships “Even though Izzie is just a derby, I feel compelled to include her because she has all the makings to be a champion.”
Izzie was whelped on April 17, 2011 (she is only 20 months old!) and was very successful last fall. In four derby stakes, she won two and twice placed second.
October 8, 2012: Jeff and Izzie: An inseparable pair “Izzie is a sweetheart in the house and a tiger in the field. She was quite precocious and last year Jeff successfully hunted her on grouse, woodcock and the quail of southern Arizona.”
Too, Izzie has the genes of a champion. Her sire is Westfall’s Black Ice, a five-time champion and seven-time runner-up champion. Out of Northwoods Prancer on the bottom side, her great grandparents were both multiple grouse champions, Brooks Elhew Ranger and Dance Smartly. Rather unusual for a dam, both parents of Dance Smartly were also multiple champions, Northern Dancer and Vanidestine’s Rail Lady (a six-time champion!).
But, truly, Jeff deserves all the credit. What any dog becomes depends on how it is raised, developed, handled and trained. Since she was a four-month-old puppy, Izzie has been hunted and worked at least three days a week.
In early January, on the Empire Ranch of Sonoita, Arizona, Izzie was named champion at the Region 12 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog Championship. She ran a strong, forward race and went on point where no dog had gone. At the shot, she stood tall and firm. Amazingly just days before, Izzie had placed third in the horseback derby stake.
Congratulations, Jeff and Izzie! You deserve that big blue ribbon.
To have a good wild bird dog takes hours and hours of training, days in the field and several seasons of hunting. To have a dog capable of winning a wild bird field trial championship takes that and so much more.
…field trials were not instituted for the purpose of bringing to the front a dog or class of dogs eminently suited for the wants of the average gunner, whose primary objective in using a dog afield is to swell the game bag, regardless of the manner that his dog performs. Rather it is for the purpose of bringing to the notice of the public a class of performers best suited to perpetuate the most desirable qualities possessed by the high-class field dog.
~William F, Brown, Field Trials 1947
The field trial competitor must stop on a flush, be steady to wing and shot, hunt in the right places and cover as much ground as possible, yet still stay in touch with the handler. The dog should always work in a forward fashion and with style, strength and flair. And to win big, the dog must not just perform well; it must perform to near perfection.
Preparation for fall trials begins in late June. The dogs start a physical conditioning routine three to four times per week to develop strength and stamina and to toughen their feet. In July, dogs are tuned up on their manners around birds with planted birds. For the next two months, the trainers/handlers spend many days traveling to areas where the dogs can be worked on wild birds. Physical conditioning continues and diets are strictly monitored to keep the dogs in peak condition. When the venues are horseback trials, another time-consuming level of commitment is necessary to condition and train several good horses.
After months of this intense preparation, the trainers/handlers again hit the road to attend the trials—some of which can be hundreds of miles away—and then spend more time at the trial. Each dog gets one chance, usually for an hour, to prove to the judges that they deserve to be named a champion.
Many things can go wrong and some are out of control of the handler. The luck of the draw is a major consideration. So too is incompatible weather, time of day, lack of birds or incompatible brace mates. It sometimes seems that the odds of everything coming together for a specific dog to win are nearly impossible.
This fall, three dogs produced by our kennel won wild bird championships. Good genetics are essential, but these owners/handlers deserve all the credit.
Betsy and I are proud of these dogs and thank their owners for their hard work and commitment.
2xCH/RU-CH Ridge Creek Cody (CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle)
Cody is owned by Larry Brutger of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Larry handles Cody in amateur horseback shooting dog trials and professional Shawn Kinklaar is the handler in open competition. Cody, handled by Larry, won the National Amateur Pheasant Shooting Dog Championship held in August near Circle, Montana. Larry also is successful in AKC field trial competition with Cody and his other setters.
CH Houston’s Blackjack (CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle)
Blackjack is co-owned by Frank LaNasa of Isanti, Minnesota, and Leroy Peterson of Slayton, Minnesota. Frank trains and handles Jack in open and amateur horseback shooting dog competition. In September, Blackjack was named champion at the National Amateur Prairie Chicken Shooting Dog Championship held at the Buena Vista field trials grounds near Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Frank is renowned for running championship pointers; this is his first championship win with a setter.
2xCH/RU-CH I’m Blue Gert (I’m Houston’s Image x Blue Silk)
Gert is owned by Dave and Rochelle Moore of Big Lake, Minnesota. Dave trains and handles Gert in wild bird grouse trials and hunts over her extensively. In October, Dave handled Gert to runner-up champion in the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship held in the Rum River State Forest near Mora, Minnesota. He has also been successful in wild bird field trials with other setters and pointers.
JTH Izzie (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer)
Even though Izzie is just a derby, I feel compelled to include her because she has all the makings to be a champion. Izzie is owned by Jeff Hintz of Ham Lake, Minnesota, and Tucson, Arizona. Jeff hunts, trains and competes in field trials in both locations. Izzie won first place in the Danforth Social Society and Fine Bird Dogs Open Derby held in late summer. She placed second in the Region 19 Amateur Derby, which was a horseback stake. In October, Izzie finished second in the Minnesota Grouse Dog Reuel Henry Pietz Derby Classic and won first place in the Moose River Grouse Dog Open Derby.
CH Houston’s Blackjack (CH Can’t Go Wrong x CH Houston’s Belle). Photo by Chris Mathan.
Our good friend and prairie camp partner Frank LaNasa handled his four-year-old Houston’s Blackjack to the dog’s first championship at the National Amateur Prairie Chicken Shooting Dog Championship held near Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, beginning September 21. Jean, Frank’s adept and vivacious wife, was also on horseback and scouted the dog to his two-find, country-eating race.
Jack is co-owned by Leroy Peterson.
Jack was bred by Paul Hauge and us in 2008 out of Paul’s superb 2X CH/4X RU-CH Houston’s Belle and another grouse champion, Can’t Go Wrong. That such a powerful horseback competitor was whelped by Belle is really no surprise to us. In fact, Belle placed in several horseback stakes herself due to her strength, far-reaching range and bird-finding ability.
In a cool bit of destiny, Jack won the companion derby there in 2010. If the definition of derby winner is the potential to win the championship, Jack’s derby judges definitely got it right.
Frank and Jean recently won a very nice derby stake with Jack’s son, Northwoods Nirvana, by our Northwoods Chardonnay. He bested all other young dogs at the Region 19 Amateur All Age Derby held near Solon Springs, Wisconsin.
Our congratulations to Frank, Jean and Leroy!
Frank waters Blackjack during training run in North Dakota.
Betsy and I are very proud of CH Ridge Creek Cody and his latest accomplishments. He won the 2012 Elwin G. Smith Setter Shooting Dog Award that honors the top setter shooting dog in the nation in open horseback competition.
Four-year-old Cody accumulated his points by winning the Idaho Open Shooting Dog Championship and placing runner-up in the All America Open Shooting Dog championship. Placing in these stakes is quite an accomplishment for a setter because his competition is mostly pointers and some outstanding ones at that.
In addition, Cody was just named champion in the National Amateur Pheasant Shooting Dog Championship held in Circle, Montana. Cody bested a field of 38 dogs with three finds and, according to one source, “a scintillating ground race.”
Cody is owned by Larry Brutger of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and handled by pro Shawn Kinkelaar. He was co-bred by us and Paul Hauge. He is out of Paul’s 2X CH/4X RU-CH Houston’s Belle and CH Can’t Go Wrong. He was whelped and raised at our kennel and I worked him at our North Dakota prairie camp his first summer.
Northwoods Classy Kate, setter female owned by Barry Frieler of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, put together a string of impressive placements this spring to win the 2012 Minnesota/Wisconsin Derby of the Year.
Consistency is the the essence of Kate’s performances. Trial after trial, she put down competitive races. Her drive to find birds, classy way of going, intensity and style on point combined with a strong desire to please were her trademarks.
Kate placed three times in four starts and had finished bird work in two of them.
2nd Chippewa Valley Grouse Dog Association Open Derby
1st Minnesota Grouse Dog Association Open Derby
2nd Minnesota Grouse Dog Association Open Derby
What’s even more impressive was that Kate wasn’t trialed at all last fall. Barry is a very serious grouse hunter and he preferred to be in the woods with Kate, working her along with his other two English setters. Barry sent Kate to Tennessee with us for training on quail for the past two winters which, along with her experience on wild birds, proved too much for the competition.
Kate was sired by Northwoods Blue Ox out of Houston’s Belle’s Choice. It appears to be all in the family as she is the second winner of this award produced by Choice. Last year, Northwoods Chardonnay, out of Choice by Blue Shaquille, won. Too, both of Kate’s grandmothers, CH Houston’s Belle and Blue Silk, won this award previously.
