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.
What do puppies dream about?
Northwoods Big Bang (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, whelped Feb. 6, 2019)
Hands down, my favorite job responsibility at Northwoods Bird Dogs is the whelping and raising of puppies. Jerry’s favorite is their development.
Besides obvious distinctions such as color and gender, it’s hard to tell much difference in personality, conformation, mature size, instinct or talent when our puppies are younger than about 12 weeks of age. By about four months though, when Jerry begins their formal training in earnest, we begin to notice individual traits.
Northwoods Stardust (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, whelped Feb. 7, 2019)
Puppies from our four Big Bang* (explained below) litters are now five and seven months of age and Jerry and I are really excited. They represent the very best of our setter lines and our single outstanding pointer line.
Our 2019 puppies are:
Northwoods Cosmic Ray (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, whelped Dec. 4, 2018)
Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, Dec. 18, 2018)
Northwoods Atom, Northwoods Big Bang, Northwoods Super Nova (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, whelped Feb. 6, 2019)
Northwoods Cosmos, Northwoods Stardust (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, whelped Feb. 7, 2019)
* Almost as much fun as whelping and developing all these puppies is naming them. The thing began, innocently enough, with our first pointer CH Dance Smartly. Her call name was Dancer—and it perfectly suited her. She was strong and graceful, poised and confident. Dancer’s first litter by CH Brooks Elhew Ranger in 1997 produced a handsome liver-and-white male that Jerry and I named Dasher, continuing the reindeer theme. Next came Prancer, Vixen, Blitzen and, our newest, Comet.
Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, Dec. 18, 2018)
Comet, fortunately for us, coincides with this year’s naming theme. Due to our joint fascination with astrophysics and the hit tv show, we decided on Big Bang for 2019.
Our first setter theme was in 2004 when we honored NBA Los Angeles Lakers players Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. (We had rooted for The Lakers for many years, although latter teams could never touch the alchemy and power of the Magic Johnson/James Worthy/Kareen Abdul-Jabbar era.) Other good years include Beer and Wine, Luxury Designers, Gods and Goddesses, Cheese, Cocktails, Geology and elements of the Periodic Table.
Northwoods Cosmic Ray (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, whelped Dec. 4, 2018)
Northwoods Cosmos (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, whelped Feb. 7, 2019)
Northwoods Super Nova (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, whelped Feb. 6, 2019)
Northwoods Atom (Northwoods Rob Roy x Northwoods Minerva, whelped Feb. 6, 2019)
Eight-week-old Leo curls up for a nap in a tub filled with his puppy toys.
Among the dogs in our kennel, Betsy and I have every trait we’d ever want. The challenge for us as breeders is to get as many—if not all—of those characteristics into each pup.
Leo picks up a bobwhite quail and brings it back to hand at nine weeks of age.
We think we have one now with just about all of them. It is setter male Northwoods Lyon, call name Leo. He has the brains and the nose. He has the temperament and personality. He hunts with verve and determination. He goes to his birds with the right mix of boldness and caution. He is high-headed and straight-tailed on point. He’s naturally staunch to flush, backs, and retrieves to hand with a soft mouth. He handles from foot or horseback and finds as many wild birds as dogs twice his age.
And Leo is only nine months old.
By fall, four-month Leo handled in the woods, found and pointed many woodcock.
Leo was whelped on June 3, 2018, by Northwoods Minerva (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) bred to Northwoods Grits (Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis, 2011). Carly and Grits represent our two best nicks.
Leo spent a weekend in the northern Minnesota woods at 19 weeks of age–hunting during the day and playing with girls in the evening.
Why do Betsy and I even own Leo? Serendipity. There were extra males in the litter and near the end of the picks, a cute orange-and-white one with a dark nose and eyes was left. We picked him.
Six-month-old Leo easily transitioned to the piney woods of northern Florida and found this covey.
Leo inherited almost every trait we’d want and showed us at this early age what he has. But, more than that, in a year when we lost two of our all-time favorite dogs—dogs that were also sires of those two nicks, Shaq (Blue Shaquille) and Oscar (Northwoods Blue Ox)—Leo assuaged our grief and loss.
Even though Leo is his own dog, he is the embodiment of Shaq and Oscar.
Leo beats two bracemates to this find at seven months of age.
In this video, Leo points a covey that was spread out and feeding. His relocation is bold and confident. He exactly locates two quail and points staunchly until flush.
Spring in Georgia just wouldn’t seem right without a bunch of puppies romping in the sunshine on warm grass.
The current litter was whelped out Northwoods Carbon by Northwoods Grits in late December. At 35 lbs., Carbon isn’t a big dog but she carried and whelped nine—three females and six males—and has since cared for them all in spectacular fashion.
Jerry and I are keeping a couple of the puppies but the rest will soon be off to their excited buyers. Three will be shipped to Minnesota and another is flying to his new home in Great Falls, Montana. Puppy buyers are also driving from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Falls, Pennsylvania.
During a frigid cold snap, one-week-old puppies out of Northwoods Carbon by Northwoods Grits stay warm on the 100-degree nest and under the red glow of a heat lamp.
As a late Christmas present, Northwoods Carbon whelped a litter of three females and six males on December 26. All nine puppies are tricolor.
This litter’s sire, Northwoods Grits, is out of one of our favorite nicks—Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis. Grits inherited the best of both parents. From Ox, Grits got gusto, drive, speed and his sweet, calm nature while Chablis passed on her bird-finding, class and poise around game.
As previous litters have proven, puppies out of Grits inherit his talents and temperament.
Due to the lopsided gender distribution of this litter, some males are available.
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.
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.
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.
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
Happiness is a warm puppy
~ Charles M. Schulz
Simply and clearly, Schulz conveyed his sentiment and, as usual, it was faultless.
And now, at six weeks of age, the eight puppies out of Northwoods Carly Simon by RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus are extremely huggable.
