Buster came to us as a finished dog and will be a big help as we head into the fall pheasant hunting season. We have taken him out on live birds and he looks great on point and is nearly whoa broke. Buster is a product of Dave Walker Brittany’s and his sire is FC Ricoche-T and his dam is Sweet Dreams who is heavily bred on DC/NFC Ban Dee on the top. We are hoping to use Buster as a stud dog in the near future. He has a great natural retrieve and is a pleasure to have in the kennel and in the home.
A side note: Annie came into heat this week and started spotting today. We are planning a breeding between her and Buster if all goes well. Puppies would be expected around October 17th and would be ready for their new homes right around mid-December. These should be excellent hunting dogs with a calm nature, strong nose and a natural retrieve.
After a few months of loafing and enjoying the lazy days of summer the dogs tend to lose some muscle and get pudgy like their owner. With the fall pheasant hunting season only 2 months away it is time for our daily runs to get back on track. With temperatures reaching into the high 90′s during the day we usually go for our run first thing in the morning when it is still cool out. The dogs are a little soft so it will take a couple weeks to get back in shape and running hard.
Yesterday we picked up this white and liver brittany dog named Buster. He is a nice sized 4-year-old male out of Dave Walkers brittany kennels. Buster’s sire is FC Ricoche-T or “Rico” and his dam is Sweet Dreams who is a Beans Blaze bred female by DC Chick’s Blaze’N Sawtooth Sam JH. We are excited to add Buster to our brittany kennels and look forward to shooting a lot of pheasants for him this fall at the pheasant hunting preserve.
This is Tony from Blueridge Brittany kennels in Texas. He was purchased this week and will be going to training camp in Nebraska with David Downing to get ready for some fall hunting. David will be competing with Tony in a few trials to get some puppy points if all goes well. We are looking forward to watching Tony’s progress in his bird dog training. You can see Tony’s (Blueridge’s Race-N-Win) complete pedigree here.
I was hoping for a puppy out of this same breeding, but the repeat breeding didn’t take. After talking with David he mentioned that this male brittany was available from last years litter. After thinking it over I decided to go ahead and get this good looking male brittany from the futurity nominated litter between Rob and Kelly.
This week we shot a pigeon over Mowgli and he did very well. I was using my single shot 20 gauge and I was about 20 feet out shooting away from the dog. Luckily, I actually hit the bird (I usually miss). Mowgli went right to the downed bird and brought it back in a round about manner. We will likely shoot a couple more birds for him before we go into getting him to hold his points. I think the goal with a young pup is to make sure they are excited about birds and have no sensitivity to gun fire.
Chris Colt of Cove Mountain Kennels is helping me get Annie steady to wing and shot. She caught a few birds and that set us back some. She believes she can catch any bird that she points and we are trying to break her of that. When she sets up on a point, she gets stimulation if she even lifts a leg. It is challenging to learn the body language and suttle cues.
I am very excited about the deposit I have on a dual quality brittany litter in Texas. The breeding is between two outstanding dual champion brittany dogs DC T’Kalis Feel The Wind and DC TC’s Match Box Racer. These puppies are due on June 22nd and should be amazing dual potential quality dogs. This is a repeat breeding by David Downing of Blue Ridge Brittanys. Puppies from last years litter are undefeated in puppy stakes and are doing well in the show ring as well. I have been waiting for this breeding to take place as I wanted to buy a brittany puppy from parents that were dual champions. For more information you can contact Dave directly by phone or email by visiting his website.
Mowgli is the latest addition to our kennel. Mowgli was whelped on June 13th of 2008 and is a liver and white American Brittany. He was placed with us by some nice folks who found him to be more than they bargained for. He is a very high energy dog and has a little more size to him than the average brittany. He may be a little bigger than the brittany standard but after speaking with brittany expert Ben O Williams about hunting the open country I have been leaning towards the larger brittany males. Chasing chukar here in Utah requires a dog that can really cover some ground.
Mowgli was started immediately on bird introduction with a clipped wing pigeon and he showed excellent bird/prey drive. A few days later we fired the starter pistol over him while he was chasing a carded pigeon and he showed no signs of noise/gun sensitivity. We will try a 20 gauge shotgun fired at a distance and work up to a 12 gauge at closer ranges to be sure there is no problems with the gun. He loves to get out and cover ground and has won the hearts of my children. He handles well for my 6 and 8 year old daughters on walks to the park and is patient when they insist on combing his thick coat.
I sent in his AKC registration papers today and look forward to learning more about the pedigree and breeding which was from a small family kennel in Alpine, UT. Mowgli is at the perfect age to get serious about his hunting dog training so I am excited to have a second dog in my kennel while I am working on breaking Annie to be steady to wing and shot.
What do you do with your hunting dog when the hunting season ends? Join the club! I’m talking about clubs where you can compete in AKC hunt tests, field trials and fun hunts. I wasn’t able to be there Saturday but Annie passed her first leg of the AKC title “Junior Hunter”. My good friend Chris Colt handled Annie in her first AKC hunt test and she did great. It takes 4 passing runs before she obtains the official JH title behind her name. The spring hunt test was hosted by the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Utah (GSPCU) of which I am one of the newest members.
Next month we will be attending a National Shoot To Retrieve Association (NSTRA) field trial to see how that particular competition is run. I just received my NSTRA membership packet and rule book in the mail today. I look forward to competing with Annie in these competitions and especially look forward to making some new friends and seeing some talented dogs. Joining a local hunting dog club is a great way to meet new people and learn how to train dogs. Club members are always willing to offer advice and even help you in training your hunting dog. Many clubs meet monthly and often host just for fun hunts or training days as well as formal gun dog competitions.
So get off the couch and join a local bird dog club or gun dog association and get your dog tuned up for next years hunting season. Here are a couple of hunting dog clubs to look into:
This week I guided three days at the pheasant hunting preserve. The birds get a bit silly this time of year and the roosters are running like crazy. The skittish birds and the sparse cover can make for some very challenging pheasant hunting conditions. Annie did well but I decided to take the owners seasoned shorthair pepper to help us out. Pepper has a unique talent that he has developed over 6-7 years of being a guide dog at the pheasant farm. When another dog goes on point, pepper circles around the bird to block their escape. This comes in quite handy when the roosters are running on us.
This is a picture taken after the successful late season pheasant hunt. Pepper’s blocking skills were much appreciated by the clients who ended up taking home a good pile of pheasants (mostly roosters). Another fun thing was a successful water retrieve by Annie when a bird was shot and dropped into the river. She is great with water retrieves as long as she marks the bird down. She hesitates a little still with blind water retrieves. We will work on this during the spring and summer training sessions.
I tried to get some video of Pepper demonstrating his unique skill, but I was a little late getting the camera out. The one thing I don’t like is that Annie won’t fight for a retrieve with a competitive dog. She will just let the other dog have it if they get to the bird at the same time. Sometimes I like to work Annie alone so she can do it all. Pepper is not one to share any of the retrieving duties. With all of our birds sold at the pheasant farm we are winding down for a few months until we get 5,000 day-old pheasant chicks in May and start the whole process over again.
One of my favorite things about training dogs is sharing with others, especially young people. I invited a couple of friends the other day to come and watch my dogs work and to be my shooters. My neighbor and avid hunter John C. (left) with his son had a fun time chasing pheasants while I worked with Annie on being more steady on point. My other friend Aaron came up from SG with his son to see the cover and tour the pheasant hunting preserve where I work as a guide. Aaron raises and trains german shorthairs and is the breeder of the dog Ace that I am currently working with.
Chris Colt of cove mountain kennels was out working with his new english pointer “Max”. It was his first time to watch Max working around birds and he was anxious to see where to start the training. Max seemed to have plenty of bird drive and not much problem with guns and noise sensitivity. It was fun to be the bird man for Chris and to watch him work and train the dogs from his kennel. Chris has been looking for a new pointing dog since he lost his wirehair Aika this past year to old age. This new english pointer just might be the ticket. Watch the video of Max’s first pheasant on YouTube.
Ace did well and had a fabulous back with Annie pointing a covey of wild valley quail that live on the property. We are trying to grow the quail population on the pheasant farm as they are a nice addition to the game birds. We use bobwhite quail for training but the valley quail are much more beautiful. I wish I could have got a picture of it but I was proud of Annie and Ace for their solid bird work.
This is an American Brittany puppy I am looking at out of Texas. The litter was planned and whelped by Laura Wilder and David Downing of Blue Ridge Kennels. I was looking for a strong male dog with the liver coloring. The other thing I was looking for was a puppy that had dual champions on both sides. To me it was important to have a dog with the conformation and looks as well as the bird hunting and pointing instincts. Now I don’t plan to field trial this year but I can appreciate the skills that are required to win in both field trials and dog shows.
Speaking with Dave today he said that the Dam (CH T’Kalis Feel The Wind) just received her last field trial points needed to earn her the DC title. The Sire of the litter (DC TC’s Match Boks Racer) earned his DC title at just 3 years old. The only drawback with an older puppy is that you miss out on some of the crucial socialization period when they are 8-12 weeks old. I like the breeding and am leaning toward getting a puppy from the next litter. The only problem is figuring out how to get a puppy from Texas to Utah, might have to take a little road trip.
On the subject of naming a new puppy I decided to go with a WWII theme for the dog, specifically about airplanes from that era. I am hoping to stick with this theme for any future males in my dog kennel. His official AKC registered name will be “Annabella’s B-17 Flying Fortress” and his call name will be “Bomber”. You can check out his complete pedigree here.
