We are so proud of Lizzy and how she is doing in the early stages of her bird dog training. She is a joy to be around and is great with my kids and other dogs. She likes to retrieve things and play fetch, and man is she one bird crazy dog. I have some bird pens in my barn where I keep chukar and quail and she will stand there for hours watching the birds. I usually have to physically remove her from the bird barn. It is worse when we go to the pheasant farm because the flight pens are quite lengthy and she goes round and round it pointing birds.

We have introduced her to clipped wing pigeons and some quail and she has the bird-drive in her. Can’t wait for a few more months when we can get a little more serious and start introducing the gun. She follows me around the yard when I do chores and loves to ride in the truck.

Mowgli has been working with Chris Colt at Cove Mountain Kennels on some basic obedience and introduction to birds. He is a unique dog in that he is so full of energy it has been hard to get him settled down enough to learn. He is getting better at his birdwork and just started really standing his birds this past week or two. We really struggled with his “sitting” problem where he would sit anytime he was under pressure. But, Chris has pretty much brought him through that using Dave Walker’s training method of stand up – stand still.

Chris has recommended getting him out on some wild chukar next month where he can really stretch his legs and never catch a bird. That is the one drawback to dog training with pigeons. Sometimes they don’t flush very well at all and the dogs learn that they can jump in and catch them. Our quail are looking good for this year and we are anxious to set up or recall pen for the fall training season. The picture below is Mowgli’s first real point this morning, I was late on the snapshot but he initially had his front leg up and his tail high.

Just sending in Tony’s papers for the Central and Western futurities put on by the American Brittany Club. There were quite a few litters nominated with Tony’s in 2008 but I think less than half will actually be entered in the competitions. There are events for Show and Field and the events are designed to showcase and promote excellent litters bred and whelped in 2008. I am hoping to be able to attend the Western futurities down in Arizona to see Tony run in January. To see the dogs that performed well this year (2007 bred litters) you can click here for the Central, for the Western results click here and for the Eastern Results click here. It will be exciting to see how Tony and his litter mates stack up against other young Brittany dogs.

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:

AKC Hunt Tests for Pointing Dog Breeds

National Shoot To Retrieve Association (NSTRA)

North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA)

The Versatile Hunting Dog Federation (VHDF)

American Field Trial Clubs of America (AFTCA)