I know, I know - everyone is expecting and wanting breeding news.....but that's still a week or so off and in the meantime Spokane Bird Dog Association has been having some nice training days. Fowler is a mostly finished dog, but he still sometimes suffers from "the gun is a starter pistol" syndrome- meaning he hears the shot and takes off after the bird whether it's gone down or not. This can be great when a bird is lightly hit and immediate recovery is needed. But not so great when a covey goes down a mere 60 yards away and the dog runs through them assuming he is on retrieve. Now this doesn't happen everytime - if the birds are obviously gone, he won't move. But if he's feeling like there's any chance to retrieve his birdie, then all bets are off.  So while most of the time Fowler is a real joy to hunt with, there are times when his enthusiasm gets the best of him. 
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It's been a while since we have done any structured training with him. All of last fall was spent hunting wild birds, from Montana down to Arizona. So it was time for a tune up. Fowler did well - making me wonder why I brought him at all. He was steady through the shot and didn't even move a toe.  Next time we will try to shake him up with a lot of birds falling and see if he can keep his cool :)

Tule surprised us today by coming into heat about 5 weeks early. I expect breeding to occur in about 2 weeks. This would have pups due the first week of June and going home late July/early August.  If you are interested in getting on the puppy list, please contact me soonest and fill out the puppy application!

Earlier in December I was lucky enough to have Duck Creek's Kobuk, now Finn, drive out for a visit. Since none of the pups from Ember went to local homes, I knew any visits to the puppies would be few and far between.  Finn has really matured in a beautiful boy. He's got a very typical Drent temperament and in many ways is a 50-50% mashup of his parents. Enjoy some photos from our visit!

Well the time has finally come to make it official. Despite there never really being a great time to have puppies, we've decided to breed Tule on her next cycle to Fowler. Tule will be 4 years old in Spring of 2019, so if we are going to do it, it needs to be sooner rather than later for her first litter. This will also be Fowler's final litter, unless I decide to use the frozen semen that I have from him sometime much later down the road. But for now, this is it. 

If you are interested in a puppy from this litter, please feel free to complete the puppy application. 

Today we received Mila's premlinary grading back from the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals). She came back "Good" for hips and "Normal" for both elbows. This is great news. But why do this at 9 months old when it just has to be repeated at 24 months of age or later?! Mila was the only girl in the litter and there are hopes that she will have her own pups down the road - so screening her now gives a little insight into what to expect when it's time for her final evaluation, and it gives the go ahead to invest a bit more into her training with birds and so forth. 

This year we were lucky enough to spend a little over a week in Montana chasing birds...a couple of days in Eastern Montana and then nearly a week in Bozeman catching the end of the September blue grouse season. The Bozeman trip was Fowler's first time to hunt blue grouse and he had a great time. Learning the game of the forest birds wasn't easy for Fowler, but he had a nice point on a single and a couple of nice retrieves. The weather has started changing here and there and we were blessed with some lovely fall colors and cool temperatures. Overall, a great trip. Please enjoy the photos :)

How is it possible that my baby puppies are already 6 weeks old! They are over 8 lbs, wearing collars, eating out of big dog bowls, and really developing their own personalities. Not much going on this week - just plenty of play time and socializing while we wait until the 7 week evaluations to happen. Then I will know who is going where!