Charlie earns return trip to Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship.

Chip's Charlie Brown (Charlie) earned his way back to the Grouse and Woodcock Invitational Championship this year. Charlie had a big placement adding a RU title at the New England Grouse Championship. A win at West Branch over 41 dogs also helped get Charlie back to the invitational. Below is Charlie with his RUCH ribbon.

Hawk gets two First Place wins in one month.

On December 20, 2013, Pine Straw Blackhawk (Hawk) took first place in the one hour horseback Open Restricted Shooting Dog (OLGD) stake at the Mid Florida Brittany Club trial. This was Hawk's second placement in a one hour horseback stake this season.

Hawk grabbed another blue ribbon with a win on January 20, 2014 in the Open Limited Gun Dog stake of the GSP of North Carolina trial. This trial was held at H. Cooper Black field trial grounds. Hawk is having a pretty good year so far.

Elle takes first place in Amateur Puppy stake!

Pine Straw Covergirl earned her first blue ribbon at the GSP of Atlanta field trial on January 12, 2014 in the Amateur Puppy stake. Elle was forward for the entire brace with some nice big moves. She looks good when she runs with a fancy gait and a cracking tail.

Kit and Elle score again in horseback stake, littermate Briar gets first placement.

Kit and Elle both earned placements in their very first horseback stake. At the Georgia Brittany Club's winter trial at Battleground Plantation near Wrightsville, GA. Kit took first place in the Open Puppy and Elle took second. Their litter mate Briar took 4th. This was the first time that either Kit or Elle had been handled from horseback. We were very pleased with the way the pups ran. Kit and Elle were rewarded with a trip to Harpole's Heartland Lodge and had a great time there.

5XCH/2XRU HIGHGROUND JAX JABBA X RUCH (AKC FC) PINE STRAW KATYDID

We just confirmed that Katie's breeding to Jabba took and she is pregnant. She should whelp about the 4th of February. We are excited about this breeding, which is a bit of a roll of the dice. In studying pedigrees we've seen that many of the great setters of the last two decades have been a cross of Tekoa Mountain Sunrise breeding to Smith or Smith/Grouse Ridge bred dogs. So we wanted to go that route and see what got. We have been very happy with Katie's first two litters and are eager to see what comes from this breeding. In addition to Jabba's amazing performance record, good looks, and size, we really like his pedigree. In looking at dogs with a lot of Sunrise, Jabba came to light for a cross with Katie because most of what he has in his pedigree that isn't Sunrise, goes back to dogs featured prominently in Katie's pedigree (Brannigan, I'm Oscar, Tomoka, Mr. Motion, and some Grouse Ridge dogs). While this may be a huge oversimplification of pedigree assessment, in this case we know that we are breeding one exemplary dog to another. Both have important wins on wild birds against big-time competition.

Both Katie and Jabba's pedigrees can be seen at http://www.williewalker.net/dogarchive3/details.php?id=502335&gens=8

If you have a question about Katie's upcoming litter you can contact us at esetters3@yahoo.com or 912-256-3826.