Sugar first place at the Susquehanna Brittany Club fall trial!

 CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea scored a blue ribbon at the Susquehanna Brittany Club's Fall 2020 trial. Sugar topped a field of 18 dogs under the whistle of Jeanette Tracy. Her 1st place run included six quality finds. Big thanks to Jeanette for her work to make Sugar the best she can be. Great job Jeanette!!

CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea back in form to take 1st at Brittany Club of Upper New York

 Over Labor Day weekend, CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar) took 1st place in the Open Limited stake at the Brittany Club of Upper New York's fall field trial. The stake drew 29 dogs and Sugar ran against some stiff competition. Big thanks to Jeanette Tracy handled Sugar to this win. 

Sugar Whelps Two Nice Females in Repeat Breeding to Shamrock

In a bit of a roller coaster pregnancy, CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea produced two beautiful female puppies by CH/RU Erin's Hidden Shamrock. We were told by a vet that she was not pregnant after two ultrasounds. So we thought it hadn't taken. She ran in the National Championship and just didn't have her normal pop after about 45 minutes. When her milk fully came in it became apparent she wasn't having a false pregnancy. And so we have these two pretty girls. We plan on keeping both for a while to see how they develop. (photo credit to Agnes Lynch)

Vitali's Grouse Ringer Justify garners another derby placement.

Vitali's Grouse Ringer Justify took third place in the Open Derby stake of the Bluegrass Walking Shooting Dog club's spring trial on February 22, 2020. A big race and 3 nice finds helped "T" gain the placement for his owner and handler Gary Vitali. We very much appreciate the job Gary's doing with this talented youngster. We also appreciate the BWSD's efforts to hold the trial. The photo is courtesy of the BWSD.

"T" is from our Erin's Hidden Shamrock X CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea litter.

Pine Straw's Tupelo Honey is on the board!

Pine Straw's Tupelo Honey (call name Moxie), seen above in a workout with Jeanette Tracy, recently got her first derby placement by taking third place at the Town Creek Open Derby in Hardaway, Alabama. The stake drew 16 dogs. Moxie's run included some big moves and a broke find on a large Alabama covey.

Moxie is out of our Multiple CH Erin's Hidden Shamrock X CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea litter. She is not yet two years old.

Big thanks to Jeanette for her work with Moxie and the folks at Martino Kennels in putting on the event.

CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea qualifies for the 2020 National Shooting Dog Championship.

CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea has qualified for the 2020 National Shooting Dog Championship. Big thanks to Jeanette Tracy for her work with "Sugar" and getting her to this milestone. The Championship is held near Union Springs Alabama in early February. We are not sure if Sugar will compete, breeding plans might keep her out of the trial.

Shamrock X Sugar Son Earns Derby Placement

Vitali's Grouse Ringer Justify (T) earned second place in the Michigan Brittany Grouse Dog Association Open Derby stake on October 6, 2019. T's race in combination with a woodcock find settled him firmly into the second place spot.  We love when our dogs place and getting it done on wild birds is icing on the cake.

T is from our breeding of our winning female, CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea to CH/RU Erin's Hidden Shamrock. Some may wonder how a son of an AA champion mated to a Shooting Dog champion can result in a successful cover dog competitor. Well, if you look through T's pedigree you'll find prominent grouse dogs top and bottom. His maternal grand-dam is RUCH Pine Straw Katydid that took Runner-Up at the National Amateur Grouse Championship and her sire (T's great grand-sire) was GNGCH Chip's Uncle Buzzy who won the Grand National Grouse Championship. So he's got serious grouse dogs up close in his pedigree.

We appreciate Gary Vitali putting the work in to developing T as a bird dog. Congrats on a qualifying win Gary! And thanks for sending us the picture!

Sugar bests a field of 50 at the English Setter Club of America Labor Day Weekend Trial.

On Labor Day Weekend 2019, CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea ran in the Open Shooting Dog Stake at the English Setter Club of America's Trial. The stake drew 50 dogs and under the whistle of Jeanette Tracy, Sugar took first place.  Jeanette's up and coming scout, Taydem Boyer assisted in the effort, rounding out the team.

It was a nice way to start the field trial season.

Sugar wins again at York Pointer and Setter Club!

CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar) wrapped up a great year with a first place finish in the Open Shooting Dog Stake at the York Pointer and Setter Club's spring (2019) trial. Sugar's four find performance under the whistle of Jeanette Tracy of Ladywood Kennels topped a field of 20 tough competitors. We greatly appreciate the folks at the York Pointer and Setter Club for their efforts in holding the event and the judges that put the time in the saddle to look at the dogs.

Sugar had a very good field trial year and we plan to breed her next year for a spring of 2020 litter. We haven't made the decision on the stud at this point, but stay tuned if you're interested.

Puppies available by Pine Straw Smudge

Pine Straw Smudge (CH/RU Chip's Torquato X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid) has a litter on the ground out of Breakaway Sugar. Smudge is probably the best wild bird dog we have produced. While he has walking and horseback placements, his full time job now is being a grouse dog and he is the best grouse dog we've seen. Smudge is a litter mate to Elwin G. Smith Award winner Pine Straw Blackhawk and a half brother (via RUCH Pine Straw Katydid) to CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea.

Breakaway Sugar is a fancy bird finder in her own right. And she brings some powerhouse dogs into the breeding with what is behind her.

The pedigree of these pups is not only packed with cover dog champions like GNGCH/CH Chip's Uncle Buzzie and 5XCH Grouse Ridge Reroy, it also contains Ridge Creek Cody and CH Hamilton's Blue Diamond.

All pups are white and orange and they were born April 17, 2019.  They will be old enough to enjoy their first season hunting this fall. They are in Michigan.

If interested call Dale Ash - (616)318*8254

CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea takes first at Delaware Pointer and Setter Club

On March 29, CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea took first place in the Open Shooting Dog Stake at the Delaware Pointer and Setter Club's spring trial.  Under the whistle of Jeanette Tracy of Ladywood Kennels, Sugar topped a field of 20 shooting dogs. Way to go Jeanette and Sugar!!!

Vitali's Grouseringer Justify scores again.

Gary Vitali's pup "T" took third place in the open puppy stake of the Elkhorn Bird Dog Club trial. This NBHA trial was held on February 9th, 2019 at Berea, Kentucky. I was told that T's only "fault" in his run was that with 3 finds he found too many birds, including a well dug up find on a woodcock.

Below is a picture of "T" when he was still with us at Pine Straw Kennels.  As I've mentioned before, he is out of our CH/RU Erin's Hidden Shamrock X CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea litter.

Shamrock X Sweet Tea Puppy on the Board

With all the excitement of Sugar (CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea) winning a championship (Northeastern SD CH) and a runner-up champion (Garden State SD CH) I almost failed to mention the first CH/RU Erin's Hidden Shamrock X CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea puppy to score a placement.

Vitali's Grouseringer Justified (T) garnered a 2nd place in the Chuck Pagano Puppy Classic held in Michigan this past fall. This pup is showing what appears to be very good potential.

We would like to thank Gary Vitali for getting this pup from us and giving him the time and experience needed to start him down the road toward becoming a field trial bird dog. We are hopeful and excited to see what Gary and this pup can do together.

With his dad having made an appearance at the National Championship, his maternal grandsire Mult CH Highground Jax Jabba making 7 appearances at the National, his dam earning a spot at the Shooting Dog National, his maternal grand dam having competed in the Grouse and Woodcock Invitational, and one of his maternal great grandsires being a Grand National Grouse Champion; he has some big shoes to fill. We'll see if he's up to the task.

Pine Straw Smudge - amazing grouse dog and grouse dog producer.

Pine Straw Smudge (CH/RU Chip's Torquato X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid) has earned a reputation in the grouse woods of Michigan as being a pre-eminent grouse dog. And now he has proven to be a producer of top quality grouse dogs.

In mid October of 2018 I got to spend a weekend in the U.P. hunting grouse and woodcock with Smudge, his buddy Dale Ash, and Dale's brother Les. I also was fortunate to see two young dogs out of Smudge: Dale's 6 month old female Patty and year and a half old Rusty who belonged to Les.

Smudge did his thing and got multiple grouse and woodcock finds. He is an amazing wild bird dog. He just knows where to find grouse and how to handle them.

But what really warmed my heart was seeing the two young bird finders allowing their inbred talent to show on grouse and woodcock.  Patty is a pretty white and orange Smudge daughter with a facial marking like her dad (I told Dale he should have named her Smudgette).  She was amazing for a 6 month old baby. She was fancy, well mannered, and seemed to always pattern to the front. And she could find birds! Every time she hit the ground she had productive points.

The last time we had her on the ground she had a long stretch with no bird contact and we were afraid her streak would end.  Just about that time she pushed out on an independent cast over a hundred yards to the front and went on point. Dale and I rushed to her and after a whirlwind 10 minutes we had one woodcock in the bag and 3 more pointed that didn't give us shots. This little girl sure seems like she's going to be some kind of cover dog.

Rusty, Patty's half-brother from Smudge and a different dam, put on awesome performances every time down.  I don't want to jinx Les, but Rusty was extremely biddable all the time.  While he hunted independently, the connection he showed with Les was impressive for a dog of that young age. I love my bird dogs to want to please and Rusty showed that.  He also showed he could find birds. Every time we had him out he found woodcock AND grouse. Every. Time.

The find that sticks in my mind the most came only minutes after we'd turned Rusty loose one morning.  We were literally within 50 yards of the truck when Rusty's bell went silent. He had dropped off the edge of the road into a thicket of mixed types of trees that bordered a marshy area. We located him quickly and as the three of us tried to get close a gorgeous red phase grouse rocketed out. None of us had a shot. We started lamenting our inability to knock the bird down for the young Setter. Rusty had held firm through the explosive flush, which impressed us all as well.  Les started to get close to Rusty in order to release him, and a woodcock flushed from within a few yards or where the grouse had been. Les was able to stop the timber doodle's escape and reward Rusty for his diligence and manners.

I was so happy to be able to hunt over Smudge again.  And I was just as glad to see that he is passing along both his bird finding abilities and biddability.

Big thanks to Dale and Les for taking me along and showing me these promising Smudge puppies.

If you'd be interested in getting a pup out of Smudge or any of our dogs, give me a shout.

Sugar takes Runner-Up at Garden State Championship

Sugar is now CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea after her Runner-Up win at the Garden State Shooting Dog Championship. Sugar's 4 finds and great race for handler Jeanette Tracy on the last day of the trial were enough to garner the Runner-Up title. We greatly appreciate Jeanette's work with Sugar and guiding her to a pretty good year so far.

Sugar wins Northeastern Open Shooting Dog Championship!

Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar) has won the Northeastern Open Shooting Dog Championship. Sugar was handled by Jeanette Tracy of Ladywood Farms.  Sugar had 8 finds in her bid to take the title.  Sugar has shown a lot of promise even from a puppy. She was runner-up for the Bill Conlin Setter Shooting Dog Derby award in her derby year and had amassed some quality placements in her first couple years as a shooting dog.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea is out of Multiple CH Highground Jax Jabba and our RUCH Pine Straw Katydid.  She is one of the most classy Setters we've produced and is obviously a very good bird finder.

Huge thanks go to Jeanette for developing Sugar and bringing her to the level that she has achieved.

Sugar shows she's back from maternity leave with two solid placements.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea has returned to trialing with a vengeance. Sugar took second place in a 22 dog Open Shooting Dog stake at the English Setter Club of America's fall trial at Medford, NJ. She followed that up with a 1st place in a Open Restricted Shooting Dog stake at an AKC/American Field dual sanctioned trial in late September. We're hopeful Sugar is on her way to a great trial year.

Pine Straw Magpie available for sale to the right home.

WE HAVE FOUND A HOME FOR MAGGIE. THANKS TO ALL THAT EXPRESSED INTEREST.

We are offering our Pine Straw Magpie for sale to the right home. Maggie is 6 years old and is a finished gun dog.  We think Maggie would be a great fit for someone looking for their first fully trained bird dog, someone that makes regular trips to a hunting preserve and needs a well mannered hunter, or a family that has up and coming young bird hunters that would benefit from the thrill of hunting behind their own dog.

Maggie is very petite, weighing approximately 34 pounds and is quite portable.  She is affectionate and very much wants to please. She points, backs, and retrieves.

If you are interested in hearing more about Maggie you can email us at pinestrawsetters@gmail.com.

Erin's Hidden Shamrock X Pine Straw Sweet Tea pups have arrived!

We are excited to have these four beautiful Sugar Babies from or breeding of Sugar (Pine Straw Sweet Tea) to Erin's Hidden Shamrock.

We think that this breeding of a multiple titled AA champion to our promising up and coming horseback shooting dog Sugar will be a good one.  Sugar was runner-up for the Bill Conlin Setter Shooting Dog Derby Award her derby year and garnered some wins as a shooting dog last year.  She came close to some really big wins a couple times this fall and then she took the rest of the year off to have these pups.

We are really looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Pine Straw Evangeline gets her first field trial placement.

Pine Straw Evangeline (Emmy) earned her first field trial placement on January 20, 2018.  Emmy's three find performance in the Amateur Derby stake at the Vizsla Club of Metro Atlanta's field trial helped her take third place.  Emmy is out of our breeding of 2X Nat'l CH Shadow Oak Bo to RUCH Pine Straw Katydid.