Dogs available - Update Elle and Dash have found homes

We occasionally have started dogs or puppies for sale. To be honest, we essentially breed for ourselves and our goals. But we can't keep all the pups from every litter and when we do have a litter, there are usually some that are available for purchase. We usually keep 20-50% of the puppies and begin to develop them. While we are bird hunters first, our main goal in breeding is to produce dogs that will be successful in field trials. I believe, based on experience, that good trial dogs can make great hunting dogs. However, there are a lot of really good hunting dogs that aren't cut out for the field trial game, often because of stylistic differences between what is seen as ideal for a trial dog. Often we have dogs that we work hard to develop and evaluate, giving them time and training to show if they can be successful as field trial competitors, but in the end they just don't quite have all it takes to be a stylish, dead broke (steady to wing and shot) trial dog. And those dogs we then try to find loving hunting homes for.

We care deeply about our dogs, they are part of the family. And so when we have one that we've put time and effort into developing but it won't make a trial dog, we start trying to find the right home for it. We do sell these dogs, but we are more interested in the right home than how much we can sell them for. Because of that, I rarely post a price on these dogs. We try to work with the right people to get the dog a wonderful home.

HUNTING DOG AVAILABLE

Pine Straw Covergirl (ELLE)

WE HAVE FOUND A HOME FOR ELLE.

Elle is almost 4 years old, runs beautifully, has an awesome loving and biddable personality, finds birds and gets them pointed. Elle is available as a hunting dog. Contact us for more details on Elle and price.

We do sometimes have young field trial prospects that are available as well. If we feel we have a particularly promising group of pups we've kept from a litter who all show potential we may be willing to let one go to a field trial home. At this time (Jan. 2017) we have such a litter with three young (5 month old) dogs that all appear to us to have field trial potential. So if you are serious about a young field trial Setter give us a call.

FIELD TRIAL PROSPECTS

These pups will be 6 months old on Jan. 13. They are 2X National Champion Shadow Oak Bo X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid.

DASH

WE HAVE FOUND A HOME FOR DASH

Dash is showing a lot of potential. He is leggy and runs with a fancy tail. He is very birdy and is diligent in his searching. We kept Dash because a buyer changed their mind and then shortly afterward he broke a bone in his leg. So we kept him through rehab and continued his development. We have been assured that the leg is now fine and in fact will be stronger than it would have been. We would really like to see Dash go to a field trial home of some kind.

EMMY and CHESTER

Emmy (tricolored female) and Chester (O&W Male) are where we are going to have a tough time deciding. Emmy is fast and snappy, and a very seriously good bird finder. She is pointing with rare intensity for this age, and hits those points hard. Chester is very fancy running, uses his nose well with his head up and points with style. He is the kind of pup that wants to go with you, not just run off, while still being bold about going and searching for birds. While we aren't actively seeking a home for either Emmy or Chester, the right person may be able to talk us into selling one of them, but we are pretty serious about seeing how they develop as field trial prospects.

EXPERIENCED FIELD TRIAL DOG MAGGIE has been sold. She will be a Texas bird finder come the fall. We sold Maggie to experienced quail hunter and new friend Dean.

At this time we have one experienced field trial dog who is available. AKC Field Champion Pine Straw Magpie has a number of field trial placements, both AKC and American Field, and both walking and horseback. Maggie is out of Grand National Grouse Champion Chip's Uncle Buzzie X Annibel Blue Sky. Maggie is a dead broke field trial dog, or would make an outstanding polished hunting dog. Maggie is just one point shy of her AKC Amateur Field Champion title at this time (Jan 2017). We will continue to trial her as long as we have her. She is lively and quick and looks good on her birds. Maggie weighs about 36 pounds when in trial shape. She has whelped one litter of puppies several of whom are promising derbies on Jeanette Tracy's string. Maggie is 4 years old.

If interested in any of the dogs or you want to talk about our dogs, field trials, or our future breeding plans feel free to contact me at pinestrawsetters@gmail.com or call 912-256-3826.

Pine Straw Country Sunshine takes first All Age placement on the prairies.

Pine Straw Country Sunshine (Dottie) went big and brought home a 3rd place in the Leon Covington Jr. All Age trial held near Trail City, South Dakota. Dottie has been coming along well and she showed that she can really roll when called for. We have high hopes for Dottie, both in trials and as a future dam for Pine Straw puppies.

Pine Straw Magpie gets 3rd in Amateur Limited Gun Dog.

Pine Straw Magpie (Maggie) garnered a third place in the Amateur Gun Dog stake of the Weimaraner Club of Greater Louisville trial in November of 2016. This was Maggie's first trial of the year and she did a nice job nocking the rust off to come in with a third place ribbon. Maggie is fun to handle.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea comes in at runner-up for 2016 Bill Conlin English Setter Shooting Dog Derby award.

Jeanette Tracy and her scout Dillon Shaffer had a good year with Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar). With multiple derby placements, Sugar was in the mix all year but was edged out in the end. We are proud of Sugar and excited to see what her career holds.

CH Pine Straw Black Hawk named 2016 Elwin G. Smith English Setter Shooting Dog Award winner!

We have received notice that CH Pine Straw Black Hawk won the 2016 Elwin G. Smith English Setter Shooting Dog Award. We greatly appreciate the English Setter Awards committee keeping this award going and keeping track of the points earned. Huge thanks to Jeanette Tracy and her scout Dillon Shaffer for their great work with Hawk and a fantastic year with him. It has been virtually a life long goal to breed a dog that won this award and we are ecstatic with Hawk's accomplishment.

Runner-Up Champion / AKC Field Champion Pine Straw Katydid has been bred to 2 X National Champion Shadow Oak Bo

This past field trial season has shown us even more about what our Katie can produce. CH Pine Straw Black Hawk had a really good year on Jeanette Tracy's string. Hawk earned his first American Field title, winning the Northeastern Open Shooting Dog Championship. Jeanette also had a good year with our shooting dog derby, Pine Straw Sweet Tea who placed in 5 open derby stakes and one amateur stake. We also were very pleased with what we saw from Pine Straw Country Sunshine who ran in all age derby stakes. She didn't get any placements, but we were very happy with her development for Lee Phillips and to be flat out honest, she earned at least 2 placements that were not given to her. Another positive of Katie's get is in the production department. A son of Pine Straw Smudge (littermate to Hawk), Rufus Del Fuego, won the Minnesota-Wisconsin Purina Cover Dog Amateur Derby of the year.

There has been some debate on different bird dog forums of late about what defines a "proven" female. With Katie, she has won a title, on wild birds in taking Runner-Up at the 2010 National Amateur Grouse Championship in a field of 69 entries. She has won on pen raised birds, in both walking and horseback stakes. And now we have seen that Katie has produced both winners and producers. She has also, throughout her life, been a trusted hunting dog.

So we began our search for a male to whom we would breed her. It may seem that breeding to the only Setter to win the National Championship in recent history would be the most obvious choice, but we try to breed not just to great performers, but also to dogs that we think match to what our goals are and to what strengthens any shortcoming we think exist in our line. We also look to match a specific dog to the specific female we are breeding. We believe that some males are definitely deserving of breeding to, but maybe for a female that is not yet ready to be bred.

In looking at Shadow Oak Bo, one thing that we have been told by almost everyone that describes him is: He finds birds. Since I am a bird hunter at heart, that is a huge plus for me. Also, Bo is known for biddability and the ability to learn. Finally, knowing that he had the bottom to not just go for three hours, but to do it in a way that put him in the winner's circle twice, is a huge plus for us as well.

So it is with great excitement that we anticipate the arrival of our next litter: Shadow Oak Bo X Pine Straw Katydid

Sugar gets first place at Summerhill Amateur Derby

Pine Straw Sweet Tea brought the blue ribbon home in the Amateur Restricted Derby stake of the Summerhill Field Trial Club spring trial on May 6, 2016. Sugar handled well for Brian Sanchez who did us a huge favor by running her when we couldn't attend. Sugar is now qualified for both open and amateur championship trials and we look forward her competing in them in the years to come.