Hawk and Maggie have been bred.

After much deliberation, we have bred Hawk to Maggie. We listened to advice from Jeanette Tracy, who has run both Hawk and Maggie for us in making this decision. Hawk has already had a good career, even with us moving him to different venues. He showed a lot of promise in the Shooting Dog venue this year and we knew we wanted to get some pups on the ground from him soon. Maggie's impressive juvenile career led us to consider her, then she finally got to run in a broke dog stake in March and knocked it out of the park, taking away any concern that she wasn't yet proven.

This breeding is essentially a line breeding on Grand National Grouse Champion Chip's Uncle Buzzie (as Maggie's sire and Hawk's grandsire) and CH/RU Chip's Torquato (as Hawk's sire and Maggie's great grandsire). Prominent in the pedigree are multiple occurrences of Hall of Fame Tomoka, CH Grouse Ridge Reroy, Grouse Ridge Been, CH Grouse Ridge Storm, 8xCH Stillmeadow's Jim and CH Brannigan.

The litter is being whelped by Jeanette at Ladywood Kennels. If you have questions about the breeding or the dogs, you can contact me at pinestrawsetters@gmail.com or Jeanette at Ladywood.

Maggie wins her debut as a broke dog.

Pine Straw Magpie made an impressive showing in her first broke dog stake, the Amateur Gun Dog of the East Tennessee Pointing Dog Association's spring trial. She ran huge, and forward with two very well mannered finds. Her second find was on a covey of running birds that she handled with perfect manners. At one point, one of the judges told me "Your dog is 7 tenths of a mile straight out there on the edge." This was a 3 point major win for Maggie. We were very happy with her and are excited to see what next year will bring.

Our Dogs Hunt

While we spend quite a bit of time and effort running in a variety of field trial venues, we also hunt with our dogs. We try to take at least one and often two hunting trips per year out of state along with getting them on birds around Georgia. Our dogs usually have the chance to hunt pheasants, quail, woodcock and grouse by the time they are 2 years old.

Some of our customers' Pine Straw dogs doing well in trials

We have been lucky to have some of our customers trial their Pine Straw dogs. Two dogs from our kennel have gotten off to a really good start this year.

Pine Straw Zorro (Mult. CH Highground Jax Jabba X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid) earned a 3rd place in the Open Puppy (horseback) stake, which had 14 dogs, at the Middle Florida Brittany Club (AKC) Field Trial. This Zorro's first field trial placement and was only his second attempt at a trial. Zorro is owned by Phil and Carole Stout and handled by Jamie Fountain of Oconee Kennels.

Also being run by Jamie Fountain is Smokey Holler Trapper (Briar). Briar is a derby from our 4RU Uppercove Desert Devil X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid litter. Briar earned a 3rd place in the Open Derby (horseback) at the GSP Club of Atlanta trial on November 16, 2014. Briar topped that performance with a 1st place win in the Open Derby at the Middle Florida Brittany Club trial on November 21, 2014.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea gets first field trial placement, Pine Straw Covergirl takes 2nd in Derby.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar) took 3rd place in the Amateur Puppy stake at the Mid-Carolina Field Trial held by the South Carolina Bird Hunters (NBHA) held in October of 2014. Sugar ran a good race and one find. It was her very first field trial and the best thing was that she quickly adjusted to having a brace mate, other handler, judges, horses and even ATVs. Sugar is from our Mult. CH Highground Jax Jabba X RUCH (AKC FC)Pine Straw Katydid litter.

Pine Straw Covergirl (Elle) took 2nd in the Amateur Derby at that trial. Elle ran a very fancy race and had a good far reaching find. Elle is from our 4xRU Uppercove Desert Devil X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid litter.

Smudge sires his first litter, pups available!

Pine Straw Smudge JH sired his first litter with Rouge River Bog Sucker (Nellie). Smudge is CH/RU Chip's Torquato X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid. Nellie is Dun Roven's Gary X Dun Roven's Boofay. This breeding brings in a lot of really good dogs, from back in the day as well as recent dogs of note. Grouse Ridge Storm, Tomoka, Tekoa Mountain Sunrise, Grouse Ridge Reroy, Destinare, Havelock Blacksmith, Body Guard, and Hick's Rising Sun all appear prominently in the pedigree. Recent Grand National Grouse Champion Chip's Uncle Buzzie is Smudge's grandsire.

Smudge is fast and fancy and has multiple field trial placements. He has placed in walking and horseback trials as well as in both planted and wild bird trials. He is showing a lot of potential and will be running cover dog trials this fall. A summary of his wins can be seen on this blog just a couple posts back.

I have hunted over Nellie and she is a very fast and fancy as well as an awesome bird finder. She handles well and knows where to go to find birds. Nellie is a bird dog anyone would be proud to own.

These pups should make some awesome bird dogs and have serious trial potential. They are located in Southern Michigan.

For more information or to reserve a pup, please contact Dale Ash at 616-318-8254. The pups are priced extremely reasonably at $400 each.

5CH/2RU Highground Jax Jabba X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid pups at 14 weeks

We have two females from this litter still at the house. Millie, the full masked tricolor, will be going to her new home in Michigan this summer. Dottie, the half-mask is staying with us. They have started scent pointing birds and are showing some natural backing tendencies. We are excited about seeing what these pups do once they are a little more grown up. Dottie is a bit heavier boned and will likely be a pretty big female. We're hoping she will really run when she grows up.