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.

Sugar takes 2nd in Garden State Open Derby

Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar) placed second in the 26 dog open derby stake at the Garden State Shooting Dog Classic held by the English Setter Club of America's trial on March 26, 2016. Sugar is coming along nicely and has been pretty consistent of late. Sugar was handled by Jeanette Tracy of Ladywood Kennels and scouted by Dillon Shaffer. We are excited about pretty Sugar's future.