September 2008 - "Got that final Parvo shot at 16 weeks and Ken had him out in the fields training that weekend. He is making fast progress for a little guy. He's off the lead and starting to respond to the whistle and all the basic commands you would teach a pup. We are going into fire season so the local fields are high, dry and thick. This doesnt seem to stop Owen thou. All it takes is a cottontail or a butterfly and hes off and running. Ken usually will duck into the nearest bush and hide when he does this. Owen is very bonded to Ken and when he disappears he will backtrack and hunt him down."
"And Owen has officially been to his 1st Hunting Field Trial. He, of course, went as an observer and not to participate but Ken said he really took in the atmosphere. Later Ken purchased a couple of pigeons and took him to the "Dog Park". This a huge hunting and training dog park full of fields and ponds as far as the eye can see. Ken planted the pigeons and then Owen went to work. Ken said he didnt do to bad at all. With a little work and guidance he found the birds and then got so excited with all the flapping (they were clipped) he could barely contain himself. When he finally got a hold of one of the birds he brought it right back to Ken...then kinda banked off to the right and kept running and jumping around with it. Its was a short lesson but a sweet one and Owen had a blast..."
August 2008 - "Ken and the our new pup "Owen" arrived home safe and sound after a somewhat uneventful flight home. Owen was understandably not happy about being put into a puppy travel bag and shoved under an airplane seat. Ken said little Owen's eyes were as big as saucers when the engines throttled up for take off . I couldn't imagine the fear he might have experienced alone in a cargo hold and was very glad Ken made the trip out there to pick him up."
"They arrived home in the early hours of Saturday morning and both looked pretty whipped. Owen was given a quick introduction to his new kitchen and to our dog Mickey and then into his new kennel for night night time. I expected a little whining but my goodness this little guy has some lungs on him. If you had any doubts about his lung capacity Im here to tell you they work great! He settled down and then, after a few hours, started howling again. I caved, let him out, took him downstairs and layed on the kitchen floor with him. He was pretty happy with that arrangement."
"His 1st day was very calm. We lounged around with him, let him explore and evaluate his new position in the family. With Ken always in his sight, it didn't take long for him to gain his confidence back. He is a little live-wire this one is and I can see exactly why Ken chose him. He has an amazing personality and has immediately won our hearts. By bedtime he settled right down into his kennel with a minimum of fuss and ,to our delight, had a pretty good night."
"2nd day was more of the 1st day. Owen was strutting around like he owned the place. He was wandering further out onto the property and doing so well we thought it would be nice to take a quick trip to the pet store. They don't sell his food out here and we were looking for something comparable. We soon realized walking into a commercialized California pet store with a new puppy is a big mistake. Employees came out of the wood work trying to sell us training lesson,extra vaccinations and of course everyone wanted to pet him. Owen was in overload and so were we. We grabbed a suitable substitute and beat it out of there. From now on we are ordering on-line. Owen was very happy to come back to his new home. He spent the rest of the afternoon doing what puppies do and had another good night in his kennel."
"So here we are on day 3. Owen is doing great and is falling into a quick and comfortable routine. He has just been grounded to the kennel area while Ken reinforces the puppy barrier. Leave it to a puppy to get into just about everything you didnt think he could. Just another reminder you cant take anything for granite with a new pup. Constant supervision while out of his kennel area is an absolute must especially with a smarty pants like our lovable Owen."
2006 - "Hi Loretta, Here are the pictures of Autumnskye Country Patchez, finally!! She is just a Sweetheart and is loved dearly..."
"...She really enjoys roaming the forty and will wear herself out running. Our youngest, Ben, is her best buddy. He is so protective of her and is always hugging and kissing her."
"Hope you enjoy the pictures and will keep in touch."
December 31, 2004 - "Hey Loretta,
Ellen and I spent the new years eve day training several of our springers and pointers.
It was kind of warm for December in Florida but comfortable. As you can see Junior and Pearl have really grown and have been doing well in our training program. Both dogs have excellent noses and after they were gun conditioned have been retrieving to hand . We ran them on wild birds this am and both dogs
work hard and have plenty of bottom. They will fit nicely into our guide team for 2005 .
Thanks again for all your effort and a fine breeding program."
July 2001 - "Just thought you might like to hear how Phantom is doing. We are really
enjoying having him in our family and he really keeps us busy...
He has grown to be quite a character. The girls are keeping him
busy this summer. He loves the water and chasing bunnies and squirrels..."
July 2007 - "Hi there! Well we swear Reggie is growing inches!! He has really been watching Annie and working the field great. He is a wonderful little boy. House training is taking awhile but we will get there. He pays to much attention to everything else outside and waits until he gets in!! Annie had developed a great bond with him already. It will be great to hunt with the two of them."
June 2006 - "It has been awhile, so I figured I would send you an update. First I would
like to tell you how sorry I was to hear about Bailey. I know she was a
wonderful dog, as the proof is lying at my feet. Remi is such a great dog. She
is such a happy, loving pup and has turned into to quite the daddy's girl, in
addition to being a 35 pound ball of energy. Evenings after a good run at my
Grandma's farm or swim in the river, she can be found cuddled up with me on
the couch or in the recliner. Otherwise, most evenings, she can often be found
redecorating the living room. At 10 weeks she would empty the toy basket then
move it to another area of the room. Even now she likes to move her bed to
different areas of the living room. As a hunting companion she is doing quite
well. She loves the water and has a great hunting drive. Recent trips to the
local game farm have been very successful. On her first trip, she caught both
birds before they were able to fly. I have enclosed a couple older pictures
and will send more current ones soon."
October 2006 - "...Ringo's first grouse and pheasant hunt. On the first grouse hunt we got two birds... The next day me and him went out alone and he flushed three birds for me in gun range and I missed them. I haven't started formal quartering training with him yet, but it seemed toward the end of the first day of pheasant hunting and at the beginning of the second day he picked it up and knew what he was supposed to be doing. He does have one fault so far and that is he bolts to birds and sometimes flushes them out of gun range. One of the guys that I hunt with has had professionally trained dogs and he thinks Ringo has a lot of potential. I think the same. He has picked up training fast.... We are going out to North Dakota in a week for pheasant hunting. After his performance this past weekend I am excited to see how he does."
December 2006 - "It is a small world. When my sister said her former boss got a dog from you too, I thought that was pretty neat. The Dakota trip went really well for us. I was really happy with what Ringo could do. He did bolt at times, but being only six months old at the time, I am not too concerned about it. Attached you will see a picture of us after a days hunt. We are going out this weekend to see what we can do. Happy Hunting!"
January 2007 - "Ringo's last hunt of the season was a doosy. We just started hunting, I don't think we walked more that a few hundered yards when it happened. There was a layer of snow on the ground and he was going down hill in some sumacs toward some nice pines. I looked away getting ready for a possible flush and all of a sudden I hear him yelping. I look at him and he's favoring his left front leg and running out of conrol. At first thought he must have broken a leg. I get up to him, calm him down, then look at his leg and there is a stick in his chest. I pulled it out and notice it was in him a couple inches. I pick him up and carry him back to the truck and set him on the ground and he's having trouble walking and thinking that he might of hit something vital I take him to the vet.
It turns out the stick didn't puncture directly into his chest cavity, but it did rip some muscle. He was really slow the rest of that day, but now the hole is healed and he is happy as ever. Talk about a scary moment though. I always was afraid of something like that happening. He did hurt himself on that North Dakota trip when he went through that barbed wire fence. I think he's going to get a game vest that will protect him a little. I attached some pictures of the wound..."
May 2000 - "...We purchased one of your pups five years ago... we named her Roxie. She is a great hunter and a wonderful companion. We are considering another field bred springer... I want another just like Roxie..."
2001 - "...(Our family) has absolutely enjoyed Roxy. Roxy came from Trixie on 4/10/97."
"She has almost exclusively been used to hunt grouse and the occasional woodcock. She also has a number of pheasants and chukars from preserves. She has flushed over 300 wild birds and 30 or so preserve birds. She has a great deal of natural talent and only needed
training due to bad range habits picked up from our other springer. When hunted alone or with a dog other than our other springer, she works close and doesn't miss a bird. She promptly hups to the whistle in the field... There is no cover this dog will not attempt to go through.
Our vet bills confirm this. We thought she was going to loose an eye due to a puncture last year, but it suddenly took a turn for the best. She had a 3/4" thorn buried in one of her pads that was only discovered when I tried to run her on pavement etc. etc...."
"...Additionally and as important, she is very gentle with our two year old. He regularly pounces and pulls on her and the only form of displeasure she has ever shown is to leave the room..."
"...I hope everything is well for you and your family and look forward to another great year with Roxy..."
July 2002 - "...I still think the world of her and can only find faults that have been created by my lack of training expertise. She has now flushed over 440 wild birds. I keep good records of
our hunts, about 75% of her flushes have been Ruffed Grouse and the remainder woodcock. Last year was probably closer to 60/40 as we had a number of days with high numbers of woodcock flushed. As
more time has passed to learn her ways, I now have a good feel for the difference in her birdiness between grouse and woodcock, she tends to be slower with the Woodcock. I'm certainly not complaining
about that, she has such a zeal for grouse that you had better be ready to shoot as soon as she gets birdy because she will go through anything to flush the bird as soon as she can."
"I could tell you many stories, but I'm sure you were not looking for a book as you opened this e-mail. There is one humorous story from 2001. My friend Chad and I took the dogs across the state for
a morning grouse hunt and prior to the hunt thought it would be a good idea to get some of the energy out of the dogs in the 25 acre field in front of our cabin and maybe get a rabbit. We did flush and
miss one rabbit. It was time to load up the dogs and head for grouse. Roxy was pre-occupied with something about 25 yards from truck and I was pre-occupied with loading my gear in the truck. I
called her once and she didn't come in so I figured when I opened the back hatch on the truck she would turn and run back to me. Instead, she went another 15 yards and flushed a big rooster in open field.
So much for not paying attention to my dog when she is birdy..."
