Pine Shadows News
Heard by the Training Wagon
Newsletter Archives Special Dogs
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Hello Here are a few photos taken
on Max's 1st birthday. Take Care, Randy, Sheila and Max |
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A few
rainy days in a row makes for wet grounds, wet feet and happy dogs. We,
as The third
and final NMESSC fun trial for the year is scheduled
this Saturday June 14th at Pine Shadows. Come on up if you can. The club puts
on a wonderful array of kids events plus running the various stakes for the
big dogs and pups. We are
planning for the fall trial season and hunting season now. Your new young pup
needs some field work before the hunting season. Get your dog scheduled in
for training so it is ready for you by the fall hunting season. We have several
training programs that we can modify to meet your
needs and the needs of your pup. The fall
hunting season will be here soon and if you are looking to book a group hunt
at Dakota River
Ranch in
We had
people stopping by to look at the pups and to watch the dogs run in the
field. J.P. Martin, as usual, was great as the head BBQ person and Joannie
handled the kids events. A great club event with a
number of good people helping put it on.
Also one
needs to be thinking about pheasant hunting this fall. Schedule a hunt
through Pine Shadows at Dakota
River Ranch near The NMESSC first fun trial went over extremely well with 42
dogs running and 22 kids participating in the Kids Events. The 2nd Fun trial
is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday May 24th. It is a
wonderful time to bring your dog, your kids or grandkids and enjoy a day in
the fields talking dogs and hunting to all the folks that come. Birch was bred this week to Oz. We also have three litters due within the next 2
weeks. Holly has been moved into
the maternity suite and Rum and Pilot will soon follow. All three
look to have pups and we now are just waiting to see how many. The
current group of litters we have are all doing well and developing.
Some of these are getting old enough to go to their new homes. It is an
exciting time for us to produce a new family member and hunting partner for
people. Training is busy with Morgan getting in several dogs
and enjoying working with the challenges of the Boykin spaniels, Clumber
spaniels, the various pointers and especially the springers. Joan and Jill
are working up the Pine Shadows pups and we should have some very nice young
started dogs available this fall. Our current selection of started dogs
available all have certain characteristics that need to be matched up with
the personality and hunting style of the potential new owners. Norma,
our puppy imprinting lady, has a busy schedule dealing with all of the new
puppies working them through our imprinting process which is a well known
characteristic of a Pine Shadows pup. Contact us
if you have acquired a new pup or have an older dog that needs some field
work. Our staff is ready to help you with your dog raising and training
issues. |
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We had a
successful trial weekend last Saturday with the 4th place for Neala. Morgan
handled Neala, owned by J.P. Martin. Morgan
also had Star finish the trial. That
trial was the last one for the spring season for us. The Saturday training
days begin again for quite a few Saturdays in a row now. May 10,
this upcoming Saturday, will be the Northern Minnesota
Club’s first Fun Trial at Pine Shadows. Registration will start at I haven't
been to Dakota
River Ranch for a few weeks and I am getting anxious to determine how the
bird population looks out there. I will have a first hand report
shortly. The hunting is starting to fill up but we do have open dates
still available. Contact Jody at the ranch for the latest open dates. The early
litters of pups are starting to go home and some are staying for training.
Joannie and Jill are working up the little ones doing the retrieves, and some
starting the quartering process. Birch will be bred next week plus we do
have three litters due in May, Holly,
Pilot and Rum. Zell is due in June and now Birch will be due in early July. The
Northern Minnesota Springer Spaniel field trial held the trial last weekend
in the snow blizzard. The morning started out with snow and ended with snow
and an accumulation of about 11 inches. At times there was blowing snow and
blizzard like conditions in the field. The dogs sure enjoyed running, the
guns showed safely and did Pine
Shadows will be hosting the 1st NMESSC Fun Trial of
the spring next Saturday May 10th. It is a great way to compete with your
dog, have your kids run a dog and learn about the field trial game with
springers. Come on out or call ahead for more information. Tracker had her litter of pups last
Monday. There were 3 girls and 3 boys. We are gaining on our list of
puppies. Many of the more recent deposits should be on track for a pup from
the upcoming three litters due in May from Pilot, Holly and Rum. Sophie is
still working on the list and is matching up personalities. Some of the
youngsters will be going home to new owners this weekend. Thanks for your
patience. Still
raining and wet here at the kennel. The pond has filled up to record levels
and the training field is soaked but we are still out. Contact us for
training coming up this month of May and into the summer. The NMESSC field trial is this upcoming weekend at Hunts
Point near Sixty degrees and a stiff
wind – drying the fields. Morgan and his crew have been training nearly fifty
dogs in the fields today. We WILL have training on Wednesday evening. Come on
out if you can. The snow
sure has made a mess of the yard and the training field. It
should melt in a few days as we reach the highs into the 50's today. We
had a total of 12 inches around the kennel building. Because of the snow and
the wet conditions we will not be holding the regular Wednesday evening
training session this week. This past
weekend we traveled to southern |
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The good
news is that Ice had her pups
today and we now have Ice, Q and Vegas
litters all on the ground and all from 1 day old to a week
old. The not as good news is that we have been unable to reply to all of your
recent calls and emails regarding who gets which pup. Sophie is getting
all of the pups stabilized and she will be responding to each of your
inquiries in short order. We do not make decisions on the pups until all
the pups are stable and progressing in growth. Thank you
for your patience with us as we get the litters settled in and we have time
to send the pictures and the correct information about where you are on the
list. We know many of you have been waiting a long time for your pup. Ice's pups were just born today and it
was an all day process with her. She had seven pups. Wednesday
night training started tonight and we had some new folks out for the first
time. Some good
news from Q and Windsor. After concluding a couple
weeks ago that Q wasn't going to
have pups we took her to the vet the other day for a final check up and did an
ultrasound. Low and behold she had three
pups born April 7th. Star earned another placement at the
Minnesota Heartland trial. Morgan handled Star to 4th place. Star
is owned by The snow
this past Sunday put a blanket of white on the ground for a day. The heavy
wet snow is all gone and the training field is in good shape. We are
starting the Wednesday evening training sessions for those that can come up
in the evening. We usually start by 4:00 pm or so and go until dark. The
Minnesota Springer Club trial is this weekend and we will have 16 dogs
running in the event. Sophie and
I just returned from the Orvis Conference held at Big Cedar Lodge near
Branson, Missouri. The conference is sponsored by Orvis for all of the Orvis Endorsed hunting and fishing lodges plus
the endorsed kennel operators. The program was quite intense dealing
with marketing the "brand" of your business. Sophie and I were able
to meet and visit the owners of the lodges and gather information from each
one on how they deal with their dogs, their clients and staff. We even
enjoyed the stormy weather in the Ozarks with tornados and downpours of rain
for a couple days of the event. We had
another litter of pups on Wednesday.
Vegas had 9 pups with 6 of them
black and white. Vegas was bred to
Wallace. All seem to be doing
well. Perth and Ice are filling up with pups as they
are due next week. Morgan had
a tremendous field trial this past weekend. Star owned by We are
leaving today for the Minnesota Heartland trial held near Owatonna. Another
nice weekend on the trial circuit as the crew attended the Southern Wisconsin
event. In the amateur stake, Next
weekend the road crew and its trailer full of dogs will be based out of
Owatonna, Minnesota as the Minnesota Heartland Springer Club conducts its
spring trial. Sophie and
I are in Branson, MO for the next couple of days attending the annual Orvis
conference. Keep the faith – we see evidence of spring marching northward. March 26, 2008 Morgan
returned from the Kansas-Oklahoma trials last week with a third place on Rice. This
upcoming weekend Morgan will be in Wisconsin for the trial. Sophie and
I will be attending the Orvis Conference in Branson, Missouri this upcoming
week. Being an Orvis Endorsed Gun Dog Kennel,
Pine Shadows receives an invitation to attend the annual lodge and kennel
conferences that Orvis has conducted for a number of years. It is a great
opportunity for Sophie and I visit with the other Orvis lodges and kennels. The
Saturday training days will be put on hold until May. Every weekend in April
we are scheduled for field trials. If you are interested in training sessions
please schedule them for the weekdays. Come May we will be able to start up
with the Saturday training sessions. The puppies are coming. It looks like Perth, Ice and Vegas are all
bred, but unfortunately Q is not. Q is not showing much for supposedly
being due in early April. |
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TRAINING
SATURDAY Even
though the majority of the trial dogs are in Kansas in the 70 degree weather
we still will be having training for this Saturday. So just because your dog
didn't make the trip with Morgan to Kansas doesn't mean you can’t train. As
you see Morgan is celebrating his birthday, again, while at Pat and
Don Bramwell’s in Spivey, KS. You come out here
Saturday for another good day! Saturday
training today was a cold and windy morning but the brave people came out to
work their dogs. We kept the hobo fire going, hot chocolate and coffee and
plenty of snack foods to eat. The training went well today with all of
the dogs enjoying their trips down the field pursuing birds. We had
some exceptional runs today with Blue,
Neala
and Whisper. The lunch
provided by Jayne Reinhart and Deb Livingston was great. Morgan has
loaded up the trial dogs and will be heading to the first trials of the
season at Oklahoma and Kansas. J.P. Martin will be riding along as
chief cook and dog shagger along with Warm weather
is supposed to come soon and I sure hope so because we are running out of
wood for the fire! A litter
of pups came from Spear and Windsor this past week. These pups
were born Saturday, February 23. Four boys and four girls. All are stabilized
and looking good. Tails and dewclaws will be done this week. Most are quite
dark pups, mostly liver and some white color. We
recently came back from a road trip to South Dakota checking up on the bird
situation. There isn't much snow and the birds were all over. Any field that
was open had birds foraging on it and anything with cover is where they flew
to. The spring breeding population looks very strong. Winter can still come
but the birds are in great shape. Look for another banner year of pheasant
hunting in South Dakota. Training
is going strong at Pine Shadows. With the warmer temperatures coming around
you are welcome to come out for a training session. Call ahead and schedule a
session with us. The spring trial season starts in mid March so the
trial dogs will be on the road for a couple weeks. February 12,
2008 We just
returned from a trip to Dakota River Ranch to check on the snow cover, bird
populations and to discuss the fall hunting season. Lynn Peterson and I
traveled out there in the cold on Sunday and returned Monday. It was a cold
blowing day on the prairie but the birds were all over the picked fields
looking for grain. Plenty of cattail cover for keeping the birds warm and no
sign of weak birds. Things looked good. We are scheduling group hunts and the
fall is filling up so contact Jody as soon as possible to get your group
scheduled in.
Saturday
training is still going strong despite the cold wind this past Saturday. It
was a bit tough at times but the fire keeps people warm and Linda Martin's
hot soup is worth the trip here. A rather
mild day today reaching a high of 37 degrees. It is nice to be walking with
some of the young pups when it is warm out. We will be
breeding Vegas this week and Q has just come into season. These
two breedings will put us closer to getting the
puppy orders filled. Thanks to all of you who have a deposit on a
pup for your patience in acquiring a Pine Shadows pup. We will be
keeping the web site updated and informing the folks with deposits where they
stand on the list. Thank you
to all who have returned the Orvis Endorsed Kennel Program survey. One
of the things revealed is our need to better explain our waiting list. You
will see improvements in this area. Pine Shadows is committed to
the match of a pup to the new family and not just providing you with a
pup that may or may not work. It takes time and we appreciate
your patience. Puppies
from Jarvey
and Hawkeye are doing well. Their
eyes have opened and they are moving around a bit. Norma is working the
imprinting on them and all are taking to that process very well. Pheasant
Fest was a huge success for Pine Shadows. A number of folks stopped by to
visit and talk about dogs. We gave
five seminars during the weekend, each time involving youngsters with the
dogs. In this photo The cold
weather adds challenge to training outside but Morgan and the gunners “cowboy
up” and work in the field daily with them. Schedule your pup in for training sessions
before the trial season. Saturday training is going strong so even if you
just want to come out for a training day that works well too. The trial
season starts soon. The next few Saturdays will be open for training until
March 1, 2008. Warm weather is coming this weekend! Pheasant
Fest is here! Look for Pine Shadows at Pheasant Fest at St. Paul’s
River Center this weekend. Watch for Sophie, Joannie, Merlin, and Zia as they march in the Bird Dog Parade midday on Friday in the
opening ceremonies. We are
scheduled daily with demonstrations on the Purina Stage as well as the Youth
Village. Stop by and visit with We will
have the updated calendar for the fall 2008 hunting season at Dakota River
Ranch in Aberdeen, South Dakota, plus information about those hunts as well. Looking
forward to seeing you. Let’s talk Pheasants, Dogs and Hunting! |
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Pheasant Fest is only 10 days away. This year’s Pheasants
Forever Pheasant Fest 25th Anniversary celebration is being held at the River
Center in St Saturday
training is on again for this upcoming Saturday. Training starts around The Northern Minnesota English Springer Spaniel Club will hold
their annual meeting on February 2nd at Jason's Supper Club in Little Falls,
MN. Contact Pine
Shadows for details. Happy
New Year to everyone from Pine Shadows. 2007 was a fun year with the puppies,
Saturday training, trials, Nationals, good friends and hard work. We look
forward to 2008 with two litters coming due this weekend from Jarvey and Hawkeye. The fall
hunting season was a success for the Pine Shadows dogs hunting
at Dakota River Ranch near We have a
number of litters planned for this winter and spring. Keep tabs on the web site or email us for the
current list. If you are thinking of a pup contact us and we will send
out the information. The
Saturday training days starts this Saturday. If you acquired a new pup last
fall contact us for some training. We can get you started on the right track
and give you the blueprint for producing a good hunting dog come fall.
September is only 9 months away! Morgan has
started the in house training again after being
at our hunting lodge all fall guiding. Schedule your dog in for training
by contacting us and visiting with Morgan or Morgan & There are still wild birds
in Minnesota! Thanks for all the hard
work and patience, you’ve made him a great dog! Pounder & Tom (Tom's hoping that January brings him a new puppy for his
birthday!) The winter
season has hit the Brainerd lakes area the past two weeks with the addition
of almost 16 inches of snow. The winter switch grass training field is
full of snow but it is light and fluffy so the dogs are having a great time
romping back and forth. Morgan, Joannie and Jill have a bunch of
youngsters that they are just now starting to shoot birds over. The
pups have been learning the retrieve and some quartering and just
recently figured out that the birds can fly and the shot goes off. There are
a bunch of nice started pups coming along.
Christmas
and the end of the year is always a time to reflect on the year’s activities
and events that took place. Pine Shadows has been blessed with some very nice
customers. We have had some exciting events with Pheasant Fest, Spring field
trials, Upland Bird Camp, Game Fair and the fall trial and hunting season.
If you are one of our customers we thank you for your support
and relationships with us and if you are new to Pine Shadows we welcome
you to our campfire. We look forward to the 2008 year with new families
acquiring a Pine Shadows dog and training and corresponding with the current
friends of Pine Shadows. We are
currently setting up the litter plans for 2008 and what numbers to expect for
pups and started dogs. We hope to meet the demand for folks who want to
acquire a Pine Shadows pup. The hunting season is winding down but 2008
is close at hand. Two More
Reports: Here is a picture of Marten and Brooks and a couple of the Pheasants we got on Both dogs did a fine job of
hunting. Brooks has gotten a heck
of a lot hunting experience this year and is a good bird finder and
retriever. I miss the gang at Pine
Shadows and plan to come down when the training starts again. Just to
update you that Hutch is doing
wonderful. He has been absolutely the best dog in the
field. His retrieving has improved greatly to the point that all I have
to do is tell him to fetch and he brings it to hand sitting on
delivery. Wonderful job. He really
works over the CRP, and he just loves those cattail sloughs. He gets in
there and works them over when other dogs simply sniff around the edges and
it is has paid off nicely for those hunting with him. His quartering is
excellent but sometimes strays a bit far out but a nick on the collar
and toots on the whistle usually bring him right back in. The one
problem area I have seen this fall is tree rows especially when birds
are running on him and I don't know exactly where he is but that is
minor and we will work it out. Usually if I am hunting with familiar
partners they let me know when he is getting out to far ahead and we can
whistle him back in unless he is just overwhelmed with the scent of
running birds. People are
just amazed at his hard hunting and how he works an area. I have really
learned to let people know when he is on one and just let him do the
work and usually, it pays off. Thanks
again. Good
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