Spot On

As many of you who follow the Blog know, last spring when I left Kentucky I took three male puppies north with me from a breeding done by Derek Caudill over the summer I referred to them as the “Bud Bros” after their well known sire Casehill Little Bud.  Derek still owns one that we called Steve Jobs and has it with Scott Chaffee who thinks the dog has a lot of potential, which for those of you who know Scott understand is pretty high praise as Scott is pretty picky with the dogs he keeps and competes with.  Another brother was sold to Douglas Dear over in Virginia and and Vic hunted his way across the country last fall pointing many species of upland birds making his owner happy.  The one I kept we called Spot as his only distinguishing mark is the spot on the top of his head between the two halves of his even liver mask.  I’ve had and have a number of dogs with this spot and I call it the “smart button” because you can get a dog to smarten up by tapping the button.  All three of the pups were extremely precocious pointing and holding birds from the get go.  In January spot showed he had the potential as a field trial dog making some big moves running the edges in the NBHA trial here in Berea and winning the puppy stake.  Last weekend he also showed that he can compete above his age class as he took second in the derby with four nice finds.  It was a small stake, but he is now qualified to run in most championships and may get a chance to gain some experience at an hour on wild birds in the fall.  Derek and I were talking the other day and he’s thinking about repeating the breeding.  I told him to put me on the list again.  If Spot keeps going the way he’s been developing he may get the opportunity to sire some Wild Apple pups.  He is the type of outcross (his mother is Elhew bred) that might be good for my primarily Elhew-bred dogs.  Time will tell but by next fall I should have a better idea of any holes he might develop as he matures.

As far as other breeding plans are concerned, I will definitely be breeding Wild Apple Samantha for winter puppies but haven’t picked out a sire for her yet.  I’m tempted to breed her to her cousin Autumn Snow (he’s by Autumn Moon) whose with Scott Chaffee.  Wild Apple Polka Dot is by Snow and I really like just about everything about her except for the fact that the Evil Clowne conned me into letting him have her.  Scott and Tammy also kept one of Dottie’s littermates and that pup has been doing really well too.  The other bitch we may consider breeding is Wild Apple Calvados (Brandy) that did really well last fall as a derby and has looked really good this winter here in Kentucky.  Brandy is by Autumn Moon out of Coverdog Covergirl both of them by Whynot Ace.  Brandy might be the dog that it would be good to go outside a little bit with and might match up well with Spot.  But I don’t own Brandy, so Tim K. will have final say on if she gets bred and to which dog  In the future we will consider breeding Dottie and might also breed the Elhew G force pup I sold as Molly’s new owner offered to let me breed her in the future if we thought that might produce some good pups.  Molly is due to come north with me at the end of March and we’ll see how she develops as well.  She and Dottie are still puppies so breeding them would be in the future.  One of our bitches (maybe Molly) will be bred to a son of Jack’s that’s up in Ohio.  Cross, except for being black and white instead of liver looks exactly like his sire Wild Apple Jack and although he’s only two now has already shown himself to be very competitive as a field trial dog.

Wild Apple Spot On

It seems like winter won’t let go up north as trial after trial is canceled.  Both the Southern New England Woodcock (RI) and the Ontario (PA) Championships have been canceled as well as a number of smaller trials.  Weather at home was below zero again yesterday but I’m heading home April first. It’s definitely spring here in Kentucky as the crocus and daffodils are blooming everywhere.  My main plan at home is to build a 12 run kennel.  The site and cement work is already committed and a work crew has been lined up for an old fashion “barn” raising.  It’s something that has needed doing for a long time and I’m looking froward to it.