# Wirehair pointing griffon breeders?



## tom_the_chemist (Aug 24, 2008)

Yes. First Griff. First hunting dog actually.

I joined NAVHDA and will potentially do some of the training and trials. I want to, but it just depends on how much time I have. I dont live that close to the SE MI club's training grounds.

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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

tom_the_chemist said:


> Yes. First Griff. First hunting dog actually.
> 
> I joined NAVHDA and will potentially do some of the training and trials. I want to, but it just depends on how much time I have. I dont live that close to the SE MI club's training grounds.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


Same here, first Griff and hunting dog. I joined as well, I live a little over an hour away from the SE MI training grounds in Highland but they seem very helpful in the training process so joined the SE MI NAVHDA chapter and will hopefully make it out once or twice a month for some training.


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## #8 shot (Aug 27, 2009)

I would also recommend Phil. I have hunting & trained with Phil for roughly 12 years. I had a male from Phil that pasted away this summer, Rye was the best dog in the house & field I have ever had. I will be getting another from him when the time is right.


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## BillBuster (Apr 25, 2005)

I would also recommend Phil/Northstar Kennels. I got my first dog from him in the spring of 2005. Just picked up my 3rd dog on 9-13-19. All males for me but my dad also has a 8 YO. female.


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## GrouseHntr (Nov 2, 2008)

tom_the_chemist said:


> Yes. First Griff. First hunting dog actually.
> 
> I joined NAVHDA and will potentially do some of the training and trials. I want to, but it just depends on how much time I have. I dont live that close to the SE MI club's training grounds.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


You aren't that far if you are Birch Run. We have people who come from Frankenmuth and Tawas regularly. One of the guys I hunt with has one of Phil's dogs and she is great. Training at SEMI Navhda can be intimidating on Saturdays when everyone is there but its also the best time to talk to people and get help. Bird Pickup is Saturday morning but most training weekends we have the grounds Sat and Sun.


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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

tom_the_chemist said:


> Yep. Ellie is from the 7/7 litter.
> 
> We actually were planning to take her to Wing & Shot as well based the recommendation of a vet friend. Didn't know that Phil recommends them as well. Still need to contact them to set up. How busy were they?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


Ellie at Wing and Shot? I believe I’ve seen in pics online the past day or 2. If so very pretty and getting big!


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## tom_the_chemist (Aug 24, 2008)

Jake114 said:


> Ellie at Wing and Shot? I believe I’ve seen in pics online the past day or 2. If so very pretty and getting big!


Yep. She's there. I loved the pic of her taking the bird into the office. It's funny when she grabs a bird and runs around with it. Not so funny when that was my glove and she wouldn't give it back.

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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

tom_the_chemist said:


> Yep. She's there. I loved the pic of her taking the bird into the office. It's funny when she grabs a bird and runs around with it. Not so funny when that was my glove and she wouldn't give it back.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


Yes, that was hilarious! Cool to see some North Star pups all in one place for training.


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## rlj0101 (Feb 6, 2013)

GrouseHntr said:


> You aren't that far if you are Birch Run. We have people who come from Frankenmuth and Tawas regularly. One of the guys I hunt with has one of Phil's dogs and she is great. Training at SEMI Navhda can be intimidating on Saturdays when everyone is there but its also the best time to talk to people and get help. Bird Pickup is Saturday morning but most training weekends we have the grounds Sat and Sun.


What do you and your buddy hunt for with his Griff? Upland or Waterfowl?


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## GrouseHntr (Nov 2, 2008)

rlj0101 said:


> What do you and your buddy hunt for with his Griff? Upland or Waterfowl?


All of it. His dog is a great retriever and pointing dog.


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## retired dundo (Jul 21, 2015)

This post makes me sad had to put mine down at 14 years old few year ago.Best dog I ever had ,One time my BL took her to his brother farm.His brother bought 12 pheasants to scatter in 10acre weed field that night planing to hunt in morning.Dog slept in mud room and they forgot to close dog door.Next morning they found 8 pheasants laying in mud room.Dog had great night everyone else not happy


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## tom_the_chemist (Aug 24, 2008)

Jake114 said:


> Yes, that was hilarious! Cool to see some North Star pups all in one place for training.


So, how was your pup when you got her back from Wing and Shot? Notice any changes? Interested to know what I could expect from Ellie when she gets back.

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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

tom_the_chemist said:


> So, how was your pup when you got her back from Wing and Shot? Notice any changes? Interested to know what I could expect from Ellie when she gets back.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


Needs home obedience work but I didn’t expect to get her back with much of that. Was very pleased though Fred took me out to the field and planted a couple birds with her on a check cord and told me what to do with going around her keeping my hand out to keep her steady then I could flush the bird. She stayed steady to the bird. We then went and did it again and they fired a dummy gun she ran towards the bird when it flushed a little bit but she was gun broke so no problem there just need some work with steadiness. Fred basically gave her all the fundamentals which in my opinion from trying to do a bit myself takes a lot of time so very please that now it’s just getting her out and working to finely tune everything she has been introduced to. I live in the city so can’t get her out on birds daily but I’ll be out at NAVHDA at the end of the month. For the time being Fred recommended me to get a whoa board to train with her at home keeping her steady on that and gradually introduce distractions and throwing bumpers and keeping her steady on the board. She was introduced to the e-collar as well so there is no more of her spending time trying to get it off and whatnot. Pretty pleased and I plan on sending her back for water work and more training come spring and summer for a week or two. Saw your pup when I was picking up mine, good looking dog!


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## GrouseHntr (Nov 2, 2008)

Jake114 said:


> Needs home obedience work but I didn’t expect to get her back with much of that. Was very pleased though Fred took me out to the field and planted a couple birds with her on a check cord and told me what to do with going around her keeping my hand out to keep her steady then I could flush the bird. She stayed steady to the bird. We then went and did it again and they fired a dummy gun she ran towards the bird when it flushed a little bit but she was gun broke so no problem there just need some work with steadiness. Fred basically gave her all the fundamentals which in my opinion from trying to do a bit myself takes a lot of time so very please that now it’s just getting her out and working to finely tune everything she has been introduced to. I live in the city so can’t get her out on birds daily but I’ll be out at NAVHDA at the end of the month. For the time being Fred recommended me to get a whoa board to train with her at home keeping her steady on that and gradually introduce distractions and throwing bumpers and keeping her steady on the board. She was introduced to the e-collar as well so there is no more of her spending time trying to get it off and whatnot. Pretty pleased and I plan on sending her back for water work and more training come spring and summer for a week or two. Saw your pup when I was picking up mine, good looking dog!


I trained my dogs to "woah" at feeding time. Make them woah and dont let them move, if they do move them back and then use the same command you would for releasing in the field for them to eat. My current dog is so food motivated it has been a great way to instill steadiness in the command. If you can make your dog woah on food when they are hungry and maybe smell pizza crust in their food I assume you can get them to woah on anything with any distraction.


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## #8 shot (Aug 27, 2009)

GrouseHntr said:


> maybe smell pizza crust in their food I assume you can get them to woah on anything with any distraction.


This cracked me up. I have a red setter that would take a beating to get to a piece of pizza. The only thing that damn dog has ever counter surfed for! I think he learned it from my sons. Not disagreeing with you at all just the pizza part made me laugh.


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## GrouseHntr (Nov 2, 2008)

#8 shot said:


> This cracked me up. I have a red setter that would take a beating to get to a piece of pizza. The only thing that damn dog has ever counter surfed for! I think he learned it from my sons. Not disagreeing with you at all just the pizza part made me laugh.


They all have that one food. My setter hit the counter top one time, to get the frosting off a batch of fresh brownies my wife just made; meanwhile if you gave my brothers setter a piece of pizza he would carry it around the yard for hours before eating it.


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## tom_the_chemist (Aug 24, 2008)

Ellie came back from Wing and Shot on Friday. Also, think she might be in heat. Need to keep an eye on her.

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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

tom_the_chemist said:


> Ellie came back from Wing and Shot on Friday. Also, think she might be in heat. Need to keep an eye on her.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


Did she end up being in heat?


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## tom_the_chemist (Aug 24, 2008)

Jake114 said:


> Did she end up being in heat?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


If she was it was the tail end of her cycle but actually likely not.

She is going back May 1st for the month, is you pup?

Planning for doing a natural ability test in August. Are you going to one of the training days for SEMI NAVHDA this spring? Are you planning to do the NA test?

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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

tom_the_chemist said:


> If she was it was the tail end of her cycle but actually likely not.
> 
> She is going back May 1st for the month, is you pup?
> 
> ...


Mine might go back early May as well. Yes she is all signed up for NA in August. Actually typing this from the SEMI NAVHDA training right now. Good stuff here


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## GrouseHntr (Nov 2, 2008)

Jake114 said:


> Mine might go back early May as well. Yes she is all signed up for NA in August. Actually typing this from the SEMI NAVHDA training right now. Good stuff here
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


Got my dog going through trained retrieves at the moment so haven't been out to any training days as of yet. I plan on running her in the UT in August so once I am through this portion we will be out there all the time. 

Don't sweat the NA test. Your dog will be fine. A couple pointers for the test because judges can be sticklers. Do not talk to your dog or give it commands. Let it run and do its own thing in the field. If your dog is steady on point where it is obvious awesome, but if its still just giving flash points that's ok. A judge will walk with you through the field so every time you see your dog get birdy and give a point or flash point then call out the point to the judge. They don't know your dog or it's demeanor and will rely on you for that. You do need some sort of point in the field though, so work on that with the pup and make sure you work with other people while training. You will be walking with 3 judges so you need to make sure the dog is not distracted by that. 

The reason you do not give commands is because you have a pup and the judges expect a dog to comply to a command, which is why cooperation is a part of scoring. Don't give the judge a reason to mark you down, especially by giving commands that you are not 100% sure the dog will comply with. 

The water portion is just the dog swimming. No sweat. Toss some bumpers for the dog and make sure it has fun going out for them. You have all summer for that. You will do it twice and then the judges will want to go over your dog, so make sure the dog is ok with new people touching it and playing with it's teeth. 

Don't put off training for the tracking aspect of the test. They pull the flight feathers on a pheasant and make it run. Make sure your dog understands to a degree what is expected here. Start off tracking training differently then you would as if you were hunting. Use a different command maybe even different treats. I freaked out and didn't do any tracking until the last two weeks before the test. Don't be me. They will show you where the pheasant was. Hold your dogs collar, and give it whatever command. When the dog starts pulling for the scent and you are confident the dog knows then you let go. If you don't think the dog gets it then stop and step back with the dog and restart it. Just don't let go of the dog until its ready. You do not want a dog that just takes off crazy. There was a gsp pup that took off completely when we ran the NA and it took 15 minutes or so before it came back. Ideally your dog gets wind immediately and follows that track to the brush and the test lasts all of ten seconds. They usually do their best to make sure the track has a crosswind over it so feel free to kind of hold the dog slight on the downwind side of that initial spot. Even a foot over helps the dog get that scent. 

You may be nervous for the the test. I was a goddamn wreck. Do your best to stay calm with the dog or they pick up on your anxiety. I don't know how my dog kept it together dealing with me. 

Remember through all of this, NAVHDA does not teach a dog to hunt it teaches a hunting dog obedience. It is two completely different things. As long as you put in work with the dog you will be ok for the test. Ask people who are out there on training days for help when you need it, we were all new at some point and everyone loves puppies.

Good luck!


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## Faas616 (Apr 21, 2019)

Anyone have a good number to talk with Phil. Tried the one on the link above and it said that the number had been disconnected. Looking at getting a Griff in the near future and the recommendations from North Star look great.


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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

Faas616 said:


> Anyone have a good number to talk with Phil. Tried the one on the link above and it said that the number had been disconnected. Looking at getting a Griff in the near future and the recommendations from North Star look great.


The number I have for Phil is (269) 720-3469 and I just got my pup in October.


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## Faas616 (Apr 21, 2019)

Jake114 - Thanks for the quick response. Ill give that number a try!


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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

Faas616 said:


> Jake114 - Thanks for the quick response. Ill give that number a try!


No problem, hopefully it works! 


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## rlj0101 (Feb 6, 2013)

The # Jake114 gave is correct. Leave a message, Phil can be hard to get a hold of sometimes.


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## BillBuster (Apr 25, 2005)

Yes same # I have for Phil. He’s a busy man keep trying.


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## PA BUCK 2 (Oct 17, 2006)

You can also talk with Fuzzy Dog Enterprises in Milford area. He has some of the North star lines ans has brought some dogs in from other lines. I run with the owners dogs on occasion.


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## Faas616 (Apr 21, 2019)

Thanks for the help guys I was able to get a hold of him.


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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

Faas616 said:


> Thanks for the help guys I was able to get a hold of him.


What’s his wait time to get a new pup out of curiosity currently?


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## Faas616 (Apr 21, 2019)

He said that he is going to have two litters next spring. He currently has 3-4 people ahead on the list when I spoke with him.


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## Jake114 (Sep 6, 2019)

Faas616 said:


> He said that he is going to have two litters next spring. He currently has 3-4 people ahead on the list when I spoke with him.


Not bad at all. I’ve heard he has had at least a year or two wait list in the past. Good to see it’s not a long wait for you. He produces great dogs, love mine. 


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## #8 shot (Aug 27, 2009)

I just looked at his last litter about 2 weeks ago. Really nice looking pups. So good I put my name on the list for the next breeding.


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