Puppy Play Date!

Stella and Cleo

Last night Cleo had a puppy play date with the sweetest 15 week old GSP! Stella is owned by Keith Ehling and Stephanie Raieta. Keith and I went to high school together and set up the play date on facebook a couple of weeks ago. Prepare to be inundated with adorable puppy pics!

Look at that cute face!

Get her Stella!!

Stella is adorable. She has a sassy little attitude and didn't take any of Cleo's crap. Just for fun we gave Ms. Stella Bella a pheasant wing and it took about 2 seconds for her to realize she didn't want to share it with any other spotted dogs.  There is some prey drive in that little bugger! I was impressed with how well she listened.  She spent almost the entire time off leash and checked back in.

I loved getting to see Stella in action. I completely forgot over the past 2 years how cute it is to watch little puppies hop and run. I love how off balance and spontaneous they are. Only two more weeks until we get Cleo's little sister!! Then Stella will have someone to pick on her own size. 

Bird work with friends!

Gunner on Point

Yesterday we drove to Sussex County, NJ to get Cleo out on some birds with Bob C. We are hoping to run Cleo in an AKC Hunt test in the next couple of weeks. Not sure if that is going to happen now. We think she may be coming into season. I'll guess we will know for sure in the next few days. But she had a good day in the field. For me, one of the best parts about training yesterday was my dear friend Jackie Secan came to train with us and brought her GSP Gunny. Below are some pics of him in action.

I Love that face!

On Point - hit the bird from quite a distance!

Gunny has such an expressive face and eyes

Gunner ran in and placed in a few field trials last year. He will be two years old next month and he will be running in a field trail next weekend down in Maryland.  He has a great nose and hopefully Gun Boy will bring home some ribbon bling for Jackie.

Cleo on point

It was fun as always to get Cleo out on some birds. She stayed steady through the shot and had a perfect duck drag. I personally haven't seen her do a duck drag since last year but it was great to see she had no issues.

Cleo being sent out to track by Jim

On the way back

Delivery to hand

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. If Cleo does not come into season we will be gearing up for her hunt test. Cleo's litter sister will be here Easter weekend and pretty soon we have to start preparing and working towards her Utility Test and then her new little sisters Natural Ability Test. It's gonna be a crazy summer! 

A Beautiful Day of Spring Training!

Cleo on Point

We had a hectic weekend and were not able to make it to New Jersey to train this weekend so we stayed local and managed to find sometime to train ourselves. Jim got permission from the farmer behind his mom's house to use his fields to train in. We had an awesome time and Cleo did phenomenal.  One of the things we focused on was her honoring. So how do you practice honoring when you only have one dog??? A couple of weeks ago Jim had one of his artistically blessed students make an outline for us of a Brittany on point. Jim transferred it onto plywood, crudely painted it and Woody was born!

Meet Woody

Woody has made a huge difference in Cleo's honoring. While we were working her today as soon as she saw him even at a full out run she would stop on her own. Jim and I were elated.

Woody on Point

Cleo stopping on a dime on her own and honoring Woody

Since its been so hard to get birds lately we planted some pigeons. When she would point them we would kick around just like they have you do at her AKC tests, then we would flush and fire a cap gun. She stayed steady on every bird. 

Cleo on point

Cleo watching the pigeon fly off

Jim after he unhooked the pigeons wings and let it fly

Jim also brought a dead bird with us and used it to throw out and have her fetch it. She had no issues and brought every bird to hand. We had originally planned on doing a duck drag and putting out stakes to work on her heeling for her UT test but we were tight on time and we forgot to thaw out a duck. Jim will work on those things with her sometime this week. 

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Lady Bella and her Birds

Monday I ventured to New Hope, PA to photograph a beautiful 19 month old GSP named Bella. Her owner, Patricia Stewart-Busso was looking to get some pictures of her in action in the field. There is no doubt that Bella loves herself some birds! Patty hopes to one day field trial Lady Bella but has been focusing on showing her at the present. Which I find to be super interesting mainly because I know little to nothing about showing dogs. But I feel it just goes to show how much you can do with this versatile breed: Hunt, Trial, Show, Dock Dive, Agility, Obedience the list goes on and on.

 

Honed in on a chukar

Bella keeps a pretty tight schedule with her showing. She's pretty booked up for the next couple of weekends on the show circuit. Patty said she hopes to have her back in the field and training this summer. It was a pleasure to meet Patty and Bella was quite a lovely dog.

Charles Kissinger was there to plant some birds for Bella. He also had his 4 year old German Wirehaired Pointer with him. I asked him to put a bird out for Hunter since I haven't had the chance to photograph a lot of GWP's. All that hair gives them quite a bit of character.

Check us out and like us on facebook at: Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.

If your interested in booking a photo shoot with me at Byrd Dog Photography please email me at byrdgirl50@aol.com. 

A Day at the Eastern GSPC Field Trial

Snip's Sixth Sense Wyatt MH

This past Saturday I ventured to Medford, NJ to the Eastern GSPC Field Trial. This was the very first field trial I have ever attended. I'm by no means new to dog hunting events as Jim and I run our GSP Cleo in NAVHDA and AKC hunt tests, but hunt tests and field trials are substantially different. What I found to be very much the same with them though is the great people you can meet at either style event.

Raf and his Setter

Kona the 11 month old English Pointer

Lovely Mae

I ended up at the field trial because I was hired to photograph an amazing GSP named Snip's Sixth Sense Wyatt MH. Wyatt had a great weekend placing 3rd in Open Limited Gundog on Friday, 2nd in Open Gundog on Saturday (both days he was handled by Bruce Shaffer) and he placed 3rd on Sunday in Amateur Limited Gundog while being handled by his owner Jon Sensinger. I got to witness his impressive run on Saturday with him taking 2nd out of 20 dogs. He is ranked 11th with the GSPCA Open Gundog and 13th with the AKC GSP Open Gundog for 2011. Wyatt is 34 months old, has his health clearances and is available for stud to approved dams. For more information on him please contact Bruce Shaffer through his website.

Wyatt

One of the most interesting aspects of the field trial for me were all the horses. At one point I had to laugh to myself as I was jogging along next to about 6 of them.  I can understand after attending the trial why a horse is a necessity. The dogs run so big. Unfortunately I can't get good pictures on a horse. I can only hope that Nike and upland boot manufactures will team up and develop a cross training mud boot. After running about 6 braces I appreciated the fact that I'm in good shape otherwise it would have been a really long day!

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My new Logo!!

Over the last 8 months I have been on the hunt for a logo for my Byrd Dog Photography business. Having a logo is an important part of being branded in business and makes you more identifiable. Someone may not remember the name of your business but they will remember your logo. For instance when you think of McDonald's you think of those golden arches. Your logo goes on everything from sweatshirts to business cards to brochures to your website. It's your symbol. It's what represents you. What I discovered over this past 8 months is that it really matters who you choose to brand you and represent your identity to the world.

From the beginning the name that kept coming up during my research was that of Greg Blair. He not only came highly recommended to me but he had the experience and portfolio I was looking for. Greg not only has 20 years experience in design (10 of those years owning his own design firm in Milwaukee, WI) but he is also a dog lover and an upland hunter. I loved the fact that when I told Greg I wanted a GSP in my logo I didn't have to explain to him what one looks like. He already knows....in fact he owns one as well as two fine looking English Pointers.

Neenah Creek's Unanswered Prayer - Call name Rookie (13 years old)

1X NSTRA CH, 2005 Wisconsin Regional Champion

2006 Wisconsin Regional 2nd Runner-up

Blair's Bella Dancer - Call name Bella (4 years old)

American Field Placements

Blair's Highway Man - Call name Dan (3 years old)

American Field Placements

As long as Greg has been in design he has been hunting over dogs. To him there is nothing nicer than seeing a pointer run, point, and stand for the flush. He loves the whole package and I can relate to that. He loves hunting grouse and makes his way to North Dakota each year for sharptails or huns and also gets to Northern Wisconsin for ruffed grouse.

For anyone who owns a animal rescue, a kennel, a hunting club, a veterinaries office, a hunting preserve or anything related to the outdoor industry and you are looking for branding materials such as logos, brochures, or web design I highly recommend contacting Greg Blair. What he can offer you which many other designers can not, is he understands your audience because he is an active member of it. It's been my experience through this process that having someone who truly understands your end user is invaluable. Below are some examples of Greg's other logos. What you will notice is he has a simple, clean style to his designs. He lets strong, bold graphics convey the desired message to the marketplace.

I'm not trying to pigeonhole Greg as he does logos and branding for all kinds of business's not just the dog related industry. I can say from experience he is a real pleasure to work with. If I ever need additional marketing material in the future he will be the person I contact. Feel free to check him out on his website or send him an email at glblair5@gmail.com. I know you will be happy with the end result....I sure am!  

Some more examples of Greg's work:

Check us out and like us on facebook! Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer