We are proud to welcome the latest addition to Annabella Kennels. Bandit come to us from Dave Walker kennels in Idaho. Bandit is a direct son of the late DC Chick’s Blaze’N Sawtooth Sam, JH who was by NFC Beans Blaze HOF. This is very well bred young brittany puppy who we hope to groom into a dual champion and foundation stud dog. He has been a joy so far and is loving his birds. He had a natural retrieve to hand the first time out and is very intense on birds. We hope to campaign Bandit in both field trials, AKC hunt tests as well as show competitions. He has the pedigree and the makings of greatness.

We love to hear how our puppies are growing and developing into great bird dogs and family companions. We received this photo this week from some folks that bought a female from Annie and Buster’s first litter. The name their puppy “Bella” and have spoiled her rotten I am sure. She is turning out to be a great hunting partner for Michael. Pictured above is a recent pheasant hunt. Mike says..

She pointed and retreived 5 for 6 today. The last one was a runner and she got him up in front of my son, he shot it and found her with the rooster pinned to the ground with both front feet. Off to Northeastern Colo. tommorrow. Regards, Mike

There is a famous brittany man named Ben O Williams in Montana who is know for running several dogs at a time. He not only trains like this but he often hunts his dogs in a similar fashion. He feels like they can learn much from each other and learn faster too. He doesn’t mind if they make mistakes and blow some birds. The idea is that they learn quickly to honor and back or there will be no birds in the bag (ie: no birds to retrieve).

Lately I have been running two dogs at a time when I go training or hunting. I wanted to try it out for myself and like Ben, I just love to watch the dogs work. The more the better. My dogs seem to be learning to back and honor points a lot better. Sure we have had a few covey flushes and birds blown, but it has been worth it. I try to mix up the tandem each time as well. Sometimes two dogs of a similar age, but more often I pair an older more experienced dog with a younger inexperienced dog. Try it out if you have more than one dog, you will find it quite enjoyable.

We were waiting to see if this litter took before announcing it. She was so small I did not believe that the puppies were in there. Last night we were thrilled to find 4 healthy puppies in Sadies dog den. 3 females and 1 male puppy were whelped on September 2nd, 2011. Two of them are liver and white and while the other two are orange white, still waiting to see if any will be roan colored. Two of the puppies were whelped with natural bobbed tails which we have not seen before in our kennels.

It is always fun to send our Brittany puppies home to their new families. We were proud to send this little female orange roan puppy to live with Steve in Wyoming. All of our Sue X Luke puppies are in their new homes now. The lone male a liver roan puppy went to Colorado. The white and liver female we called Mildred went to Wayne in Arizona. The other liver roan pup, a female, went home to San Diego. We decided to keep this white and orange female we are calling Minnie. She will be a part of our future and a guide dog on our pheasant preserve.

Lizzy is coming along nicely in her bird dog training. She is standing her birds nicely and pointing with a lot more style. We have a pretty good group that gets together to train dogs with the Utah Bird Dog Club. Training is a lot more fun when you get a group together to help each other and to share information. Lizzy has gone through the gun introduction and is even going to a conformation show in Blackfoot, Idaho this month. We feel like Lizzy is our best shot at owning a dual champion. She is a joy to be around and shows such confidence and style in the field.

The snow has finally melted and it is time to get outside and train puppies. Lizzy is working on being steady to wing. She is a very birdy dog and loves to get out and hunt. I have 50 wild pigeons coming in this week for training birds. Also, there are about a hundred quail in my pens that will be flight ready in a couple months. This should give us plenty of birds for spring and summer gun dog training.

Had a great day dog training with Lizzy this week. Put a few hen pheasants out in some cattails and just wanted to see her use her nose. She has a very strong prey drive and loves birds. She has been exposed to pigeons, quail, pheasants and chukar. She did very well and dug right into the cover to find these two hens. We let a few go, but when the situation was just right we shot a couple for her. Her first retrieve was excellent. She picked up the big fat hen pheasant without hesitation and brought it to hand. Needless to say I was very pleased. I thought it was a good first hunt for a 7 month old brittany puppy.

We got these pics via email of Bailey and her holiday adventures. Bailey spent christmas with her family in Kansas City where she got her first introduction to snow. Anita says Bailey is settling in nicely and loves to play outside. She mentioned a problem about biting. It is important for puppies to have chew toys that they are encouraged to bite and chew on. Anytime a puppy tries to bite a person or something they are not allowed to chew, a correction should be made. They key is to set your puppy up for success not failure. We know that when puppies are excited they are more apt to bite or play rough, this is when we should have their chew toy handy to direct their attention and sharp teeth.

Bob had to wait until Christmas to find out what his daughter had purchased him. This little Brittany female was my personal favorite of the litter. She had a lot of prey drive when I put her in front of some quail and chukar. But, she was still enough of a people lover to crawl up into your lap for a nap. We are excited for her to be in her new home in California where she will be a hunting/companion dog. We hear that their are some decent quail populations near where Bob lives. It is always a joy to see our brittany puppies placed in just the right homes. We recommend that new gun dog owners subscribe to the excellent magazine titled “The Pointing Dog Journal“. Steve Smith and his team publish the most respected magazine geared specifically to hunting upland game with pointing dog breeds like the american brittany.