Hardwood Kennels

11/09/2024

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10/22/2024

Took Micheal Buller and Kori (GCH CH Hardwood’s American Sweetheart JH DS CGC TKN) to Harding Gamebirds in Ridgeway, MO to introduce Michael to bird hunting and show him how to hunt Kori in a more natural setting than our training field. I’ve trained her with chucker before but these were Kori’s first pheasants, and she learned to track them in the milo strips. Lots of firsts for these 2 today, and they both did great! I see many days afield ahead!

10/21/2024

*PSA*
DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU SEND MONEY TO SOMEONE FOR A RUFFLAND KENNEL!
This scammer is using my kennel address as their business address when talking to potential people to scam.
If you need a contact for a real Ruffland dealer, please reach out to me!

10/21/2024

This week’s recap!
Starting with the weekend at the Iowa Brittany Club Hunt Test in Thayer, IA:
Wes - CH Hardwood’s Country Boy finished his JH title and will now guide hunts and hunt wild birds with me this fall before getting formally broke.
Hawk - Keg Creek Texan’s Moon finished his JH title and will hunt wild birds with his owners this fall before getting formally broke.
Carson - LegacyK Tallgrass Assassin turned 6mos old just last week, so I entered him in his first hunt test! No problem for him! 2 passes! So happy with this boy! Looking forward to hunting him this fall!
Kori - CH Hardwood’s American Sweetheart CGC TKN JH DS ran her first time in Senior but had some bad luck, however, she’s really good at honoring the horses 🤣
Pyro - Nick and Jayme’s Pyro Cable JH also ran in Senior his first time, but no luck. Pyro has still improved a great deal, and we’ll bring him back next spring.
Lastly just some pointing pics from this week of Wes, Hawk, Carson, Pyro, Kori, and Ranger.
Ranger - Hardwood’s Colonel Ranger JH is heading home this week to go hunt wild birds!

10/18/2024

Welcome to the world babies!
5 girls and 4 boys!
Congratulations Sitka and Vittoria!
**All of these puppies are spoken for at this time, but we still have openings in the MasonXDesi litter in you are looking for a new hunting partner, show dog, or pet! Message me privately**

10/13/2024

Hedy Lamarr invents dog collar (1940).

A dog lover, Hedy enjoyed escaping Hollywood and lived at the secluded Hedgerow Farm above Beverly Hills.

In 1940, she’s seen posing (at left) with Donner, her Great Dane. He likely roamed free on the property and inspired Hedy to solve a common problem i.e., finding him.

Just like all of us, Hedy wanted to be able to find her pup in the waning or after-dark hours. She’s credited with inventing the fluorescent dog collar at least 80 years ago.

09/29/2024

Took the boy crew to the Nebraska Vizsla Club Hunt Test this weekend at Branched Oak near Lincoln, NE.

CH Hardwood’s Rhinestone Cowboy (Cam) can now add Master Hunter to the end of his name! He had a little flub up on Saturday with a bird popping super close to him while he was hunting, but he redeemed himself in big fashion with 3 beautifully steady birds and an awesome honor on Sunday. Cam is bred by me and owned by Nancibeth Clements. (JoshXSadie)

CH Hardwood’s Country Boy (Wes) owned by me, picked up 1 more Junior Hunter pass on Saturday, learned the course and made a 300yd B-line straight for the bird field and had a hay day on Sunday 🙄, not the fault of the course or the club, but handsome brown dog is about to get a better lesson in “leave it and here”, as well as standing his birds longer… although he already knows better. He may not have passed today, but I’ll take a smart dog with his drive any day of the week. He’s not too old to be taught.😏(BrunoXSadie)

Keg Creek Texan’s Moon (Hawk) owned by Owen Lillard also picked up one more Junior Hunter pass on Saturday. Hawk found his wheels this weekend. He is from really nice field lines, and he too learned the course ran his lines at 250-300yds on Sunday, and overall ended up getting too hot in the 83° heat and didn’t find a bird.

We’re headed to Iowa for the next test in October, and we’re looking forward to cooler temps.

09/23/2024

Another hunt test weekend on the home course at Harding Gamebirds in the books.
We had a mock test on Friday and then Single tests on Saturday and Sunday.
It was too Hot Friday (96°), too dry Saturday (scenting conditions were the pits!), and too wet Sunday (a steady rain all day), BUT I do believe this was the most fun I’ve had at one of our tests in. Long time. The handlers, the judges, the gunners, everyone… just top notch dog people.
We absolutely can’t forget the dogs, because what did we all do before we did dog sports? 🤷🏻‍♀️😅

Cam, CH Hardwood’s Rhinestone Cowboy owned by Nancibeth Clements picked up one Master Hunter pass this weekend. (JoshXSadie) Cam needs 1 more!

Wes, CH Hardwood’s Country Boy owned by me picked up 2 Junior Hunter passes this weekend(only took a photo with 1, so enjoy the extra nice pic of him 😉).(BrunoXSadie) I decided I was going to wait to finish whoa breaking Wes till after bird season, so we’re knocking out his JH.

Hawk, Keg Creek Texan’s Moon owned by Owen Lillard picked up one Junior Hunter pass this weekend. Yesterday the conditions were just so poor that the dogs just couldn’t scent them. Every Junior dog, including Hawk, found at least 1 bird today in the rain.

09/19/2024

09/19/2024

Vittoria (bred by Nancibeth Clements and she and I co-own her together - MasonXSavvy)
I brought Vittoria in to find the lost quail from the previous session with Cam. Still didn’t want to fly, then ran around the tree a bit… Vittoria handled it like a pro.
*Training tip - NEVER let your hunt test dogs find lost birds from that day’s training session to re-point because this encourages delayed chase. Leave them be and use them for another dog.

09/19/2024

Watch with sound.
Cam (bred by us, owned by Nancibeth Clements - JoshXSadie)
Bird flutters just a little ways and sets down twice. Second time I can’t find it. I elect to heel Cam away as that is occasionally something that happens at an actual test, and still needs to be trained for.

09/13/2024

How do you feel about exposing your dog to stress?

This young Weimaraner started a board and train recently. During the drop off, I informed his owner, he'd be living under some different rules at my house than what he'd been used to for the past few months of his life.

He would be subjected to some "healthy stress.”

Among other things, he would be sleeping in a crate at night, learning to walk nicely on a leash, and participate in proprioceptive exercises to build body awareness.

Essentially, he would be learning some problem solving skills and because of it, develop greater resilience.

The first day here he found himself stuck on the opposite side of a pole than the side I was on.

Can you guess what I did?

I did nothing. I stood there, not moving, not applying more pressure to the leash, not coochie-cooing him...I just waited.

It took him about 90 seconds of wiggling, and whining to figure out what to do to get himself free.

Once he did, he was darn proud of himself, prancing about for a few seconds and then we moved on and enjoyed a short game of fetch.

The stress was short lived. He learned how to relieve it and was proud of himself as he discovered his power to problem solve.

We do our dogs no favor by immediately bailing them out of every little problem or struggle they encounter.

So often I hear, "My dog doesn't like the crate,” or "My dog doesn't like to be brushed,” or "My dog won't potty while on leash.”

As a woman who has raised two (now grown) children, I could not have imagined saying to my kids dentist..."well, they don't like having their teeth brushed so we just gave up." 🤣

I have news for you, there are very few dogs that immediately enjoy their crate, or being brushed and bathed, or being restrained on a leash.

It's our job to teach them to tolerate the realities of life in the human world.

For most things the teaching recipe is simple:

A bit of skill, applied over time, mixed by a healthy dose of patient persistence.

If you don't have the skill, the time or the patience, you can pay people like me to do the foundation work for you. It is like having the dentist clean the kids teeth...but if you don't maintain what the professional did, it's not going to become good habits that serve for a lifetime.

The main thing to understand is that stress and learning will be part of life. There is no avoiding it. It is how we learn to work through it that makes the difference.

By taking time to teach your dog how to tolerate some stress and learn to problem solve, you set them up for increased confidence, improved manners and an overall healthier mindset.