Darkwood Gordon Setters

04/20/2025

Auntie Jen is on puppy duty! She’s reading them stories about amazing Gordon setters. Except…they can’t see or hear yet . 🤣

I am off to Easter dinner with Tim and his family. Happy Easter, everyone! 

04/19/2025

I wasn’t looking forward to whelping on Easter with the only available vet resource 2 hours from me. Thankfully Valia had them last night!

10 beautiful pups, 8M & 2F. All are good size, spunky and eating well. Good job, sweet Vivi! She delivered them all in just over 4 hours.

Oh, and Vivi thinks one of the best parts is the unlimited food. 🤣

04/18/2025

X-rays show at least nine puppies! I’ll post the pic when I get it. Not long now!

Valia x Skye

Epidemic of Love Dark House of Gordons
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CH Blackjack Skye’s the Limit JH

04/11/2025

Valia. Puppy count X-rays are next Wednesday.

She is getting really big and there’s still 10 days to go. And she’s not carrying fat. That’s all baby belly!

How many puppies do you think she will have?!

04/02/2025

Meet Skye!

CH Blackjack Skye’s the Limit JH is the stud we bred Valia to this year. He is a talented, gorgeous boy. Skye was twice named the GSCA Derby Dog of the Year (

02/26/2025

It’s been a while since the last update—it’s been crazy!

Valia came into heat a few weeks ago. I had finally located a nice PRA-clear stud for her, so that was perfect timing.

She went down and stayed with my friends Kelly and Michael. They were able to bring her to my repro vet for same-day progesterone testing. Huge thanks to them! As a teacher, I don’t have flexibility in my work, so I’m very grateful for my village!

When the timing was right, the stud owner drove over and facilitated two breedings.

So now it’s watch and wait.

I’ve had people waiting for a pup from her for over 2 1/2 years!

01/05/2025

PSA: Use a whisk to remove ice/snow from your dog’s coat!

Here’s Bogie and I after a day of backcountry skiing. It also works on the heavy, wet stuff, too.

12/12/2024

Little June-Bop nailed her first pheasant. I should say - I nailed my first pheasant with Junie, because she has pointed plenty while we were training.

In this case, I carried the gun. The previous day - birds were super wild, running and flushing out of range. So today, we tried to hunt icy ditches and use the element of surprise. It worked!

We came across fresh, running pheasant tracks in the snow. Junie tracked, then pointed the bird where it ran out of cover. I whoa’d her, then moved in for the shot.

It’s amazing how fast a bird can catch a stiff wind, and be gone. I got off a shot, but only winged the bird - which sailed a hundred yards before hitting the ground.

We rushed over there; Junie quickly found where this bird went down, tracked it to a nearby clump of willow and grass- then pointed again. When I parted the grass- tail feathers stuck out, and quickly pinned the bird down.

For only being a year old - Junie has had a lot of experience on all the wild birds that Minnesota has to offer. She’s doing really well! Sure am proud of this girl!

Think about coming to hunt with Sam, Junie and I in 2025!

Minnesotafishinghunting.com
Hook-n-Trigger Guide Service
218-232-6067

12/08/2024

It was a gorgeous day yesterday! We headed southwest to meet up with my friend Tim Anderson and his Gordon setters Sam and Junie (Annie x Bogie litter).

Valia’s first time on wild pheasants…and her learning curve was steep! She’s not used to areas that have a ton of scent but she worked hard at deciphering all the different scent trails, live track, old track, body scent…she may have had some 😵‍💫🤪🫨 moments where she got a bit wild but all in all she did well!

The birds, like most late season birds, were spooky and often wild flushed out ahead of her. She’s a pretty quiet dog while she’s working. She has quiet footfalls and she doesn’t breathe loudly but the sounds of vegetation moving was enough to tip them off.

Here’s Valia working scent and pointing a hen. Actually there were two hens there but the second one flushed after I hit stop on the video and took another step.

In this sequence she had a soft point, then a track and then a hard point.

11/16/2024

Junie, Gordy and the rest of the 12mo Annie x Bogie litter are doing so well on wild birds!

Yesterday, in a training mission with no gun - Miss Juniper slammed a point. I walked out in front of her and put up 3 hens and 4 roosters. I could tell she wanted to move real bad, but she didn’t. Very good progress! She’s learning, and I am too - to be a dog trainer who doesn’t always have to carry the gun and kill birds. Fun to be out on the prairie and have this opportunity every day.

11/10/2024

Well teaching them to bring me their food bowls didn’t take long.

Bogie already knew how to pick it up. Valia learned after the first time she picked up the near side and it covered her head like a hat. 😜

What else should I teach them?! I’ve got all winter.

11/08/2024

Excellent littermate syndrome explanation. People think it’s cute to get two puppies so they can be “friends”. But it’s not.