Rock Creek Pudelpointers

Rock Creek Pudelpointers Set in the St. Croix River Valley in east central Minnesota, Rock Creek Kennel is owned and operated by Scott and Denise Kossan. IG: rockcreekkennel

We have owned pudelpointers since 1995. Rock Creek Kennel is a registered kennel with The North American Versitile Hunting Dog Assoiciation (NAVHDA).

Mike Krause and his son Thomas fully understand when I say “Hunt the hide off of them”. To Rock Creek Stellas Sunrise (K...
11/21/2024

Mike Krause and his son Thomas fully understand when I say “Hunt the hide off of them”. To Rock Creek Stellas Sunrise (Kimber), your thorn torn face makes my heart smile, I know you are in heaven. I get it Kimber, its the same feeling I had as a high school and collegiate wrestler after a tough weekend. No need for elbow pads or head gear, just bring it on !

Dreamwork’s Fearnought (Etta)Our newest edition, and our excitement over her first handled wild bird was contagious. Tha...
10/27/2024

Dreamwork’s Fearnought (Etta)

Our newest edition, and our excitement over her first handled wild bird was contagious. That is always a big day here for a young pup. It’s that magic passage from a goofy pup to a bird dog.

I think the whole Rock Creek tribe was excited for the little twerp.

Scouts….All four of these dogs are UT Prize 1 dogs that have run in the Invitational of which two are VC’s. Most importa...
10/26/2024

Scouts….

All four of these dogs are UT Prize 1 dogs that have run in the Invitational of which two are VC’s. Most importantly all four of these dogs are “Made” dogs on wild birds. I use all of these dogs to find cover and numbers of birds just so I can pull them out and drop a knuckle head first year pup.

They don’t mind one bit, their parents and grandparents did it for them and now its their turn. They all get a chance to run and call “gotch-ya” on a bird and they really don’t care if they end up with a mouth full of feathers.

I used to complain that for the last 30 years I have had to chase pups through the woods when I could be shooting birds, but honestly, the best feeling in the world is to “Make” a bird dog. Thanks guys for putting us on birds so our current pups will be considered “Made” In six years it will be their turn as scouts.

That right there is Rock Creek Stellas Sunrise (Kimber) owned by Mike Krause. I think Erin would agree that she is the ...
10/20/2024

That right there is Rock Creek Stellas Sunrise (Kimber) owned by Mike Krause. I think Erin would agree that she is the best female pudelpointer we have ever seen. Through a NA, two UT’s, two IT’s living at our kennel and in the back of our truck bed traveling the entire country with us, she is now pounding grouse and ducks with Mike and chasing sunfish and minnows along the shore line back home. She will be truly missed at our kennel. One of my favorites! And one of, if not, the best of the best! Your a lucky fella Mike.

10/14/2024

I post many things regarding health and training issues. I do realize that most replies have no Ill intent but please do not include names of kennels, breeders or trainers when responding to these posts. That is very unfair to the mentioned breeder and not the intent of the posts. I had to “Hide” replies on the last post as kennels were named.

Breeders and trainers are dealing with mother nature and she is very fickle.

Tight eyes are very important in our hunting dogs, but should very young NA pups be evaluated? After breeding for twent...
10/13/2024

Tight eyes are very important in our hunting dogs, but should very young NA pups be evaluated?

After breeding for twenty five years we have produced very few dogs that have been evaluated with ectropion eyes and we have had nearly 600 dogs evaluated. We did produce one pup with entropion eyes that was not tested and no record of her exists in the NAVHDA records. So trust me, this post is not in any form an excuse for our breeding as we have seen so few of these issues in our breedings to draw any concern.

Seldom do I disagree with any NAVHDA evaluations but I do believe that eyes in very young puppies should not be evaluated just as not much emphasis is placed on teeth evals when the pup still has milk teeth. I believe the same standard should apply to eyes as with teeth in puppies. Pups can exhibit base narrow canines with milk teeth and when the adult teeth come in, every thing is fine.

I do believe ectropion and entropion eyes are highly inheritable traits when you see them in adult dogs. But in pups, jaws and eye and socket formations grow in intervals and it is not uncommon for a very young pup to “grow into its eyes” just as with the teeth.

A very important factor in our breeding is tight eyes and I would never breed a dog with loose eyes. But I have seen young pups with what appeared to be loose eyes and as an adult they grew into very tight eyes.

As far as the mentioned young pup not tested with entropic eyes, although it looked painful, I wish I would have held off some time before we opted on a surgical correction before we sold her.

Just my thoughts on evaluating eyes in a very young NA pup. I did speak with a Optometry Vet 20 plus years ago who first “opened my eyes” to this. If you have a back ground in this please feel free to comment.

If you have ever been to a NAVHDA event you have probably seen or met Terry Petro, a Purina rep who attends numerous spo...
10/04/2024

If you have ever been to a NAVHDA event you have probably seen or met Terry Petro, a Purina rep who attends numerous sporting dog events. I like to think of Terry as a good friend as we have trained together and he has asked to walk with my dogs in numerous tests and I have confided in him personally numerous times.
First, how many dog food companies have you seen at these events? Very few if any. I have zero connection to Purina other than I have used their feed for twenty five years and could tell you exactly why I use Purina and exactly why I think they are the best and why every other company compares their food to Purina. That is another issue.
At the 2024 Invitational Terry asked to walk with me and my dog. After, he filled me in about a joint supplement from Purina. I personally am very skeptical about supplements but after Terry sent me home with samples of this Purina supplement I am shocked from the results. Time will tell, I’m still not sold but I have two dogs that suffered pretty harsh shoulder and stifle injuries hunting on the prairie and for nearly three weeks on the supplements I am shocked by the results. Again, I have no connection with Purina, I have used other supplements from Purina that did not do much for me or my dogs but this one has really helped. If you have a dog with joint issues take a look at this because for me personally I have see a huge difference. I gain nothing from this, it was just fun to hunt with a nine year old gal today with a three year shoulder issues and she handled the hour hunt like a youngster.

This guy is one of my hero’s. Brian Smith tested his pup Rock Creek Warrior Ace NA and received a 98 no prize. He called...
09/30/2024

This guy is one of my hero’s. Brian Smith tested his pup Rock Creek Warrior Ace NA and received a 98 no prize. He called me, devastated about the no prize thinking he should retest. Don’t re-test I said, that a good score, start working for the UT. Well today he received a Prize 1 UT score with his 19 month old pup. Very impressed! Well done guys!

Scott Hable sent this picture of Rock Creek Carved in Stone, 110 Prize 1, with his son and their first duck hunt. Don’t...
09/25/2024

Scott Hable sent this picture of Rock Creek Carved in Stone, 110 Prize 1, with his son and their first duck hunt. Don’t get any better than that.

I realize pictures can be difficult to evaluate coats but for breeders out there, Zoom in. This dog was judged without furnishings although I do see furnishings on the upper muzzle between the eyes yet the muzzle is clean. His coat is about perfect as they get and the tufts on the upper ear and longer hair at the tuck up are very interesting. His coat appears to be heavy on the body and back. I don’t think I have ever seen such a perfect coat with little muzzle furnishings. My guess is he would still test heterozygous for furnishings. Thoughts?

I think this dog is really cool and interesting. Beautiful pup and great looking kid with a nice mallard! Starting to see that there is a big difference between smooth and lacks furnishings.

2024 NAVHDA InvitationalCongratulations to Stephen Gateau and VC Rock Creek Navigator, 200 points. No need to add anymo...
09/19/2024

2024 NAVHDA Invitational

Congratulations to Stephen Gateau and
VC Rock Creek Navigator, 200 points.

No need to add anymore, this teams accomplishment speaks for it's self.

Thats A WrapFive years ago we set a goal to achieve a NAVHDA Invitational Breeders Award with one of our litters. All wa...
09/15/2024

Thats A Wrap

Five years ago we set a goal to achieve a NAVHDA Invitational Breeders Award with one of our litters. All was on track over the next few years with the three females we kept earning a UT Breeders Award and all three qualifying for the Invitational.

With two dogs set to run in 2022 in New Mexico one of the females unexpectedly died days before we headed down to test. The other female Erin ran and didn’t pass due to the heeling in the last minute of the test.

This year I ran the third littermate so that we could both handle a dog at the Invite, Erin with a female from a different litter. This time it was me who lost the whole thing on the heeling with a near perfect run. You may not understand my reasoning but I feel blessed to have lost it the exact same way Erin did.

You see if Erin would have passed with the first dog and I lost the breeders award on the heeling, I would have been so very defeated and disappointed in myself. Now if I would have passed, maybe, just maybe, I would have held some unmerited misplaced disappointment towards Erin who had lost our five year goal of the Invitational Breeders Award.

Now we can both rib each other for the next five years and beyond and are still buddies. I keep getting reminded that you have to trust God’s character building plan for yourself otherwise life will be very unfulfilling.

As far as Erins run this year, no ribbing there, just a tough day with a strong dog, she handled herself well.

At 9 yrs old and with bum shoulder, my little sweet heart VC Rock Creek Delta Dawn (Noon) has spent the summer training ...
09/05/2024

At 9 yrs old and with bum shoulder, my little sweet heart VC Rock Creek Delta Dawn (Noon) has spent the summer training our Invitational test dogs as the pointing/backing dog and the honor at the water dog. She has loved it and I’m feeling she is thinking she is 4 yrs old. Thanks Noon, your the best. Forever young! VC Rock Creek Edmund Fitzgerald has played his part but not like my little sweet heart Noon. Maybe next year Eddy.

Micheal Crowley and Rock Creek Que Sera (Juniper) with a 193 Prize 2. Impressive! All fours but needs a tiny bit of twea...
09/05/2024

Micheal Crowley and Rock Creek Que Sera (Juniper) with a 193 Prize 2. Impressive! All fours but needs a tiny bit of tweaking on the steadiness. Big things ahead for this team!

God willing I make it to 80 chasing pudelpointers across the uplands. But when that day arrives in which I can no longer...
09/03/2024

God willing I make it to 80 chasing pudelpointers across the uplands. But when that day arrives in which I can no longer do a pudelpointer justice as my legs won’t keep up with those long casts on the North Dakota Prairie or I am unable to negotiate the northern MN thickets for Ruffs, I think I will switch breeds and my buddy will be a Wire Daschund.

We will chase bunnies around the ranch and when we sit down by the stream for a lunch of hard boiled eggs, sour dough bread and goat cheese, I will tell him stories about the big dogs on the prairie and in the thickets chasing those strange creatures, birds, that he could care less about. When we finish our lunch and head for home I’ll remind him that he is the best darn game dog I ever owned. And just maybe, we will have a rabbit for the cast iron skillet.

Happy 11th Cash, pure tenacity and I love it! I will be on the patio tomorrow morning listing to you open up on a bunny in the creek bottom and it will make me smile.

Dog training with familyA week ago, while working a puppy, Erin walked into a point to throw a bird. The bird went ten ...
08/15/2024

Dog training with family

A week ago, while working a puppy, Erin walked into a point to throw a bird. The bird went ten feet and tumbled to the ground. I “yelled” at Erin and said, “You threw that bird like a pansy, you know better than to throw the bird like a pansy.” Instantly her hands went to her hips, chin lifted to the sky, eyes rolled back and she turned her back away from me. Just like Astro, the George Jetson dog, I thought “Row, Row!”

Thankfully my girls get me and shake it off and they know I’m just different this time of year. My boys on the other hand will make no gestures, say nothing, yet I know what they are thinking, “No problem, I’ll throw it five feet next time.” And there is nothing wrong with that I guess. Some days male pups are easy, somedays female pups are easy.

If you come up for training please understand things can get kind of intense and very fast moving. If it does, then just go stand next to Erin and she will calm you down. I don’t mean any harm, things just get a bit too focused.

This ain’t no apology, it’s just a “Let’s do this, life is too short.” And by the way, if you ever see Erin with her hands on her hips, that’s bad. That’s worse than anything I could say or do, so please come stand next to me, I”ll protect you!

So you want to train for a UT Test.I love to write but I truly hate to be looked at as an expert. We have trained a doze...
07/23/2024

So you want to train for a UT Test.

I love to write but I truly hate to be looked at as an expert. We have trained a dozen prize 1 UT dogs along with numerous additional UT dogs, ran in the Invitational with a success rate I am not personally happy with. There are many pro trainers out there that I admire and look up to so by all means I do not feel like I qualify as the final word in dog training. These posts will be for our puppy owners, for when they seek our advice, based on our experience. We never stop learning.

This first post is our take on what the UT test is all about, which may bring some disagreement. Here it is from our perspective. I will add more in the near future.

A successful UT test comes down to only two concepts. How well is your dog whoa broke and how well is your dog force broke to retrieve. Think about it for a minute. Other than heeling, which I believe is one of the most important commands for a UT dog, what part of the test does not hinge on whoa and the forced retrieve?

Steady to shot and fall, WHOA training. Remain at blind, WHOA training. Steady at the blind, WHOA training. Retrieve by drag, FORCED retrieve. Retrieve of shot bird, FORCED retrieve. Duck search, FORCED retrieve. Heeling is the exception yet very important.

Once I stated my concept on this to a trainer who said he disagreed, he stated the duck search does not fall under my concept of whoa and the forced retrieve. I then asked him, when you walk up to the edge of the water at the duck search, fire your gun, and tap the dog on the head, what command do you give? After a long long pause he said….Fetch…..well there you go I said.

It all comes down to how well you have whoa and force broke your dog. In the next post I will address the problems with training TO the UT test. In other words don’t train TO the test, train for success in any given situation.

Denise always gives me the best B-day presents. Every year about this time the back of my head swells up like a softball...
07/08/2024

Denise always gives me the best B-day presents. Every year about this time the back of my head swells up like a softball from all the deer fly bites. Today she gave me sticky tape and with one walk to the mail box I didn’t have one deer fly bite. Only problem is the package says one application is good for five days……thinking five hours, Haha, anyways they worked great for the five minute walk to the mail box. I’m sold on stick tape on the back of the hat. If you see me and it looks like I have a man bun it’s probably a ton of Flies stuck to my hat.

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54500 Maple Avenue
Rush City, MN
55069

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(320) 358-0183

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