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Point of Heart Sporting Dogs

Sharing the love of the German Shorthaired Pointers and their versatility in the dog sport world.

24/01/2025

Dog training 101.... Think about the scenario

Well, handler mistake again.

If I had a dollar for every time a training situation didn't go as planned because of me....

I'm teaching River a "find it" command in the field while we can't do anything else because.... Michigan in January.....we own 20 acres so our fence for the yard is a GPS wireless system, dogs understand what it means, they don't test the boundaries.

I have River in the garage at a whoa while I run out and toss a bird in our field, come back heel here to the edge of the garage and send, she's getting a good understanding of go outs, I stand there and wait, minutes go by and she's searching as she should, she gets about 10 yards away, upwind side, and stops then slowly retreats...trys from another angle...same thing, several more minutes go by and she's questioning me, she continues to run out to her "boundary" and it dawn's on me....she's wearing her Fence collar....STUPID handler.

Call her back, take the collar off, send her again, she cautiously goes out to the same boundaries and then proceeds one step at a time until she realizes there's no alert...runs and picks up the duck and we have a PARTY!!!!

I roll my eyes at my mistake, set up the scenario again, different location, and she nails it!

Hopefully, with practice and her handler not being a complete moron, she will learn a field "duck search" that we can transition to water in a few months!!!!!

21/01/2025

Agility night! Every week we learn something, tonight was on me!

*Also first night for the Blaze man to jump his actual jump height at 24"

17/01/2025

Blaze earned an invite for his scores in Rally Excellent to AKC Nationals this year

Ellie earned an invite for her scores in Rally Novice to AKC Nationals this year

*To do so a dog has to have 3 qualifying scores of 93 or better in its class

I'll have to look at Rivers scores, but if I remember correctly I was the reason she didn't get an invite when I messed up a sign for her this past year :( in one of her 3 courses. Either way, she's always the most fun to do Rally with!!

Nationals is held in Montana this July, we likely won't be able to make it, but very excited to have made the qualifications and invite!

13/01/2025

Name change. Previously known as NorthCountry GSPs

As we look forward to 2025, and the future, we took the first steps and applied for a kennel name. Our previous name was already in use in the NAVHDA system so we had to make a few changes.

Here's a little backstory to give our new name a little meaning for those that don't know how all this started.

In 2020, Blaze, our male, joined our family, he was intended to become my trail companion while I trained for ultra marathons. Growing up we did some hunting, but never had bird dogs. Bird hunting was an after thought when I was deciding on breeds of dogs that would hold up to endurance running. When he was 5 months old, just before bird season began, I got curious and had a local trainer put a few birds out for him, "just to see". He pointed his first bird, and I was blown away. He went on that day to having his first shot and retrieve of a pheasant. A week later we took him hunting, he pointed and retrieved a woodcock my brother shot and our whole family was hooked.

During this time I was going through some struggles with Physician Assistant school, graduating, but not passing my boards, which led to self doubt, not having a purpose, and questioning God's plan for my life or why this was happening "to me".

I'm a firm believer God placed Blaze, and 10 months following, River, our female, in my life for a reason. They, along with my faith, family, and friends gave me a reason every day to get up and "try again". Slowly I began to realize my purpose was far greater than any career could be. I developed a huge passion for training dogs, bird hunting, exploring places not many people see by following these dogs through the woods, and meeting new friends through all the sporting venues we have pursued. I now work part time as a Physician Assistant in Surgery, but my passion is bird dogs.

My life is far greater than I could have imagined a few years ago. "Faith, Hope, and Love" is the story behind the name. It's the heart that drives us.

2024 was a big year for us, but 2025 may be busier yet, with some big goals to pursue!!

Thank you for the logo creation!

12/01/2025

Rally trial day 1

First trial since last winter. This wasn't our finest showing, but for very limited practice we did ok.

River finished up her last leg to obtain her Rally Excellent title with a 97 (she decided to try and pick up the distraction toy 🤣), then went on to try a few RAE courses, had a bit of a bummer when a broad jump was used and we haven't seen one in a year leading us to our first DQ, but she came back in the next course and nailed it with a 3 way tie for 99pts for 2nd place won with our faster time.

Ellie finished her last 2 legs to obtain her Intermediate title, we will be putting in some work in more distracting areas because I'm seeing this needs improvement

Blaze started his journey towards RAE and did decent (89, 96) but with the amount of high scoring dogs he didn't earn a placement ribbon but did qualify without issues.

Tomorrow's another day! I always try to be honest, some trials are better than others and that's just dog sports!

04/01/2025

Videos of today's practice runs before next week's trial, it was good to get Blaze, River, and Ellie back in this atmosphere before testing skills they haven't used since last winter, plus they each learned something new today!!

These are by no means perfect but definitely helped kick some of the dust off!!

03/01/2025

Throwback to warmer weather, training days, and doing what makes my heart happy!

To the boy who gave me a reason to get out everyday and do something, 2024 was a BIG year for you, but, I think 2025 is going to be BIGGER yet as I've got some big dreams to pursue with you and the girls!!

30/12/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

14/12/2024

Late season hunting! Despite it being frigid and snowy we all stayed warm and happy for a beautiful day in the woods ❤️

05/12/2024

Played a little Rally and Obedience tonight!!

I was worried the dogs would have forgotten a bunch since we haven't touched these skills since March/April, they didnt, but their handler needed a little refresher 😂

Time off did them wonders, they came out with enthusiasm! Need to put a little polishing on a few things, but excited to get back into a few trials and finish off Excellent with River and jump into RAE with Blaze! As well as getting the last 2 legs for both dogs in CD obedience!

Ellie will hopefully be joining the ranks as well, just need to bring her along to a few training sessions!!

30/11/2024

Ellie came over for some bird work today!

This girl, she's putting it together, our biggest hiccup right now is solidifying the retrieve. Soon I plan to start planting shooters for her and seeing how she progresses there. The hope is to get her ready to run SH since I decided with her to skip JH altogether.

This girl has been awesome in the grouse woods last year, and really is doing a great job this year. 2 yrs and not a ton of training, future is bright Ellie bean! Slow and steady!!

27/11/2024

Since we got the pigeons out for Stella today I decided sharing was caring and Blaze and River got a short session.

They were well mannered and looked like old pros, perfectly steady, obviously on yard birds, so that's not saying a ton...but does remind me how much work went into getting here

25/11/2024

If anyone is curious of how my bird dog journey started. Here's a few videos of how Blazes and my VERY FIRST bird encounters went. The boy had wheels from the very beginning!

Blaze had just turned 5 months old and had never seen a bird. My plans were to use him as my ultra marathon running companion, but I was curious if he could be a bird dog. A Facebook search and message later we found someone local, who turned out to be a guy very instrumental into getting me hooked on bird dog training and took me under his wing, he offered to plant a few birds and see what we were working with.

2 pigeons pointed and blank fire later with zero issues (the boy had prey drive coming out his toes from the very first bird) he decided to plant a pheasant and shoot Blazes first bird.

Watching these videos has me almost in tears remembering how amazed I was at this tiny little boy pointing and retrieving his first bird all on his first day in the field. From this single event he had me hooked.

Blaze still has this same level of enthusiasm, it's obvious he was born to be a bird dog, I'm just so happy I get to do this with him!

My life changed after this day, and I have absolutely zero regrets and only a lifetime full of adventures ahead.

23/11/2024

Stella is only here for a week-ish, but during this time we are giving her the opportunity to be a bird dog!

Today we broke the pigeons out of hibernation and placed 5 birds out for her, the short videos are in order, it's really neat to see the progression!

This is the fun stuff!!!

20/11/2024

Libby Lou, the bearded lady, starts her new journey today and as sad as I am to see her go, I'm just as excited for the life she has ahead of her!

We love you Libby and wish you all the best!! Point all the birds, retrieve all the ducks, and have the best time ever exploring this great big world!!

It was a pleasure to have you here with us, even if you do have a beard 🥰

*My socks will finally be left where they belong ;)

20/11/2024

Videos from today.

Libby 4 months old will be leaving us, she's made some progress while here!

Gun intro
Pointing pigeons
Retrieving
Duck drags

Can't wait to hear about your future adventures Libby Lou!!!!

20/11/2024

This may be our last time playing baby bird dog games with Libby 😭

We did all the things today when the drizzle stopped.

At 4 months old Libby:
Had gunfire introduction
Pointing pigeons in launchers
Retrieving quail, woodcock, grouse, and now ducks (she absolutely loves carrying birds around)
Started on duck drags

Apart from that she has been the best traveling puppy, been to NoDak and back without any hassle, has gone to all our agility night training meeting multiple people and dogs, and has quickly developed friendships with a ton of Germans of the shorthaired type ;)

Little miss baby beard, the bearded lady, Libby Lou has been a nice addition to our crew for a bit. River will most definitely miss her the most, they have become best play buddies

15/11/2024

Versatility Certification from the GSPCA and Senior Hunter title from AKC came this week!!

Blaze, the places you have taken me, I'll never be able to fully describe how thankful I am that you came into our lives when you did!!

Both these awards leave me feeling very proud of what we have accomplished. Senior Hunter title and the fact we are shooting towards Master level remind me hard work does pay off!!

And this VC from GSPCA, a title we earned solely based on versatile sports as no points came from conformation (although I feel it's valuable, I just didn't have the time or resources to get into it amongst all the other events).
Blaze has showed me he is capable of far more than just hunting; rally, obedience, field trials, navhda, hunt tests, trick dog, and agility and scent work (which we have yet to trial in) oh and of course his 3 modeling gigs ;)

You're a true versatile boy Blaze, now you have the Certificate to show for it! I'm sure there will be more to come as we shoot to keep expanding our knowledge and further our testing!

I love you to the moon and back Blazey Boy, the sky is the limit!

(Obviously the awards are for me, he could care less 😅)

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