The Front

We spent last weekend up the Rocky Mountain Front in search of pheasant and grouse. Although we saw a few, we were not lucky enough to bag any. The bird population got hit really hard this May with a 2 foot snow storm which apparently froze hens on their nests with chicks and all. Sad, but nature can be cruel. We finally had the opportunity to meet Greg Curtis with Ear Mountain Griffons in Choteau, Montana. Greg owns the breeding rights to Bullet the male griffon we will be using to breed Fern with. Greg has extensive experience with breeding WPG's and will have the honors of chaperoning Fern and Bullet on their romantic gettaway. Greg told us that Bullet has a lot of white in his coat which will be a nice attribute to bring into the breeding, as Fern's coat is mostly brown.
We are just waiting for Fern to come into heat... It should be any day or week now. Should be a very exciting month, Fern being bred, we are buying a new house and moving, and of course Christmas.

Just for fun

Road Trippin'

Fern has been busy over the last month, with trips to Michigan, eastern Montana, and the emergency vet! The latter sounds worse than it actually was - details later. Our trip to Michigan included Fern's first Upper Pennisula grouse hunt. She performed well but our success rate was terrible - poor shooting - but Fern could not help but chase some of the birds before we could get to her. The learning curve is steep on grouse.

We had fun chasing pheasants in eastern Montana on the way back from Michigan. Unfortunately none were roosters, bummer!!! This past Thursday night Fern had a high speed collision with a set of elk antlers. After an expensive trip to the emergency vet, Fern left with a small puncture and a sore chest. We were slightly embarrassed that we overreacted, but Griffs are worth it, right? We did discover that the antibiotics that were prescribed didn't settle well with our girl. She was prescribed Cephalexin and as we found out it can cause upset stomach and lethargia. Fern is now back to normal after stopping the antibiotic. Anyway I just finished constructing her whelping box for her first litter, and hopefully more to follow. Above is a picture of her new baby bed, we can't wait!

Natural Woman

Field testing Fern's Natural Ability with NAVHDA what so much fun. We wish we were better trainers because we would test her in Utility. These are the results from that test last fall.

Summer Pics from '08

Just some pictures from hiking last summer.

Background Check

Green Mountains Fern is the product of our family Griffons in Vermont. Fern's mom is Mickey Murphy's dog, "Yvette" and her dad is my Mom's Griffon, "Sherman." Mickey is my stepfather and raised me around many, many litters of Griffon puppies. There is nothing like the joy and excitment that surrounds breeding and rearing hunting dogs. The anticipation of having puppies in our home is almost too much to bear!!!! To bad the breeding isn't until December. Until then, we will continue to work with Fern in the field, honing her hunting skills. Next month she will have her first Eastern Montana phesant hunting experience.

Hips Don't Lie

We have some news to report on Fern's progression towards motherhood. Her hip X-ray results came back and we she received a grade of "good". This is important because hip problems are passed on through genetics and can be troublesome in larger dogs.

Fern is also featured in the September magazine of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA), in a story about her, and our, testing experience. We will post a link to the article soon, please look for it!