Month: May 2019

After 38 years there has been a shift in the partnership between Dick Brenneman and Bob Watts.  We are still partners in coverdogs.  Our active coverdogs for competition or breeding are Full Blast, Blast Zone, Full Breeze, Game Winner and Deciding Point.  In 2019 Dick decided not to start any more pups together with Bob.  Dick and Bob will play out the careers of the winning dogs we work with together, although the dogs will remain in Dick’s name.

Enter Thor Kain.  Several years ago, my friend pro trainer Tom Gingher told me that he’d found a young man who was vitally interested in competing bird dogs.  Tom was highly impressed and encouraged me to meet the guy and see if I could help him, mentor him as he got involved in competing bird dogs.  That young man was Thor Kain and Tom was exactly right in seeing a highly competitive person with outdoor skills, dog training skill potential, sincerity, open-to-learning fast, respectful of dogs and people and enthusiastic to work with.  Add to these traits the hard work ethic of Thor’s (up at 5 am daily–I’ve never seen anyone work as hard or put in as much time with his dogs at Thor) and you’ve got the ingredients for success.

It wasn’t long until Dick and I gave Thor a prospect of ours with high potential but whose training had gone off the rails–All In, call name “Chance”.  Eventually, with both Chance and Thor learning, Chance’s 9-find performance won the Region 2 Amateur Shooting Dog Championship.  Dick and I gave Thor more dogs and he made winners of them as well.  Thor kept learning and growing in his dog training/handling skills.  He got involved in the leadership of the Pennsylvania Grouse Trial Club and the Grand National Grouse Trial Club, becoming Grouse Futurity Secretary.  At times we asked Thor, as an amateur, to handle some of our dogs in trials.  He won more than his share including impressive wins with Straight Forward (1st PA Open All-Age, 2018) and Blast Zone (Champion, New York Grouse Dog Championship, 2018). As an amateur handler, Thor could not collect the purses at these events.  Following the New York Grouse Ch., Dick and Bob transferred ownership of Blast Zone to Thor.

With Dick having decided not to start any more pups and with Bob still wanting to retain his role as the one who starts and develops young dogs, Bob decided to team with Thor moving forward.  As young dogs come along through stud fee litter picks and matings, the partnership of Bob and Thor will take ownership and work the same winning formula that Bob and Dick have used for 38 years.  Bob will be the “Minor League Manager, starting and developing the pups and youngsters.  The pups who don’e have top flight potential are sold as started dogs to serious hunters who offer a great home.  Those youngsters who have the proven potential will move to the “Major League Manager”, Thor, usually at derby-age.  Thor has access to several outstanding wild bird covers which have aided his training regimen.

Currently Thor and Bob’s active dogs are Super Storm, Power Forward and 2019 pups “Lila” (Blast Zone ex Claremont Lucky Brynn), “Hawk” (Super Storm ex ) and “Nelly” (Blast Zone ex Bridgeware Mt Pemi).

There you have it.  Change happens.  Dick and Bob’s dogs and their winning bloodlines are continuing.  Dick and Bob are not done winning.  We have some fine dogs for campaigning with the continued use of the skills of professional Hall-of-Famer Dave Hughes.

The new amateur partnership between Thor and Bob represents a new generation with an ongoing commitment to bird dog excellence, building on lines and strategies that have proven themselves in the Dick and Bob era when they historically became the only kennel to win the “Grand Slam of Grouse Dogs”–winning the Grand National Grouse Championship (3X), The Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational, The Grand National Grouse Futurity and the Grand National Puppy Classic (2x).

Many thrills with our dogs in training and trialing lie ahead.

Dick, Bob and Thor

 

Blast Zone, handled throughout the year by Thor Kain, has been officially announced as the winner of the Mike Seminatore Award as the top all-age English setter cover dog for 2018-2019.  Shortly after this announcement in early May, the Nestle company proclaimed that Blast Zone had won the 2018-19 Purina Cover Dog of the Year award which goes to the top cover dog irrespective of breed.

These awards are the highest competitive honor that a dog competing in the woods, hunting for grouse and woodcock, can received.  We are honored by this recognition.

“Strike” earned these awards based on his strong performance during the fall when over 90% of cover dog championships are contested.  Named the Champion at both the New York Grouse Dog Championship and the Pennsylvania Grouse Championship provided the points “Strike” needed to lead a field of outstanding grouse dogs who challenged for these overall season recognitions.

“Strike’s” win of the New York Grouse Dog Championship will be recalled as hotly contested as 57 pointers and setters vied for this coveted title with more than a dozen contenders having well handled grouse finds.  Held in first half of September, this  championship kicks off the fall schedule and the expectation is that the dogs could face some warm weather running conditions.  This year the temperatures were hot, brutally hot.  When “Strike” ran near the early afternoon the thermometer read 90-degrees, according to the judge.  “Strike’s” relocation of a running grouse at the midway point of his hour hunt will be recalled for years to come.  After a 5-minute search he was found on point.  Sizing up the situation Thor sent “Strike” on.  He raced 30 yards and repointed.  Thor flushed but no bird lifted.  He sent “Strike” on with a tap on his shoulder and he went directly 50 yards forward this time and stacked up, high on both ends, sucking in air with his nostrils flaring.  This time, as Thor flushed, the grouse was pinned right in front of “Strike” and the bird roared out–Strike immobile.  He finished strong to cap a memorable hour.

At the conclusion of the NY Grouse Championship, Dick Brenneman and Bob Watts transferred ownership of Blast Zone to Thor Kain.

On the back of the New York win, “Strike” went to the other big-time east coast grouse championships in Pennsylvania with Thor at the controls.  54 of the best cover dogs competed.  “Strike” ran a powerful, forward hour over rugged conditions.  His ‘to-the-limits’ of the cover effort showed his desire and the confidence that Thor has in him.   At the halfway mark Thor realized he did not have “Strike’s” bell.  He dispatched scout John Stolgitis and after a 10-minute search the call of point rang out.  Buried in a thicket, Strike had a grouse pinned in front when the handler and judge arrived.  Standing tall and tight for the flush and shot completed a thrilling grouse find.  From here Strike continued hitting the objectives down the stretch in a forward, driving effort for the entire hour.

Receiving these awards confirms what we have known about “Strike” since he was a pup–this is an exceptional wild-bird finding, wild bird-handling setter.  All the talent we witnessed in “Strike’s” early development carried through in his performances in competition.  We kept saying that “we’ve never had a dog who at such a young age could find and handle wild birds so efficiently”.  Now “Strike” has proven it to the bird dog world.  As many know, “Strike” began his life with Bob Watts and his puppy program.  “Strike” has also been with early life co-owner Dick Brenneman, especially benefiting from Dick’s winter Texas quail hunting trips where “Strike’s” been the #1 guide dog for years.  These periods aside, “Strike” has been and continues to be Thor’s dog.   He got him into hundreds of wild birds as a mature pup and derby–“Strike” handling most all of these with adult manners at the shot!  Like we said, we haven’t seen a dog with these kinds of bird skills before.  Thor’s the one who finished “Strike” and campaigned him to his wins including the National Amateur Grouse Championship in his first season of all-age competition.  Thor and “Strike”,  a combination who have earned the highest recognitions in the cover dog realm–the Purina Cover Dog of the Year Award and the Mike Seminatore English Setter Award.