Hi Michaela,

Just an update and a few recent photo’s

Well its been a busy year for Red Diamond’s Eleanor. So far this year she has earned her AKC Junior Hunter Tile, passed 2 NAHRA  Hunter tests, and 2 HRC Junior Tests.. Oh and she turned 2 years old in March. She is doing all of the double marks for her Senior test, but we haven’t mastered the blind retrieves yet. Since she loves the time in the field training, we may be ready for Seniors this Fall (unless tests interfere with my hunting season  – priorities

She is getting more beautiful as she is maturing and filling out. I love her drive in the field, and then her ability to turn it off and curl up next to me on the couch to watch TV.

She is bold, beautiful, and I LOVE HER !!

Thanks again…

Mary

Thought I would give you a short update on Ike. He has been hunting with me several times already this year and seems to really enjoy it, as well as starting to excel at finding birds. As with any young dog he gets real excited when he smells the bird and starts to search hard. Easy to tell when his is birdy! I took him out the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving and he became a real bird dog and began to “hunt” instead of just tag along. One of those moments every dog owner looks forward to seeing. Ike is a good dead bird finder and is showing signs of being a good retriever, not 100% consistent yet but that will come with time, training and experience. He is very responsive to training from me and from my trainer.

He hasn’t pointed any wild birds yet but the other more experienced dogs have beat him to them most times. I certainly expect that to happen soon.I haven’t been able to get Ike out for ducks yet but that will come too, hopefully later in December. Still getting him used to water retrieves. I am really pleased with his hunting abilities and quite frankly I am shocked that I can already have him out with me on most hunts. I would never have considered taking a setter as young as Ike out on these types of hunts. My trainer referred to him as the little all-star when he was there. He will go for some more refined training later this spring, but it won’t take much more for him to be a well started upland dog. Experience will do more for this than anything.

Ike’s disposition is just wonderful. He is my buddy and I look forward to spending time with him everyday. Everyone in the family adores him. I can hardly believe how calm he is for a seven month old lab. I have older dogs that aren’t as calm. I have to tell you that the combination of American/British lines is great. I can go on and on but I suspect you know all this already.

I have attached a picture from one of our better hunts. In this picture are Ike on the right and 3 other dogs, my 5 year-old English setter, a female red lab in back (from Candy’s litter) and an older Viszla.

I look forward to many years of hunting and companionship from Ike. I will send more updates towards the end of hunting season.

Steve Swaffar

                                                                                    Ike from Gracie & Sailor

Dear Mom and Grandma,

Today we got a chance to go on our first goose hunt.  We did not know
quite what to expect.  We have seen them on the beach and they are
really big.

We got up real early and drove to the hay field (about 25 acres) and
while dad sat up the decoys we ran like the wind for a good 15 or 20
minutes.  After that we got back in the truck so we could take it and
hide it in the woods.  I guess geese don’t like trucks.

We walked back with dad and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from 7 AM to
7:30 AM.  Dad saw some geese a long way off and he said they were too
far to call.  He tried anyway.  We got bored so we got out of the hide
and ran around some more until about 8 AM.  Dad would have liked us to
stay out of the muddy field to the south but we reminded him we are
from Kansas.  Just after we got back in the hide two sandhill cranes
came over.  They are not legal to shoot in Michigan.  In about twenty
minutes we got restless again so we got out of the hide and ran around
some more.  Dad is amazed at how much energy we have.  We keep telling
him we are only 11 months old.

We settled back in at about 8:35 AM and dad saw a big flock of geese
way south and said “I think they are coming our way”.  Since they were
a long way off we just kept an eye on them.  Then all of a sudden we
heard a great deal of honking and there were about 50 geese 1/4 mile
east of us behind some trees.  The wind was blowing that direction so
dad started calling in earnest and that group turned in.  We could
tell dad got real excited because he grabbed his big stick and these
really loud noises started coming out of it.  We saw geese falling
from the sky but dad said,

“stay put” as the big flock from the south came in.  Once again the
big stick did the talking.  After that dad said, “lets go and retrieve
some geese.”  He also muttered, “wow, nothing for a hour and forty
minutes and then a limit in six”.

We really did not want to retrieve them.  Dad told us it was okay but
if they had been in deep water there would be expectations.  I guess
we will wait for the deep water.

Love,

Gabby and Gigi

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Red Ryder & Friends in Mulvane Ks. From Gracie & Tracker