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Seabank Kennel, 282 Millers Falls Road, Northfield, MA (2025)

04/21/2025

After last weekend's snowy Saturday, we had Apocalyptic Summer Saturday at the TarTan Gordon Setter trial -- with temperatures reaching into the mid-80s! Happily most of my dogs were done before it got ridiculously warm for this time of year. But my heart certainly went out to the handlers and judges in the Amateur stakes that afternoon.

As ever, thank you to all the judges for looking at my dogs, and the (very) small army of volunteers bird planting, marshaling, and providing hospitality. Thank you, too, to Jess Woolston for scouting my dogs.

We had some success this weekend as well. The MIghty Havthor had his second run as a broke dog and a second 4th place this time in the Open Limited Gun Dog stake! Bravo, Summit!

BoomSauce showed up for Open Puppy and earned a solid 3rd place! Her pattern is getting increasingly mature in front of the horse -- which is great.

But the big chicken dinner was The Hobgoblin! Congratulations to Shiner for winning the 16-dog Open Gun Dog! Despite no juvenile points, and no blue ribbons of any kind to this point, Shiner had already earned 4pts towards his FC the hardest away possible -- with two 2nd places in 5pt major Open stakes. And this, his first blue ribbon, was in yet another all-breed major stake where he was the only grey dog! Congratulations to his owners and breeder!

04/14/2025

Lots of firsts this weekend: first weekend of events in New England, first field trial, first hunt test, first weekend of hauling the new big trailer and horses, and of course snow.

We went to the Southern New England Brittany Club field trial at Flaherty FTA in East Windsor, CT for Saturday — and then swapped out trailers and went to the Vizsla Club of Central New England double-header hunt test at Herman Covey WMA in Belchertown, MA for Sunday. First thanks go to all the volunteers at both events for helping out with judging, bird planting, gunning, hospitality, and ferrying judges to and from courses. Especially on Saturday these folks were out in the same craptastic weather I was.

We had to leave Flaherty before placements but received the good news that, despite the snowy, muddy conditions, Squints (aka ‘The FFJ’) had taken 2nd in Open Derby, and Summit (aka ‘Havthor’) had not only got around clean in his first broke-dog stake, but he had also earned 4th in the 18-dog Open Gun Dog stake. This first major placement not only qualifies him to run in Limited stakes but also to compete in the VCA National Field Championship. (The photo is of Havthor on his last training birds before the trial.)

On Sunday, the weather was cool but far from unpleasant for the VCCNE hunt test. I especially liked the revision to the SH/MH course now that all the work clearing and reseeding the grounds has been completed. Kudos should go to the State of MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife not just for their work in making these particular grounds so amenable, but for their overall and genuine encouragement to the working dog sports here in the state.

The Bug came off the couch and earned her third MH pass in clear, clean fashion!

And then Declan, the Gordon (who is now nicknamed ‘Tenacious’), earned his first SH pass! In full recognition, the bulk of his training was done by my friend, Jeff Reis (whose trailer nickname will not be shared 😆), and I was lucky to handle him.

The same is true for Otto, the GSP — whose nickname should probably be Bevis — who came out and also earned his first SH pass. The bulk of his training was carried out by my friend, Dave Molyneux, and I was lucky to knock off the rust and handle him.

Thank you to all the judges and congratulations to their owners!

04/07/2025

While we gear up for the spring hunt test and field trial season, it is incredibly rewarding to see two of our Winter Camp participants already enjoying success as owner-handlers!

Congratulations to Joe Lussier and Trout (formerly known as 'Cut Bait') for winning the Open Derby at the PANE trial this past weekend at Flaherty!

Congratulations, too, to Jessica Predom and Lucia (who will always be known as 'Boom') for tackling the Amateur Walking Derby and securing a solid 3rd. Progress is progress for the baby bird dog !

Always nice to hear that after several weeks of wild bird exposure (and no formal steadying work), both these dogs are finding birds and still letting their owners flush for them.

If you are interested in giving your dog some extended wild bird exposure next winter, please reach out sooner rather than later as spots are already filling up.

03/18/2025

We have made it safely home to Massachusetts after another long, productive winter in southwest Georgia. Stay tuned for more exciting news and developments!

As we have for the last couple of years, we stopped over at the Weimaraner Club of Washington DC field trial at Norman Wilder just outside Felton, DE. The grounds may not be the biggest, but the competition is stiff, and the club does a great job welcoming newcomers and old timers alike -- and runs a tight ship. Thank you to Becky Fockler, Michael Swallop, and Lance Fargo, especially, as well as the rest of the club who showed up to help.

It was a pleasure to judge the OGD (ret) -- and we saw a number of solid performances. Discovering that Mary Brown and I placed three of the same dogs in OGD as the judges in OLGD was no mere coincidence but a testament to the strength of the field.

As for my dogs in OLGD: Stormy was an as**at, SamSam was unlucky with his fifth bird contact, and Shiner had a good run with 1x STF and 2x PTs but just got beat.

In the juvenile stakes: I ran Boom in OP and the FFJ in OD, and was lucky to have Boom's owners, Jessica and Jeremy, willing to run their own dog and Squints in the AWD.

Boom figured out what the point of all these horses and strange bracemates -- and with Jessica's guidance, the light came on and she earned a 4th in AWD.

As for Squints: the Fugitive is back in the house.! She didn't need much in the way of acclimatization and earned a good 2nd in OD. Jeremy had his hands full, but showed great persistence as the FFJ went on a spree. Squints would win the AWD and earn her first 2pts towards her AFC! Congratulations to her owners and thank you to Jeremy for making it possible.

03/03/2025

Week T-10days:

Has been a long month in no small part because I took 2 dogs to each of the AKC Walking Gun Dog Championship and the VCA National Gun Dog Championship. The AKC was disastrous due to brace mates and very warm, humid behavior; the VCA left me confused.

Nevertheless, I was pleased with both BillyMac and his half brother, Fenway. This was the tenth anniversary of their father, Bull’s win of the NGDC, a benchmark performance that remains etched in my memory. Thank you, especially, to Shawn and Maria Harris for giving me the opportunity to run the dog that Wendy Russell and I bred and who has already left his profound mark on the breed.

But that’s field trialing. And you move on to the next event.

To switch gears: I try to counsel owners against sending dogs for the entire winter because 3mos is a long time and even great dogs can sometimes get stale and need a rest. And I certainly have one who is taking a break right now. But I’m really pleased with two of the young dogs: Spinal Tap and the FFJ. They have been here all winter for different reasons, but I am definitely seeing the benefits.

The picture is of the FFJ and the Chaos Monkey. When the sky is blue and cloudless, the air dry, and the wind is swinging between north and (especially) east, scenting is going to be gnarly. But the post isn’t about successful finds but about confidence building and how it shows up.

And for a dog who came inclined to defer in virtually every part of her life, seeing her tackle the ground, seeing her tail tell you the story of her confidence in what’s in front of her, and seeing her increasingly be the one to make the initial find, I am glad the FFJ was able to stay the whole winter.

The Chaos Monkey is on her second winter camp. And the goal was to try and make her more than merely self-confident but also competitive. And that’s been great too.

02/01/2025

The Week That Time Forgot: this was the week of the southern Snowpocalypse and the Stomach Flu!

The manager here has been leading quail parties for 40+yrs, but this was the first time he led a hunting party looking for birds in the snow. So he got to tick that off 😆! And now we’re in the schizophrenic phase where we had snow last week and it’s now 70+degs. The quail have no problem with the cold, but we think two things have happened: the smaller coveys congregated to form larger coveys (perhaps for better thermal efficiency at night?), but between the snow knocking down cover and now the rise in temperatures, those larger coveys have moved off and are now in places better suited for woodcock.

Everyone is doing well. But instead of a collage, here’s a clip of why wild birds are so good for teaching young dogs — featuring the Chaos Monkey and the FFJ.

01/21/2025

Week 2: Stay classy, San Diego!

Impressed with a couple of the green-broke dogs especially for starting to make the transition from hand-planted birds to wild birds. Especially when you’re dealing with coveys and wild flushes.

The cold weather is here for a week or so so we’ll see what that does to the birds and where we find them (or don’t).

In the meantime: from the top left going clockwise: Havthor the Mighty, the Hobgoblin, Doug McKenzie, Spinal Tap, Chaos Monkey and the FFJ, Bláber, Mr Magoo, and finally Bob McKenzie!

01/13/2025

Week 1: a slew of new and old trailer nicknames

The birds have really held up over the break. And the kids are all doing well. We did just have our first hard frost so we’ll see if that disperses the birds like it has in past years.

From the top left: Las Tres Amigas (Baby Boom, Spinal Tap, and Chaos Monkey)!; Hobgoblin back on task!; Hecho keeping up the good work; Doug McKenzie and the Chaos Monkey; Top Secret; Havthor the Mighty; and finally, Mr Magoo (soon to be renamed SMFJ).

12/24/2024

We’re taking a prescribed break for a week or so before we return to south Georgia for the second half of winter camp!

Wishing all our friends, family, and clients a happy holiday season!

Seabank’s Red River Repentless (‘Danny’)

12/16/2024

Week T minus 1:

Who else remembers Kevin Nealon or Norm McDonald doing ‘Weekend Update’ on SNL?

In any case, here are the last full week’s updates. (We get some final runs on Thursday and then pack up and leave on Friday.)

As can be expected, some dogs have surprised with how far they’ve come, and others still have plenty of room to grow. But what a diverse, exciting group of dogs! Thank you to all the owners who trusted me with their dogs for this first session.

From the top left: Mr Magoo with what turned out to be an epic, long-distance point; Cut Bait!; Spinal Tap with a good find on a warm, humid day; Slàinte! gets a random pair pinned; Gooniebird with a solid find; Mr Magoo honoring Hecho; and the FFJ honoring Prairie Girl!

12/14/2024

This is one illustration of what development (vs. training) looks like. And with wld birds, it makes it so much easier for the trainer-handler to avoid trying to second-guess the dog and short-circuit the development process -- as so often happens with a lot of folks using put-out birds.

I ran the FFJ, Prairie Girl, and Spinal Tap this morning as a trio -- and in fact, the FFJ (with the green collars) would be the first to stop in the area and attempt to point. Nevertheless, whether because of shifting conditions and/or running birds, she would take herself on. Prairie Girl (with the red collars) would be the next to come in this time from the west and establish a nice point, however as can be seen in the video, she would want to cautiously move up into the scent-cone. Spinal Tap would come in from the south and establish a hard, confident point, the FFJ initially honoring but then moving up to stop in a divided find. And then, as can be seen, joyous mayhem took place as I finally located and flushed the covey.

Am I bothered that the FFJ initially stopped and then took herself on? Nope. Am I bothered that Prairie Girl stopped and then wanted to move up? Or that Spinal Tap had already made one pass and failed to detect anything? Or that the FFJ left an honor and moved in for whiff of her own? Not at all to any of it.

Am I happy that all three dogs finally established strong, solid points confirmed by my flushing birds for them? Absolutely. All three now know what a productive point will feel like under this particular set of conditions.

And at this point, and with these great-flying birds, all three are standing for me to flush their birds, knowing that I am enabling what will be a tremendously exciting (but futile) chase. They are looking to me as an important piece of the routine. And all done without commands but the room to make decisions for themselves.

12/09/2024

Week 4 (?): 😆

The weather is schizophrenic: sometimes high of 50 and damp, today 65 and warm, dry air. All of this is good for building experience in the young dogs’ noses, especially.

Every day is a lesson in scenting conditions: watching dogs crash into birds unexpectedly from 3’ and then point coveys in dense undergrowth from 10+yds.

Switching up bracemates here and there. Watching all the green-broke dogs putting all the pieces together. Now it really starts to get satisfying.

From the top left: Hecho gets a scattered covey pointed; Doug McKenzie high and tight; Sláinte getting a covey pointed on a warm afternoon; the eyes have it 😆 for the Gooniebird; Cut Bait!; Spinal Tap and the FFJ with a nice divided find; Prairie Girl with one of several solid finds; Mr. Magoo being a handsome devil!

12/01/2024

Wk 3: numb nuts…

Just kidding. Had to change the subheading from ‘progress’ somehow. Between a variety of weather conditions and birds’ evolving daily migratory movements, the dogs are all adding to their encyclopedias of experience.

From the top left: Prairie Girl with a nice find on a scattered covey; Sláinte! building her resumé; the Gooniebird standing tall; Mr Magoo finding his composure; Doug Mackenzie and Prairie Girl with a nice covey find; Cut Bait was taken to the pond to cool down on a humid, humid day and then promptly got a whiff across the smooth surface of the pond, swimming around that little woody point to try and get a covey pointed, but they busted as a soon as he made landfall again; Hecho enjoying a dip on that same humid morning; Spinal Tap and the FFJ on what was probably their seventh covey pointed that morning.

11/24/2024

Week 2: progress, progress, progress…

Not much to say other than everyone is getting birds pointed, albeit some more consistently than others. And this is all while giving them the time and the encouragement to both figure it out and chase.

All the green-broke dogs have now had at least one find with perfect manners. Super impressed with this group — Mr Magoo, Hecho, and Sláinte!

From the top left going clockwise:
The Gooniebird on the left, Doug McKenzie on the right with two independent finds on the same covey; Mr. Magoo!; Spinal Tap with what turned out to be a monster, dispersed covey in front of her; The Gooniebird with a stylish solo find; Sláinte! with maybe 30birds all around her; Cut Bait with a stylish covey find; Prairie Girl and the FFJ!

11/22/2024

Here is a graphic illustration of experience provided by Gooniebird, Cut Bait, and Doug McKenzie (from L to R).

(It could also be an illustration of several other things including the physiological quality of each dog’s nose, the fleeting microclimates of scenting conditions, or even a running covey.)

Even though they are stopped in a virtual line, no one is honoring or backing. And in fact, Doug stopped first, Bait stopped second, and then Goonie stopped third.

All of these dogs are here to build drive and experience without pressure around birds. It does not matter at this point that neither of the second two dogs went past a dog clearly on point (and ‘failed to honor’.)

What does matter is that each got to point birds — and that perhaps the presence of another dog on point clued them in to pay more attention to the scant clues filtering through the wiregrass.

And as it happens (and I don’t think it is coincidental), Doug McKenzie spent all last winter here, Cut Bait got his first weeklong exposure to ruffed grouse right before coming to Georgia, and the Gooniebird is only in his third workout on birds ever.

11/17/2024

Week 1:

While not everyone has got used to the heat yet, everyone has had bird contact! Every single one of the younger, less-experienced dogs has been seen pointing — even if not for long, and even if only once 😆

The green-broke dogs have all had their tiny minds blown! And starting to show good manners as they get used to the very different scenting conditions and birds that aren’t going to sit around for clumsy behavior.

And of course, here’s a whole new round of trailer nicknames.

From the top left going clockwise: PrairieGirl and SpinalTap with a solid divided find; Cut Bait standing tall; Mr Magoo getting them pinned down; Hecho back again as a green-broke dog; Doug Mackenzie and his new side-kick, Gooniebird; and the FFJ reaching out to point high on the hill.

11/07/2024

As we start the Seabank annual winter migration south, here is a note of respect and appreciation to the drop-in customers who want to take their dogs to the next level — whether with me handling or with them handling.

If you can only come up once a week, getting a dog broke to start working on Master Hunter or Field Champion titles will take a long time. And so, this post is dedicated to those willing to take the long, patient road.

Seabank Kennel

04/21/2025

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