Just wanted to thank you guys again for the stellar pup. Seven months but I can see it already. Looking forward to this season! Allison managed to get a shot last weekend on the Minnesota north shore worth sharing with you guys. Great dogs!

Matthew & Allison Thompson  MN

“Dax” – Loick De L’escarbot

Dam: Fabienne De L’Escarbot

Sire: Jarred Du Comte De Batz Castelmore

Terrain De L’Escarbot (Sonny)
Dam: Rose De L’Escarbot
Sire: Nilo De La Valleta
Owner: Lee Swanson
Producer: John and Bruce Mooney

Hi John & Bruce,   Just a note to say Hi & let you know that Sonny is 14 yrs young today ( Jan. 29, 2016 ) & doing well & still hunting like a champ but just a little slower. Thanks for my best friend.  Lee Swanson

Hi John,

Our little Rupert continues to completely delight us in every way, including (of course) his hunting abilities. This past weekend I had him out for his first pheasant hunt, and he performed very well. He stays close, checking back with me frequently, even when he’s on a bird. I rarely have to call him back to hunt closer – he seems to have a natural range of 10 to 30 yards that he rarely exceeds. I’ve hunted with a lot of dogs, and it seemed like their owners were always yelling at them to hunt closer. With Rupert, I rarely have to communicate with him at all. He just seems to know what to do.

He seems to have an excellent nose, definitely has endless energy to go all day, and does just fine in heavy cover. A couple of times he took off running after hens that flushed in the distance and then ignored my whistle to get him back, which is a bit annoying. Normally he responds instantly to the whistle. But of course he’s only 9 months old.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I’m having a great time hunting with him. We enjoy him a lot both in the field and in our condo. Except for his habit of finding socks in the house and chewing them up. Oh well…

Best regards,

Bruce and Petra MN

John and Bruce,
This is another great note from your teacher friend in New Hampshire. Brady and I spent the Summer in Northern Maine running a conservation camp. The picture I am sending you is from a youth hunters apprentice ship program through Safari Club International. Brady and I were asked to help with 12 young kids on a Pheasant hunt. Pheasants are hard for Brady a little just because they run so much. But as the picture shows Brady was on a long track after a young man winged this pheasant. I heard Brady’s bell far out in the thick stuff and thought he lost the bird so I called him back around and when he was coming back his bell went silent.

So I figured he was pointing the pheasant, to my amazement when I went in to flush the bird, Brady had the pheasant in his mouth and was locked on a woodcock. I couldn’t believe that with a nose full of pheasant he would still point his favorite bird to hunt!!!!!! We are still training and learning, but Brady is only two and I am still a rookie, But we love to do it all. Thanks again for this amazing experience.

Best Wishes, David Kenney

John,

I haven’t spoken to you in a while but I thought I would tell you that I am very pleased with Gus. He is 17 months old now and has seen plenty of pen raised birds throughout the winter: chukers and pheasants. He is working well and I love his nose and I really am getting used to his point. He points from a longer distance than our previous FB. I think this will be an asset on grouse. He is retrieving nicely, but still has a a tendency to want to keep the bird and play with it. He is good at home and all the family love him. I think he will make a fine bird dog and I am glad I made the choice of your kennel. He is quite the athlete:40 lbs. of pure muscle. There is no stop in his desire!

Michael Krause

John,

Its been quite  while since I touched base.  I think Dory (official name Drummer) is now 6 and has quite a few miles and birds behind him.  He’s been a great dog and the only one left in my kennel after I put down the other 2 I had at the time he joined us.

Anyway, Dory has hunted a great variety of birds over the past 6 years including ruffed grouse, woodcock, snipe, Sharptailed, Sage, and Blue grouse, plus pheasants , huns, and chukars.  This September we flew to AK and I shot all three species of ptarmigan over him as well. He is a driven bird finder and I’d have to say that his specialty is covey birds in big country – he is absolutely death on chukars.

Anyway, thought you might like a couple of pics, so see attached.

Cheers,

Keith Marcott

John,

I have Bernadette — more commonly known as Tater, from your 2006 breeding of Toy and Tabia.     Tater is doing well — we just got back from a week of ruffed grouse hunting in Maine.   She is healthy and in her prime.   But my older dog — the male Aussie you met briefly and worried about — is 14 now and it will be time to have another dog in the house in a year or so to keep Tater company.     I have so much appreciated Tater’s trueness to your breeding vision that I want to get another of your puppies.    She has been everything you told me she would be and more — extraordinarily athletic, as smart as any Border Collie I’ve ever met, a tremendous hunter, and a wonderful house companion.

So, while I am not ready to get a puppy right now, I would ask that perhaps you could let me know about upcoming breedings so that I can put my name in early.   If that requires a deposit now, let me know.

Thanks for the great work you do with these dogs.

Regards,

Bob Stalick

John,

I just want to share a note and thank you for your great training of Igor.  I took him out for the first time in front of birds this fall since you trained him in April.  Since he has so much energy and drive I was worried how he would react when he found his first bird.  I was overjoyed.  He locked on scent/sight and didn’t move until we flushed the birds.  He also immediately retrieved and dropped the birds for me as well.  All told we flushed all 8 birds we had placed in the field.  He also returns promptly on the whistle.  I am excited to get him up north in a couple weeks to see how he does going after grouse.

Feel free to post this on your testimonial page.

Thanks Again,

Greg Vacura
MN

John,

You are a miracle worker!

A few years ago we were researching kennels and dog trainers to see if a trainer could exercise the “gun shyness demons” from our 3 year old French Brittney, Tudors.

I’m glad we found you.  Even though Tudors was not one of your own kennel raised  pups, you were still very interested in helping us with a major correction given the severity of Tudors gun shy condition.  When Tudors heard anything remotely similar to a gun or pop, he would run to a corner to find security and breath so heavily we thought he was going to have a heart attack!  It was good to hear that you were confident that you could correct his fear of the gun.  We thought you displayed an incredible amount of knowledge and applied some really good psychology…..for everyone involved.  We really liked your approach and the professionalism from start to finish.    As we didn’t know what to expect, you wanted to see if you could achieve progress after 3 visits before taking him for a month of training.  This meant a lot to Natalie and me as we loved him for the companion he was in the house and we didn’t want that part to change, but we also wanted to see if he could live his life for what he was meant to be in the field.

We were blessed with Tudors being such a loveable and affectionate dog, as it turns out, none of this part changed.  I think he loves us even more because you opened a new world of fun and purpose for him!

Tudors is now 5 and he has spent hundreds of hours in the field over the past 2 years gaining lots of “on the job experience.”  I can say that at the end of each days hunt, he and I get better at being a team.  As you told me, with Tudors less is more.  He does everything he is supposed to do in the field and I don’t need to give him much instruction, and when I do he figures it out.  When I have hunted him with other dogs, even flushers, I think Tudors is one of the best if not the best dog in the field.  Tudors can change styles and approach because he has learned the difference between a hunting  in the aspen forest and how to handle those conditions versus a pheasant habitat.  I could go on and tell you stories about his eagerness to hunt, his bird pinning points and crazy retrieves, but I’m much more happy about the fact that he now loves the sound of the gun!

Great job John!  I’m glad we found you!

Mason
MN

John,

I just wanted to share a story from my first outing with Nikki, a puppy that I got from you.  Nikki almost yard trained herself by following my old dog around.  When dove season rolled around she was almost 6 months old.  We normally don’t get a lot of action where I hunt, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce her to the gun.  We went out and our first dove came in.  I shot and dropped it in some chest high grass.  I looked down and Nikki was gone.  I started swearing at myself thinking I messed up an excellent dog by rushing the training.  Less than a minute later Nikki came out of the grass with the dove in her mouth.  She brought it right to me and gave it up without a problem.  We had more action than normal that day and I had one of my best shooting days on doves ever. When we were done,  I rode the golf cart back to the farmhouse and the farmer walked up to us.  He said he heard all of the shooting and asked if we got many of them.  I can’t remember how many we had but it was near a dozen.  He knew where I was hunting and knew about the grass.  When I told him Nikki retrieved them all he said that’s one great dog you have there.  Since then we have had many great years and a lot of great stories.   I got Nikki from you guys 8 years ago and am going to be getting another puppy from you next year.

Thanks,

Ed OH

John,

Good to catch up with you yesterday.  I wanted to share my recent hunting experience.

Edgard de L’Escarbot – 4 ½ yrs. old
Father – Soska
Mother – Abbie

Walk-in Hunting just east of Pollock, SD

“Hunting Dead”

John,  I wanted to share my recent “tracking” experience in South Dakota.  My good friend his Labrador and I were hunting a Walk-In area which was comprised of a large lake bordered by approximately 75 yards of the nasty, thick cattails.  We were walking in the grassy area beyond the cattails when Edgard sharply pointed a loafing Ringneck.  The bird burst from the scene and my friend and I shot simultaneously thinking the bird was dead and hit very hard.  As we reached the area the bird dropped, we were surprised to see that it was not there and had escaped (poor shooting).  The dogs heard the command, “Dead Bird, Find it” and began to work the area around where the bird had dropped.  After about a minute my friend called out that Edgard was on point on the edge of the cattails.  As I entered the cattails, I noticed Edgard locked down pointing a large clump of reeds and cattails.  I gave the command, “Fetch it up” and he raced into the clump followed by the Labrador.  Both dogs ran franticly trying to located the wounded bird with no luck.  This went on for about ten minutes with no bird to be found.  At that time my friend called his dog off the search and I gave three sharp whistle blasts to call back Edgard.  As my friend and his Labrador returned to the grassy area, I was having trouble calling the dog back.  Being that I use a Garmin Astro GPS unit for my dog I decided  to look at my receiver.  The unit showed his travel through the thick cattails in the direction of the lake..45 – 50 – 60 – 75 yards, then the unit beeped “on point”.  Thinking that he was on another bird, I trudged the 75 yards through the thickest cover I’ve ever been through to find the location of dog.  As I came within 5 yards I still could not locate the dog due to the heavy cover.  As I took one more step, I saw the dog just to my right in two foot of water, locked down tight with his nose just above the cattails.  I gave the command again, “Fetch it up” and he buried his head in the heavy cover grabbing the Rooster by the neck and dragging him out from under the cover delivering the bird to hand.  I couldn’t believe that he had tracked this crippled bird nearly 75 yards, through the thickest and wettest area I had ever seen!   We then made the nearly 100 yard journey back to my friend and his Labrador who I know thought we were on a wild goose chase. As we got closer I held up the crippled bird with true pride and my friend couldn’t believe what he saw. I think his words were, “WOW that is impressive”!    In all the time hunting with Edgard, I remember him tracking many crippled birds, but this one was the most impressive ever!

Thanks,

Dan Shirey
Birmingham, AL

Ellie has really come on this year so far.

We had built a johnny house and have been working her on loose quail and she is really doing well!  We have some tremendous fliers and they act very wild.

Was up north last weekend for grouse and woodcock and lots of bird contacts.  But the highlights were the three separate grouse coveys she pointed and HELD!  I was able to shoot grouse out of each covey.

She is holding her own against a pretty darn good 5 year old GSP.  Heading up for more grouse and woodcock for 3 weekends in Oct.

Here is a picture my daughter took today as ellie was pointing a quail.

Also attached a video of her run today.

Not quite finished but darn close.

I tagged the kennel as well so if someone searches youtube for your kennel this should pop up as a vid.

http://youtu.be/ZXbI_aze73I

Happy hunting this fall!

Cory
Cottage Grove, WI

John – I wanted to write and thank you for all the help through the first season with Geron (Mr. G).  The first year has been a tremendous time challenge for me as my twin girls arrived six months after Mr. G.  Even before I put my deposit down for a pup, you were a great source of help & knowledge.  I appreciate you being open to me calling you about vets, food, toys, obedience, exercise, training gear, e-collars, retrieving, boarding, etc.  I’m pretty sure you were sick of me and then I sent him back to you for a month of formal obedience & field training.  Even before I sent Mr. G out to you, you made it very clear as to what you wanted to accomplish with him and set my expectations appropriately.  We discussed his progress weekly and I was able to visit right before he was sent home, which was primarily to train me to keep his development going.  Six months after hunt camp, Mr. G continues to get better in the field and you continue to answer my calls for advice, thank you.

My testimonial would not be the same without a hunting story…we were making one last pass along the road above the river when Mr. G pointed straight down a 30 foot bank.  Without pause, my hunting partner goes down the bank and flushed a pheasant.  We both instinctively shot the bird, which was over the middle of the river.  Mr. G looked up at me, ‘should I go get it’ just as my buddy runs past me, throwing his gun at me, and heads down river yelling ‘I got it!’  I was thinking ‘is he going to swim for it, idiot…’ Then Mr. G takes off in hot pursuit…as I’m stumbling down river carrying equipment, I look up, Mr. G is in the middle of the river, spots the bird, swims directly to it, grabs it & swims back, hand delivering it to my buddy.  I’m pretty sure I yelled out ‘F-YEAH!!’ more than once.

I’ve really enjoyed what a workhorse he is in the field and a devoted family member at home.  He is great with my little girls (all kids actually) and my morning coffee would not be the same without Mr. G sitting in my lap, chewing his bone, & then falling asleep.  I’ll be ordering more in the future…I promised each girl a puppy.

Thanks, Andrew
Portland, Oregon

John,

I picked up my new pup from you when he was six weeks old, watched him play and grow at the lake until I brought him back for training at 51/2 months.  Hugo (Holter) had turned into a driven hunting machine upon arrival back, really intense. When we met in Fergus Falls I brought him directly to the forests in northern MN. His first point and retrieve was about 15 minutes into the hunt, also his first sniff of a wild ruff grouse. I think it surprised and pleased both of us, big smiles on our faces. From that moment on we have hunted Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana and North Dakota multiple times. This puppy has got the Grand Slam: Grouse, Partridge and Pheasant under his young belt this year.

I think he tried to impress you in South Dakota when we hunted together there. Both Hugo and Etoc were on point at the end of the shelter belt. The rooster flushed, was shot and Hugo made a 50 yard retrieve right to my hand.  Since then he has seen hundreds of birds and learned so much. At 9 months now, he is eager to please and on his way to becoming a very impressive dog. I had never had a pointer, there was much to learn about this different way of hunting. I am glad Hugo is patient with me.

With the 2012 season winding down we just got back from pheasant hunting in Mott, ND. Snow covered fields provided the back drop for a late season hunt. The birds were grouped up and spooky. Hugo pointed and retrieved a 3 day limit of roosters each day. It was so fun watching him. I can hardly wait until next season. Thanks for the great French Brittany Spaniel.

Bill Augustadt
Battle Lake, MN

Hello John and Bruce,

Just over two years ago we brought home from your kennel an 8 week old French Brittany Spaniel Fonce whom we now call Zoey.  After finding our 6 year old American Brittany and best hunting friend had terminal cancer we were in a bit of a panic to find a great dog to fill his shoes.  After much research we decided a French Brittany may be a better fit for our family and hunting needs.  We then began the search for a reputable breeder and a good dog we were shocked to find that the premier U.S. French Brittany breeder was just a short drive from our home and happened to have a larger than average litter with exactly what we wanted a female tricolor ready to take home in just a few days.  Our decision was made and the next week we made the trip to your kennels to pick up our Zoey, daughter of Cerese and Diska.  We began training right away with your detailed instructions and at 6 months old we took her out to the game farm so we could shoot some birds over her.  The pheasants were bigger than her but she did awesome!  She has since done some grouse hunting as well as pheasant and Chucker.  We just returned from a season warmup at the pheasant farm.  At 2 years old she is a fantastic hunter she listens flawlessly, marks and retrieves beautifully and holds a point perfectly.  Not to mention she is a wonderful family pet, wonderful with the neighborhood kids and always up for a good snuggle.

We are so very happy we jumped at the chance to have one of your dogs and could not be happier with her hunting ability and demeanor she is a total sweetheart.

Joel Moulton
Waconia, MN