I love English Pointers, especially ones from strong Elhew lines. So I was excited to see this litter of pups from Northern California’s Blackney Kennels. These great looking dogs are full of potential. And they’re darn cute, too.
According to the breeder’s About Us page: “Blackney Kennels breeds Elhew English Pointers for hunters and competitors, and their families, who desire an outstanding representative of the finest line of pointing dogs ever developed. Our objective is to produce dogs of the highest quality, conforming to the Elhew standards: high-powered, highly intelligent, highly biddable, conformationally correct and strikingly beautiful, with ideal companion-dog temperaments.”
3 Questions for kennel owner Daniel Riviera
1.) Dogs & Doubles: Why did you pick Brigadoon & Aviatrix? What strengths were you trying to bring together?
Daniel Riviera: First, this is a “pure” Elhew breeding. I have had Elhew pointers for the past 20 years and have been thrilled with them. I agree entirely with, and want for myself, the kind of dog Bob Wehle developed. For the low-volume breeder, who wants the highest quality, consistent litter, I believe breeding within the Elhew family, which is broad and has many lines, is the best route.
Specifically, I like, and want to breed, a high-powered, exceptionally athletic dog, who is exciting, even thrilling at times, to watch work and with whom to partner in the hunt. I want the dog to be highly biddable, meaning responsive and communicative in the field, highly intelligent, beautifully structured and marked, with a handsome, correct head and a straight, cracking tail, and a warm, outgoing, engaged, and expressive personality and temperament. Both Brigadoon and Aviatrix meet this description.
Brigadoon is a powerfully built, beautiful dog, with good bone and substance, and tremendous vitality – excellent qualities in a sire. Aviatrix is finer boned, sharply outlined, with great intensity. I felt they would be a good combination because I did not want to go further in either direction, toward more bone or toward more refinement. It seems to have been a good choice as the pups show both good bone and substance, and beautiful emerging outlines.
Brigadoon and Aviatrix share many desirable traits, so their strengths are compounded in the pups. Just picking one of their strengths, both Brigadoon and Aviatrix are notably tenacious. When we were just beginning to work Brigadoon on birds, when he was still a little tyke, we shot a chukar for him and it unfortunately dropped into the middle of a huge blackberry bush, common in the open fields around here. Before we could stop Brigadoon, he was crawling into the middle of the blackberry bush and was soon crawling back out, pushing through the vines, ignoring the stickers, with the bird. It was quite amazing.
I should add that both Brigadoon and Aviatrix are very healthy dogs, and so far, knock on wood, have not been prone to injury. The pups they produced are very robust.
2.) Dogs & Doubles: What traits are you hoping to see in these pups? What will set them apart?
Daniel Riviera: I want to see a robust, beautiful dog, with a handsome head and cracking tail, forward, engaged, with a warm, loving personality. The ideal hunting-companion dog, who may also be competed successfully in shooting dog and comparable stakes. This is what I am seeing in the pups. I began with pointing dogs nearly 30 years ago, showing Vizslas (a wonderful breed) in conformation. This litter is so uniformly excellent you could finish the championship of every one of these pups. I wish I could keep them all.
3.) Dogs & Doubles: Say I’m a potential customer, what’s your elevator pitch on your pups? Why should consider them, what will I get from them?
Daniel Riviera: The ideal hunting-companion dog, beautiful, thrilling to watch and to hunt, rewarding to own every day of the dog’s life.
