It’s a beautiful morning and bank holiday weekend for the Kings birthday here in New Zealand and today, 31st May, the first day of the North Canterbury Upland Game Shooting Season. With just 7 days a season allowed for pheasant shooting in our area,(1 bird a day) it’s important to get out and train for those trials! Job Done - Mavis filled the bag 😁completing her first HPR in NZ 😊 👌🐾👏🐾
Job Done
Once she had decided, Karat didnt hang about and our “S” Litter arrived 3 days early, Friday 23rd May, apparently a common thing with litters born from surgical AI. Arriving in our kitchen with warmth from the woodburner, the 3 bitches and 4 dog puppies are all feeding well and very content. We are very excited to have such lovely homes lined up and we would like to thank everyone on our waitlist for being so patient and Lucie will be in touch by the end of Monday latest. !! many thanks for the wonderful interest in this litter - all puppies are reserved.
A kinky tail that can be seen taped, (to straighten) was bent by the closeness of his big brother before birth 🥰
Karat, heavily pregnant and soon to have her pups took off on her quiet morning walk this morning to retrieve a wounded duck from a neighbours recent shoot. 🫣🫣
Moving to a different country is mega when it comes to getting everything in place to shoot over your dogs, find access to grounds and hook up with likeminded people. Today Mavis and I made a start (it being the first day of the season) by shooting our first duck, with a new gun, with the first shot and giving Mavis her first live bird retrieve 😁 A fabulous sunny day when hunters could be heard from dawn to dusk and which followed a huge mid week rain storm which in a timely way had swelled the rivers and filled all the ponds. Yay! The surprised face says it all 🤣
Karat scanned in pup today and is carrying a medium to large sized litter. The scan immediately showed 5 puppies in a view so it’s likely there are more. Enjoying the sun this afternoon, Karat, centre looking pleased with herself 👏 is flanked by her daughter and dam. Thanks to Kirsten Wylie and her team at K9HQ for getting us to this stage and we look forward to the coming weeks. For enquiries please contact Lucie on 027 277 9008 (Canterbury NZ ) https://www.aytee.co.uk/litters-overview
Taking part in our first NZ driven shoot today was just like the Scottish Borders with guns, picker-uppers and beaters all having the usual banter, slips and slides, smiles and wet and steaming dogs :) Plus here in NZ it was right amongst the roar of the red deer with stags seen and heard through the misty rain as we worked the beating line what an atmosphere!
The "Q" Litter are 2 years old today. Mavis here is working pheasant poults and practising her hunting skills the final day before they are released. She has had a busy year, moving to the Southern Hemisphere and continuing to learn to be a good bird dog. We wish all her litter brothers and sisters and their owners a wonderful year ahead and much luck and enjoyment in whatever they do.
Karat has certainly kept us waiting and after 7 blood tests finally on day 21 our brilliant vet Kirsten Wylie of K9HQ completed her surgical AI. Thankyou Kirsten to you and your teams amazing skills, its down to Karat now. Our thanks also too DogsNZ who generously granted a dispensation once we arrived in NZ for beautiful Karat to have a litter. Our excitement is shared by Lisa Cornell in the USA who owned the talented sire Sherman, Sarah Asher who originally imported his semen to NZ and of course to our prospective owners who have been patiently waiting for this news. YAY! we cant wait for some Aytee puppies to arrive.
Sire - ‘Sherman’ Ch Edelmarke Second coming JH ROM
Dam - ‘Karat’. Ch Aytee Katerina FTW
Otago
What a great week away in Otago with competitors at Pointer and Setter Trials and although Mavis came into season early on 🙄 (who’d have bitches) it was not before she showed what she is capable of and as I am now the proud guardian of a loft full of pigeons, we can put more work into getting tidy around the traps.
Huge thankyou’s to my local Canterbury Gundog Club for all their support and to the organisers and judges of the various Clubs for putting on such great competitions and congratulations to all the winners. Good luck also, to everyone competing in Castle Hill, Canterbury this weekend, before we all head home.
This week Mavis received her NZ CH certificate. Entering shows had been to regain her confidence after last Octobers long emigration journey and kennelling experience - she has definately recovered! The working side is interesting in NZ as it is a requirement for running in Pointer and Setter Trials, to hunt, point and be steady to flush on pigeon traps, so after field training regularly alongside the showing, we have entered for some trials next month. I can only thank everyone who is being so incredibly generous with their time, facilities, training advice and helping Mavis and I to get kitted out with everything from remote traps, pigeon lofts, cold game, pens and even the birds themselves! It’s early days and a busy time, how lucky we are ….🐾🐾 finally here is a clip of her doing a favourite job 😁
