We’ve been avid outdoor people our entire lives and dogs have figured into most of those years. We fulfilled a long-held dream when we moved to 40 acres in the country, 40 miles west of Minneapolis, a place where our current three Griffs – Xupe, Ooly and Pippin – have woods, fields and ponds to run in and sniff around every day of the week. Pheasant hunting is no longer a day trip. We simply head “around the corner” to hunting land. Grouse and woodcock are just an hour and a half north of us.

Our adventure with Griffons began when Biff, grieving the loss of our beloved 16 yr. old German Wirehaired Pointer, began researching hunting dogs. We also had an aging German Shorthaired Pointer and felt it was the right time for a puppy. Little did we know that we would be drawn into both NAVHDA and the AKC when we purchased Chev (Ear Mountain’s Butch Cassidy) and picked him up in Montana.

Chev proved to be much more than we expected, winning a NAVHDA NA Prize 1 at 7 and ½ months, AKC Junior Hunter at 15 mos. and “Best of Breed” the first time he was in a dog show, a week before his 1st birthday. He earned his CH (champion status) at the AWPGA Specialty show in Dixon, California in 2010 where he was “Winners’ Dog” and went on to win a Group 4 at the Lake Minnetonka Show in 2011. In 2012 he became a “Grand Champion” at the AWPGA Specialty Show where he earned “Grand Champion Select Dog”.  We have realized that his structure, coat and temperament are worth replicating and so we began our search for a strong female, anticipating our own future breedings.

Finley (Finley von Herrenhausen) arrived from Oregon just days before we moved into our new home at Norling Rise. She earned her NA Prize 1 at 10 months and Junior Hunter at 1 year.  Finley earned her IntCH (International Championship) in May, 2013.

Breeding pups with high natural hunting ability is our goal.  The first litter of Chev and Finley’s offspring arrived in November, 2013 and Xupe (from that litter of 12) became the fifth member of our family. Ooly was part of our 2017 litter and puppy Pippin (from Canada) joined us in 2023.