From the moment we picked him up on May 15th, 1993, Winston captured our hearts. He was our first Springer, a wonderful introduction to the breed. Little did we know the powerful hunting machine that this little adorable bundle would grow up to be. Every Springer we ever own will inevitably be compared to Winston.  And few hold a candle to this wonderful animal. 

Winston is a powerful, dynamic animal with a quiet confidence that exudes itself in his birdwork.   When he is hunting or trialing, he is all business, but it's a job he loves with all his heart. An "old soul" and Mr. Mellow in the house, Winston's calm house demeanor and levelheadedness has passed on to many of his pups.  He has been used in therapy situations at a children's muscular dystrophy home, to carry our groceries up flights of stairs to the kitchen (without eating them!), to hunt for juniors to expose them to the sport of upland bird hunting, and to "train" our younger dogs.

Extremely muscular, with a large, broad head, strong bone, deep & wide chest and plenty of leg, Winston has the stamina and power to hunt all day through challenging cover.  His assets include a great nose with outstanding tracking ability, highly accurate marking/retrieving, gentle mouth and an extremely bold flush--often airborne.  He exceled in all key areas, and had no "holes." This big-running dog is fearless of cover.  His intelligence and bird-savvy made training him a 2-way learning process. When you look into his soulful eyes, you realize that your initial response that he was sad is not correct --- he is just almost a human in a dog's body. 

Along with his Field Champion and Amateur Field Champion titles, Winston was the High Point Open Dog for the Western U.S. in 1997 (third in the nation), and competed in the Nationals in 1997 and 1998. (He qualified in 1995, but was not entered).  All this was accomplished with Amateur training and handling by Tony.  He also finished 2nd in the Open at Maine in September 2001, with Bernie Castellani handling -- Winston's first trial in over two years with only a couple months preparation, bracketed by a National Champ "Rave" and double National placing dog "Hawk" in the placements.  An 8.5 year old dog placing in 90+ degree heat in thick cover truly speaks volumes on Winston's physical and mental strength. We only sigh when we think what could have been if we had the training time and grounds to truly prepare him for a National.    

Now retired from trials, Winston is quite content fetching the paper, helping Diane carry in the groceries from the garage and other errands, doing stupid pet tricks for our friends ("Give me five", Beg, etc.), warming visitors' laps and being an all-around great companion. He had a long overdue pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota in fall 2002 and more "just hunting" days are definitely in his future. Meanwhile, he is perhaps entering a second puppyhood, with lots of playfulness and bounce and he still LOVES to retrieve on land or especially in the water!!     We are enjoying watching his pups being enjoyed by their owners, too.   

With a mere half dozen or so offspring actively running in trials, Winston's prowess as a stud has proven itself.  More importantly, he has produced many great hunting companions that are well-loved in the house as well as the field.  Most get Winston's big run, athletism, flush and nose.  The lucky ones also got his great marking, tracking and proud delivery.  No first-generation offspring were tri-color, but his grandpuppies are sometimes tri-color, otherwise, just nice dark liver and white.  Littermates  Drumbeat Winrose Zoe (Winston x Rosie) and   S&S Tug of War both earned their AFC.  Drumbeat Streakin' Zeke (sibling from a different Winston x Rosie litter) holds an FC with only a win needed with all his amateur points to earn the AFC.  Drumbeat Dynamic Rhythm (Winston x Tory)  and Bushrod of Stonewall Farms (Winston x Rosie) were also Open Stakes FT winners!   Drumbeat Gusty Winds (Dyna's littermate) earned his Master Hunter title with ease. 

Winston is available at stud via frozen semen to select females.  Please contact us for more details.  We had a successful AI in summer of '03 to a bitch out of Glover & Midlands Gabi, producing 8 puppies for her very first litter ever.  The surgical AI was done by Dr. Dana Bleifer of Pasadena, CA.  We are also planning a line breeding back to Winston out of one of Dyna's daughters (i.e. Winston's granddaughter) soon (see below).  We are really looking forward to such a breeding, knowing as much as we will about the dogs through several layers of pedigree.   The "old man" is aging so gracefully, and seems to enjoy life more everyday.    The sparkle is still in his eye at 13 1/2 years young!   He is truly a dog that we appreciate more and more over time.

Linebreedings on Winston have commenced with the next to be a breeding between Winston and granddaughter Drumbeat Diamond Marquise in early '07.  (Note:  This breeding produced happy dogs that are suited for the many jobs asked of them:  agility, hunting, field trials, home companion.    The smallest female was 37#, so Winston added size to Dina's slight frame in the resulting pups.   They all seem to be natural retrievers, lovingly delivering various objects and dead animals to their owners ;-) 

Click here to see some older pups sired by Winston. 

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