Meet Alivia vom Prairie-Flusstal

Liesel has been such a wonderful dog that I could not help but to want a daughter out of her.  I carefully considered so many different stud dogs trying to find one that would help me reproduce a puppy as similar to Liesel as possible.  And then once my "A" litter was whelped, I had 7 Liesel daughters to choose from.  I spent so many hours with the puppies trying to get to know them as individuals as much as possible.  I read a few books on conformation that included advice for selecting a puppy at 7/8 weeks of age.  I consulted with various friends in the DD world as to which puppy I should select.  In summary, I probably over-analyzed everything as per usual :-)  It was a tough decision with so many nice puppies in the litter and I was dangerously close to kicking someone off of our list so I could keep 2 puppies.  But when the tattoo ink was dry, Alivia "Livvy" was the one I chose to keep.

Livvy has a very short, hard and tight-fitting coat like her mother...maybe even a little better with a little more density.  She is bold and friendly, but yet also sweet and cuddly.  At her young age, she appears to be put together pretty well (i.e. no major conformation faults).  I particularly like her strong tracking ability, her passion for retrieving, her range and stamina afield, and her willingness to honor her mother on point.   

Livvy has had an incredible first hunting season for a young puppy.  At less than 6 months of age, she has already had over 25 days of upland bird hunting on wild birds.  She has found and pointed several pheasants, several rabbits, and a few coveys of quail.  She is a very natural retriever (always carrying things around the house) and has retrieved pheasants, rabbits, quail, geese, and a lot of training game to hand.  But what has impressed me the most is her tracking and how well-mannered she is.  When she hits a scent, she is locked on for the long haul.  I've actually lost her a couple times for 5 minutes while hunting because she gets on a running rooster's track and disappears after him.  But yet, after the bird flushes or she loses the track, she is immediately looking for me.  She seems to have an ideal balance of independence (that gives her the confidence to take these tracks) and cooperation (to bring her back to me).  She also does a great job of independently searching for her own game, while backing beautifully anytime she sees her mother on point (which was A LOT this last season).  She has never busted a bird that her mother pointed.  She always honors her and waits for me to flush.  And when she has found/pointed her own birds, she has been naturally steady enough for me to approach and flush most of the time.  It was a really impressive first hunting season.  Completing force fetch with her the month after hunting season ended was a breeze.  I am really looking forward to watching her develop through the 2024 testing season and then hunting with her again in Fall 2024!