Al and me with Rush, Frieda, Dustin, and Frosty

Our club affiliations in California are: Sutter Buttes Pointing Dog Club (officers), GSPC of Northern Sacramento Valley(Board member), GSPC of Central California and we belong to the GSPC of Reno, NV.
We are members in good standing with the GSPC of America (our "parent" club) and the American Kennel Club. I am the GSP delegate for the entire United States for our parent club in conjunction with the AKC Hunt Test Advisory Committee.
I am the delegate for GSPs and a Board Member of the Sacramento Council of Dog Clubs. I belong to the Dalmatian Club of No. CA. as I co-own an up and coming Dalmatian puppy. I belong to the all breed club, the Sacramento Valley Dog Fanciers. Al and I are members of the No. CA. Brittany Club and Gold Country English Setters. To say we are involved is, an understatement! I have been a Hunt Test and Field Trial judge for twelve years and Alan functions as a Field Gunner for most of the pointing breeds in our area. He judges when not gunning.

Alan and I got our first German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) in 1978. Our lives have never been the same! Gabe, was a grandson of one of the first great Dual Champions ever produced in California. DC/AFC Erdenreichs Marz Marsh was his name.
“Gabe” was steady to “wing and shot” by two years old and stayed that way his entire life. He NEVER broke a point! Hunting was strictly business for him and he had an amazing work ethic! He taught many a young dog what the field was all about. We just lost our direct Gabriel son at 16 ½, 1989–2006. Winter Creek’s Victor, Senior Hunter. Victor was our first GSP to carry the Winter Creek name.

In 1994, we changed breeding direction by breeding a “Gabe Daughter” into a show line. Winter Creek’s Matilda, JH. “Tillie”, was bred to NMK’s Against All Odds Lowenbrau, SH, “Danny”, a son of Dual Champion NMK’s Britannia Von Sibelstein. This breeding produced our 1st Bench Champion, CH. Winter Creek’s Marz von NMK, CD, VC, MH. We lost Marz this year, 1993-2007. He was my heart!
We knew ZIP about dog shows when we entered the show ring in 1995! We now have 17 show champions in eleven years to our credit. This does not count puppies purchased by other show homes. We show our dogs from the Bred By Exhibitor Class as we believe in our dogs. So far we have seven BBE Champs! That is very special to us as breeders. We’re working on our 2005 pups at present. Rowdy, CH. Winter Creek’s Howdy Rowdy, JH., finished in September 2006. Sister Audrey, CH. Winter Creek’s My Fair Lady, JH. the latest, finished in March 2007. “Chester”, Winter Creek’s Peterbilt, JH, and “Mattie” Winter Creek’s Maltiz’ Matilda, JH are waiting in the wings. “Hannah” has points toward her “CH” and is registered as Winter Creek’s Makin’ a Splash, CD. RN. Hannah is owned by good friends Kate and Mark Mata. All five are from the Marz/Gracee litter. And will be #18, 19 when they finish their CHs.

Six of our dogs have been or are currently ranked in the GSP Top Show Dogs in the USA. CH./Intl. CH. Wheeseespots Roaring Thunder, JH. “Rory” was #39 in 1999 and BISS. CH. Winter Creek’s Attitude To NV, JH. “Rita” was in the Top Thirty in 2000. CH. Winter Creek’s EZ To Love, JH, “Gracee” was #21 in standings for the 2004 Eukanuba Invitational and #25 GSP in Breed Points. AM/CAN. CH. Winter Creek’s Rendition To NV, JH, “Brent”, was briefly in the Top #25 in 2004 in GSP Breed Points. Since we were not campaigning him, this was a nice surprise. Brent was also #9 in Canada for 2004. BISS. CH. Seven Hills Gala Premier, JH, “Gala” was our TOP 25 girl for 2005. She finished #21 for the 2005 Florida Eukanuba Invitational with only six months of the 2005 year in the “Breed” ring. She won her first Specialty Show Best of Breed sponsored by our local Sacramento GSP club. She now has the right to the coveted BISS in from of her CH title. By winning the Specialty Show, she ended the 2005 year in the #18 position in the US. She was at the prestigious Westminster show in New York in Feb. 2006 and made “the Breed cut”! 2006 finds her, the #9 GSP in Breed Point Standings and #20 in All Breed standings in the U.S. Gala won an AWARD OF MERIT at the 2006 Eukanuba Invitational earning her the right to compete at Crufts in London, England. “Lolly” was shown by Bruce Schultz, PHA for 2006.

In 2004, we had a Breeder’s Dream win at the German Shorthaired National Specialty Show held in May 2004 in Pennsylvania. Our 9 to 12 month old puppy bitch, Frieda, CH. Winter Creek’s A Spec Naughty, JH. went BEST IN FUTURITY out of 132 entries. Her sister, Maggie, CH. Winter Creek’s A Spec Of NV who lives in Florida was second behind her. Our Gala won the Senior Division, so we took home a huge part of the whole Futurity. It just doesn’t get any better for breeders to be recognized by their peers on a National level! Another sibling from that litter, CH. Winter Creek’s Sonic Cruiser, JH, “Jet”, qualified for the 2005 Eukanuba Invitational in the Bred By Exhibitor Champion Class.

Our last 2004 champion, "Rush", CH. Winter Creek’s Federal Express, JH, was qualified for the 2005 Florida and 2006 California Eukanuba Invitationals Bred By Exhibitor Champion Class along with CH. Winter Creek’s EZ Rider, JH, “Harley” who finished his CH. in June 2005 and is also invited for both Invitationals! Harley just entered serious Field Training and got his first placement after only four trials. We’re hoping for our first Dual Champion with Harley!

Our 2006 Champion, CH. Winter Creek’s Howdy Rowdy, JH finished on September 30, 2006 at the Bonanza Kennel Club shows in Nevada by going Best of Breed over the Specials. He repeated this performance the next day too. This made him a Multiple Breed Winner at the tender age of 16 months. He too, was finished from the Bred By Exhibitor Class and qualified for the 2006 and 2007 California Eukanuba Invitationals.

Our 2007 Champion was Rowdy’s sister, Audrey, CH. Winter Creek’s My Fair Lady, JH finished her title in only 8 shows. She was our qualifier for Eukanuba for 2007 and 2008. Like her brother, Audrey, has a Best of Breed from the classes.

I'm currently hard at work on our "Bred By" Champs for 2008!

We are as busy as ever in the hunting arena. We have produced two MASTER HUNTERS, four SENIOR HUNTERS and all of our pups have their JUNIOR HUNTER titles before they are a year old. Our dogs earn their Junior Hunter titles while they are being campaigned in the show ring and/or field endeavors. We are working on anotherMaster for 2008.

Our Bodie, FC. Winter Creek’s Bodacious T-Bone, JH, son of National Field Champion Wylie T Bone, was ranked #5 and then finished the year 2000 as #15th Puppy Dog in the US. He finished his FC in 2005 with 3 Retrieving Majors from Open Gun Dog and Open Limited Gun Dog. We run Field Trials with our dogs that show the necessary competitiveness that Trialing requires.

Our granddaughters, Nicole Lynn Owens and Tiffany Rose Owens ages 14 and 12 are in the AKC Junior Showmanship program at the Immediate Level. Nicole, at age 10, finished her first GSP Champion, Rush. She co-owns a young Dalmatian bitch, CH. Hallmark Lola Pistola. On August 7, 2005, Nicole went Winners Bitch in the Dal ring and took a Three Point Major and then finished Lola to her Championship in April 2006. Nicole has received numerous BEST JUNIOR Handler Awards. She has won Best Junior at the GWP Nationals, The Portuguese Water Dog Specialty Show and the Dalmatian Specialty Show. Nicole finished 2007 as the #2 Junior Dalmatian Junior Handler in the US and #10 Non-Sporting. In Feb. 2008 she was the youngest finalist in the California Best Junior Handler competition and won a $500.00 scholarship.
May 2008 News Flash---Nicole won the prestigious Dalmatian National Specialty Show in Kentucky for the second year in a row.
Tiffany is now competing against big sis and holding her own. She started the year showing toy dogs but decided the GSPs are more her style. She has chosen Gala (see Litter Page) as her 2008 partner.
My Daughter, Lore, the girl’s aunt, campaigns a beautiful young Rottweiler male, Bam Bam, who only needs 3 single points to finish. When he finishes, he will become the family's first Rottie Champ. Dogs have definitely become a generational family affair.