The Upper Midwest Boykin Spaniel Club is where owners and fans of a highly versatile little brown hunting dog gather for social events and structured Upland Hunt Tests.

The revitalized website is still a long ways from being complete. Until then, we'll use this format for information exchange. When you want to open any of the embedded links on this page, please use your right-hand mouse button when clicking on a link, and open the linked page in a different window (or tab, if you' use Firefox as your browser) so that this page doesn't get lost.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP OUR CLUB BY REDESIGNING THE WEBSITE, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO membership@umbsc.com

FALL UPLAND HUNT TEST IS SET!

On Thursday, March 25, 2010, the Board of Directors of The Boykin Spaniel Society approved The Upper Midwest Boykin Spaniel Club's application to hold the newly-crafted Upland Hunt Test, exclusively designed and intended for Boykin Spaniels. THANK YOU, BOARD OF DIRECTORS!! And thank you to the Upland Hunt Test Committee for your positive endorsement!

The Upper Midwest Boykin Spaniel Club inaugural Upland Hunt will be held on Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12 near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin at Hunters Point Hunt Club. This is an excellent opportunity to get yourself and your Boykin ready for the fall hunting seasons. The events are open to Boykin Spaniels only; all entered dogs must be registered with The Boykin Spaniel Society, and owners and handlers must be members of the Society.

The Upland Hunt Test Rules and the Upland Hunt Test Guidelines are available HERE and HERE and also HERE.

Basic information:

• Plan to arrive for check-in at 7 am each day. The events start at 8 am. There will be a one hour lunch break on Saturday and all events should conclude by 4:30 pm. On Sunday, there probably won't be a lunch break, so that folks can get started back home by mid-afternoon.
• There are three classes: Novice, Intermediate and Open
• In each class, dogs find, flush and retrieve 3 upland birds (chukar partridge, quail or pheasant, depending on the class) and perform water retrieves of ducks
• In the more advanced classes, the dog performs blind retrieves, double mark retrieves, a "walk up" (jump shoot), and honors another working dog.
• Successful dogs earn points towards Boykin Spaniel Society titles which become a permanent record of the dog's accomplishments.
• Identical events will be held on each of the two days: a dog who achieves success on both days will be halfway to earning their BSS title in the class
• A dog can only be entered in one stake each day. The class-of-entry choice is entirely up to the owner/handler, but should be made with consideration of past accomplishments in similar test venues. For example, a dog with an HRC Upland Hunter (UH) title shouldn't be entered in the Novice class.

TERRITORY

NOTICE!!!!

Membership applications are now available for download: application.pdf or upon email request to membership@umbsc.com Use that same email address for any additonal information you might want about our club.

Affiliate memberships for non-Boykin Spaniel owners or Boykin Spaniel owners who live outside the Club territory are also available. Use the same form.

Please be sure to help with the growth of the club, and lessen the work load on others, by telling us what you'd like to do to help out. We need people to serve on committees, or just simply pitch in by applying any special talents or interests they might have.

Summer time picnics and similar types of events with games for dogs and talks for owners can serve to unite owners in small regions of the Club "territory". We've decided that informal gatherings are more feasible than setting up anything formalized, but are still great ways to meet others in your neighborhood who share a common bond through our dogs. Please use our forum (see below) to seek out others who live near you and might want to get together on a weekend.

ON-LINE FORUM NOW OPEN!

Our friends at the Midsouth Boykin Spaniel Retriever Club have provided a space for our Club within their forum. Upper Midwest Boykin Spaniel Club forum

The main site for the MSBSRC forums is here Link to Mid-South, Carolina and Dang Yankee Boykin Spaniel Retriever Club forums

Please use this forum to exchange information about yourselves, your dogs, where you're going to be, and anything else you want to share with your new friends!

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE TEAM SPIRIT

Attending the various types of events such as Hunting Retriever Club Hunt Tests in the Midwest, and elsewhere, is an excellent way to see Boykin Spaniels in action, doing what they are bred to do. As more of us join the HRC and participate in the weekend events, the little brown dogs are gaining admiration and respect from some of the traditional "big dog" owners. It's always encouraging to have other Boykin owners show up to show their support.

Each of the participants recognize the difference it makes, to them, to have friends as well as strangers make a special trip to vocally support them and their dogs. It does make a difference; plus, it's fun. The forums cited and linked above are a great place to look to see where and when club members' dogs are working: if you can, please show up and cheer on your team!

JUNE NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE ON-LINE

Newsletters have been emailed to those who have provided us with their email addresses. You can also view it here: June 2010 Newsletter

The most exciting announcement of all is the announcement of

BOYKIN FEST 2010.

Boykin Fest will be held on September 11 and 12, somewhat in conjunction with the Upland Hunt event, at the Hunters Point Hunt Club. But Boykin Fest will be much more. Ideas are still being formulated, please keep checking in at The BoykinFest Forum to keep abreast of the developments.