Black Briar Kennels

Black Briar Kennels A small kennel promoting performance and sporting dogs in mid-Michigan.

Congrats to Felix on his new titles!!! 🧡🏇🏆Felix and his owners have been working hard to add some extra letters to his n...
09/05/2026

Congrats to Felix on his new titles!!! 🧡🏇🏆

Felix and his owners have been working hard to add some extra letters to his name. He’s not just a STAR Puppy… he’s also a Canine Good Citizen and Trick Dog Novice!

⭐️ STR: The STAR Puppy title is earned after competing a 6 week training class. The class focuses on all the important skills needed for young puppies entering the world, especially socialization and basic manners.
🐶 CGC: The Canine Good Citizen title is awarded to dogs upon completion of a test that includes loose leash walking, stays, recall, tolerance of grooming, and social ability.
🦴 TKN: The Trick Dog Novice title can be earned one of two ways. If a dog already has a CGC, they need to perform 5 unique tricks. If the dog doesn’t have a CGC, the dog needs to perform 10 unique tricks.

His owners report that he is such a good boy. The bestest boy, some might even say! He’s looking forward to doing a few more dog shows working towards his Trick Dog Intermediate title 🧡

Black Briar’s Affirmed STR ✨CGC✨ ✨TKN✨

We did it!Thank you to our repro team for squeezing us in this morning for TCI. After 9 progesterone tests and 3 LH chec...
08/25/2026

We did it!

Thank you to our repro team for squeezing us in this morning for TCI. After 9 progesterone tests and 3 LH checks, we got the green light.

Today’s appointment was pretty interesting. Her progesterone yesterday said we were good so no blood draw today. Suna hopped on to the table to eat whipped cream while the doctor worked the scope. All said and done, it’s pretty straight forward. Very cool to see exactly how it’s all done.

Of course the hardest part is the wait… 30 days till ultrasound- mark your calendars!

The vet was very complimentary of Suna’s temperament and wondered if she comes from a long line of well tempered dogs. She said she’s never really been tempted by Tervuren but she’s a big fan of Suna! I’ve no doubt that Kylo’s friendly and outgoing temperament will make for some nice puppies who want to work 😁

Thank you to ThreadHaus for making my embroidered trial vest dreams come true 😍😍😍
08/24/2026

Thank you to ThreadHaus for making my embroidered trial vest dreams come true 😍😍😍

And can’t forget Suna!What I love most about these pictures is our connection seems very clear. We’ve been working very ...
08/18/2026

And can’t forget Suna!

What I love most about these pictures is our connection seems very clear. We’ve been working very hard on our teamwork together. She’s such a different dog from Pidgeon. Pidge forces connection. Suna wants me to manually plug in. I had to learn something new! We’ve made so many forward strides in the last few months. I’m looking forward to trialing one more time this year to close our CD.

Crazy Villi Virta CSAU RE
Suna at 4yo
Top 80 Novice, 2026 Rally National Championship

Some wonderful photos from Pix N Pages to celebrate how much fun we had at the Rally National Championship! I’m so glad ...
08/18/2026

Some wonderful photos from Pix N Pages to celebrate how much fun we had at the Rally National Championship!

I’m so glad we went. I was a little unsure with my schedule… in early July I went on vacation for a week in Boston then came home and immediately secretary’s for our local Rally Trial then worked all week then couldn’t find my keys. The odds were against us! But I found my keys and we did go to Ohio to trial. So worth it.

Phantom Menace de Haute Volee CGCA CAT NA CDX TKN RE FR1 BH-VT
Pidgeon at just over 9yo coming fresh off her foot injury
Top 30 Novice, 2026 Rally National Championship

08/13/2026

The next adventure begins!

🩷 Suna visited with the reproductive vet today. Everything looked good upon her entry exam. Everyone was very complimentary of her steady temperament. Holding the ball in her mouth made checking all her teeth very easy. The vet would like her to put on a bit of weight- no problem, she’ll enjoy the extra kibble and full fat Greek yogurt! Progesterone and vaginal cytology indicated we are on the right track.

🐾 How does this all work?
For the next 7-10 days we will draw blood daily at about 8am and spin it into serum. Her progesterone will be checked off the serum every other day. When she has a surge, the repro vet team will check the unused serum for LH levels. As the stars align, I will bring her back to the repro vet for transcervical insemination (TCI) off of the frozen straw. After that we wait 30 days until it’s time to ultrasound to check for puppies! 🐶

🐕 Is it really that easy?
Sure is! The tricky part is as follows:
- Suna is a maiden bitch. This means she has never been bred. The “best results” for a breeding are done using “live cover” over a maiden bitch.
- The semen is frozen. This is not generally a bad thing as frozen semen can be successfully used many many years after its initial freezing. But! It is important to keep in mind, per the doctor, that live cover is best, then fresh, then chilled, and then…. Frozen way at the bottom.
- We have 1 straw. This means we have one breeding and I currently don’t intend to use a backup. This is also not generally a bad thing but it means our timing must be impeccable!

🩺 Nothing is guaranteed with any breeding but I think we have a great shot with this repro team. This will be a very educational adventure for me as I’ve never done TCI or done much repro work myself. I will keep everyone posted as we move forward.

Silken Party!!!! 🎉🎈🎊❤️ Walnut (Black Briar’s Citation) has come to stay for a few days while her family takes a trip. Sh...
08/13/2026

Silken Party!!!! 🎉🎈🎊

❤️ Walnut (Black Briar’s Citation) has come to stay for a few days while her family takes a trip. She’s grown so much since I last saw her. Nettle and Thistle are pleased to have another playmate who likes to do th running and the chasing 🐾

This past weekend we were BUSY up at the club. I chaired the rally and obedience trial which meant we spent many long da...
08/12/2026

This past weekend we were BUSY up at the club. I chaired the rally and obedience trial which meant we spent many long days preparing. The little girls stayed home with the dog sitter but the big girls were competing so they came along. Very grateful to my good friends Mary Ann and Frank for letting us stay over at their place- it helps when your drive from home is over an hour!

Rally Recap 🐕🪧🔄
🩷 Suna trialed AM and PM. We’ve had better luck with our jumps lately but she missed some moving stands. Fair considering she really only knows a moving down. She nailed her spins and turns which is great as we have had some issues with both girls not quite understanding my hand signal. They are pretty sure I’m asking them to wrap behind me when I ask for a turn… We did burn ourselves a bit with our first Excellent run. Suna took the jump in extension and saw her pals outside the ring so walked herself right out to say hello. Naughty naughty. Other than that, I’m happy to say she’s doing well.
AM: 90, NQ, 90
PM: 89, 100, 100 ✨QQQ✨with 2nd placement in Excellent and Advanced
🩷 Pidge trialed in the afternoon as the morning trial was quickly filled after I furnished Suna’s entries. Just little piddly point losses in her classes. Pidgey is always reliable. Of course she competes in Utility so her moving stand works real good lol. I was impressed to see her do her turns and spins well in trial! The small moments of training have been helping us.
PM: 99, 99, 100 ✨QQQ✨ with 1st place in Advanced and 3rd placements in Master and Excellent

Obedience Update
🩷 Suna competed in Novice and qualified for long sits and downs! Little things to clean up. She was very mildly distracted during her heel pattern so I called a second verbal to heel. A few lagging moments when she was listening to what’s on the other side of the wall. She put in the work after that. A small movement in the stand for exam and a little bit of a crooked front for our recall. Otherwise I was quite pleased. Then came the long sit…… if you know my dogs you know that they way prefer a down and we mostly practice long downs. Well after about 40sec in her sit, she thought down made more sense. Good girl for not getting up, naughty girl for being a bit lazy. Overall a much much better performance compared to Nationals back in May. I can’t wait to get this girl through Novice now!
Novice Saturday: NQ
🩷 Pidgeon played in Utility and Versatility. I am so happy to say we walked away with a Versatility Q!!!! Utility was rough on Saturday and we missed our Saturday Vers Q by a hair- she went to the wrong jump. Utility on Sunday was SO CLOSE. Missed her down signal. I want to clean up her finishes again, too. But she did get both articles like a pro and that’s our toughest exercise. Versatility wasn’t pretty but we damn well did it. Sooo much barking. And I forgot my number. And my show broke. Looking forward to trialing again 😁
Utility Saturday: NQ
Versatility Saturday: NQ
Utility Sunday: NQ
Versatility Sunday: 187.5/200 ✨Q✨

We have some big stuff going on in the background- stay tuned!

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Jackson, MI

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