Packman (Joe):

I grew up in an avid hunting and fishing family on a 40 acre farm in Mid-Michigan which held the elusive, wild Michigan rooster pheasant and the even more rare, wild northern bob-white quail. I was introduced to bird hunting at a very young age often tagging along deer or pheasant hunting with my dad or my older brother. I was introduced to waterfowl hunting in my teens and added grouse and woodcock hunting in Northern Michigan to checklist in my twenties. Prairie grouse and upland hunting on the plains is my next great adventure followed shortly by some mountain/valley quail and chukar hunts farther west.

My experience with hunting dogs and scientific background has led to my role as the lead trainer for the Packmaster pack, as well as the nerd behind the hunt test and breeding data analysis that really differentiates us from the competition.

I am an active member of the Michigan NAVHDA chapter and began as an apprentice judge in the NAVHDA system in the spring of 2024.

Mrs. Packman (Melissa):

I grew up in a very small town on the East side of Michigan. My family was never into hunting or fishing and my passions were always school and sports. Quite opposite of my husband my stomping grounds were the softball diamonds of Mid-Michigan . When I met my husband in the summer of 2004 his love for the outdoors was contagious. Shooting a gun was the last thing on my radar of things I wanted to learn at the time; until I was given an assignment in graduate school to learn something I would otherwise never choose to participate in. Hunting and shooting happened to fit that category perfectly. Who better to teach me than the man I loved and trusted with my safety. During that assignment I not only learned the ins and outs of shooting weapons I also developed a passion for hunting. I loved every bit of it and that passion further developed when we bought our first bird hunting dog in 2006. Thus beginning the journey of raising beautiful, intelligent, family hunting companions.

As our family grew from just the 2 of us to eventually 7 my role with the dogs changed drastically. I went from assisting with training our first hunting dog to being a stay at home mom of 5 kids and our pack of dogs. Currently, I use my skills of nurturing our family and provide the same love, attention, and care I give to our kids and do the same for our mamma dogs and all the puppies. My role with Packmaster Gun Dogs is setting the foundations of raising well balanced hunting dogs. I specifically work on desensitizing puppies to loud noises and every day activities that happen within their environments, as well as introducing crate training, potty training, and car rides.

The rest of the pack:

Our 5 children, although young, contribute greatly to the care and raising of our dogs and puppies. From puppy socialization and training to feeding they are with us every step of the way. As they get older they are able to take on age appropriate tasks as well as join us on hunts and training days. They each have goals of owning and handling their own bird dog(s) someday.

How it all began:

It all started in 2006, a couple years after we first met, when Joe decided he wanted a “real hunting dog”, a pointing dog, instead of another newspaper ad flushing mutt that he had grown up with. The research began and we ended up being blessed with Top Gun’s Perfect Storm, a solid liver, female German Shorthaired Pointer.

Steve and Jody Ries at Top Gun Kennels encouraged us to test Storm in the NAVHDA system so we got involved and ran Storm’s Natural Ability test that fall. She received a maximum score 112 Prize I at 6 months of age, bringing Joe to tears when the judges read the scores. They had worked together and accomplished so much in such a short period of time. The fiery passion for training bird dogs was lit that very moment.

While preparing Storm for her NA test Joe met a young Pudelpointer pup named Sage that was about the same age as Storm and instantly fell in love with the calm yet playful demeaner of the pup. He almost instantly declared that a Pudelpointer would be the next breed of dog we would get. Little did we know that wouldn’t be a reality until 11 years later.

One Monday afternoon in July of 2017 we noticed Storm was not quite herself……that Wednesday we had to make the difficult decision to euthanize her. It still brings tears to our eyes thinking about the mark that special dog has left in our hearts.

Enter Frannie B:

After losing Storm so abruptly, and now having several young children, the search for a new dog was was on. Melissa had fell in love with Storm and consequently GSPs so it took a little convincing and meeting several Pudelpointers in person to get her to come around. After the passing of Joe’s mom in 2006 the number 17 had held a special meaning to us. As fate would have it, on August 17th, 2017 a litter was whelped at Ripsnorter Kennel. Whether it was divine intervention (Thanks, Mom!) or just pure coincidence, Jeff offered us a female from that litter that had just come available due to someone dropping off the waitlist.

The gapping hole in our family was filled on October 14th, 2017 when we travelled the 5 1/2 hours to Utica, Ohio to bring home Ripsnorter’s Sent From Heaven, call name Frannie.

We knew from the start that this pup was something special. Within weeks of bringing her home she helped blood trail a deer Joe had shot. Within a month she had demonstrated her great nose and natural steadiness on point. Although so young at the time, she processed a level of cooperation above any dog we had ever seen, yet still had the drive to be a hunting machine. It took a little coaxing to get her into the water at first, it was WINTER in Michigan after all, but once she got comfortable swimming, she had a natural drive to search for game even in water. She was performing UT level, 4 point duck searches at 8 months old. Frannie breezed through the NA test with a maximum score 112 Prize I.

Next up: Echo

We honestly didn’t know how special Frannie really was until we got our second Pudelpointer, Echo from Jeff in May 2020. Echo is a HIGH DRIVE hunting machine but caught us off guard at how hard he was to control and get his obedience set, the cooperation is just not there. It was just too easy with Frannie, and we figured since they had the same dam but different sires they would be similar dogs, but that was certainly NOT the case. Where Frannie excelled and made training easy, Echo challenged our training abilities at every turn.

Despite presenting challenges as a puppy, Echo is without a doubt a bird hunting machine. He routinely sticks beautiful points on grouse and woodcock in the Upper Peninsula woods in the late mornings and afternoons and then transitions to the duck blind in the evening making some great retrieves.

And it begins:

In 2021 after experiencing the differences between Frannie and Echo, we decided that we wanted to begin a breeding program that focused on producing more dogs like Frannie.

We learned that it doesn’t make a difference if you have all the drive in the world, like Echo, if you can’t control it very easily. Cooperation, engagement, and a pleasing temperament are the core qualities we look for in a dog.

The Packmaster mission:

Our mission is to produce quick learning, balanced versatile hunting machines that have the drive to get the job done but have the cooperative temperament to be respectful family members and hunting companions. We put in the work from day 0 until a pup joins its new family to ensure it will be a healthy, conformationally sound, well rounded, respectful, highly-skilled, and cooperative representative of the breed.