AWTHDA 2006 Turkey Dog of the Year Cedar Creek Keena

Cedar Creek Keena descends from Mountain Cur, Treeing Walker, Black Labrador, and Tri-color Rough Collie ancestors. The Mountain Cur is known to listen so well they can be called off a track. The Treeing Walker hound supplies her keen cold-nosed trailing ability. The Black Labrador provides the 'birdiness', her flushing and retrieving expertise, and the love of water. And the Tri-Color Rough Collie is seen in her beauty and brains. She's the epitome of a good 'mongrel' hunting dog. The key was in her training. She always suprising me, one time by finding half of a 12 point buck shed and bringing it to me when we went for a short walk in the woods. What a companion! Her Veterinarian told me we're lucky to have one really good dog in our lives, and she thinks Keena is mine. I agree. The way she acts, she might be related to this Missouri dog. Keena made the November 20, 2008 U.S. Armed Forces Stars and Stripes Europe Edition and the Mideast Edition.

Turkey Dogs on Dan Small's Outdoor WI Public TV.
Read 'Turkey hunt going to the dogs' in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - pictures.
Read about Keena - a Wisconsin Turkey Dog - scroll down Column Archives to Turkey Dog (2/2/09).
Turkey dogs in Wisconsin featured on the Big Wild Radio Show. Click here to listen (use RealPlayer).
Below she's wearing her camoflouge boonie hat with headnet to disguise her white markings.
She tolerates it just fine as long as the brim doesn't fall down in front of her eyes. Her ears stick out of the face mask
and alert me to the turkeys approach. The hat has a drawstring that cinches under her neck to keep it on.
She's getting so well trained I almost don't have to tie the leash to my leg any more. She'll lay down on command and stay still.
We're getting to be a real team. She tells me if they're hens or gobblers by her body language. And I can tell if they ran off, flew up in the trees, or flew away, by the intensity of her barking, long before I reach her.
Keena was wearing her camo hat when we hunted Monroe County, WI with the outdoor writer Jim Lee in October 2007.
His story about that hunt was in the September 2008 issue of the Wisconsin Outdoor Journal (pdf).

turkey dog wears boonie hat with drawstring

dog wearing camoflouge hat for wild turkey hunting

Acting like a Terrier! Her personality really shows, when she's digging just for the sake of digging!

Dark colored dogs are harder for the turkeys to see, but they get hotter on warm days. Click on Keena in the mud!

About the time our last dog died, I read about dogs that hunt turkey in the fall, and figured now there's a good reason to get a puppy. I looked for eight months for a puppy with no eye, heart, hip or other health problems,about 50 lbs, and a 'mutt' seemed to be the answer. After a 16 hour drive, a cheap motel, and 950 miles later, I finally had my 'free' turkey dog puppy home. By ten months old Keena was everything I expected in a turkey dog. Some of her biddability I credit to her ancestry (she could be related to Jim the wonder dog). The rest I attribute to all the time I spent training her for turkeys when she was young, and her being with me all the time. As this wise old hunter says: "the puppy which received the most time and attention would make the best dog." Keena hunts squirrels, chipmunks, and all birds, because she likes to. But I think she hunts turkeys because she knows I want her to. ('old hunter' permission Missouri's own Larry Dablemont)

Keena likes turkeys, and hates the raccoons, skunks, and possums that steal 'her' hens eggs in the spring.

Keena from 3 to 6 months. She's a natural at finding turkey eggs (like her mother, who'd gently pick up the eggs
and carry them home!). Keena was #10 in a litter of 12 (all survived). Born Dec. 14, 2003 near Big
Cedar Creek, Iowa. Mother Emmy is a black lab and registered purebred tri-color rough collie cross, 5 years old.
(she's really thin in these pictures from nursing 12 puppies), her first litter (she was from a litter of 11 and all survived).

Mountain Cur and Treeing Walker cross turkey dog

Black Labrador Rough Collie cross turkey hunting dog

Keena's Dad is Jamie, 6 y.o., half mountain cur, half treeing walker, natural bobtail, and a reputation for siring good puppies.
Mountain Curs are an interesting breed. Here's a link that explains the types. Keena resembles a cur dog from 1790.
"At Jamestown in 1608, the only domestic animals kept by the Indians were curs such as the keepers have in England. They were used for hunting turkey and other game." The Wild Turkey - Its History and Domestication; A.W. Schorger, Univ. of OK Press.
In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a Mountain Cur (like Old Yeller) was trapped for 16 days.
More pictures of father Jamie, bonding with me at 14 weeks, showing good treeing form, in the field at 5 months, and swimming at 20 months. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Keena's father Jamie is a tremendous stud.

By 6 months old, when she discovered a gobblers fantail & beard high on my wall, she went crazy until I got it down for her!
Now after scattering the flock (video), she comes right back and lays her head on my lap, and naps while I call.
She loves people and other dogs, and is a great companion.
Especially to hunt turkeys with.

The great state of Tennessee allows hunters the use of their dog to hunt turkey during the spring season,
so we scouted it in 2009. In that big country, calling is only heard by the turkeys in that hollow.
Having a dog along to confirm if they smell a turkey is a big help, when the next hollow is a mile or two walk.

daniel boone national forest kentucky spring turkey

spring turkey hunt in the big south fork, tn

spring turkey dog cooling off in the mountain stream

Trolling or tramming of dogs is prohibited along some roads within the Big South Fork.
Keena tells me when she smells one, riding down the jeep trails with the windows open.

spring turkey in the big south fork with a turkey dog

camoflouge spring turkey hunt in tennessee

Send an email to Jon Freis or call 920-776-1272 Maribel, WI

winter turkey hunting with a dog in wisconsin

hunting wild turkey in wisconsin in the winter with a dog

Keena has been the 'poster dog' for hunting wild turkeys since the AWTHDA was founded in May 2004, when she was six months old. It 'only took five years' to get dogs allowed for fall turkey hunting in Wisconsin. Here she is celebrating her sixth birthday, with a turkey I took in a foot of snow December 14, 2009, during Wisconsin's extended Winter season (11/30 - 12/31). Then 3 more Dec. 19, 21 & 23. There's no state with a longer season, or more turkeys than WI, and no better dog than Keena. She's smarter than half the guys I went to high school with! Keena's gone mostly deaf now at 10 years old (March 2014), but she still does more with her brain, than some humans can with their eyes, ears and nose put together. If you see this license plate, honk for the #1 turkey dog!

13 year old dog saves game, finds wounded turkey

Old dog still able to find wounded turkey, saved game for hunter

13 year old mongrel bird dog does remarkable things

2016 AWTHDA dog of the year Cedar Creek Keena

December 30, 2016. Keena was over 13 years old (born Dec. 14, 2003) when she trailed and caught this wounded turkey in the creek. Without her, we'd of probably never found it. She might be 13 years old, deaf, her eyesight is going, a little stiff, and it's hard to get up the steps some days, but today her nose and brain prevented the loss of this bird. A prime example of why dogs should be allowed in the spring too. Studies show 160,000 birds are lost each year, and the majority of them are gobblers.
When she didn't follow us out to the truck, after 10 minutes of waiting, I walked back in looking for her. That's not like her, she always sticks with me. I expected she was fatigued after the second hunt of the day and then the exertion to find that turkey. I'm thinking, she likes the cold, and may have laid down to rest. Earlier, I saw her scale a 3 foot vertical wall of the creek tracking

Good people in Wisconsin protect hunting dog from traffic

Wisconsin hunter finds people are good - protect hunting dog from traffic

Local people find hunting dog paying in road and protect it from traffic.

down that turkey, didn't think she'd make it up (she wouldn't listen to me, when I told her to go around, she's deaf!). Fearing the worst, I walked back, searching the thickets and blowdowns, to where she found the turkey, but no Keena! When I got back to the road, there were 4 cars and trucks next to mine, with 5 or 6 of the best people anywhere! They hollered across the creek when they saw me coming, they said she had been laying near my car, in the middle of the road! I think she was going to make sure I didn't leave with out her! This was one more time she did more than expected. I nominate my 2006 Turkey Dog of the Year, 10 years later for the 2016 Dog of the Year.
By the time I got across the creek and snapped the pictures above, two of the vehicles had already left (I didn't get their names). When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine from Scott, that they were standing by my dog in the road. Thank you Scott and everybody else that was blocking the road for my beloved Keena. I know she'd rather die outdoors, especially hunting turkeys, than laying around in the house, so when the snows not too deep and it's not too hard walking, I take her along. Most of the time, she just walks nearby, but this time she saved us a turkey too. Was she ever happy and were we ever proud, this old dog sure surprised us today. Glad we got pictures of what might be her last bird. For the next 3 or 4 days, she had a little more spring in her step! Jon

There wasn't a more loyal, faithful friend in the world.
Never left my side for over 14 years.
12/14/2003 - 7/15/18

Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.