To All of Our Friends in the Sporting Dog Community
Sep 28, 2018

It is with great sadness — but with the unshakeable conviction that we are doing the right and necessary thing — that we announce our decision to close Elhew Kennels and retire the Elhew “brand.”
The Elhew prefix will no longer be available for registration, and any request for such registration will not be honored by the Field Dog Stud Book.
Since Robert G. Wehle bred the first litter of Elhew Pointers in 1936, the Elhew name has come to stand for something altogether unique in the world of bird dogs: the highest expression of the qualities distilled by the single word class.
Bob Wehle’s driving motivation was always to breed an even better pointer; as he often remarked, “If the dogs I’m breeding today aren’t better than the ones I was breeding fifteen years ago, I’ve been wasting my time.”
Upon Bob’s death in 2002, the kennel passed to his hand-picked successors, Brian and Martha Hays. They upheld the Elhew tradition with unwavering dedication. But in the wake of Brian’s untimely death in 2015, it has become increasingly difficult to do justice to the Elhew legacy and honor the trust implicit in Bob’s bequest. Therefore, because compromise is unacceptable, this painful decision —which we’re confident Bob and Brian would wholeheartedly agree with — has had to be made.
We look at this not as the end of the Elhew story, but merely as the closing of a chapter. We have no doubt whatsoever — none — that the masterpiece created by Bob Wehle and curated by Brian Hays will continue to positively influence the pointer breed, and pointer breeding, for as long as there are birds to hunt and men and women who hunt them.
With our deepest affection and gratitude,
Gatra Wehle
Eclectic, Ala.
Martha Hays
Northborough, Mass.

I read one of his books. He bred some good ones. I hunted over a couple of hid Snakefoot pointers. I had a littermate to Elhew Swami. She got hit by a truck. I still cry.