Today the first steps continuing our breeding have been made. Daisy had her ECVO and GONIO eye examination.

Kaspar joined her for moral support as he is the “cool cat” at the vet.

Daisy was very calm during the examination and she had compliments from the vet.

Results:

ECVO (except distichiasis) free

Gonio free

We are very happy with this result. Now we continue the health examinations. Her DNA test for CA is on it’s way..and somewhere before summer we will have the HD and ED done.

Beforehand of all the examinations we practice the medical handling procedures for our dogs to have as little stress as possible. Also maintaining a trusting relationship with them provides feeling secure even in new situations.

The Netherlands are experiencing a growth in the goose population and some provinces have adjusted the numbers of regulation. It is to be honest hard to keep up with and whilst bird flue has closed hunting in the south – the north is in full damage controle season. I was kindly invited to join 2 colleague hunters in the North last week and did not hesitate to join. The cold and biting wind and frost adds to the physical experience – a part of hunting that I appreciate very much.

4 o’clock out of bed

5.20 departure from home with all necessary gear and dogs

8 o’clock late arrival (due to bad weather and nasa nap)

8.30 hours almost finished setting up decoys and hut

11.00 o’clock stopped hunting, all dogs out of car, walk the dogs and load up all stuff in car

Sometimes people ask me why I like to kill animals. I am always a bit surprised by the conclusion hidden in the question. There is no joy in killing an animal or witnessing suffering of any living being.

So what is the joy about?

To put it shortly it is the joy of touching homebase of being human. Stretching my own skills, working hard, showing up with everything I can or learning to be able to..

There is joy in developing craftsmanship, learning about the field, becoming one with the field, making the right decisions, learning to hunt with a balans of the heart and moral. Being a good co-hunter, allowing others to have a chance. There is joy in sharing the meat we have worked so hard to obtain, there is satisfaction in eating what I have harvested myself. There is love for the good work of a well trained dog. There is love and respect for the skills of others more experienced than myself. I find it very special to know that as long as we humans exist – we hunt to survive and practicing these skills allows me to be in contact with the strength of something essential of being a human. Evenly so when I grow my own vegetables. I am proud of these skills and it makes me feel strong and competent to be able to.

Apart from that I do feel emotionally connected to the suffering of the kill – it makes me want to do it as effectively and painless as possible. And I can feel really disturbed if I do not manage to do that.

Having seen how the bio industry works – I can assure you – eating game from the wild is the most animal friendly way to obtain meat. So again there is the heart included.

The Netherlands are overcrowded by geese. The government pays out large amount of damage compensation for farmers – money we can much better use to improve health care and education and/or nature conservation.

Apart from that the meat of a goose is good enough meat to use as a food source. Maybe not the most delicate taste – but it makes perfect everyday hamburgers, stews and smoked snacks.

Our very cold morning in the North left me cold to the bones but with a feeling of thankfulness and strength. I am a hunter’s daughter, I am a hunter. I am a child of Nature and the Nature in me is of her. To me this is the most exquisite lovestory.

Thank you Piet & Lieuwe ♥️🤍💙

And thank you Lotte & Gurbe. Very proud of these two great workers – a 500 m mark with tracking in these conditions is really remarkable.. Flatcoated retrievers of my utmost liking

The genepool of the Flatcoated Retriever is not the best and recent studies (eg Wageningen University) have pointed to the fact that we as breeders need to stop using males frequently and allowing more individual males to breed (source: result of the study shared with breeders in breed meeting of the FRC).

The reality is that we have the tendency to choose studs that have proven themselves to mate and also show champion titles seem to play a large role in popularity.

Using studs from abroad or buying puppies abroad is also no garanty for genetic diversity – it all depends on the COI and how often the founding fathers in the generations far behind are being repeated.

Besides the above mentioned, one can think of more ways to slow down the narrowing of the genepool but that will be up to Breedlove and their member to design.

The history of the Flatcoated retriever club is large but during Workd War II many breeders were at war and breeding suffered a stagnation. The breed more or less had to be rebuild.

What can you do as a puppy buyers?

-Ask your breeder about how related the parents are. -Ask to the COI of minimum 5 generations but preferably 10. Choose a COI that is closer to 0 than 4 in 5 generations. -do not buy a puppy out of a combination where the stud has been over used (more than 5 litters is a good thumb rule). – keep your money away from breeders with poor genepool ethics (allowing their studs to overbreed and using their females multiple (more than two) times/ up to old age).

In the end puppy buyers are determining the market. Often breed clubs are dominated by breeders themselves – as we often put a lot of our volunteering time into the breed clubs, making it hard not to design politics that somewhat favors personal interests. That is inevitable. Even when done democratically and collectively, it is a difficult edge between own interests versus interest of future for the breed. As a puppy buyer you can determine which quality you buy and which breeder and breeding ethics you will support. Please consider this carefully. Even in the case that your breeder is a member of respected breed club(s).

Linebreeding has been done a lot in the past and is still being executed. I think the pro’s for linebreeding are running out against the loss of genetic diversity. Even when considering the plus sides of line breeding. If you are concerned about the longevity of the breed – one is advised to stay away from heavy linebreeding (defined by repetition(s) of dog(s) in recent generations).

This includes buyers as well as breeders, breed clubs and pedigree issuing authorities.

We have a long way to go still if we choose to stop or slowing down narrowing of it. If we want to improve it – there must come a plan to outcross – is that how far we are willing to take it? At this point the Dutch population is narrowing down in a speed of 0,62 % a year. When that rises to 1 % we are at a point of no return and the general health will get an upsides downfall that can not recover. Serious business that none of us really would like to acknowledge, to be honest.

Personally I would prefer an outcross programmer to be in joined efforts with breed clubs around the world, when we hit that point of no return. As everything all change starts with spreading knowledge and sharing information. So I really hope breeders will stop using their males frequently and stop the severe line breeding. I also hope all puppy buyers start to challenge their breeders – especially the ones who have bred for many years and are stuck in old ways of thinking.

I am modest in my expectations of people and trying to take the speed out of the narrowing of the genepool would be a great start. Improving the genepool within our breed is not even possible anymore, sadly enough.

Are you a stud owner of a healthy Flatcoated with a respectable pedigree? Please do allow him to go into breeding. Maybe not for your own sake – but for the breed’s sake. If you need help ask your breeder or contact me, I will help you regardless of heritage if your male.

The Flatcoated Retriever Club (FRC) in the Netherlands have worked together with the University of Wageningen on a study of the relationship between health and genepool, they have worked together with Prof Mandigers to develop the DNA test for cerebellar ataxia. See the links for more info.

https://www.frc-nl.com/neonatale-cerebellaire-ataxie/https://survey.uu.nl/jfe/form/SV_cND4DtJfJVlZKDAhttps://www.veterinair-neuroloog.nl/media/pages/publicaties/project-c/13585c40c8-1722263481/genetische-oorzaak-hersenaandoening-flatcoated-retriever-gevonden-nieuws-universiteit-utrecht.pdf

As a puppy buyer you can also check that the males who has sired the litter you are interested in, is not used excessively. Unfortunately there are not any limits to how many offspring a male may have in his life time at this point. This includes the Netherlands but also many other European countries. The information of how many puppies a sire has produced is in the Netherlands (Dutch Dog Data via Raad van Beheer homepage), Sweden (via Rasdata.nu) and Germany (via DRC deckrüden list at the homepage of DRC) freely accessible online.

Of course there are many factors beyond what I have mentioned above to slow down the speed of narrowing the genepool – but for now I hope to have provided a bit more useful information. My sources on the genepool issue are primarily the two lectures kindly provided by the FRC from Pieter Oliehoek and Wageningen University (results of the research is available at FRC).

https://research.wur.nl/en/activities/omgaan-met-inteelt-en-verwantschap-flat-coated-retriever/

My writing is done in an attempt to educate everyone about the alarming state that our genepool is in – a poor genepool results in poor health – sooner or later. It will affect all of us in the future if not responded to now.

Please do not kill the messenger – but instead do get into action when decision making. The first option you have is the 12th of March if you are a FRC member – the meeting will be important in decision making for new breeding regulations attempting to slow down the genepool extortion:

https://www.frc-nl.com/event/algemene-ledenvergadering/

Well there it was – a big fat envelope from the Dutch kennel club. Opening the rich letter of fat shiny papers. Two certificates – one with a CAC and the other the proof that a Flatcoated bred to work in the field can still be pretty and well build. I know not one dog in her pedigree that has not been out in the field-a fact to be proud of.

May I present to you our first beauty champion: Flatastic Bowtruckle NJK 25 🇳🇱 (Nederlands Jeugd Kampion 2025)

At kennel Tricksywood’s – in the middle of a northern snowstorm – lovely Ylva delivered 8 beautiful puppies last week. They are all doing very well gaining weight and Ylva is happy and thriving. Congratulations to Yvonne & Wiebe, the owners of the males and all puppy buyers who received the happy news. All puppies are reserved to have lovely working homes.

Via this post I would like to express my respect and admiration for the choice Yvonne has made. Offering two males in the prime of their lives a chance to be used for breeding. It takes a lot of preparation and it is less lucrative for all parties financially to have a double mating. Many people ask me why..

Well there is a good explanation apart from the fact that Yvonne loves the two males and finds them very suitable for her bitch. When using two males – one never knows which male will father which puppy. By DNA testing one will know in time before the puppies are ready to leave to their new homes. Double mating is a relatively new tool for breeders (simulating natural occurance). It allows the genetic footprint to become more diverse of a litter than with one male, even though the pedigree is the same.

We are very happy to be able to follow this from the sideline and wish all parties involved a wonderful puppy litter time.

Last week I decided last minute to enter the international CACIB show in Kassel Germany with Flatastic Bowtruckle. Because of the icy winter conditions I decided to do a sleepover the evening before. Having arrived at night time I was pleasantly surprised with a beautiful snowy landscape panorama this morning on my way to Kassel. I could not help smiling out of joy – the dogs bring me to places I would have never thought of.

Arriving early at the Messe in Kassel in a small snow storm – luckily the parking was close by – the paspoort check and welcome went smoothly and the hall was heated. Then I was met with friendly smiles of fellow breeders from Belgium. A better start I could not think of.

Little did I know that the day would get better and better..

Daisy was in good spirit and condition today. Unfortunately she jumped into a dirty pool yesterday so I had led her swim to clean up a bit. This morning I had to remove the last bits of mud and she has some naked spots here and there as she has been a bit out on a limb lately testing boundaries by her grandmother and some other friends. Typically adolescent behavior for her age – however not very good for my grey hair speed.

What a lovely report to get for our sweet girl – I can hardly believe it but Flatastic Bowtruckle won her class (bitches youth) and she also went on to become best of youth. The lovely three rosettes followed:

Daisy obtained 1st place bitches youth, best youth dog & Klub CAC – FCI CACIB-J – Jugend Sieger Kassel 2026

Thanks for a lovely day made possible by good organization of the show – space to wait – good food – friendly company of fellow breeders from Belgium and Germany. Thankful for the appreciation of Daisy and I personally also enjoyed many of the other dogs presented today.

Our lovely offspring enjoying snow and winter:

Celestrial litter:

On the 28th of December 2025 we held a double puppy reunion. In the morning we got to see some of the Celestrial puppies out of the combination

Flatastic Black Peace X Tricksywood’s Flicka Liv

The youngsters are now 6 months old and are well on their way in life. Tamara Ekelschot – Levering from Precision Paws Gundog Training

provided a diverse workshop for us involving placeboard training and steadyness. In the end she introduced gunshot and cold game.

It was a lovely day – great to see the small ones and me and Jan are very pleased with the result of this combination so far. Underneath a picture of two of the boys (all three were unfortunately not able to attend the reunion):

Beast litter

In the afternoon of the 28th December 2025 the youngsters of the Beast litter out of the combination Arved von der Wichmansburg x Flatastic Red Strength. They are now 11 months old and in the middle of puberty.

Also the Beast litter was lucky to receive a workshop from Tamara – not an easy task as they are in their full bandido mode of puberty.

Here are some show portrets of the Beasts:

Unfortunately we had to miss Lizzie who was on a Christmas Holiday. Hope to see you next time.

I am very pleased with the development of the Beast litter – very powerful and passionate dogs. They are are a handful at the moment but I am confident they will settle more in the coming time. They look very nice – the improvements from last generation seem to have worked well as I intended. Some still need some growing and filling their bodies.

Thank you all for coming – and thank you Tamara for the great lesson and day. A special thank you to Maike who came all the way from Germany to see her Cajus offspring. What a privilege to have such caring studowner and fellow breeder on my team.

Yesterday the 30th of December was the last small game hunt of the past year. It has been a busy season after a busy summer and the spring and winter before that was nothing less. As I was enjoying the sunbeams of Mothers Nature, in whose grace we harvest to live, I contemplated on all my aims.

2025 became the year that:

• Our Beast litter arrived and with that our 2nd generation bitch found her way into our home and hearts

• Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” sired his first litter and produced very beautiful and calm headed puppies with lovely retrieving skills

• I passed my Orweja exams & was accepted as a SJP/MAP judge.
• Went on a training trip to Klaukenhof with our Aura litter & friends
• Took the challenge of hunting with my own gun and dog at the same time – also on hare

• Took on a project in order to educate myself and my colleague breeders (subject to be continued)
• 2 nest reunions with workshops (more on this later)
• Last but not least Flatastic Bowtruckle “Daisy” obtained her Dutch youth championship exterior before her 1st birthday. Our first championship title 🎉
• Our One and only senior Flow of Spirits Silver Skipper “Rumi” is expected to becoming grandmother for the 3rd time in 2026: at kennel Tricksywood’s Flatastic Platinum Alignment “Gurbe” & Flatastic Silver Will “Bruce” are siring a litter.

What a lovely prospect to start the year with – I cannot wait to become “auntie”. We wish Yvonne and Wiebe all the best of puppy luck for their coming litter.

We would like to thank those who played a part in educating me and my dogs in the last year. Thanks to Jan van Heeren for appreciating Kaspar for breeding, thanks to the Orweja judges who invested in my development of judging skills, thank you to Rob & Elvira for all the good gun dog lessons. Thanks to all my Frisian hunters who are so generous in sharing their fields with me and making good memories together.

Thanks to all puppy buyers for taking well care of our offspring.

But most of all my husband deserves a huge thank you for all the hours he took care of his wife’s hobby and my dog craziness. Thank you my love.

Also thank to our social media followers for showing interest in our news.

We wish you all a Flatastic New Year 2026

Today was a special day.. our 11 months old Daisy achieved her 3rd CACIB-J youth point and that means she qualifies for Dutch Youth Champion 2025. We are very proud of my pretty little missy.

All results of today:

Flatastic Nundu “Nhando” 4th Excellent youth class males

Flatastic Red Strength “Lotte” 1st place working bitches

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” 2nd place excellent Working class

We are thrilled that we have the first time championship title under our kennel name (if the title has functional value to it). At the same time we are also very happy to have had a very good day where talking about breed standards and other politically sensitive subject with colleague breeders happened in a friendly and stimulating way.

Marjet, Marion, Jacqueline, Saskia & Leonie thank you for contributing and showing (me) that it is possible!

Tomorrow now looks much brighter. Not so much because of our results but more so because I have a tiny bit restored faith in the human. We can open up sensitive topics with “killing” the person. Or should I say – some are able to do so…