In the middle of the hunting season I decided to have a different shoot. My friend & photographer Anita from Arista Photography took us out on a very sunny day to catch some shine on the black coats. Here is a collection of the photos:

The day before yesterday we received the sad news that Rumi’s mother Flynn (Khila-Flynn Umbra Fida) has passed away at the age of 11 years old after 7 weeks of illness caused by a tumor in her nose.

Flynn was a special lady – like Rumi a dog who chose herself who she liked and she had a mind of her own. I loved her for her sweet and vulnerable presence, she was not only a fantastic working gun dog but she was very beautiful too. I am very thankful for all the great trades she has passed on to her daughter grandchildren for us to enjoy.

Sadly I have not been a part of her last years – but before that I was privileged to be somewhat close in her life and therefore have many wonderful memories of her to cherish.

Flynn – enjoy hunting rabbits with Mille and your other friends in the forever hunting fields. We also wish all who love Flynn the best in grieving this loss.

Last Sunday Lotte & Kaspar participated in the Gundog show Doorwerth. It was a very warm and dry day and the dogs were having a hard time even in the shade.

Kaspar was brought out in the working class for the first time and he made it to the finals with all the other gundog breed winners of the working classes.

Lotte was for the first time brought out in the open class competing with much more mature bitches.

Our results:

Judge Mrs Richy Lochs judging the flatcoated retrievers:

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” BOB working (1st place excellent)

Flatastic Red Strength “Lotte” 3rd place excellent bitches open class

Judge mr. Hans van den Berg judging all breeds working final:

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” 3rd place working finals (all breeds)

Judge mrs. Linda Weijnans judging couples:

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” Flatastic Red Strength “Lotte” 1st place couples class all breeds

We are very pleased by the wonderful results – a special thanks to Josine and Mathijs who saved my day by helping out. Congratulations on your results – also for halfsister Ragne ( Beguarded in a conch shell Flat Our Pride) who won the puppy class with a deserved excellent.

The competition season is full in action and the hunting season has commenced as well. In the Netherlands hunters are working hard to save the farmers’ crop from doves and different birds. In Belgium the duck season is already in full action and Flatastic Aquamarine Acceptance “Jason” and Flatastic Green Compassion “Fien” have been out in the fields together for retrieving.

Flatastic Platinum Alignment “Gurbe” obtained a very impressive SJP B diploma on game with 75 point out of 80.

Flatastic Silver Will “Bruce” has a SJP B of 69 out of 80 point and is now qualified for MAP B competitions.

Congratulations Lieuwe and Klaas with your great B diplomas.

Yesterday Rumi and I finally obtained our 2nd SJP A allowing us to subscribe to MAP A competitions. MAP A is the highest level of gundog competitions on game – designed to resemble real hunting situations. The competitions serve as selection competitions for the the Dutch championships called Nimrod.

From now on only the fun stuff awaits the two of us Rumi. Thank you for everything up until now.

Two weeks ago me and the dogs started our summer tour by visiting Yvonne Scheltens – a fellow flatcoated breeder (Tricksywood’s) and gundog trainer in the beautiful Drenthe region in the Netherlands. We shared some great training time with both our young dogs and their mothers in the challenging terrain Big thanks for your hospitality Yvonne and looking very much forward to our future plans…

From the north of NL me and the happy three dog campers travelled to Denmark to join a weekend of training with 60+ other flatcoated retrievers. I had prepared a small lecture on stress in working dogs for the Danes and on the photo underneath you see a very hot room with interested people sticking to it despite the conditions – after a long hot day of training (only cooling options for the dogs) sitting in a warm cabin taking in serious dog knowledge is only for die hards. My respect and thankfulness for your engagement in becoming a better owner/handler for your dogs!

Luckily I also had time to train my own dogs. Training three was a challenge – so I had asked Josine (owner of + Line) if she would like to handle Kaspar for me. I joined with Lotte and together we started at the beginners team but moved on to the open class team on Sunday afternoon led by Carsten Druekær (trainer and gundog judge). It was very enjoyable to be trained by Carsten – he is a complete training nerd – loves to go into detail with learning stuff and he has a huge heart and understanding of dogs’ beghavior and technical execution of an exercise. He will never let any of us become dull in training our dogs and he gave me a leap ahead in one afternoon. Carsten I will come back for more as soon as I am back in DK! Another joy of training abroad is the fact that there are different traditions to working your dogs. For us – practicing working in a manner where the dogs had to pass one another from close by and be passed by others too was new and very useful to practice.

Such a training weekend is very enjoyable- first of all it can really push you into a new impulse in your own training but secondly it is a great opportunity to meet other flatcoated handlers, breeders and trainers. Reminding me that we really need to work together to preserve our wonderful breed. This year Annette & Jørgen (to whom a big thank you for arranging) added tracking to the menu and due to lack of time – I asked Lene and Jan from kennel Whimbrel if we could visit later in the same week.

Jan was so very kind to make several red deer tracks to all of the dogs including half sister Ragne of Josine and Mathijs with whom we have been camping all week on Fyn. All of the dogs enjoyed the tracking and especially little Ragne gained huge amounts of self confidence when she discovered her tracking skills. Rumi was so powerful that Jan had to take over the line. I could simply not hold her.

Big thanks to kennel Whimbrel – Lene and Jan for having us and especially Jan for the great tracking experience.

It is summer and the gundog exams of Orweja have started.

The SJP exams are found in 3 levels: C-B-A

C is mainly basic obedience and retrieving of dummies

B is intermediate level retrieving of rabbit, duck and crow on a precision mark and casting past water on top of the C parts

A is all of the above plus a double blind dove retrieve on 100+ meters range plus a long drag of goose with several turns. The blind test does not allow disobedience on the directing, thus a very high level of obedience in casting is required.

The SJP diploma gives access to the equivalent level of MAP and/or Working tests.

Here are the results from the past two weeks of Flatastic Aura action in the field:

Flatastic Platinum Alignment “Gurbe” with his owner Lieuwe SJP-C 46 points out of 50

Flatastic Blue Intelligence “Spyke” with his owner Hans SJP-C 39 out of 50 points

Flatastic Green Compassion “Fien” with her owner Laurine SJP-C 38 out of 50 points

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” SJP-C 50 out of 50 points

Flatastic Red Strength “Lotte” SJP-B 67 out of 80 points

I am a very proud breeder with these results – and it makes me even more proud when I see how much pleasure the dogs bring to our lives, how many engaged gun dog hours in the field we can enjoy because of them. Congratulations Hans, Laurine and Lieuwe with your diplomas.

The Dutch Working Flatcoated Groep “WFRG” held a marking workshop by Eric Verzijl in the beautiful place of Rijen.

A nice group of 11 gun dogs – 2 labradors, 1 golden and 8 flatcoated retrievers, most of them young dogs around 2-3 years of age.

Eric opened the day by inviting us to work our dogs exactly the same way as we do at home. He encouraged us to take action if needed not letting the dog finish without the retrieve being successful.

On beforehand I was a bit nervous about the impact on my dogs when doing only marks a whole day. Marking I find is very exiting for the dogs and it can easily ruin the steadyness and push them into stress levels where handling is difficult.

In cases like this I am happy that I have learned to recognize the levels of excitement and stress in my dogs and know how to deal with it and/or stop before I push them into over excitement. Luckily they are already well on their way to dealing allright with major stimuli.

During the workshop Eric presented the dogs with a variety of dummies. From cow skin in different colors to dummies with goose wings and launcher dummies. He even used a hand launcher that was build on to a shotgun. This I found unique as many gundog trainers mostly train for competitions and tend to forget preparing handlers for the real deal. Eric spend time explaining important aspect of practical hunting and why certain rules must be obeyed in order to ensure safety for all.

I find the risk of doing workshops in comparison to regular training is that one jumps from one training vision to another. Erik was clear on his views and opinions but I am glad he left space open to continue on our own route of training in order to remain predictable for our dogs.

One of the most discussed items in gundog training is the use of treats (a positive reinforcement tool). It is a topic that can call on strong emotions for some reason and this is intriguing I find, why we humans react so strongly to this when discussing gundogging.

My dogs are very motivated retrievers. Kaspar has a strong will to please and Lotte a strong independent and distance seeking drive. Therefore they bring different challenges into my handling. I use different tools to influence their emotions and behavior on a very conscious level. As they are young steadyness training is always on my top priority and because of all the mistakes I made in my basic training with their mother I spend more time focusing on walking towards the beginning point and the whole setting around me, than I do on the technical skills themselves as for example marking. At this point returning is a bit of a challenge as they have learned that after delivery the fun stops. I offer them good stuff to deal with the “sad” ending of the fun, but it will never have same reinforcement value as the retrieve itself of course. So I try to have all the right boxes ticked on beforehand – to prevent any messing around after picking up the retrieve. Everybody who owns a flatcoated retriever knows that if you desire a perfect steadyness/heelwork performance before building technical skills you will never get ahead. So knowing when to focus on what and being very alert to reinforcement is a must for successfully handling this wonderful breed.

It was a very enjoyable day in Rijen were both youngster were presented with many different marks, dummies and situations (dummies falling behind hills, in heavy water plants etc etc). When training on my own it is impossible to provide the dogs such variety and for that opportunity a big thanks to Erik for the chance to practice a bit of practical hunting skills too. Thank you WFRG and Huntingdogs gun dog school (Erik Verzijl).

All above photos are made by Erik Verzijl

The weekend of 27/28/29th of May the FRC celebrated her 50th birthday with a flatcoated event in Werkendam at the Selevia Hoeve. Of course we were there to celebrate with other flatcoated retriever fans.

Friday fun day

After a late evening arrival on Thursday we had to get up early in order to be on time for the first workshop: First Aid for dogs. We learned how to perform CPR among others. Thereafter we joined the Balance and Coordination workshop where Rumi and Kaspar had a blast. The instructor was amazed as Kaspar’s skills at such a young age – I explained that we had used a lot of coordination enrichment during the puppy period. It was nice to notice that our efforts have made a difference in the dogs coordination skills.

After the morning sessions we decided to leave Kaspar to rest with half sister Ragne at the campsite as he was rather tired after his morning gym. Rumi however had a serious schedule with agility ahead. But before that we had lunch with the rest of the Flatastic family who came to join us: Marja & Shelby, Hans/Marloes & Spyke, Frans & Jason/Déroy.

I decided to bring Jason to the agility as he loves action like his mother. Let’s say I am glad I brought some arnica gel too because running him in the horse arena throughout the agility course was a rather physical endeavor. Rumi had a time of her life – luckily the jumps were very small so she would not hurt herself considering her chronic ligament injury.

Saturday show time

Saturday Ragne and Rumi were entered to the Club Show nicely held outside (great that the club had arranged that last minute “weather” decision option as stated in the subscription papers) where there was a lot of space for the dogs to relax.

Ragne came in 4th in the youngest puppy class bitches with very promising and Rumi won the open class bitches out of 17 very nice open class entries.

I was very surprised and of course exhilarated. Also on behalf of Rumi’s breeder this is a great accomplishment and me & Dennis celebrated with champagne back home.

Unfortunately Rumi jumped a high fence when running off the campsite to find me as I was showing a college breeder’s dog in the youth class. Her shoulder ligament cannot take such jumps and she was not running fully stretched in the best of bitches class. But I was still very happy with the whole day and that I can maintain her shape even with the handicap of the damaged ligament up to a degree that she wins her class and is still able to go hunting.

Rumi has now won the open class bitches twice and she has twice been placed second, one time in Denmark at the flatcoated club show. She holds the SJP A gun dog exam and Map B both with high points. She is for sure a fantastic dual purposed flatcoated retriever.

Sunday gundogging

Sunday the FRC had at water workshop and both Rumi and Kaspar joined. Rumi who is not used to sharing her handler with her kiddos was rather uptight that she had to wait her turn and she became her young self – rather uncontrollable and wild, but nevertheless she did some nice blind casts and resisted temptations. Kaspar had his first fake large goose on the water and a little (rubber) duck that was diving repeatedly. He became very eager and it looked like he had extra boat motors when chasing the duck in the water. Unfortunately Lotte could not join this great weekend because she was in heat – but she spend the weekend with Dennis bicycling and visiting the parents in law. Great to have a replacement girl😚.

Big thanks to the team of volunteers of the FRC Dutch Flatcoated Retriever Club and great instructors throughout the weekend – also thanks to all Flatastic people visiting and spending the weekend with us. We had a lovely flattie time together.

I sometimes sit and gaze out the window thinking back at all I went through from birth of a heartfelt wish till the day I passed my first bred puppies to their new owners. I never ever could have imagined what an emotional roller coaster life would put me through just out of having a couple of puppies..

I never imagined that my heart could open up to so many dogs at once.. never imagined how vulnerable it would make my heart when we unexpectedly and far too early had to say goodbye to miss Yellow who I took so many “punches” for in order to give her the best life…

I never imagined that all our efforts and coaching would be so warmly welcomed as it has been..

I never expected so many to do so well as gundogs this early in life..

I never thought they would bring so much joy and pleasure to their humans as they do.

I am utterly proud of all of them – I hoped they would become social and happy flatties and they have become so much more than just that! They have become flatcoats of my heart.

Funny social pretty energetic sweet clever and always ready to rock and roll. Beauty and brains if you ask me, but then again I might not be very objective.

A very happy birthday to Lotte Kaspar Kai Jason Spyke Shelby Jones Bruce Jones Gurbe & Fien.

Big hugs from a proud breeder

In loving memory of Line💛

The flatcoated retriever is a dual purposed breed, meaning that each individual should be build correctly and be a beautiful dog, being able to work in the field for the purpose of hunting/retrieving. The Danish flatcoated retriever club has an event in the spirit of the dual purpose with both an exterior and working qualifications twice a year – springtime and autumn.

The Danish trials are rather different in set up from the Dutch system but nevertheless I guessed there would be no better way of getting in touch with it than participating myself so I entered both youngsters in the Markprøve B beginner class.

The first day was a very nice but cold sunny day and the running in the show arena kept us warm. All three dogs were placed above expectations. Here is what judge Brian Izzard said:

Rumi:

Excellent bitch througout, nice head, good eye, excellent front, good lay of shoulder, correct rearangulation, good overall size and temperament, moved well

Kaspar:

Nice young boy, correct hed, eyes and teeth, fair angulation at the front, good rear angulation, moved well

Lotte:

Moved OK, good head, good teeth, eyecolour OK, would prefer more bone, stands well when settled

Markprøve B

The day after it was time to show some working skills. In DK the trial is held for each participant with all retrieves in one. That is completely different from what we are used to. Another thing that amazed me was the fact that the retrieved game was placed on the ground leaving scents marks next to the next dog’s beginning spot. Also the helpers were standing in the cast line of the dog so they functioned as a distraction when the dog was sent out and returned.

There is a lot of discussion going on in DK because the trial system has been revised and adapted to using less edible game for young dog trials and (unfortunately) less independent work of the dog. Some aspects I think will make sense and other I am afraid will influence our breed dramatically in negative sense of the word.

But for now the Markprøve B beginner was the original test as it has been for years.

Lotte started out and showed nice heelwork and steadyness – followed by a good mark running up past the helpers uphill. Then she arrived at the huge duck.. apparently our modest exposure to cold game made her hesitate to pick it up swiftly and I had to apply some encouragement to get the duck in my hand. This “poor” game handling or should I say “youngster’s aim to keep it to myself behind the trees” became the theme of the day sadly and we ended with a big zero points but full of encouragement from judge Jens Lund who I admire for his ability to point out all the good sides of the performance. I must say I have never had such a poor performance and still leaving with a big smile. Not only due to the compliments of our basic training but also knowing why the performance is like it is. It is all about how I have designed their training matching the purpose of practical hunting in a water rich country and the Dutch trial system.

Kaspar was about the same performance as Lotte except he had a little better delivery to hand. Again there was some hesitation to picking up some pieces of game. Again his very low to zero exposure to certain pieces of cold game made sense to me. Looking at it from a positive judge’s eye, many good points: good marking – nice waterwork, heelwork and steadyness. Also finding the game was quickly and precise. Delivery to hand was good but to much encouragement needed to pick it up and bringing it back. I think it was a very fair conclusion and looking back it might have been a bit of a long shot for us to join this test at this point in our training. Nonetheless we had a positive “training” out of it and with a good dose of self reflection I could take the zeros with an accepting attitude.

We enjoyed the rest of the day on the terrain watching the finals of the winner class casting downhill into a lake on a blind uphill.

Looking back there are quite some differences to how dogs are trained and how things are executed. Especially waterwork I noticed was not of the standard we know in NL – many dogs struggled to accept a watercast even though the entrance was straight and the dogs could walk right in.

Their capability to direct the dogs however was of high standard and everyone has a good territorium whistle on the dogs (dog is being asked to search within 1-2 meters in circles).

Searching together with other dogs is also a part of the open class exercises and I find this interesting as it has been taken out in the new system. The capability of the dogs to search together is close to what would happen on a hunt I think. The only thing I find a bit tricky how is unwanted behavior being judged?

Looking back our weekend was full of inspiration to our training and I am sure we will make a come back after having made some training adjustments as we are headed towards the Dutch cold game season too. Let’s see if we can get our youngsters out of their young flattie heads 🤭. Those who have trained flatcoated retrievers will know what I mean by that. Either you love to work with it or you develop a dislike to their independent thinking. So far I still love to wrap my head around these typical flattie “flaws”.