someone or something can be referred to as going platinum to imply that they or it will be a big hit, success, or accomplishment.

Well, it is hard to say when a dog is accomplished..I think when it is healthy and lives a good life it is accomplished. Everything that comes beyond that is luxury..

Flatastic Platinum Alignment “Gurbe”

Gurbe is now 5 1/2 years old – a full brother of Kaspar and he has several WT A diplomas, 2 SJP A and he has recently participated in the FRC Trophy with 11 out 12 retrieved to the hand. Bravo.

He complies with all health requirements for FCI breeding ( FRC & WFRG) & yesterday he was given an excellent at a big int show.

He is used frequently for goose hunting and he will move mountains to find any game. Lovely Flatastic boy.

Gurbe will hopefully father his first litter in 2026 at kennel Tricksywood’s

Gurbe is out of Brösel vom Timeloberg & Flow of Spirits Silver Skipper born 22.05.2020

Gurbe has never had any ring training and is left uncut due to hunting season. Quite an accomplishment to receive Excellent at an international show in between hunting days.

It is funny how life has it’s own mysterious way of unfolding. Born in to a household with German Wirehaired and German hunting terriers it was not in the line of expectations that I would choose Flatcoated retrievers as my breed. Nevertheless I have lost my heart completely to them and this love has made me do not only silly things in life but they have formed my life in ways I would never had imagined.

One example is the fact that I started hunting myself and now I will add to the list the fact that I am joining the Orweja group of judges for the Dutch SJP hunting exams and MAP cold game competitions.

The training for this has taken 2 1/2 years and passing 2 theoretical exams and 4 practical exams has brought me up to this point where I am looking forward to judge all gundog breeds in these above mentioned format.

It has been a very enriching journey – learning from the best and I feel I am still at the very start of it all. Leaving plenty of room for the future to learn more – I would not want it to be any different.

My thankfulness extends to all my teachers along the way and especially my coach Klaas Beukema, who was the one to ignite the passion of observing and appreciating good gun dog work via judging. Also my thanks to the breed club FRC who played a part in the proces of being accepted for the traineeship.

The two Flatastic males who where planned to sire a litter at kennel Tricksywood’s have both had succesful matings with Ylva. We are looking forward to the prospect of their offspring in early 2026.

For more information and/or waiting list options for this litter please contact yvonne via email: yvonne@kayaa.nu

During the MAP B in Zeijlerveen, the North of NL, photographer Louise Smid made these lovely photos of Flatastic Red Strength “Lotte” and Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar”. I love the mysterious background and the waterdrops – just gorgeous.

A MAP is a Dutch cold game competition with 6 post of two retrieves. One can participate on B or A level. A being the highest level. A MAP includes hunting simulated situations, steadyness, water, directing/blinds, searching and gun proofness. For A level it requires long difficult drags with distractions and long complicated blinds with our without distractions. Lotte and Kaspar’s mother Rumi obtained several MAP A qualifications in her career, so we have big shoes to fill in the future.

Thank you very much Louise Smid for this series of my beloved working Flatcoated retrievers. Thankt to the organization and the judges/helpers at the MAP Zeilerveen. It was a good day.

Today our two liver “brown sugars” from the Beast nest Jan 25 out of Flatastic Red Strength & Arved von der Wichmannsburg were shown at the Bleiswijk Dogshow under judge Wies Boermans.

For the first time they were out in youth class and it was obvious that they are less accustomed to the loud surroundings and unfortunately we sat in a corner where some dogs started fighting and where a bitch in severe heat was located. Kaspar and Nhando were clearly distracted and on guard because of this.

The results of today are very promising for the future:

Flatastic Bowtruckle “Daisy” 2nd place excellent youth class bitches

Flatastic Nundu “Nhando” 4th place Very Good youth class males

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” 1st place Excellemt working class males

Thank you Jacqueline & Kyra for a lovely day

In the midst of hunting and gundog testing season we opted for a weekend training in the hills surrounding the charismatic hotel Klaukenhof.

Two generations of Flatastic dogs attended:

Jason, Kaspar, Spyke, Shelby & Lotte from the Aura litter and Daisy from the Beast litter with guests Pipa & Ylva.

Trainer Wim van Loenen assisted by Leo van der Prijt – thank you for sharing your time and knowledge with us

We enjoyed each other’s company’s the hospitality of the Klaukenhof – this time with a killer schnitzel on the Friday menu 😋.

Today team Flatastic attended the breed clubshow of WFRG under German judge and breed specialist Gisele Werner. By coincidence I discovered that Mrs Werner also is the one who approved Brösel von Timeloberg for breeding (exterior) so she has now had a good influence on the dogs in our breeding line.

This season has been a bit disappointing on the gun dog competition side. My time was consumed by two litters following each other and one unexpected under our roof. Also my exams this season for a volunteer position has kept me engaged in other things than training my two grown up dogs. We took a throw at it anyway and failed to get the SJP A diplomas this year – only myself to blame for – reaching this diploma takes time to train especially when the dogs are used all year round for hunting too. We will come back for more next year..

Today the results were very good – luckily I have not failed to keep my dogs in good condition – they are fit and muscular. Even youngster Daisy is rather well developed for her age – look at those back leg muscles.

Results for team Flatastic:

Flatastic Billywig “Bryce” 3rd place promising puppy class males

Flatastic Bowtruckle “Daisy” 1st Very Promising puppy class bitches

Flatastic Red Strength “Lotte” 1st Excellent working class bitches & winner couples class with Kaspar

Flatastic Black Peace “Kaspar” 1st Excellent working class males & BOB Working & winner couples class with Lotte

We are very pleased with the results and the wonderful critiques from Judge Gisele Werner – thank you team WFRG for a well executed club show.

All above 📷 S. Smits – thank you

Today we drove to see Barbara for a much needed haircut and nail clipping. Both litters kept me from keeping my own dogs up to their beauty standard and luckily Barbara invited all 5 at once. For Jette it was a first time but she already needed a haircut.

Thank you Barbara for being so gentle with our dogs and thank you for proffessional haircuts. We are show ready again.

Alle puppies op teefje rood na zijn inmiddels uitgevlogen en Indy is met haar dochter Nora weer thuis bij Jan. We zijn dankbaar dat we weer mooie weerbare en sociale puppies hebben kunnen meegeven aan leuke gezinnen en mensen die heerlijk met hun nieuwe maatjes gaan werken en plezier beleven. Een aantal van deze pups worden opgeleid voor de praktijk jacht – anderen zullen recreative jacht training gaan genieten en we zullen er ook wat terugzien in het wedstrijd circuit. We wensen allen heel veel geluk en plezier met hun pup.

All puppies except, miss Red, have landed safely in their new homes. Indy has moved back home to Jan with her daughter Nora and we are grateful to have delivered beautiful, resilient and socialized puppies to wonderful families and people. They will all be living active lives, some will be trained for hunting, other just for gun dog fun and/or gundog competitions. We wish them and their owners the best of luck and pleasure in the future together.

Ik voel me altijd weemoedig als het einde van een nestperiode nadert.. de vermoeidheid en in dit geval ook de uitputting zorgt voor blijdschap dat langere nachten in zicht zijn. Tegelijk is de emotionele band met de pups zo groot dat uitvliegen zeer doet. Al onze nesten zijn tot nu toe gevolgd door een groot persoonlijk verdriet. Ik hoop dat we nu de “drie keer is scheepsrecht” klaar is..

Het eerste nest werd door een onverwachts en zeer pijnlijk einde van een jarenlange vriendschap.. dat duurde tamelijk lang voor ik de emotionele schade daarvan te boven was. Het nest van begin dit jaar het ongelooflijk plotselinge verlies van mijn dierbare vriendin Anita. Ik ben dit nog aan het verteren. Toen het plotselinge verslechteren van de gezondheid van Jan zijn Alie waardoor we de pups snel moesten verhuizen. Alie is inmiddels heengegaan en het afscheid heeft plaats gevonden. We condoleren Jan en z’n familie. Alie blijft in mijn hart – dankbaar voor de tijd die we met het C nest hebben gehad – en dankbaar dat ze een groot deel van het proces mocht meemaken al hadden we haar zoveel meer gegund.

In tegenlicht van alle verdriet zoals ik boven beschrijf is de rijkdom en blijdschap om de honden – mijn roedel die deze invasie én een vreemde teef in huis zo verschrikkelijk mooi heeft aanvaard. Moeder Indy die zo ontzettend flexibel is en ik krijg tranen in mijn ogen als ik haar blij zie rondrennen, spelend met Daisy. Daisy die het zonnetje in huis is – iedereen aan het spelen zet – nu op dubbele hoeveelheid voer zit om niet af te vallen van alle beweging. Die geniet intens van de pups – de hele dag door.

En de pups – heerlijke stabiele, “rustig in kop” werkertjes met een enorme apporteer drift en mensgerichtheid. Ze zijn er aan toe om uit te vliegen – klaar voor de wereld. Vandaag is de eerste vertrokken. De sterkste man.. morgen meer over de uitvliegers..

Ik wil dit moment in de tijd vooral gebruiken om iedereen te bedanken die bijgesprongen zijn. Ik had het niet gered zonder jullie ..

En in het bijzonder Yvonne van Houten en mijn man Dennis. Dank dat ik op jullie kom en mocht leunen gedurende deze tijd – en jullie onmisbare inzet.