On Saturday the 12th of July all the Cajus x Lotte puppies met in Vuren. Miriam Zegers (exterior judge) was so kind to provide an introductionary workshop on how to show your dog. After that we enjoyed a nice lunch and did some balance work. Hosts Jan & Jacqueline had arranged a lovely dog pool for the youngsters to have fun in and we finished a lovely day with icecream from a nearby diary farm and lovely talks under the shadow of the afternoon sun. I am so blessed to have such lovely puppy buyers who take well care of the dogs and put so much effort in raising them to become balanced working dogs.

I also had to shed a tear when seeing them all back together – I am so pleased with the result of this combination.

De C nest puppies zijn nu ruim 2 weken oud en zijn veranderd in dikke nijlpaardjes. Alles groeit en glimt – tijd voor hun eerste portret serie.

The C nest litter is now a bit more than 2 weeks old and they have changed into fat little hippo’s. They are shiny and therefore time to realize the first portraits.

All puppies have a forever loving home – alle puppies hebben een fijn thuis beloofd gekregen.

When she was at her top point of gundog competitions and we were ready to end her working career – she came in heat and was tackled by her son – causing a nasty fall. Sadly we therefore had to cancel the participation of the Champions Trophy – the end of year retriever championship. Her injury and the aging body made me decide to commence her well earned pension anyway and we slowly started downsizing the training. Of course she still get some of the fun parts and she gets the chance to go hunting when I can offer “an easy job”.

Past spring we had a chance to take a final goodbye in “showbizz” and we had an emotional last competition at the veterans working test.

Rumi finished with a nice certificate and I had my emotional goodbye. What an amazing career have we had together – here are the highlights:

SJP A 2nd place WT A several certificates MAP A FRC Trophy 3rd place

Of course I am very proud of our achievements – Rumi had an inexperienced handler and I made many mistakes and took poor advice along the way.. but she was the best teacher and I feel the need to express my thankfulness for her – my queen – the one and only “badass” Rumi.

She has given life to 12 puppies and is now grandmother of 15. I think she has played her part well in preserving the working genes of our breed..

Apart from her certificates it is worth mentioning that our richness with her primarily lies in the many hunting days – the incredible retrieves she has come up with – she has been fantastic and mesmerizing all the way.

Rumi is enjoying her pension and we do our best to provide her with all the comfort she needs and the food she loves.

And we are looking forward to some more lovely camping trips and everyday hours at home.

Thank you my queen 🙏 for being such a wonderful spirit and gorgeous flatcoated retriever. 🖤

De puppies van Kaspar & Indy zijn nu ruim 1 week oud en hebben allen hun geboorte gewicht verdubbeld en de eerste kilo knallers zijn er ook al.

Indy is een goede moeder en ondanks de hitte krijgen ze nog steeds dikke slagroom melk. Gelukkig is Indy vlak voor het werpen getrimd en met de ijs service van Jan en Alie doorstaat de nieuw gebakken moeder de hitte uitstekend.

Afgelopen maandag ben ik weer op bezoek bij de knappe jongens en meisjes – wat een heerlijke “mini nijlpaardjes”. Ze gebruiken hun neuzen al flink als de werpkist wordt verschoond en ze zijn geheel gemakkelijk met nagels knippen. Ik ben natuurlijk al stiekem verliefd op een mini Kaspar – ik ben benieuwd of hij zo op z’n vader blijft lijken als die groeit..

The Kaspar & Indy puppies are now more than a week old – their weights have gained twice their birthweight and the first few of them have passed the 1 kilogram border.

Indy is a great mum – she has a creamy milk and despite the heat she manages fine. Shortly before labor she was trimmed and the ice service carefully provided for by Jan & Alie keeps her head cool.

Past Monday I visited the beauties again and I enjoyed the little “hippos” very much. Of course I am in love with one of the boys as he looks a lot like his father. I am curious to see if he continues to resemble his father..

The puppies are very easy to differ in sex as the males have maskulin heads and the females are clearly very refined.

One female is looking for her forever home – a home that has time and interest to go into sports and/or gun dog work. This litter is bred out of lines with excellent looks and high qualifications in gun dog work. Both parents are very friendly and have a high will to please.

De pups zijn makkelijk te onderscheiden in reuen en teven. De reien hebben stoere koppen en de teven mooi verfijnde hoofden.

Één teefje zoekt nog een eigenaar – één die een actief leven kan bieden met hondensport en/of jachthondenwerk. Het nest is gefokt van ouders van uitmuntende kwaliteit met hoge werk kwalificaties. Beide ouders zijn zeer vriendelijk en hebben veel will to please.

Vrijdag ochtend begon Indy onrustig te worden en werd ik gebeld door Jan – wij waren al op de camping geïnstalleerd zodat ik snel ter plekke kon zijn en ook Yvonne (van Tricksywood’s kennel) was direct onderweg. Samen met Jan en Alie hebben we Indy de hele dag bijgestaan en konden we de nacht in met een paar gezonde pups in de werpkist. Indy moest hard werken want de pups waren erg sterk en goed op gewicht – het duurde daarom eventjes om ze uit te drijven en we waren met z’n allen ook erg moe na de lange dag en nacht maar heel trots te kunnen mededelen dat er 7 prachtige en levendige pups zijn geboren – 4 teven en 3 reuen. Gefeliciteerd Jan en Alie met dit prachtige nest.

Moeders en pups maken het heel goed. Indy is een geweldige moeder – vanaf het eerste moment super zorgzaam alsof ze nooit anders heeft gedaan. Heel bijzonder om te zien en ook wat ik verwacht had van deze knappe dame. Ze heeft echt een fantastisch karakter – eigenlijk is ze qua temperament en persoonlijkheid de ideale Flatcoat. Ze heeft meer kwaliteiten dan dat natuurlijk – maar wat valt mij dit nu op. Ik ben een beetje verliefd op Kaspar z’n vriendin geloof ik.. Kaspar had een hele andere nacht – hij kon de luie camping prins uithangen:

Early Friday morning Jan called me out of bed that Indy was getting restless and I rushed to their home alongside with Yvonne (from Tricksywood’s kennel) we came to assist Jan & Alie. Indy delivered her first puppy at 2100 hrs and we had a long day and night to finally have a beautiful litter of 7 lively and strong puppies: 4 bitches and 3 males. All are black. Big congratulations to Jan & Alie.

Indy is a perfect mother – from the first moment on she takes very well care of the pups. What a wonderful girl she is 😍.

Unfortunately several potential puppybuyers were rather late/had forgotten announcing that they had already bought a puppy somewhere else – meaning one beautiful female puppy is available for the right handler/owner/bff. Please contact Jan van Heeren via email : janenalievanheeren@outlook.com if you are interested.

For more information on this litter – check out the page of Flatastic Black Peace.

Helaas waren een aantal potentiële kopers vergeten zich tijdig af te melden en dat betekent dat wij nog 1 teefje ter beschikking hebben voor de juiste match. Bij interesse contact Jan van Heeren via e-mail: janenalievanheeren@outlook.com.

Voor meer info over dit nest zie de pagina van Flatastic Black Peace.

Summer has started and even though it has been raining cats and dogs Nature takes her own course. Nature is in full breeding season and we are very busy here at Flatastic Headquarters and not only working hard to keep our game finding experts out of nesting areas but also attending to our own breeding adventure.

Zomer is begonnen, ondanks het feit dat het afgelopen dagen behoorlijk heeft geregend. De natuur heeft geheel zijn eigen ritme en het broedseizoen is in volle gang. Het is een uitdaging met onze wild experts om ze weg te houden van nestende vogels.. maar gelukkig vergeten we deze inspanningen snel nu onze eigen nest plannen dichterbij komen.

Apart from our time in the field – putting our effort into saving some field birds and hare kittens by hunting crows, all dogs here are in full training.

Naast alle gewoonlijke uren in het veld is het voor ons ook volop kraaien bestrijdings tijd – heel belangrijk voor het behoud van de weidevogel en de jonge hazen.

Indy is enjoying her maternity leave and has transformed from a training eager girl into a lazy couch potato. She is taking the Tuscany vibe into action “Eat Pray Love”. Right she is – living in the south.

Indy maakt het goed – ze geniet als een echte zuiderling van het “Toscaanse leven” Eat Sleep Pray. En dat mag ook best als je hoogzwanger bent.

Jan en ik zijn zoetjes aan begonnen met de voorbereidingen voor het C nest. Alle puppy spullen zijn nu verhuist naar Brabant en komende week ga ik lekker bij Indy & Jan op bezoek zodat we alles opgelijnd hebben voor de geboorte. Ik kijk er heel erg naar uit. Volgens Jan is er veel buikactie en geniet hij samen met Arie en de kleinkinderen van de vooruitzichten van een zomer vol puppies.

Jan and I have started preparing the upcoming litter – all our puppy stuff has temporarily moved to Brabant and next week we have a pre-birth check up at Jan’s place. I am looking forward seeing Indy and her belly again. According to Jan there is full stomach action and they are enjoying the anticipation of a puppy full summer.

Meanwhile the Beast puppies are growing into long legged Mosquito-Flatcoats.

Ondertussen groeien de Beast puppies uit tot een soort langpootmuggen. Gelukkig zie ik regelmatig een aantal van ze. Hier een greep uit onze fotoalbum:

I have the pleasure of seeing some of the Beast pups on a regular basis – here are some photos from our mobile library:

We wish all of our followers a good summer ☀️ we wensen al onze volgers een mooie zomer

The 25th of May the Dutch flatcoated retriever club FRC held her annual club show. Two Beast litter puppies: Daisy & Bryce participated and both very awarded a “very promising”. Bryce came in 2nd in the male minor puppies & Daisy won the female minor puppy.

Thank you FRC, volunteers & judges for a great day – really well organized show.

Apart from the great results for our Flatastic minors – it was also a treat that a few litter mates showed up to socialize. Of course we had to make a family portrait:

This week also the first “working certificate” was obtained by Flatastic Fwooper “Penny” from a completed puppy course at the Hoekse Waard KC. Congratulations Jacquelien.

The 6th of April our dear friend, trainer and photographer Anita Lauwers passed away due to a severe stroke. At the age of 58 years it was far to soon and we will miss Anita very much. Anita has played a large role in the birth of our kennel and was a major support in all our canine activities. On our website one will find many many beautiful photographs made by her. She was for many years one of the house photographers at the national championship “Nimrod” and she was very appreciated for all her gorgeous photo shoots of working gundogs.

Thank you Anita for everything & rest in peace

The Beast litter is now exactly 10 weeks old today and yesterday the last puppy went to his forever loving home. All puppies are lucky to have loving working homes – most of them living with other flatcoated retrievers.

I am very grateful to have had such wonderful buyers – all of them have been engaged in making the transition comfortable for the individual pup and they have given me the chance to get to know their families better by visiting the pups frequently.

My huge thanks to Maike for allowing us to use Cajus to sire this litter – I am so pleased with this combination and the result.

Also my sincere thanks to my husband for putting up with all the fuss in our home for 9+ weeks – for his moral and physical support in my breeding crazuness.

Thank you Yvonne, Anita & Jacqueline for your support during labor and/or taking care of the puppies.

A big thank you to Lotte for being such a caring and loving mother to her puppies.

We are very pleased with her daughter: Daisy – a lovely liver girl – granddaughter of Rumi.

The 8 puppies from the Cajus / Lotte litter are now almost 9 weeks old and today the first ones will commence their journey towards their new lives.

The past week we spent continuing habituating with all the ordinary things, such as wearing a harness, walking past the tumble dryer and dishwasher, driving a car and we had two outdoor adventures- one in a sensory garden.