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. 🖤

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.

It is amazing how my sense of time has disappeared whilst I am absorbed in raising the Beast litter. Last weekend they had the puppy test from the Dutch Flatcoated Retriever Club FRC. The test showed that these boys and girls have a very strong exploration drive and that they are very secure and brave puppies. Some have more interest in humans than others – it was very obvious that’s these pups are bred to hunt.

We had our own puppy test too where we approached their eager to explore and connect slightly different – I found it very interesting to see how the individual pups reacted and the difference between the two tests.

After all the testing this weekend,Monday was the big day for all buyers – they received a phone call from me telling which dog is matched with them. I am very pleased because the matches fit very well and I am so thrilled that all dogs will be brought to gun dog training and several dogs will be practical hunting dogs.

As I find them rather eye soothing too, Anita and I held another photoshoot. Here they all are – 7 weeks and 5 days old:

Thank you Arista Fotografie 🙏

It is with great joy that I may present to you our newest addition to the Flatastic Family. A grand daughter of Rumi – daughter of Lotte:

Flatastic Bowtruckle by pedigree and she will carry the name of “Daisy” inspired by her sweet flower energy 🌼

We are very pleased with this girl who has the lovely temperament of her father and the determination and will of her mother. Her bonus feature is the lovely dark liver color 🤎

All beautiful photos kindly provided by Arista Fotografie

We are hardly online these days as we are very busy with the puppies. They are getting used to being driven around in the car – in the buggy and they are practicing being handled and examined. Here are some photos from the past week: