The past 4 weekends Yvonne van Houten & I have hosted several 1/2 day workshops on different themes in the north of the Netherlands.

We have enjoyed all participants and their dogs – especially because of their dedication to learning and improving their teamwork.

Yvonne and I enjoyed having many different breeds joining and we feel very satisfied having witnessed their growth and pleasure in working. Thank you all helpers & participants.

• Water Heelwork
• Marking skills
• Working on the line
• Distractions
• Multiple retrieves

We hope to be back in the winter with an indoor heelwork workshop…

Thursday & Friday I participated in a gundog demonstration for the KJV on the Terdege Outdoor Fair. It was a great experience for me and the dogs and also a very good way to show what kind of gundogs flatcoated retrievers are. A bit of everything was included: steadyness, marking, heelwork, water retrieves and social behavior. The only difficult part was ignoring the pet rabbits on the other side of the arena fence…

Thank Gerald for the invitation & 2 wonderful days🐾

That dogs build relationships resembling (up to a limit) the human species’ way of developing bonds has been known for some time in scientific studies. I always enjoy the joy I see in my dogs when they meet up with their friends. To be honest many of my dogs’ friendships have resulted in friendships for me too.

Sometimes people’s life stories touches us and reaches out to us.. and life works in wonderous ways. Last year I met Henk at a gun dog competition and we felt a connection and discovered that we share some of the same back ground in coaching and views on humanity. Jet had also met Henk and their meeting also left a footprint..

And so it came to an idea that the “old” map A group of Jantine would drive ourselves to Rheden and be treated with a guided walk through the Veluwezoom, Posbank. An area with forest, farmland and moorland. The area is home to Fallow deer, wild boar and wolf.

Of course also many different birds and other small animals..

The moorland is keept by a flock of sheep and their herder with herding dogs. Absolutely a treat it was to see the herder working her dogs in the hills.

After the 6 km walk we enjoyed a lovely lunch at restaurant De Ruif.

https://restaurantderuif.nl/locatie/

For the afternoon I had arranged Emmy Rensen from Partoe Gundogtraining to challenge us with a MAP A workshop. Young Jason (Flatastic Aquamarine Acceptance) was attending for “listen & learn” time.

I think the lovely photos of Linda Spaargaren speak better about the atmosphere than my words..

Thank you Partoe for a fantastic afternoon with challenging gun dog work full of blinds, distractions – waterwork and serious drags. Team Partoe – Emmy, Jan & John you really gave us a blast.

Frans, Linda, Jet & Henk – thank you for a lovely day. A perfect sunny day to forget all worries and enjoy our dog friendships and great gun dog work.

In the 2-2024 edition of the Dutch gundog magazine “de Jachthond” you will find an article about hunting with flatcoated retrievers. I have written this article inspired by many different interviews with other flatcoated owners, breeders, judges and hunters who use this great breed as a gun dog.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

You can order this magazine in a single edition or permanent distribution via http://dejachthond.nl/

Today it is 4 years ago that our first litter was born after a long and tiresome birth.

Today I received many photos of the gorgeous black beauties. Their joy of life is overflowing the pictures.

Happy birthday Kai, Kaspar, Shelby, Spyke, Lotte, Jason, Jones, Fien, Gurbe, Bruce & Victor 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

Also in loving memory Line

Many discussions are held between breed clubs and breeders about the dual purpose of the flatcoated retriever. Dual purpose is a term that is used for well build, fit for function and healthy looking dogs who also have excellent working abilities. Attending dog shows used to be a way of judging the dogs on anatomy and looks. This is today also the case. But. It is a big but. Over the years showing one’s dog has become a sport itself. And of course it is lovely that we enjoy all kinds of sports with our dogs. This has resulted in the fact that breeders breed toward the sport they prefer and this will translate into different types. The showdogs tend to have long necks, long backs and a very charming trot. The working types tend to be lighter build, less angulation and having a more significant stop. My dogs may lean more against the working type being lightly build and not having enormous thick coats. It is therefore a bit of a surprise what a judge will think of them.

Friday the 10th of May we went to Zeeland outdoor dog show – flatcoated retrievers being judged by Hannie Warendorf.

Rumi & Kaspar were in a good mood. Lotte was not very motivated for a day in the ring and looking a bit scruffy in her coat her VG was suitable for how she showed.

Rumi very a bit affected by the heat but she reached a 3rd place Excellent- pleased with that.

Kaspar really surprised by being rather excited and showed off in the ring with high tail carriage and charisma. When he was appreciated with an excellent I was very happy. It is really nice that there is room for a more elegant type to achieve an excellent – the diversity in the breed is important.

When the end judging of the males took place – I was really surprised that Kaspar came in second with a reserve CAC. Thank you for the appreciation. Cannot believe that my Italian has 1/4 of a cert. point. Who would have thought to..

Kaspar is exclusively on the FRC stud list. The breed club FRC is the only breed club in the Netherlands who have a genepool supporting set of breeding rules – allowing breeders to use foreign studs and having ethical guidelines that must be complied with.

📷 Manon Eslooppoc

It has been a couple of weeks since Lotte’s ultrasound showed an empty womb. It was a bit of a shock to us and I needed some time to digest the news. Digesting bad news has been a bit of theme lately and it has been reminding me that breeding and having passion for what I do really puts my heart in a vulnerable position. Luckily the dogs are still their fantastic selves and they bring smiles on my face everyday. That is very valuable in times where hardness seem to arise more and more between humans.

After some consideration and elaboration with the owner of Cajus, we have decided to give this combination another chance whenever Lotte comes in heat. The fact that several bitches in the Netherlands and in central Europe have been mated without results, gives me idea that it is a natural phenomenon rather than there should be anything wrong with the parents or the combination. I am very thankful that the major part of the potential puppy buyers are giving me their confidence too awaiting the next heat period of Lotte.

To celebrate the fact that we are “getting back in the saddle” a friend of mine, Henriette de Feij has designed this lovely poster. I think she did an amazing job.

Henriette enjoyed making this and she has offered to make more of this kind of litter adds and/or stud adds for a reasonable price in the future. I would be happy to provide you Henriette’s contact information should you wish to use her services. Henriette is familiar to gun dog work and therefore has the right eye for gundog breeds.

Thank you Henriette!

The gundog competition season finished for us with a qualification to participate in the Champions Trophy on the 24th of February.

One may call it the “Retriever Championship” of the year as the best of all the retriever breeds compete at a high level. Rumi and I are invited and looking forward to the experience. Hopefully she will not come in heat at that time – we keep our fingers crossed.

I have had the joy of being invited to many different hunts this year – and many of my hosts have invited me and the dogs because they appreciate the diversity of the flatcoated retriever. They are of course specialists in working after the shot – working very keenly on lost birds and game. I have come to the conclusion that they are absolute perfect gundogs for goose hunting – being great on marks and memory’s.

I was invited to Friesland 3 times this year and I brought the girls on two occasions.

Our first was at Piet’s area and my friend Yvonne was also there with her lovely girl Ylva.

We started early with hiding in the cover for goose hunting. As I have explained earlier goose hunting is not only hunting but also damage control as they are living in the NL in very large numbers – spoiling a lot of fields and contaminating waterways with their co2 rich excrements. More importantly they apply pressure on other field birds as some are very aggressive and territorial. Economically it is a very expensive animal because the government pay out damage compensation to farmers and landowners who are affected by invasion of hungry geese.

Luckily I am a fan of eating goose meat – and willing to put the hard work into the whole processing of these big animals.

In fact is a very durable way of taking in proteins – no man made production facilities, no medication in the animals and they live a natural life in freedom. They die quickly without long stress and suffering of being transported or kept in poor conditions.

Hunters are often viewed at as bad humans who take pleasure in killing. After some years of assisting in hunting with my dogs – I think I might be able to add some nuance in this image. Yes, hunters do take honor in making a good and clean kill. Because it is the most friendly way to obtain meat. With the lowest possible suffering, using your human skills and focus. I think many people today are not aware how our food ends up in the supermarket and therefore we are relieved from the moral pressure of taking a life. The truth is that we are all in one way of the other hunters in our core nature. Hunting for food may be the lesser experienced action in these modern times but we all hunt after something or someone in life and we tend to do some crazy thing in order to obtain what we hunt for. It is a very strong motivation and drive in our human nature – wether we acknowledge it or not. For some reason, many of us who like to hunt on game find it important that we maintain the skill to feed our families – have knowledge and practical skills in and about nature. Hunting is 20 % shooting and 80 % caring for your field – creating a balanced living space for all wild life – counting numbers and keeping the flora in good condition. Hunting itself one may say is the cherry on top at the end of the year – after a long period of being in and about the fields. Knowing what is going on and communicating with farmers and officials is a big part of the task of a hunter who has a field/area under his responsibility. When there is an annual hunt on hare the amount of hares that needs regulation and/or the number of hares the hunt may harvest is pre-set. In my case it was one hare per hunter per drive allowed. This left plenty of hares in the field after hunting and still keeping the pressure on the fields low enough. 2023 was a very good year for hares.

But enough talking about the ethical side of hunting and let us get back to the gundog work..

Working the dogs on a goose hunt is really great – they often get to make some far retrieves and often they need to work extra hard on rough waterways – sometimes a goose is drifting off and a good dog like Rumi who trusts my instructions is such a pleasure to have at my side. Lotte has been out on geese too but surprisingly this little elegant girl has surprised me in being a really reliable “spaniel” on driven hunts. A hare that jumps out in front of her nose is a bit too tempting but if on a bit of distance she remains really steady in her task of searching and even deer she was able to resist.

The traditional pea soup is a Dutch thing one either loves or hates but I must say – Lieuwe’s version is the best I have had so far. I was lucky enough that he agreed to share the recipe (sorry only in Dutch language):

Erwtensoep: 500 gr spliterwten, 2 litr water (meer of minder voor dikker/dunner 2 uien wortel prei 2 aardappelen halve stronk bleekselderij 2 tenen knoflook 200 gr gerookte spekjes 2 schouderkarbonades 4 speklappen rookworst in plakjes 2 bouillonblokjes peper en zout naar smaak

For quite some time I have developed skills in processing geese, pheasants and ducks. But a hare is a whole new thing.. maybe it because it looks like a cat in some way, also the soft fur and the big eyes.. it is a different level to kill it if necessary and also to process it. Up until now I was reluctant- but I challenged myself to do the job myself. My chance to put my challenge into action came when Lieuwe invited me for a second hunt in Friesland. Rumi brought a hare that needed to be releaved from suffering. Poeh – that was indeed a next level thing. As I have not yet tasted hare to my liking – my dog friend Raymond was kind to show my how to proces a hare – so at Christmas morning me and my friend Josine (who has recently obtained her hunting license) went to Raymond for a lesson in cutting out a hare. He gave me a recipe too but it has not been tested yet.. to be followed ..

Of course Kaspar was also out hunting – more on his adventures later on.. for now I would like to thank Piet, Lieuwe, Yvonne, Marian and Jacqueline for the wonderful opportunities you have given me and the dogs to develop over the season. And Raymond for teaching me game processing skills 2.0.

Thank you to all hunters and fellow dog handlers for all the good and safe hours in the field together.

Last Sunday – the 19th of Nov 2023 the FRC held her flatcoated finals gun dog competition. Rumi and two of her siblings were invited which is very special to have 3 littermates at this top level. To qualify one must have at least an A diploma in an SJP – WT or MAP.

The competition consists of 4 rounds with each 3 retrieves. All on long distances with various distractions – testing marking skills – double drags, blinds and memories as well as searching in different covers.

Here is a link to the description op the 4 rounds:

https://www.frc-nl.com/event/apporteer-trofee-en-de-uitreiking-van-de-ben-koolen-bokaal/

Rumi was in a good mood – very eager and ready to rock and roll. I had a bit of hard time walking her on the leash as she simply could not wait to get started. She simply loves to work and I was afraid she might get lost in the passion as it often does. But I must say she really did her utmost to keep listening and with a little bit of handling we got all retrieves. What a joy!

While enjoying the “afterbuzz” of a great day working with my beautiful Rumi (Flow of Spirits Silver Skipper) – we all had a drink in the café of the “Forrelenvijver Breukink” while waiting for the results. To my great surprise we came in 3rd place and to obt the joy Rumi’s brother Déroy won the AT.

Thank you FRC for this wonderful and memorable day.

A special thanks to Robin Polman & Ad Ordelman for making these lovely photographs for us to remember these precious moments.

Last week I received an invitation from colleague flatcoated breeder Pearlycoat to join a hunt in Denmark. It was unique in the way that Cajus,who is planned to sire our upcoming, was attending too. Pearlycoat is a well known flatcoated breeder in Denmark who has a reputation of breeding working gun dogs with calm temperaments and plenty of work drive. Christian & Marianne are also the owners of Cajus’ father Hasse (Spader Damens Amenlis).

So of course I gladly accepted the invitation-when does one get the chance to see the stud in real action!?

Cajus showed me that he is the perfect match for Lotte – he has characteristics that will compliment my fast Rumi daughter. He is very motivated in game but has a natural obedience and stays closer to his handler than Lotte. He showed me how easily he settles after a hunt an he is truly a good sport towards other dogs. He is also such a funny guy – he did his utmost to flirt with Lotte who took great interest in exchanging smells. I wonder how much longer we have to wait for her to come in heat.

Also Cajus’ sister Nura was joining our wonderful day on pheasants. She is a really nice flatcoated retriever too. Very feminine and fast.

Lotte herself did a good job – picking up in a different terrein than she is used to. At the end of the day she got a bit overexcited by the many amounts of birds – but during the after search she got all the sick birds back who had run far out.

I am very excited to see how this wonderful couple is going to pass on their hunting traits.