The first questions I always get asked when people meet the dogs is "do you breed them?" or "are you a Drent breeder?" I guess it's a natural inquiry, seeing as the Drent is rather rare, and seeing as we have 3 imported dogs, people assume we are pretty committed to the breed....which we are. Initially when we got Fowler we intended to allow him to stand at stud, but that was it. We wanted to contribute to the gene pool but were not interested in keeping females. Though the world of dogs was not a stranger to us, neither of us had been involved in showing dogs or whelping litters.
So what changed? We completely fell in love with this breed. We made so many friends from doing activities with the dogs. The desire to help grow the breed in North America became stronger and eventually we started testing the waters and keeping an eye on planned litters in the Netherlands. However, we knew there was A LOT to learn before we felt qualified to breed and raise a litter of pups. Luckily, we had a bit of time to gain experience and knowledge and some great mentors within and outside of the breed to steer us in the right direction. Several reproductive and structure seminars later, and years of helping other breeders with their litters, and we finally have our own program. Jenna is also now one of two DPCNA Board Members that travels to visit the litters of other breeders to help with evaluation and temperament testing. Breedings dogs is a continual learning process, but we can say that we've definitely done the background work to make confident and smart decisions regarding our breeding program and our dogs.
So what changed? We completely fell in love with this breed. We made so many friends from doing activities with the dogs. The desire to help grow the breed in North America became stronger and eventually we started testing the waters and keeping an eye on planned litters in the Netherlands. However, we knew there was A LOT to learn before we felt qualified to breed and raise a litter of pups. Luckily, we had a bit of time to gain experience and knowledge and some great mentors within and outside of the breed to steer us in the right direction. Several reproductive and structure seminars later, and years of helping other breeders with their litters, and we finally have our own program. Jenna is also now one of two DPCNA Board Members that travels to visit the litters of other breeders to help with evaluation and temperament testing. Breedings dogs is a continual learning process, but we can say that we've definitely done the background work to make confident and smart decisions regarding our breeding program and our dogs.
So what do we look for?...
Tule
What makes a good Drent breeder? - It's important to us that the dogs we choose to use not only be outstanding representatives of the breed, but also sound in temperament and health. We follow the DPCNA Code of Ethics when it comes to making evaluations. The Code of Ethics can be found HERE. We also adhere to all DPCNA rules in regards to breeding requirements. Those requirements can be found HERE.
In short, our dogs have met the following requirements:
* Very Good or Excellent in conformation
* Health clearances for Hips (either through OFA or Pennhip), Elbows (OFA), and eyes (clear for PRA)
* correct in temperament
* have tested in AKC or NAVHDA and scored highly in the categories of Use of Nose, Pointing, and Trainability
In short, our dogs have met the following requirements:
* Very Good or Excellent in conformation
* Health clearances for Hips (either through OFA or Pennhip), Elbows (OFA), and eyes (clear for PRA)
* correct in temperament
* have tested in AKC or NAVHDA and scored highly in the categories of Use of Nose, Pointing, and Trainability
Fowler babysitting pups
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In our opinion, Drents are hunting dogs first and foremost. However, we understand not every puppy will go to hunting home, which is why it's very important to maintain balance between bird dogs and family companions. That is, after all, what the Drent is known for.
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