Greetings from Norway

We received a realy nice email from Madeleine about Muste (Birk) and a few very recent pictures (21-04-10) There's still snow! Brrrrrrr.. She says Muste is a very big puppy now. He's 65cm high and 27 kg weight. He doesn't realize how big he is himself and still wants to sit on your lap, although there's not so much space for him left on the lap :-)) He's very happy, loves people and other dogs. And he loves to learn, so Madeleine and Kjell hope that when the huntingtraining starts this summer, he will do fine. Kjell is a hunter himself and Muste will be trained to be his huntingdog (lucky Muste!) He looks gorgeous on the pictures! And don't he and his brothers look a lot the same! Thank you for the pictures!

Ares at the Austrian VJP

Last Saturday, Ares was also joining a youngsters workingtest. Klaus was very proud at his boy for he gained 155 out of 168 points! Congratulations Klaus!

Kazan and Joy at the VJP in Belgium

Above: what a cute couple!

Above: Kazan is pointing out some game

Above: Kazan is smelling game, closes his eyes, nose up in the air and follows his nose!

Above: the above two pictures belong together. Joy discovered a hare and tries to catch it. On the second picture you can see the hare running around the corner with Joy following.

Above: on the above picture they test if the dogs mind shooting. Ofcourse a huntingdog shouldn't be afraid of shooting!! Both Joy and Kazan didn't mind at all. (Kazan is in this picture)

Above: Kazan is watching other dogs work the field. He'd rather be in there himself.

Above: Jet, the judges and Joy in the field, looking for game.

Underneath: Jet and Joy after good work coming out of the field.

On April 10, Kazan and Joy were, together with 3 other dogs, invited for a youngsters workingtest in Belgium. The natural hunting instincts of the dogs were being tested. The test was identical on the German VJP and was also judged by 2 German judges, Mr. Rolf Jansen and Mr. Tony Schellartz. It was such a beautifull day and all the people were so friendly! We had a great time. Joy started a bit difficult, for there were lots of mice in the field, which she liked to catch and also the butterflies were very interesting to chase, but once she discovered there were also hares and pheasants in the field she started searching the field realy well. She pointed on ducks, chased out a hare and also searched a haretrace realy well. In total she gained 70 points wich is a realy good result on a VJP, especially becauce she's only 7 months old. The judges were very charmed by Kazan. His insincts were very well developped. Only his ears didn't work that well. As soon as the lead came off, Kazan was hunting the field and there was no animal succesfully hiding for him. Kazan had such a good time, he didn't want to stop and it took for about half an hour before we had him on the lead again. He had 10 points for searching, gametrails even 11 points for pointing, but only 3 points for being led/listening :-(( In total still 64 points which is also not bad at all. After the tests in the pub, we had a good chat with the judges and what a coincidence, judge Rolf Jansen is the breeder of Django vom Sülztal, which is the father of the first litter with Kylie, Kalle, Jordi etc. What a small world!

Crufts show reports from Jordi and Kalle

The show reports from Crufts 2010 were published, so here's what judge Mrs. Helen Salmon thought of the boys:

LD (9) 1 Spence's Jordi van de Stommeerpolder from Cicada, super, masculine dog, good size & substance without coarseness, well balanced, correctly angulated, free moving. I was proud to award him the CC & BOB. Both he & his handler showed their steady temperament to ably represent the breed in the group despite the distractions.
--
Working D (2,1) 1 Ijpelaar's Int/Dutch Ch Kalle van de Stommeerpolder, handsome boy, well constructed, super outline, well muscled, good coat & condition, a good type of Large Munsterlander.

Walking the dogs

Above: the whole family swimming together.

Above: technically Sparkey and Mila still have to practise a little for they make a lot of water :-)) but at least they are practising.

Above: what does the park look good with a pack of Large Munsterlanders running around!

Above: Sparkey, Kylie and Jazz, all having the same interest

Above: Bonnie is teaching Sparkey and Mila not to oversee anything, so even check the islands.

Above: Sparkey

Underneath: Mila and Sparkey playing together with a stick

Last Saturday, Annemieke with Bonnie and Mila, Michel and Jolanda with Sparkey and me with Jazz and Kylie decided to walk togeteher in the park. Well, that was a big succes. The adults were teaching the youngsters how to be clever and they all had lots of fun.

Family reunion

Above: almost all the dogs in the picture. That was NOT easy. From left to right: Zeb, Thibeau, Rembrandt, Jazz (not looking), Mila, Kylie, Kazan, Joy and Finn. Tyler was busy with other things :-))

Above: well, this way we managed to get them all in the picture! Evelyne with Mila (for Annemieke wasn't there), Pieter with Tyler, Jazz, Tim with Zeb, Annemarie with Finn, Yvonne with Rembrandt, Bart with Kazan, Jean-Yves with Thibeau and Jet with Joy.

Above: Annemarie with Mila and Finn

Above: Tyler, Mila and Joy

Above: Thibeau

Above: Kazan and his family

Above: girlpower! Mila and Joy
Underneath: Jet with Joy and their award, for Joy ended up best.

On March the 13th we had kind of a family reunion. The Belgium Large Munsterlander Club organised a huntingtest for youngsters and 8 of the Stommeerpolder youngsters joined the test. It wasn't possible to make pictures of the test itselve, but ofcourse we made lots of pictures of the dogs. Above a little selection. They all look so good, especially their heads! In total there were 17 youngsters joining te test and of all, Joy did best :-)) Well done Joy!

Pictures of the champion!

Above: Marie (left) and Donna with their champion

Above: Best Dog and Best Bitch for Best of Breed (BOB)

Jordi BOB at Crufts!!!!

This afternoon Jordi won Best of Breed at Crufts! At the Gundog Group he was accompanied by a streaker and had to walk twice, but looked realy good. (better than the streaker :-)) This picture of Jordi and Donna, who was handling Jordi, was made in the gundoggroup by Sue Hall. Thank you Sue for sending it!

Marie, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

Ares officially tracking a shot wild boar

Above: Ares and the dead wild boar

Above: click on the text and read Klaus' story (in German)

Ares is only 5,5 months old now and was officially asked for tracking a shot, but not dead wild boar. The wild boar was shot the evening before, but run off and the hunter couldn't find it anymore. By taking Ares to the place the wild boar was shot at first and letting him smell at the drops of blood, Ares started to search for it's track. At last the wild boar was found about a kilometer further and not dead at all. That's where Klaus and his huntingmate had to help out. Ares did a realy good job for such a young dog! (don't you think he's not only smart, but also very handsome :-))

Pictures of Kiyo

All the youngsters are being so handsome!!

What a good head Kiyo's got :-))

Pictures of Kazan (Darko)

Finally we get to see pictures of Kazan from Belgium!

He is looking after his mum!

Django, Kalle and Kylie at the LM training

Above: beautifull scene in the early morning

Above: Django with feasant

Above: Kalle is perfectly tracing a rabbit track

Above: waiting is tyring (left: Kylie, right Kalle)

Above: Kalle with the bad smelling fitch

Above: Kylie with a duck

Underneath: Django with a goose

A few nice pictures of the training. We had a realy good day!

Kylie finally fetching fox and fitch

Above: Kylie with (baby) fox

Underneath: Kylie with fitch

The Large Munsterlander training is very special, for they always have special game to train with. Now they had a tiny fox (but the smell is the same) and a fitch, terribly smelling :-(( Untill now I could never pursuade Kylie to fetch them for me, but at this training it finally worked out. Now I hope she will still remember this at the working tests so we don't lose points on the fitches and foxes anymore. But for today I'm very happy!

Rembrandt and Joy at the LM training

Above: well aren't they cute!! (Joy, Kylie and Rembrandt)

Above and underneath: Joy bringing a duck to Jet and already beautifully presenting it!

Above and underneath: Rembrandt bringing a duck to Yvonne

They are 5 1/2 months old now. Last Saturday there was a Large Munsterlander hunting training for all ages and levels and Joy and Rembrandt were joining the training. They worked very well and Jet and Yvonne had a great day. Funny to see is that Joy, being the largest puppy in the litter, isn't that big at all and Rembrandt has already beaten Kylie in hight!