About vom Altmoor

Vom Altmoor pups please their hunting buddies from Greece and Spain to Nova Scotia, northern Quebec, Mexico, Alaska, and across the continental United States. Our dual goal is to increase hunter awareness and appreciation of the breed while always vigorously supporting and pursuing the parent breed club's continuous efforts to further refine and perfect it.

Vom Altmoor is the most experienced VDD kennel in North America. Does that mean that we think that we’re the best? Certainly not; we are simply one of many VDD breeders on this continent producing “best quality” versatile gun dogs. But, we have done more breeding than any other, with an additional fifteen prior years of breeding gun dog lines of Springers and Brits. As of the close of 2007 we had produced sixty-nine VDD litters, with a total of over six hundred pups whelped. We’ve learned a good deal since we first became involved with the DD in 1983. We’ve even written a book designed to lessen the learning curve for newcomers to the breed, so that it won’t take them quite as many years as it did us to learn their way around in this German breed club. We’ve also made a substantial effort to give back to the breed, with thousands of hours of volunteer service to the organization which created it.

We breed DD’s because we’re serious hunters. We don’t happen to hunt because we’re breeders. As dedicated hunters, young breeding prospects must prove themselves to us in field and water before they ever get to a test. We don’t test to see how good our dog is; we already know that before we get to the test. We train all our own dogs. Otherwise, how would we know what they had to start with, or how they got to where they are?

Our goals in breeding do not include intentional attempts to produce winners in international competitions. In our judgement such attempts often produce “hot” pups best suited for training by professionals. Does that mean that your vom Altmoor pup could never make it in international competition - of course not.

We also do not agree with those breeders who claim to be working on their own variation of the breed. We try to breed toward the ideal established by the VDD.

One of our goals is to produce pups which, with proper exposure and training, will always be a source of pride to serious hunters, even in comparison to the specialist pointing and retrieving breeds, and certainly in comparison to all the other versatile breeds. Does this mean that we’re likely to produce dogs that are too much for the average hunter - certainly not. Does this mean that we think DD’s are superior to all the other versatile breeds? Well, yes it does, with a qualification. That is, in every breed there are exceptional individuals which might out-perform the average DD. But, there is absolutely no doubt in our minds that the prospective puppy buyer has a much better chance of getting a very good or better gun dog from almost any VDD breeder, than would be the case with any other breed. There’s a reason these dogs far outnumber any of the other versatile breeds in Germany. And, the all-inclusive implementation of the German breeding and testing system in this country keeps the breed what it is meant to be, without the usual Americanization that has occurred in other breeds.

If you don’t hunt and just want a great family pet, can you get one from us? Nope. If you’re looking for a pup that will assuredly turn out to be a great guard dog, should you look to us? No, get a Shepherd or a Dobe. If you’re looking for a dog that will be a great catch dog for hunting wild pigs, bear, or cougar, please look elsewhere; we value our dogs too much for that.

It’s probably impossible for us to list our breeding priorities in order, because we have so many that are of equal importance. With that qualification in place, we would have to say that genetically good health is perhaps at the top of the list. To us that means, an emphasis on proper hip joint conformation, avoidance of OCD, and absolutely no chance of hereditary bleeding disorders. It doesn’t matter how good a dog’s hunting qualities are if genetically poor health limits its ability to hunt. As evidence of our concern for health, we were the first DD breeders to bring public attention to the hereditary bleeding disorders (vWD and CHB), back in 1991. (These disorders occur in over 60 breeds, so please don’t start thinking it’s a DD thing.)

Equally high in our priority list is to produce pups which have a cheerful temperament, make wonderful family companions, get along great with other people and other dogs, and are astonishingly calm in the house and car. It doesn’t matter how great a gun dog is, if you don’t want to have it with you, or get an ulcer because you have to constantly watch it like a hawk in certain circumstances.

We haven’t yet talked about specific hunting traits. Well, the fact is, as we said earlier, you’re almost certainly going to get a pup with very good or better hunting traits from almost any VDD breeder. We honestly believe that you’ll have to work at it to make a mistake in picking a breeder or a litter. That said, we take it as a given that all the pups leaving here have equal potential to get top scores in EVERY category in the VDD/JGHV hunting test evaluation system. If they don’t, it’s more likely that they weren’t properly prepared for the test than that they had any genetic weakness. Where we might differ from some other breeders is that we put a huge emphasis on Cooperation, while expecting strong natural field Search, strong natural retrieve and water love, intense natural pointing, and great nose. We put relatively little emphasis on tracking scores because on this continent, in our judgement, it often cannot be evaluated accurately - cottontails or pheasants are not European Hares. Obviously, trainability is also hugely important. But, when it gets right down to it, to say it once again, cooperation is the key. Almost all DD’s have all the hunt you could want, but we also want the “easy” dog, the one that throughout it’s field search always has one eye on you and is always at least equally concerned with what you want. Ignorant dogs, or those that have to have their spirit broken to be useful, have no place in our breeding program.

At vom Altmoor you won’t find mathematical computations of “percentage of line breeding”, or hear long dissertations on how we’re trying to reproduce such and such a great-grandparent from over in Germany that was a winner of such and such. We’re not interested in paper dogs - those whose pedigree or even test scores look great, but you really wouldn’t want to live with. Our concern is with the “dog in hand” (each of the parents), and with there being no glaring faults or patterns of deficiencies in the littermates of either of the parents. Then we’ll take a look at grandparents. If we had to make a choice we’d rather breed the average dog from the exceptional litter than the exceptional dog from a below average litter;. We normally breed only to studs that we have spent some time getting to know in person, and, whenever possible, prefer breedings where we have had personal contact with many dogs on the pedigree. As good as the German system is, with all its numerous evaluations by disinterested and expert judges reducing their observations to scores on paper, there are still some traits that can slip through the system without being noted. A couple examples might include SLIGHT tendencies toward hyperness, or unfriendliness, or dog-sharpness, or the dog that just won’t quit barking while its waiting its turn in its crate. There simply is no substitute for having had personal contact with the dog. And, being an integral part of the organization means that we often hear about those other things that don’t go down on paper, such as the dog with several dysplastic littermates or several OCD-affected littermates, and thus can avoid making bad decisions.

You also hopefully will not find us making firm predictions about the characteristics of the pups of a given breeding, as so often happens with other breeders, particularly the inexperienced. We realize that dog breeding remains more art than science, and that the German system, while pseudo-scientific in its approach, is designed to make small improvements in the breed over time. It precludes producing huge numbers of pups in small periods of time, and thus doesn’t lend itself to prediction-making accuracy. On the other hand, it also prevents negatives from being injected into the breed in huge quantities and to such an extent that they could only be removed over several decades. So, when it comes to making predictions we sometimes have to remind ourselves of the time we were watching one of the big horse races on TV, maybe the Preakness or something. When it was over they interviewed the breeder of the winning horse, a guy in his 80's. They asked him the secret to his success. He replied, "Well, for 60 years I've been breeding the way everyone said you should. This time it worked." We’d modify that to say that, we try to breed the way we think it should be done, and most of the time, it works. Breeding fruit flies, where you can produce thousands in a day, can be a pretty exact science; it just ain’t that way with larger critters.

We also don’t share “import worship” to the same degree as many other breeders. We don’t think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. While the infusion of “new blood” from Germany is probably a good thing for the breed in this country, the fact is that there are certain cautions that should be taken when not intimately familiar with a dog and its near relatives. With dogs bred over here, word of problems is likely to spread. Having imported over a dozen dogs, we normally prefer to let others do the experimenting these days, and thank them for their efforts.

We also think that our “eye for a dog”, and substantially greater experience in breeding, training, and judging MIGHT help us make better breeding choices than the next guy. (Some VDD breeders don’t even train their own dogs, don’t handle their own dogs at tests, and are not judges. We’re not entirely sure how such a breeder would even know what he really has, or hasn’t.) Our participation as judges and at training days lets us see first hand what other breeders are producing, and beats the heck out of just looking at numbers on a sheet of paper.

Our experience also gives us the confidence to offer one of the better guarantees around, and our longevity and reputation mean that you can be assured that the guarantee will be honored. There was one instance where we went so far as to give one owner a free replacement even after his vom Altmoor dog had given him a full lifetime of quality hunting. In contrast, we know of one recent puppy buyer whose pup was sick when he picked it up at eight weeks or so, and which cost him several thousand dollars to get well, with no offer of help from the breeder. While unusual, this kind of thing does happen, even in the VDD system - VDD is not the Better Business Bureau; from the organization’s perspective, it’s only responsibility is to the breeding regulations, not breeder-buyer relations after the sale.

As you do your research with other breeders, bear in mind that a certain percentage will try to make their pitch by bad-mouthing the other guy. As with any organization, we have our fair share of negative sorts, instant experts, one-dog wonders, and those who think the best way to glorify themselves is to make the other guy look bad. Of these, be especially cautious about those who bad-mouth a kennel name. The fact is that most VDD kennels that have been around for a while breed along several different lines, with a variety of unrelated or distantly-related individuals. In our judgement there is no North American VDD breeder who has yet established their own “line” of dogs. So, to paint all of any one breeder’s efforts with the same brush is normally false, or stupid, or both. Now, there can be cases where individual dogs have been shown to generally throw certain traits, good or bad, and perhaps observations about those individuals may be legitimate, or not. As Grandpa Maverick used to say, “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.” So, be careful what you accept as gospel. You’ll probably find that the breeder who is negative about another breeder is usually negative about several, and at that point he’s actually denigrating the breed as a whole, so why is he involved?

Does that mean we’re above it all and never critical of other individual breeders (as opposed to kennel names)? Well, not exactly. There’s at least one breeder in the club who has a well documented reputation for shady dealings, and we’d hate to see you go that route. We also wouldn’t want you to deal with a breeder who doesn’t provide you with documentation of both parents being free of the hereditary bleeding disorders. (Just because a breeder says that “results for genetic disorders are available” does NOT mean that those results show the dog to be clear of the disorders.) We also would not recommend purchasing a pup from a litter where one or both parents are not rated HD-frei (very unusual these days, and soon won’t be possible). And, you should also probably take a look at guarantees - if there isn’t one, that’s fine, so long as you know it at the start. And finally, there’s the method the breeder uses to determine who gets what pup; we don’t object to how any breeder does it, so long as you are aware of it up front.

Our German kennel name, vom Altmoor, can roughly translate to “from the old swamp”. This is a reference to the grand old undisturbed swamp behind our house, as well an effort to emphasize the water work abilities of the breed, which a couple decades back weren’t as widely recognized by the American hunter as they are today.

We are a husband/wife team, equally involved in all our pursuits. We have trained dozens of breeds, from Beagles to Mastiffs, including most sporting breeds. We have been VDD members since 1984. Nancy was one of the first two VDD/GNA VR’s (field judges) approved by Germany in March of 1990, and Roger was aproved in December of that year; in other words, we are two of GNA’s most senior field judges. Additionally, Nancy was approved by Germany as a Breed Show (conformation and coat) judge in March of 1994. As of the close of 2007 we have handled dogs which we trained 15 times in NAVHDA tests, and 71 times in VDD/JGHV tests, including six through VGP, and several through Btr’s. (We stopped participating with NAVHDA back when they started their own registry.)

A lifelong hunter and outdoorsman, Roger has owned gun dogs since early childhood, and has professionally trained them part-time since the '60's. During the '70's he bred gun dog strains of Brits and Springers under the Chippewa kennel name, and then briefly, GWP's under the Oldmarsh kennel name. He served the Delaware Valley Chapter of NAVHDA as both Secretary and President. He received a NAVHDA Handler of the Year Award in 1985. He served VDD/GNA as HD Program Coordinator from 1988 through 1995, and as Vice-Chairman/Director of Testing and Director of Judge Development from 1993 through 1995. He received the VDD Silver Hegewald award in 1996. Roger is retired from his position as a police chief and now runs our dog training supply business.

Nancy, an equestrienne turned hunter and versatile gun dog fan, like Roger, hunts with gun, bow, and black powder. Nancy served the Delaware Valley Chapter of NAVHDA for two years as Test Secretary, and also received the 1985 Handler of the Year Award. In 1989, she successfully handled a dog of our breeding in VDD's prestigious Hegewald in Nettetal, Germany. She served VDD/GNA as Test Secretary for two years, and in 1996 received GNA's Exemplary Service Award in recognition of her research and education of the membership regarding genetic bleeding disorders. She served as GNA's Business Manager 1997 to 2000 and was awarded the silver Hegewald pin in 2000. The award was very special to Nancy in that she was nominated for it by a member of the VDD e.V. Executive Board, Frau Hanchen Terboven, who served many years as an exemplary Business Manager to the VDD in Germany. She has served as VDD/GNA’s Atlantic Chapter Breed Warden and Webmaster for the last several years. Also a former police officer, Nancy is currently employed as a veterinary assistant.

We have hunted, judged, and/or tested dogs in Germany, British Columbia, Ontario, Maine, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia, Alabama, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, and Missouri. Our home is located on the edge of the 110,000 acre Wharton State Forest, in the Jersey Pinelands. Decades ago, within twenty minutes of our home, a limit of native quail in just two or three hours was normal and pheasant hunting equaled that anywhere in the country. In fact, on Roger’s first hunt as a licensed hunter at age ten, the first piece of game taken was a European Hare - New Jersey even had those. Although farmland habitat in the area is declining, and European Hare and wild pheasants here are just a memory, woodland and marsh hunting opportunities are practically limitless - we can, for example, hunt deer from the last weekend of September through the last day of January, and take an unlimited number. While not our thing, turkey hunting opportunities also abound. Within a one-hour drive we have access to tens of thousands of acres of State Wildlife Management Areas, on which the State does a great job of stocking pheasant and quail. When the time is right, those WMA’s, as well as the huge NWR’s, can offer terrific woodcock hunting, and some of the best waterfowl hunting in the East is routine. Some of the East’s finest commercial hunting preserves are right around the corner, and great grouse hunting is just four to six hours away (local grouse are now gone too, it seems). Barnegat Bay, Great Bay, Absecon Islands, and all the tributaries running into Delaware Bay are where we hang out. We are members of one of the most exclusive duck clubs in the region, located just three miles from our home. When we aren’t hunting or training, we’re working the coastal waters for stripers, blues, and weakies.

As VDD breeders, one of our greatest sources of satisfaction is to be able to look at a dog from one of our breedings and see in it individual ancestors who were our best friends. (This, more than anything else, is probably the main reason we continue to breed - we don’t want to lose what we have.) Then there’s the tremendous satisfaction that comes from the prideful reports we continually get from owners of our dogs. But perhaps most of all is the sense of satisfaction we get when we look back over the years and try to list just how many key figures in VDD/GNA started down their DD path with a vom Altmoor pup - Bob Budin, Larry Friedman, John Fryer, Alex Graeber, Roger Green, Jerry Youmans, Dave Hoskins, Laura Johnson, Ron Nichols, Tom Thompson, and Frank Wells, to name a few. Quite a few other prominent members, past and present, have at some point owned a vom Altmoor pup, and the vom Altmoor kennel name appears on the pedigree of many litters whelped in this country. We’re proud of our dogs and the accomplishments of their owners, whether within VDD or simply in the fields and marshes. We hope that you’ll want to share in this experience.

Memberships:
Ducks Unlimited
Ruffed Grouse Society
Law Enforcement Alliance of America
NJ Retired Police & Firefighters Association
North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association
Verein Deutsch-Drahthaar / Group North America
Verein Deutsch-Drahthaar / Group Canada
New Jersey Waterfowler's Association
National Shooting Sports Foundation
National Rifle Association - Life
Recreational Fishing Alliance
The Nature Conservancy