Litters

Details on our winter 2010 breeding can be found in the announcement listed below. In our summaries for each parent, on the third line under each dog's name are the highest scores received in a VDD/JGHV test in the categories of Nose (N), Field Search (S), Pointing (P), Duck Track (D), and Cooperation (C). With certain exceptions, the highest score that can be obtained in these categories is 11 in the breed tests (where "very good" is scored 9-11). We've linked to slide shows of each dog next to their names in the litter announcements. You can get an idea of what they look like, and what we all do for fun.

The parents are Ottavia III vom Altmoor ("Tavi") and Paladin III vom Altmoor ("Luger"). These dogs have very nice test scores and are clear of the hereditary bleeding disorders. This will be Tavi's second litter and Luger's first.

It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that the W3 litter is a pairing we’ve been anticipating since each of the parents were puppies just starting to walk. Tavi (Ottavia III vom Altmoor) was Nancy’s favorite in the O3 litter and Luger (Paladin III vom Altmoor) was her favorite in the P3 litter. We liked the P3 litter so much that we kept one pup out of that, Pixie III, and if you’ll root around a little on our Litters Archive section you’ll see that she turned out quite impressively. Counting back to our first VDD litter in 1986, this is our 75th, taking us the better part of the way through the alphabet for the third time.

Both Tavi and Luger are HD-free and clear of the hereditary bleeding disorders. The two are exceptional vom Altmoor dogs which are each products of decades of Altmoor breedings. Of the sixty dogs on each of their pedigrees there are thirty which we have bred and/or personally known very well. Of those we personally did not know, the majority are from some of Germany’s most respected kennels, to include Grenzschutz, Haardtberg, Isendorf, Ortfeld, Richthof, Rödlberg, Rothorst, Stadtgraben, Wupperaue, and Zenngrund.

Of the thirty dogs on the W3 pedigree, all thirty are rated HD-free and 27 were ZR (Conformation & Coat) rated.

Both of these dogs have a “kind eye” - something we hope you’ll be able to see from their photos; there’s something about their eyes/expressions that shows you their loving character. They have the sweet and cuddly dispositions that we hope for in all Altmoor dogs - there are a lot more non-hunting than hunting days in the year, and companion qualities are at least as important as hunting abilities.

On Luger’s side, the pedigree goes back to one of our foundation bitches, Inca (Balla vom Norden See). On Tavi’s side you can go also go back to Inca as well as to our first German import stud, Dago von Hommersum, who, for this litter, would be seven generations back. Tavi’s pedigree also includes Lady vom Grenzschutz, a female we imported as a pup from a highly-respected German kennel. Nik (Nikolai vom Altmoor) is a stud we bred and owned and used extensively; he was one of those once in a lifetime dogs that was simply outstanding in every regard, and he appears on both sides of the pedigree. Nik would melt at your touch, and yet be a ball of fire in the field, but he’d always have one eye on you, and one goal - to do exactly what you wanted. Tavi's mother, Yana II, produced five litters for us with three different studs. Tavi is from her mother's last litter, which was a repeat breeding. We pretty much knew what we were going to get with that breeding, and Tavi was our pick of the litter puppy, chosen to continue her parents' contribution to our breeding program. The first thing everybody notices about Tavi is how happy and friendly she is. The next thing they remark on is her drive - everything is done at speed, with incredible agility, and with absolute joy in the job she is doing, whether making game or making a retrieve. Tavi is the dog who brings a smile to everybody's face when they are around her. You can't help it - about a minute and a half after watching her in the field or water, or just being around her, it's a natural reaction. She has earned 11's in Track, Nose, Search, Pointing, Search Behind the Duck, and Cooperation. She is rated loud on scent track. Tavi placed sixth overall in the 2008 International Armbruster. (The Armbruster is a special VDD HZP with entries limited to the highest scoring and most typical looking VJP pups that year; there were 30-some entries in the 2008 Armbruster.) Tavi is also trained as a blood-tracking dog for recovering wounded hoofed-game while on lead - she made a successful recovery for us on a 16-hour old blood trail this past October during fall bow deer season. She is rated “Good” in Conformation and “Very Good” in Coat. Her mid-hunting season weight is around 50 pounds, and she’s 23 inches (59 cm) at the shoulder.

Luger lives on the Jersey coast with owners Tim and Kristin and their teenage daughter. Also in the household is a retired lab and Rana III vom Altmoor. All are house dogs. A normal hunting season week for Luger might include pheasant, quail, or chukar, pothole puddlers, and Barnegat Bay waterfowling for brant, blacks, mallards, and a mix of divers thrown in for good measure. While Luger’s test scores are impressive, they’re more so when one considers that Tim had never before trained and handled a versatile dog. Not just an exceptional gun dog, Luger’s strongest point is his temperament - everyone who meets him falls in love at first sight. Be it dogs or people, he likes everyone. Like Tavi, he’s a couch potato who’ll make your jaw drop when you see him in the field or water. Luger scored 75 in VJP and 186 in HZP, with 11's in Nose, Track, Pointing, and Search, and 10's in Cooperation, Duck Search, and Blind Retrieve. (Roger handled his sister Pixie to a 77 in VJP and HZP totals of 179, 184, and 189, and she has scored 11's in Tracking, Nose, Search, Pointing, Cooperation, and Duck Search.) Luger is rated “Very Good” in both Conformation and Coat. Toward the end of hunting season he might weigh 76 pounds, and should be in the mid-80's at the start. He’s about 27" (66 cm) at the shoulder.