Details on our Spring 2012 breedings can be found in the announcements 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. You might also want to check our "Altmoor Outings" section. The B4 litter pups are all reserved; there are reservations available in the C4 litter. The parents of the C4 litter are Talei III vom Altmoor and Eddy vom Millerhaus (call name "Eli"). This will be Talei's first litter and Eli's second, his first being for another breeder with a litter whelped March 2012. The C4 pups will be ready to go home to their new families around 11 August and will be hunting hard no later than mid-December. Their breed test year will be 2013.
"C4" Litter vom Altmoor (our 81st DD litter)
Expected around 23 June 2012
Ready to go home around 11 August 2012
Ready to hunt HARD no later than mid-December 2012
Breed Test Year will be 2013
Dam: Talei III vom Altmoor 210191 Brsch (ML: Grenzschutz-Löwenberg-Auenheim PP)
More Photos
VJP 77, HZP 190, HD-frei, ZR# 302/09 sg (10) / sg (10) [57cm tall / 57cm long]
N-11; S-11; P-11; D-11; C-11
vWD DNA tested - view lab report
as well as out of vWD and CHB clear parents
view dam's lab report (Mira II vom Altmoor) / view sire's lab report (Avery vom Graceland)
View Pedigree
Sire: Eddy vom Millerhaus ("Eli") 212652 Brsch (ML: Isarau-Auenheim PP)
Photos
VJP 70, HZP 178 / 178 Armbruster, HD-frei, ZR# 221/10 sg (11) / sg (10) [65cm tall / 66cm long]
N-11; S-10; P-11; D-11; C-10
VWD DNA tested - view lab report
View Pedigree
All 30 dogs on this pedigree are HD-frei and 26 have ZR ratings.
Talei III vom Altmoor is the product of decades of Altmoor breedings. Her grandmother, Suzy, is our website cover girl, and perhaps Roger’s lifetime favorite gundog. (Please don’t tell Talei.) Her mother, Mira, likewise was one of those “once in a lifetime” dogs, with which we’ve partnered more than our fair share (we would say “owned” instead of “partnered”, but it’s really more a case of them owning us, rather than the other way around.) Talei is the latest of our “once in a lifetime” dogs.
Talei’s pedigree includes Altmoor dogs going back six generations to our foundation bitches, Inca and Molly. We’ve hunted grouse and waterfowl with her dad, Gunnar, many times, and have spent innumerable hours with him; you’ll never find a dog with a better temperament.
If you like a plodding dog that wanders around in the field, Talei is not your speed. Except for in the house on the sofa, she only knows how to do things one way, and that’s super-fast with every ounce of her being. Think Mighty Mouse in a dog costume. At one test the Senior Judge (a former GNA Director of Testing) remarked, “That dog just ain’t got no quit in her.” And, it’s true. She’ll take a cottontail scent trail 500 yards, loud all the way - she has received the scent loud (spurlaut) designation. At four months of age, she was doing multiple unmarked water blind retrieves out to 100 yards - VGP (Utility) level work. Members of our duck lease have watched in awe as she made her fifth retrieve of crippled ducks shot two hours earlier, at about 600 yards from the fall. But, the difference between Talei and the rare other dogs with her level of drive and determination is that Talei ALWAYS has one eye on her handler. She’s never beyond the appropriate range in a field search situation and checks back frequently. If she jumps a deer, she’ll stand and watch it run off with just one word. Say her name and she’ll do a 180 in mid-air and start back to you. Even without steadiness training, she’ll hold her point till you get there, and will happily and willingly make the retrieve, even of Canadas. With just the tiniest amount of training, she’s become quite the shed dog, finding at least one on every little jaunt, and we’ve watched in amazement as she actually dug one shed out of a freshwater marsh on our lease, which looked like it had been there at least two or three years.
In spite of the fact that some of her siblings are toward the larger side of the breed standard, Talei is just a little girl, measuring right at the minimum of 57 cm (22.4") for the shoulder height of the breed standard. Her normal weight is right around 50 lbs. (If your intent is to get a pup with the hope that you’ll be able to breed, it could be that she’ll throw some pups that will be under the Breed Standard - we just don’t know.) In her Breed Show she was scored 10 in Conformation and 10 in Coat, and measured square. We’re fairly certain that, if you were to add together the VJP and HZP scores of all the DD’s tested in the USA and Canada in 2010, you would find that Talei, with her 77 in VJP and 190 in HZP was the highest scoring of all. She has received 11's in Tracking, Nose, Search, Pointing, Cooperation, Desire, and Duck Search. In fact, in both VJP and HZP she earned 11's in every natural ability category in both tests. Hip-wise, she’s got the highest rating of HD-frei A, and, of course, is clear of the hereditary bleeding disorders.
Eddy vom Millerhaus (call name Eli) first caught our eye when Nancy was the Senior Judge at his VJP (and Roger was the Test Director). While we did spend time with him again at training days, we really didn’t care how high he would score in the fall tests. If his scores were at all acceptable, he was going to be in our breeding program. That’s how fantastic his temperament and looks are. When you meet him and he wags his tail, it’s not just his tail that wags, it’s his whole body! And, field or water, it’s immediately very obvious that this is a dog that’s going to get the job done FOR YOU, not just for himself. We have also spent some time with his sire, Mento, who has a superb coat (rated 12) and great temperament. We have to admit that Eli also very much struck us as being a male version of our Suzy.
He has received 11's in Nose, Pointing, Desire, and Duck Search (in both the regular HZP and the Armbruster), as well as 10's in Tracking, Field Search, and Cooperation. He is rated 11 in Conformation and 10 in Coat and was measured at 65 cm tall and 66cm long. He is rated HD-frei B and is clear of the hereditary bleeding disorders.
While we grant you that he may be slightly biased, we asked Eli’s owner to write up a little something about him for our website. He’s a young man but he and his family have had GWP’s or DD’s for decades, and he is a hunting fanatic. Here’s what he had to say:
Eli (Eddy vom Millerhaus) is the complete package. The physical qualities and mental characteristics that Eli possesses that are noticed almost immediately are his great conformation, his absolute dream temperament, his game drive, and his ambition to please his owner.
Eli received an 11 in conformation at the 2011 Armbruster Breed Show, and was a finalist for the Best Looking Male award. He is fast, agile, and extremely athletic. I often receive compliments on his back line, and what great condition he's in. Hunting weight stays between 65-70 pounds. He is highly motivated to hunt in all situations, over various terrain, with multiple people and dogs. When I say he has a dream temperament, I trust this dog around anyone, or any dog, given any circumstance. He is very calm, cool, and confident, and happy to meet anyone and everyone. His favorite pastime is swimming; he is a born water dog. In two separate HZP's he scored an 11 in duck search, with the Armbruster being his absolute best showing. The water was covered in timber and lily pads which ranged about 2 feet wide and up to 4 feet tall out of the water. Eli not only searched, but covered the entire area in adverse conditions, and received multiple compliments on how hard he searched for the duck and how much he covered. He was one of those recommended for the Best Water Dog award. While a talented water dog, Eli also received an 11 in pointing at his first HZP, and showed steadiness to flush when I walked up to leash him and the bird flushed right in front of him. Eli received a 10 in his second HZP in pointing as well. In both HZP's, Eli has never received a score under "Very Good" in any natural ability category.
Training Eli has been a great experience. He is always a willing worker. He picks up on new training exercises very quickly and makes it more of a practice event than a training event. Since I have owned him, I can confidently say that given the opportunity of finding any game, he has retrieved it 100% of the time. His blind retrieve scores have both been 10's and his drags have always been fast and easy. Blood tracking seems to be a very strong event for him, as he has performed very well over various locations and increasing time increments. Eli's use of nose on land and water are a real asset to his training, he has a lot of tracking ability and trusts his nose to find the game. I have been to multiple quail and pheasant hunts in which Eli works the area, covers ground quickly and methodically, and goes on point with enthusiasm and restraint, always retrieving the game.
What makes Eli special is his raw athletic talent, combined with his great personality for such a strong, confident male. When there is still land left to cover, or time in the day left to do just that one last hunt, Eli is the dog that I want in my arsenal to send out. He will be the dog to cover that last field, retrieve that last duck, point that last covey, or blood track that last deer. He is the opener, the closer, and the finisher, and he does it all with his tail wagging.
"B4" Litter vom Altmoor (our 80th DD litter)
Whelped 29 March 2012
4 Males, 4 Females
All pups reserved
Dam: Ottavia III vom Altmoor ("Tavi") 201632 Brsch (ML: Grenzschutz-Löwenberg-Auenheim PP) More Photos
VJP 77, HZP 0 & 191, VGP 0, HD-frei, ZR 321/06 g/sg
N-11; S-11; P-11; D-11; C-11
vWD DNA tested - view lab report
as well as out of vWD and CHB clear parents
view dam's lab report (Yana II vom Altmoor) / view sire's lab report (Birko v.d. Fürstenruh)
Sire: Paladin III vom Altmoor ("Luger") 203386 Schwsch (ML: Isarau-Auenheim PP) Photos
VJP 75, HZP 186, HD-frei, ZR # 272/07 sg/sg
N-11; S-11; P-11; D-10; C-10
VWD DNA tested - view lab report
as well as out of vWD and CHB clear parents
view dam's lab report (Angie vom Altmoor) / view sire's parents' reports (Kane vom Dan-Son)
All 30 dogs on this pedigree are HD-frei and 27 have ZR ratings.
The B4 litter is a repeat of our "W3" and "Y3" litters. Pups from this litter will be ready for play-training and exposure this spring, serious training over the summer, and for a productive hunting season in the fall of 2012. Four of the W's were tested in 2011: Nancy's pup Wendy was one of just 5 dogs to receive a top VJP score of 77 in GNA last year. Besides her 11 in cooperation at VJP, she was also the only dog to receive an 11 in cooperation at the 2011 NJ HZP. Five of the seven Y's have just finished their VJP's, with scores ranging from 63 to 74. Two of theY-litter pups were among the three which received 11's in cooperation at the Elmer NJ, out of the twelve dogs which were evaluated.
| TEST AND X-RAY RESULTS FOR THE W3 LITTER: | |||
| VJP | HZP | Orthopedic & Breed Show Evaluations | |
| Wendy III | 77 | 185 | HD, OCD, ED free, Conformation/Coat SG (11) / SG (10) |
| Waneta III | 74 | 182 | HD, OCD free (ED not evaluated - optional) |
| Webb III | 62 | 175 | HD, OCD, ED free |
| Wolf III | 46 | 179 | Not Evaluated |
| VJP RESULTS FOR THE Y3 LITTER: (Owners are all 1st -time handlers) |
|
| VJP | |
| Yank III | 74 |
| Yago III | 73 |
| Yuri III | 73 |
| Yale III | 69 |
| York III | 63 & 72 |
It would not be too far-fetched to say that this 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 in our Litters Archive you’ll see that she turned out quite impressively.
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 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.
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 v. 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. In her slide show, you'll see a shot from her first "real" track - a spike buck that she located on a 16-hour old blood track. More recently, she was started after dark on a blood track and took it for about two hours. We then took her back mid-morning of the next day and she continued the blood track for well over another mile and a half, mostly through cedar swamp hummocks and a huge flooded meadow, until she produced the deer. Roger watched the huge buck bound off for a couple hundred yards, apparently none the worse for wear. We then walked back to the truck on as straight a line as possible - the Astro said that Tavi had traveled 5.8 miles from the first moment she had been put on the track. 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.
We're sometimes asked about Tavi's two test "zeros". If you're a "score studier" you'll note that she did not pass one of her HZP's and a VGP. You should first understand that in our system, a failure to complete any single phase results in a zero for the entire test. In our opinion, the HZP was not Tavi's fault at all. She would not go out on the rabbit drag, something she normally does with high passion. At this particular test, it was the first test phase of the day, and she was put on it within minutes of a very harsh dental exam which was obviously painful to her, and the previously frozen rabbit that was used had been stored with other game and wrapped in newspaper, changing its scent to something totally unfamiliar. In spite of this mishap, the judges still gave her overall scores for Desire and Cooperation on that day as 10 and 11 respectively. At the International Armbruster just 10 days later, where things were done normally, she achieved an HZP score of 191, which is a fantastic score in anyone's book. As far as her VGP goes, Nancy thought she had Tavi very well prepared, but this one was a bit out of the ordinary. It was held on 17 October 2009 in Houtzdale PA near State College. The weather was so unusual that it even featured on the national news - it was the earliest measurable snow of any winter season on record for that area, with snowfall amounts of 4 - 8 inches still ongoing during the test, along with strong winds and unseasonable cold. Tavi blasted off into the first phase of the test - field work and steadiness evaluation - in "whoopee" first-snow-of-the-season mode. Her exuberance, combined with a planted chukar that was buried in the snow, for which she held steady while Nancy and the judges attempted to find it unsuccessfully, and which she of course caught when Nancy released her from the "Whoa", resulted in a complete failure of her whoa training on subsequent birds. We all know that steadiness is a continuing process, and Tavi sure went backwards that day. By the end of the first 3 hours, all the judges and most of the handlers had taken tumbles on the slick hillsides and when it became apparent that Tavi would not have a passing score, Nancy withdrew her in order to expedite the test so that the judges and remaining handlers would not have to be subjected to the weather any longer than strictly necessary. As it turned out, every single dog failed the test that weekend anyway. So the moral of the story is that while high scores in every test are something we all hope for, sometimes things happen for which the dog really shouldn't be faulted. As far as we're concerned these two situations fall into that category.
Luger lives on the Jersey coast with his owners 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 his owner 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 will 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.