Bagira v.Rogers-Hutte passes her HZP performance test.

The long hot summer is finally starting to come to an end here in Central Il. We have spent the summer dodging the heat index and trying to adapt our training program to extreme early mornings and near dark evening routines. Bagira v.Rogers-Hutte came through the summer very well and has grown into a very enjoyable hunting companion. We are looking forward to getting her into the field and water in a few short weeks. Bagira completed her HZP this past weekend at a test hosted by the Heartland Chapter of the VDD in Iowa with a score of 183 w/o hare. I was thrilled and amazed with her performance Sunday, she truly showed what she's capable of. Her field work was very good in difficult circumstance i.e. no wind Bagira searched with diligence and desire. Once she located birds her point was intense and long. From there we moved onto the drag fields where Bagira really performed better than I could've asked for. 

The feather drag was done first and the 'observing judge' at the end of the drag said she never missed a beat, she hit the duck in full stride, scooped it up, jumped in the air doing a 180 and hauled butt back to me for a near perfect delivery. Next, we moved onto the rabbit drag where she showed some of her 'joker like' characteristics. The judges had laid the drag and then tried to hide themselves in a fence row of sorts. The wind had picked up a little at this point and was coming in an East to west manner across the drag laid from north to south. I released Bagira on the track and she was off like a bullet. She made the first turn with ease and was really working the track well at this point. However, she appeared to miss the second turn and after about 15 yards she realized the scent was not there. at this point she started circling with her nose down trying to locate the track. After what seemed like an eternity, she located the track and found the game and returned to me for another excellent delivery. Once the judges returned to the start of the track they informed me that she had located their foot scent and tracked them to their hiding spot, where she insisted on squeezing between the two judges knocking one of them over, and continued to the game. I was assured if she had tried to retrieve the apprentice judge she knocked over the others would've gave an excellent score :o)

We finished the day with water work. This has really grown into her strongest trait, she absolutely loves the water. The blind retrieve went without issue. I took her down the somewhat steep bank and gave her a line about 25 yards across the water to the dead game. She keyed in to the command 'dead bird' and as 'back' came out of my mouth Bagira launched in the water, took the line directly to the duck, scooped it up, and returned for a really great delivery. 

The last category was the search behind the duck. Baigira hit the water and absolutely tore the pond up searching with an extreme high level of industry. During her search she, was able to push several ducks out of the cover, and after about 25 min the judges had seen what they needed to see. I was almost in tears with the excitement of watching her work the water, she was persistence, smart, and showed a ton of heart. The judge awarded her a score of 11 in search.

The day ended with the reading of her scores: Straight 10's ( very good) in all categories with an 11 in water work for a total of 183 points. This completed an amazing summer of hard work by us both and is well deserved for her. We are now preparing our plans for hunting season and the start of her VGP training plan.

C- Litter is going home

We have been busy around the kennel spending the last few days with puppies while we waited to tattoo numbers to arrive. We were able to dodge the rain a few evening and get the pups outside to start exploring the great big world. All of them took to the 'puppy hotdog tracks' very well with a few all stars in the bunch. The weather really put a damper on our early introductions this  time around. However, we have some very dedicated and highly motivated owners that I'm very comfortable with begin exposing their pups immediately.

Rhonda and Jack Wiley drove all the way up from NW Missouri to pick up their pup Cash and volunteered to take 3 additional pups back to their home for easier pick up with owners from around that area. DD people like this are what makes this such a wonderful club to be a part of. Cash ( Picture below), Chazz, Condor, and Cita are all making their way home with the Wiley express.....

Cash v.Rogers-hutte

Chazz v.Rogers-Hutte

Char ( purple collar female) will be going to live in Southern Ill, her owner will be up later this week.

Catia ( blue collar female) will be going to live in Montana with a very expierenced versatile dog owner and trainer that we are trying to convert from DL ( longhaar's) to DD's. I'm 100% convinced that little Gunner will be the dog to do it.

That Tattoo stuff is for the birds!

Colt will be going to live in a very hard hunting home in Texas.

Concho- Will be staying close to us here in illinois and will be hunted on upland and waterfowl. We are looking forward to being apart of this pup's training with a brand new DD owner and handler.

C- Litter updated pictures

Wow, been a busy day around here! We managed to get some updated pictures taken and the garage somewhat back in order. Evidently we have a few escape artist in the bunch. After I went to bed last night one or more of them managed to get the wing nut off one of the clamps that hold panels together. Once this clamp was removed they pushed out of the kennel and had free run of the garage! Cindy came home from work and opened the door to find 7 of the 8 puppies running loose and raising cain. They managed to ransack the garage, lol silly puppies!!
It's a good thing we always take precautions and puppy proof the shop before a litter. There wasn't anything to hurt them, but boy did they make a mess. Cindy said Gunner was just laying in her kennel watching the kids have fun. We also had a very busy day talking dogs with future puppy owners. We are feeling very blessed to know that more than 50% of the owners have committed to taking their pups through the VDD performance Testing program. This will offer us so much knowledge and information about the breeding. We can't thank the owners enough for their commitment.

Here are the pictures:    

Purple Collar Female- 

Purple Collar

                                       

Blue collar Female- We refer to as Little Gunner- She is a spitting image of her Mom. We love this ones personality, she has what looks to be a great coat, excellent conformation, etc. She will be going to a great hunting home in Montana

 Brown Female- Cita v.Rogers-Hutte. Cita will be going to live with  vom Muth-Bauernhof Kennels in Kansas. We are very excited about the possibilities with her.

White Collar Brown Male- *** 

Black Collar Brown Male ***

Brown Collar Brown Male ***

Red Collar Brown Male

Black Male

C- Litter update

We have been busy around the kennel with work etc. But the pups are all doing well at this point. We are pretty much through the weaning process. Gunner does a 'fly-by' a couple of times a day but for the most part the pups are onto solid food. We will be doing Vac's this weekend and will update the pictures, etc.  We will be placing pups from Montana to Missouri, and it looks like at least 2 will be staying here in Illinois. I'm very excited about this litter all the coats look amazing, very dense, very harsh, and all the early signs of furnishings. We have 3 males still looking for committed hunting homes, please use the contact section of our web page if you're interested in learning more about this breeding.

v.Rogers-Hutte Drahthaar's C- Litter week 4

The C litter is doing great. They are now 4 weeks old. The Breeding between Loepold vom Tapferen-herzen and Greta v.d. Slalzmarsch has produced 8 really nice puppies. We are really liking the things we are seeing early on. The coats all look fantastic, very dense, and very hard. Each pup has the early signs of furnishings and all are very social. Next milestone is first shots, then we get to take them outside to let them start exploring!! We still have pup's available if you would like to know more please contact us through our web page- Thank you

B- Litter VJP Results

 4 of Our B- Litter  pups ( Greta v.d Salzmarsch X Groll vom Entenmoor) ran their VJP test this weekend in Wapello Iowa.  We appreciate each and every handlers time and dedication to this wonderful breed. The VJP is designed to evaluate a dogs natural abilities however, it is not a test you don't need to prepare for. A lot of time beyond just hunting your dog is required to give the judges a true picture of his or her abilities.


 Here is brief explanation of the VJP test--
The VJP is a test that evaluates the natural abilities of a young versatile hunting dog. Most of the pups who run a VJP are between 6 and 18 months of age. A full VJP (with 5 dogs) will usually last for an entire day. A VJP consists of three main phases of judging: Search, Pointing, and Tracking. Your pup will be expected to search a field, find and point at least 1 wild/liberated bird, and track wild cottontail rabbits/jackrabbits in another area.
The VJP judges evaluate 5 attributes throughout the day. Those attributes are as follows:


Tracking- A dog is required to demonstrate a willingness, desire and ability to concentrate under difficult hunting conditions. The manner of the dog is also noted.


Nose - The degree of accurate scent discrimination and how sensitive the nose is, are evaluated. The nose is evaluated during Search, Pointing and Tracking.

Search- A dog is evaluated on the desire to find game, style, and stamina coupled with an impressive search pattern. A dog is also evaluated on how steady it is to gunshot.

Pointing- A dog is evaluated on the duration and intensity of the point, and must indicate the location of the game.

Cooperation- The ability for the dog to remain attentive and to be a team member is a very highly valued trait. The dog needs to demonstrate the ability to know where the handler is, be able to change direction with the handler and have the ability to note the location of his handler when working out of sight.




A dog can be rated on a 1-11 scale for each of the 5 attribute categories. Dogs that have an exceptional performance in the natural ability categories (all 5 categories in a VJP) in extreme conditions can also earn a 12. The tracking and nose scores are multiplied by 2 and added to the search, pointing, and cooperation scores for a final score.'

3 of the 4 dogs qualified for the International Armbruster HZP that will be ran in Watertown SD this fall!!!  Bagira v.Rogers-Hutte 74 points Handled by Victor Rogers Brea v.Rogers-Hutte 66 points. Maggie was handled by first time owner Bob Zibell. Bob drove all the way from OK to Iowa. I was super impressed with this female. She had 11 in search, 11 in pointing and was on track for the same in tracking however a couple of hiccups with recall and she ended with a 9 in tracking.  Bayana ( Bugs) v.Rogers-Hutte 68 points. Jeff ran Bugs on Sunday  with temps in the 80's a scarce rabbits for tracking it was a rough day  Brisko v.Rogers-Hutte 47 points ( Max had a rough day on Saturday. The bad part about this test is that it is just a snap shot in time. Max chose Sat to hit puberty and the result was a somewhat uncooperative dog as his cooperation score showed.)

v.Rogers-Hutte Drahthaar's C- Litter week 1

All 8 puppies are doing well at the end of week 1. We are seeing consistent weight gain from all of them. Gunner is doing well and has settled into taking care of the pups. I'm very excited about what we are seeing with the litter, all the puppies are very uniformed, and appear to have very dark pigment under their puppy coats. The litter has very good bone structure, and all pup's have the early signs of good coats, etc. Next milestone is eyes opening!!! We are still taking deposit's on a couple of males and one female. Please contact us through our web page if you're interested.

 We are busy around the kennel getting ready for our B -Litter pups to embark on their VJP test this coming weekend in Iowa. We will be running Bagira v.Rogers-Hutte, she will be accompanied by three litter mates. I will post results as soon as we have them.



Here's some puppy pictures

Vom Rogers-Hütte C litter has arrived St- Patrick's day puppies

We are proud to announce the arrival of our C litter. Gunner started into labor shortly before midnight on 3-16-2012 and delivered 8 healthy Drahthaar pups overnight. Gunner is a wonderful mother very quickly switching from hunting dog to mother, guardian. She was able to whelp all the pups with very little help from us. The litter is very uniformed with all the pups weighing within .25 oz of each other. We have 4 BRSCH ( brown with white) males, 1 SCHWSCH ( Black with white) male, 1 BRSCH female, and 2 SCHWSCH females. We are currently taking deposits on 4 males and 1 female feel free to contact us with any questions. 
This breeding between Greta and Leopold has brought together two high performing dogs in field and water, as well as, excellent coat and conformation scores. This breeding is a line breeding on the 'O' litter di Costa Rubea, specifically Olf di Costa Rubea. I have been monitoring this kennel for several years and have continued to be impressed with the abilities of dogs coming out of this line. Olf was widely used in Germany and sired several high performing dogs. These dogs have proven to be well balanced, with above average drive, and most importantly, easily trainable. Many of the 'O' litters off spring have went on to produce as good or better than themselves in all aspects of performance and coat/Conformation. We expect the dogs to have outstanding coat and conformation, a strong natural ability, excellent nose, and above average drive.

vom Rogers-Hutte C litter due any day now!

whelping time is near. We have moved Gunner into her whelping box and kennel in the garage, so that she can get comfortable. We always 'plan' to whelp the pups in the garage but ultimately all our pup's have been whelped on the our living room floor and then are moved to the garage. I'm expecting pup's by mid week and will be really surprised if she goes into late next week. We still have puppies available, contact us on our web page  if you would like to know more about this litter. Here's a link to information on this breeding   http://www.vomrogers.com/upcoming_litters.php

Retrieving Reliability Test {Bringtreueprüfung} or BTR for short is complete!

We traveled to Wapello ,IA to attend the BTR hosted by the Heartland Chapter of the VDD-GNA. Many thanks to good friends Bobbi and Jeff for opening your house to all of us today. We had a great test with 8 dogs in attendance. The Bringtreueprüfung  or BTR for short is designed to test the 

Retrieving Reliability of our versatile dogs. The dog proves this by finding, picking up and delivering to the handler any cold, dead game which was found accidentally and without any influence by the handler. For this test we use cold Fox that are placed in the timber at least 2 hours ahead of time. The dog is released from the edge of the timber with a command to search. From there the dog has  20 min to search the timber, locate the fox and return with it to the handler at the edge of the timber. The handler is allowed to give one command to the dog ( can not be a retrieve command i.e. fetch or apport) once the dog is in the timber the handler is not allowed to influence the dog in any way. Greta v.d. Salzmarsch ( Gunner) was in top form today and knocked this out of the park with a search and retrieve taking a mere 2 min 27 seconds. All this on 3 legs and 25 days pregnant. This girl amazes me every time I turn around, I have yet to find anything she is not willing to do to please me. Now Gunner gets to relax in the house as we await her last litter of pups to arrive.

The day ended with what is fast becoming a tradition at Henke sponsored events 'The SHOTSKI' was brought out for the handlers to enjoy.

Bagira v. rogers-Hutte

This is Bagira, Gunners pup from last spring. We are currently preparing for the VJP in late March. She is proving to be everything her mom is and more. she has a very energetic personality almost a goof ball of sorts. It as been a joy to train her. We will be running VJP,HZP with her this year stick around to see how see does