About Our Program
We are long time members of Verein Deutsch-Drahthaar, Group North America Breed Club. We fully support and follow VDD testing and Breed Certification.The VDD has proven to be an excellent quality control program and greatly increases success of breeding and owning a quality versatile hunting Drahthaar. Following a strict VDD Germanic system when training and breeding our dogs; a system that can be traced back to the fundamental methods used for the breeds development in the late 19th century. The VDD continues to follow this path today and continues to see improvement in the breed.
Our dogs are friendly and obedient, accept training and are excellent versatile hunters. We raise and socialize our dogs both in our home and kennels to teach and train our dogs comfort and acceptance of any setting. Training foundation begins at puppy age as we have found that early foundational training greatly increases success in the long run.
Our dogs are friendly and obedient, accept training and are excellent versatile hunters. We raise and socialize our dogs both in our home and kennels to teach and train our dogs comfort and acceptance of any setting. Training foundation begins at puppy age as we have found that early foundational training greatly increases success in the long run.
Photographed above:
Blaine with Zoee, Georgia and Gigi vom Ike.
Blaine with Zoee, Georgia and Gigi vom Ike.
Our History
Photographed above from left to right:
Blaine and his son, Nick. |
My family and I have been raising and training hunting dogs for over 30 years. My earliest memories as a young child include memories of Beagles, field trailed by my Grandfather, and of English Setters, German Shorthairs, and Brittany's that our family owned for Quail hunting in West Central Illinois. When I came across the Drahthaar breed in 1988 their versatile superiority quickly became apparent. Being able to pursue all game with one breed of dog, that was also a wonderful companion, tipped the scale to the Drahthaar. From that tipping point vom Ike Kennel was on its way. My passion for Drahthaar's has lead me to be heavily involved with the VDD-GNA, where I am a field, and a breed show judge. I traveled to Germany to attend the Hegewald testing and breed shows which helped solidify my deeper understanding of the goal of the breed. I have been a field judge since early 1990 and have and continue to judge young dogs performance in an effort to keep my finger on the pulse of the breed and bloodlines. I also maintain my Breed Judge status evaluating coat and form with a team of judges at breed show events. We believe that high involvement within the VDD strengthens our own breeding program to produce the highest quality of Drahthaars. Today we continue with our breeding program from our home in Baltic, South Dakota where we hold our breedings to the highest standards. |