Mieke and I third from the right. Mieke's dad Anco first on the left, and mum Hinke second.
As part of important a Stabyhoun, we have a responsibility to return to Holland for the litter assessment which takes place for every litter born in Holland. It's an important opportunity for breeders and owners to see how the litter has matured, and if the match between parents was a good one, or if it left something to be desired. With such a rare breed, this is invaluable in keeping the breed healthy and to the standard, as if a litter has major health faults, temperament issues or glaring conformation errors, a repeat mating will not be allowed and the parents may not be allowed to breed again individually, in order to protect the population from hereditary issues. It's something I feel a lot of breed clubs of pedigree dogs could learn a lot from! Here is our experience of the day:
Our day in Zutphen was wonderful. We had to get the whole trip done in a day, we got the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, on the Friday night, and back again on Saturday evening! The ferry crossing was comfortable and smooth as always, and I can't commend the kennel facilities enough, Mieke settled very well and it's so nice to be able to see on the webcam from the cabin how she was doing. The journey to Zutphen was fairly straightforward, and the "Hanzenhal" was easy to find once in Zutphen - very conveniently signposted! Everyone there was so friendly, and seemed to really appreciate the effort we had made to get there. Mieke was a bit overwhelmed at first, but once we had her settled next to the ring on her bed, she was very happy. We were a bit worried before going that we'd feel a bit left out, but quite the opposite, everyone who was in our litter went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and to understand what was going on. At the end of our litter assessment, the judge spoke to everyone in dutch and then repeated it all in english just for us! We were very touched by the amount of effort everyone put in, and it was wonderful to catch up with her breeder, and to see how the rest of the litter had grown up! Definitely a day to remember!!
Our day in Zutphen was wonderful. We had to get the whole trip done in a day, we got the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, on the Friday night, and back again on Saturday evening! The ferry crossing was comfortable and smooth as always, and I can't commend the kennel facilities enough, Mieke settled very well and it's so nice to be able to see on the webcam from the cabin how she was doing. The journey to Zutphen was fairly straightforward, and the "Hanzenhal" was easy to find once in Zutphen - very conveniently signposted! Everyone there was so friendly, and seemed to really appreciate the effort we had made to get there. Mieke was a bit overwhelmed at first, but once we had her settled next to the ring on her bed, she was very happy. We were a bit worried before going that we'd feel a bit left out, but quite the opposite, everyone who was in our litter went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and to understand what was going on. At the end of our litter assessment, the judge spoke to everyone in dutch and then repeated it all in english just for us! We were very touched by the amount of effort everyone put in, and it was wonderful to catch up with her breeder, and to see how the rest of the litter had grown up! Definitely a day to remember!!
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