Small Munsterlander Homepage Puppy Information

Dori was imported from Germany in May of 2004. She displayed strong retrieving desire from a
young age and that desire continues today. She has a very nice search and covers the field with a
purpose. Like many Small Munsterlanders Dori was a little slow to start pointing. When Dori was
run in the VJP test she did an excellent field search, but no wild birds were found (planted birds are
only used if wild ones are not found in the VJP test). She didn't point the planted birds very well, but
the judges didn't seem too worried about that. She ended up scoring a respectable 62 points (9 in
rabbit tracking, 9 in nose, 11 in search, 5 in pointing, 10 in cooperation). The scoring system is as
follows:

12: excellent (rarely given out, must be extraordinary circumstances)
11-9: very good
8-6: good
5-3: sufficient
2-1: deficient
0: insufficient

When it came time to run Dori in the NAVHDA NA test we were worried about the pointing as they
seem to judge the pointing more strictly than the VJP test does. When the field search started she
immediately pointed two quail. She held the first point for several seconds then the bird flushed. 30
seconds after that she locked up in a beautiful point that she held while I walked the 25 yards to her
and kicked the grass until the quail flew up. It was an excellent point that would have earned her a 4
in pointing except that the wet grass made it so the bird only flew 10 yards and then landed again. She
caught it instantly and after playing with it for a few minutes brought it back to me. If she had not
found any other birds in the field she would have probably gotten a Prize I with a score of well over
100 points. As it was she proceeded to show that she has tremendous desire, a very good nose, and
an excellent search and she cleaned the field finding, and not really pointing, 4 more quail and bringing
them back. She ended up with a 2 in pointing which was a fair score for her performance. While she
doesn't point as much as some of our other dogs, she has developed a very solid point when she
manages to pin a rooster. She naturally holds point as well as most SM's I have ever seen and she
almost never has unproductive points.
2006 was Dori's breakout year in the duck blind, both on land and in the boat. She was thrust into
the role of our main duck dog while Abbey was with a litter and Anna was in Lincoln with my brother.
She did so well that we also took her with us to hunt the flooded fields and timber of Arkansas in
January 2007. She has shown good marking abilities and has tremendous determination on the longer
water retrieves.