I had 3 Labradors in 30 years and, having lost my trusty Czar last summer, I bought a little bitch from a not so common race : a Kleiner Münsterländer German pointing spaniel. Here are a few pics taken during her training in the field.

One of the handsomest hunting breeds known to man. Lovely dog, Andre.

Here are a few more pics :



A 3/4 frontal view of Mabel pointing a partridge.





A view from inside the mirador from where she actually was the 1st to see the fox approachinging before alerting me.

Andre,

Beautiful dog, you are a lucky man!

These are wonderful dogs and far capable beyond their size. I have seen them in Germany and here in the US and if a hunter needs a medium sized pointing dog that can conquer the swamp for ducks and search up dead game with a passion, this breed would be a good choice.

Hope you will keep us up to date with more great pics.

Andre,

I well understand your being smitten with your Kleiner Munsterlander (Small Munsterlander in the US). I have owned, in order) springer spaniels, German Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Brittany Spaniels, Labs and finally got my first Small Munsterlander eight years ago. All of my past dogs have been great in their respective fields but the SM excels at all of the ways I like to hunt.

Recently, a Senior NAVHDA Judge told me that of all the breeds that he has judged over the past 30 years, the SM is by far the best tracking breed. Big praise from someone that breeds Puddle Pointers.

465H&H

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465H&H

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Great looking bitch ! I have had a number of ESS in Germany and they were often confused as KMs.

KMs are superb bird and game dogs! Congrats and many happy years with her!

465HH,
What a wonderful Münsterländer family you have. Considering the rather small population as compared to other breeds, chances are that yours and mine are parent at some degree. Anyway, I expect the KM to steadily gain in popularity with regards to its multiple (and inborn) hunting related talents with any kind of game or terrain. In Belgium, I only know of 2 breeders and both refuse to sell to non-hunters as they insist on safekeeping the hunting instinct. True, I never met another breed where
the hunting/predation drive was so present. One could even term it as obsessional. Mabel is 11 months old today but already at 9-10 weeks she started pointing and stalking (and eventually catching) birds.

Andre,

Sorry that I messed up the pictures that I wanted to post. I guess I am photobucket challenged. I'll try again.

465, handsome dogs, and a great upland bag with a pump gun!

465H&H,
who was the senior judge with NAVHDA that said SM has the best tracking ability in the last 30 years as a pudelpointer breeder?
I sure hope it wasn't Bob Farris.
You need to remember that if you hunt in Germany, Austria and maybe Czech Republic with a versatile pointing dog for fowl or big game, it must pass a tracking portion of the hunt test otherwise that dog cannot be used for hunting or tracking of dead or injured game or better yet, having a future litter.
Bob Farris is not an authority on tracking whatsoever.

Perhap's JonP can join in and further explain in much more details since he hunts Europe yearly.

Norseman,

I can assure you that I am very familiar with the German testing procedures and know what it takes to successfully pass the track tests. As a Small Munsterlander Club of North America Conformation Judge and member of the SMCNA Breed Council we have to be knowledgeable about the German system. One of the problems I see is that European dog trainers think they are the experts and no else knows any thing about dog training.

The tracking teats in the VJP and HZP are no more difficult then the tracking tests in NAVHDA Natural Ability and Utility tests.
In fact the tracking test in the NA test is much more difficult then the VJP rabbit track.
Have you ever attended a NAVHDA test?
I think our NAVHDA Judges know as much about what a dog can do on a track as European Judges.
As an aside, a couple of years ago the head of the Danish SM group attended our national conference and put on a blood tracking training seminar for us since blood tracking is not something we commonly do with our SMs. After introducing about ten of our dogs to blood tracks they were tested on 150 meter blood track. All of the dogs would have received a passing grade. That suggests that our dogs can track blood trails.

465H&H

quote:

In fact the tracking test in the NA test is much more difficult then the VJP rabbit track.

You are joking, I hope. 40 yard pheasant track through short grass is more difficult?? PLEASE...its a cake walk compared to 40-150 yds through mixed broken cover behind a rabbit. I've done both and have plenty of experience on both sides of the water....you are absolutely wrong.

That said there are great dogs in every venue.

quote:

Originally posted by JonP:

quote:

In fact the tracking test in the NA test is much more difficult then the VJP rabbit track.

You are joking, I hope. 40 yard pheasant track through short grass is more difficult?? PLEASE...its a cake walk compared to 40-150 yds through mixed broken cover behind a rabbit. I've done both and have plenty of experience on both sides of the water....you are absolutely wrong.

That said there are great dogs in every venue.

JonP,

The difficulty of the test is often dependent on the quality of the Judges. I watched a VJP tests where a dog followed along the same line as the rabbit but 5 yards on the upwind side of the rabbit track but continued on straight although the rabbit had made a 90 deg. turn to the left after 10 yards. The dog continued on straight and hunted around for 5 minutes and never got close to the actual track. That dog got a passing grade. In a NA test it would have gotten a zero. Several of the other dogs didn't do any better but all passed. Now, I will say that a dog that gets a 10 or higher for tracking in the VJP really does know how to track.

465H&H

Very nice dogs congratulations .We have labs ,english pointers ,and spaniels in my family .
Althoug we hunt professionally ,we still hunt partriges all the family together each year like our piamontes and swiss ancestors did here in Argentinas pampas since hundreds of years ago .

Beautiful dogs, 465.


Dutch

Thank you all for the compliments on our SMs.

465H&H