Breeding Program
First and foremost we subscribe to the principles of the Verein Deutsch Drahthaar (VDD) breed organization, and all of our breedings are in strict accordance with their regulations. With each and every breeding we strive to improve our kennel’s breeding stock, and contribute to the Drahthaar breed as a whole.
We believe one of the most important factors in breeding any dog is to actually know the dog you are breeding! Only by personally raising, training and testing a dog can one fully understand its true character and talents. Every litter from vom tapferen Herzen Kennel has been produced from at least one parent which we have bred or raised, trained ourselves, tested and hunted! In addition to being good hunters, our dogs are also our companions and friends. Through careful selection of stud dogs and bitches, we produce healthy, good performing, versatile hunting dogs that are people oriented, and bred to adapt easily to a family environment.
Understanding that any particular dog is much more than just its individual scores we carefully and thoroughly research the dog’s ancestry for health, performance, temperament issues, strengths and weaknesses when selecting a stud dog for one of our females. We personally visit every potential stud dog here in the U.S. or in Europe before making our final decision.
In addition to meeting all of the mandatory breed requirements set forth by the organization to have dogs certified for breeding, every dog at our kennel, every puppy we have ever bred, and every stud dog we have ever bred to, has been tested for bleeding disorders, i.e. von Willebrand disease (vWD) and canine hemophilia B (CHB). All of our dogs are guaranteed to be bleeding disorder free. Such testing is not mandatory under the VDD Breed Regulations, but as a responsible breeder we believe it is vital to maintaining our kennel’s clean health record and is in the best interest of future VDD generations.