How it all started.
Animals have always been in my life since I was a child. On the farm where our family lived, I had a number of horses with which I competed in dressage, jumping and military competitions. At that time, there were always dogs present as companions. Later, when I started living on my own, and no longer had much space in and around the house, I unfortunately had to stop with the horses because it was no longer possible to combine it with work and living.
I started looking for a new, substitute hobby and discovered that showing and breeding pedigree dogs might be an option. I went to several large dog shows to see which breed it should be.
That’s how it happened that the American Cocker Spaniel caught my attention with its allure and great gait, and as has happened to many of you: I fell in love with this beautiful breed! After a search, the first puppy came to our house in 1995, and I had a great time showing her, we even won a few times!
Because I was concerned with the question of what exactly a judge saw in his winning dog, and why that one won and not the other, I went on to do an AKK course and then followed the study “Conformation and Movement” in Utrecht. After I had successfully completed these studies, I later followed a genetics study in Barneveld, all this as a basis to be able to make choices and selections for breeding as well as possible, both in the field of appearance and in the field of health of our breed. At that time I also wanted to breed a litter with my bitch, but suddenly there was the news that her mother had developed cataract, which made me decide not to breed with my dog.
Partly because I was confronted with the hereditary defects within our breed at an early stage, I have always paid a lot of attention to this, and select as critically as possible and have various health tests carried out on the parent animals before a litter is born.
We do what we can to keep our breed as beautiful and healthy as possible, with a nice character, without losing sight of the fact that the American Cocker must remain a hunting dog above all!
Please view our website and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Enjoy your visit.
Wilma Strijbos
