My name is Rick Hartle and along with my wife (Jan) we run a small Deutsch Kurzhaar kennel in North Central North Dakota.  We are located in Grano, North Dakota near Lake Darling Wildlife Management area. Our first Deutsch Kurzhaar litter was whelped in  the Fall of 2001. This litter was out of Hella vom Eichelspitz. As our kennel name we chose vom Gänsehimmel (goose heaven or goose skies) since we are on one of the major migration routes for waterfowl.

We also have an adult female Ilka vom Osterberg, and are in the process of building off from her to have our own kennel line. I have ran numerous dogs in the testing system and still have so much to learn in this area.  But I found that it is very addictive and that I enjoy it so much. Just as important is that my wife Jan enjoys it. We have ran dogs in the Derby, Solms, HZP, VGP and NAKP and I would like to go further some day and run dogs in the  IKP, or Kleeman and even VJP and a SW, but that is down the road.

Bailey and Rick after the VGP Bloodtrack

Since being formed in 2001, we have learned a lot about the Deutsch Kurzhaar and have developed a sound program for us to operate with.   I will not breed a litter that I would not want one of the pups myself.   This means we don't have a lot of litters, and that we look hard at what we are doing.  

We have found a line of dogs we are comfortable with they have primarily Osterberg and Pöttmes bloodlines.   We are finding strong abilities in these dogs, and easy to work with.    They are meant for the everyday hunter and first time handler.  Requiring minimal training to hunt the first year, and easy for somebody to handle that wishes to run them in hunt test.   Because of this we try not to breed dogs with high prey drive, instead look for a combination that will suit the average hunter.  

Our Deutsch Kurzhaars are meant to be in line with what the German's original reasons for developing the Deutsch Kurzhaar   a versatile gun dog (one that can do any hunting task) and still be a joy to have in the home.   We do not wish to produce a dog that is meant to be in a kennel and not part of the family.  

As stated elsewhere on this web site we do not have AKC bred dogs.   We do not agree with the AKC thought of what a breeding is and will not contribute to this style of program.   We embrace the German system which involves proving each dog and generation.  They must be proven in their abilities and form, this is done through testing of field abilities and conformation testing.   Our goal is to test each dog to the highest level possible giving us the best indicator of each dog's  ability.   The dogs are also ran in conformation test which is not only a DKV requirement but also important to us helping us to see the short comings in our dogs as well as their strengths.

Dabo (Ben) Pöttmes with a couple of Sharptail grouse taken in the fall of 2006.
 

Cole vom Gänsehimmel  and Cali vom Rahe with a couple of roosters and a cottontail taken in the winter of 2006.

One of the most important things about us is we are active in the testing of our dogs.   I do not have a trainer (well other than my wife).   We have our hands on every dog and know what they are like.   We run dogs in Spring Breed test the (Derby).   This test is for the testing of the natural abilities of a young dog.   We would like all DK puppy owners to consider this.   The next test that we run our dogs in is the Fall Breed Test the (Solms).   This is again a test to check the dogs natural abilities when it is a little older.    The most difficult  test  we run our dogs in is the VGP (Verbands-Gebrauchsprufung).  This is a German Master hunting dog  test.  It consist of Water work, Field Work, Forest work, and Obedience.  No other test compares to it, it shows that you have a completely finished dog in many areas.  The VGP also shows the ability of the dog and handler to work as a team.   When 2 dogs have both completed the VGP and are bred it is consider a performance breeding.    We have ran a dog in the NAKP (NORTH AMERICAN KURZHAAR PRUEFUNG).  This is an international show case test.  It is meant to exhibit the traits and abilities of the DK.     We were unsuccessful in our first attempt in test in 2006 and will run it again some day.  This goes along with learning and we are not professional trainers.   In addition to the test listed above we have ran dogs in the HZP which is the DD version of the fall breed test.   It is nice to get together with them and see their dogs.

3 of our Dk's enjoying Life.  Cole, Ilka and Bailey (2007)