"Duke"

Duke has proven to duplicate consistent quality traits in his off spring... desire, boldness, trainability, coat & furnishings and a great off switch etc... Duke, is owned by my good friend John Graham who lives in southern Utah. John reached out to me after his Lab "Hunter" had passed away of old age. John stated he was looking to get a Drahthaar and asked if i'd help. John took Duke home to his family at 8 weeks and gave him some great socialization, knowing he would later leave for training. Duke came to my training facility at 6 months of age ready to start training for the vdd testing system to hopefully prove he would be a great asset to the vdd breeding program. I set goals with John to achieve this with the understanding that during training and the testing requirements, our breeding goals may not be achievable. 

John (new to vdd) understood this well but also understood in the end, either way he would have a great companion. 

After many days of training, testing & hunting we are pleased to add Duke as a vom Ridgeline Stud Dog!

Duke has proven to be a very talented and athletic dog. Even as a puppy we were very excited about things he displayed early on.

 Duke is confident, independent, quick maturing, bold and very game driven. Duke is extremely confident in his nose and works behind it well. Duke is also very bold in the field, water & tracking. These Attributes long with his amazing off switch are all reasons we have decided to add Duke to our breeding program. We plan to further Duke's training, completing his VGP test.  Meanwhile Duke will enjoy his off time on the pontoon boat fishing with John.

We are also excited to see the great attributes he will bring to his future pups he sire's.

 If you are looking for options and would like to know more about Duke or litters he has sired... 

Please feel free to  contact me.. 

Roger Kynaston

Update.. 8/30/2022.  

This past weekend we finished Duke's VGP Test. Duke finished with a perfect score of 312 prize 1 with 4H in nose. 

I was asked if i learned anymore about Duke. The answer was easy. I knew that Duke would do great and work hard for me completing each task..  Because thats Duke! He loves to work hard and wants to please every time! 

What i did learn? How amazing his nose truly is & how well he works behind it...

Duke's Blood track...

The start of Duke's track i laid him down as i got him ready, i walked ahead looking at the blood in the dirt. When i was ready to start i released Duke to move up to the start. Duke started down the track... prior to the test i decided to put Duke down if i went down the track and after six large steps of not seeing blood. I'd then look for blood sign to confirm we were on track. Before i knew it i felt like we were half way through the track and the last place id seen blood was the start. After putting him down, walking all over searching for blood or any other sign we were good, i came up with nothing. I have never felt so lost! Prior to putting Duke down he was pulling hard with his nose on the ground., so i had no choice. I needed to trust the dog! (I couldn't help!) I released Duke and down the track we went. It felt like i was running through the forest looking at every stick and log looking for any sign, with no success. After seeing nothing i again put Duke down. I walked ahead and in a circle hoping to stumble across something to confirm we were on track, still nothing. The feeling of being so helpless has never been so real as that moment. I even looked back at the judges hoping for a sign and all five of them looked like tree's in the forest. Once again i knew i had to trust Duke... I released Duke and once again he put his nose on the ground and pulled me down the track to the end completing the track. 

From this experience i learned just how well Duke really works behind his nose and how confident he is with his nose. 

The judges stated that Duke was never off the track!  I have built a relationship with Duke over the years teaching him to trust me...  Duke taught me in the first obstacle of our test to trust him!  So i did over the two days of our test. 

 Finishing the test with a perfect score.. ( 312 prize1 TF 4H in nose.)  Receiving the Wild West chapter 2022 high scoring Dog and Handler award.

 Duke has proven to duplicate consistent quality traits in his off spring... confidence, desire, boldness, 

trainability, coat, conformation, great furnishings and a great off switch etc...