Bistra is, first and foremost, a family dog — our companion and the one who takes us outside even on rainy, cold days. I often say she’s a very lucky dog to live here with us, in a small village surrounded by forests and meadows. This is where we go for our daily walks, though we sometimes set off for full-day hikes in the mountains.
That’s one of the things I love about Kooikerhondjes — they’re not too big (they don’t take up the whole car trunk), yet their build and agility make them capable of walking long distances. Bistra sometimes even accompanies me in the field when I visit sites for my nature conservation projects. In the future, she might become my little assistant, as I’m training her to detect certain invasive plants by scent.
With dogs, it’s probably a bit like with children — we all love to brag about how well-behaved they are. I can say that Bistra is an easy-going dog. As long as she has her own pillow with her, she quickly adapts to any new place.
She’s a clever girl who loves food (she would eat almost anything), which makes her very easy to train with treats as rewards. She knows many tricks and is always happy to show them off — especially if you have a treat in your hand.
However, she doesn’t trust strangers right away, whether other dogs or people (especially those wearing hats). She can also be a little too anxious at times, barking and snapping at dogs much larger than herself. That’s probably part typical Kooikerhondje temperament and part the result of limited socialization as a puppy, since dog schools were closed during the Covid lockdown. Later, we attended dog school and even took a course in nose work. Once she became familiar with her “classmates”, she got along very well.
One thing that made Kooikerhondjes an attractive breed for myself was the fact that breeding is very focused to the well-being and health of future generations. A few years ago Utrectht University developed an online database Fit2Breed where they store health records of kooikerhondjes from all over the world. This helps breeders plan healthy litters. By checking DNA test results, it shows if two dogs carry the same gene for a hereditary disease — helping prevent puppies from being born with expressed (homozygous) conditions.
Like every responsible breeder, I put a lot of effort into making sure Bistra completed all the required and recommended health checks.
I decided not to take Bistra to dog shows. She, of course, holds a breeding permit and has been examined by a representative of the Cynological Association of Slovenia, who confirmed that she meets all the breed standards. I don’t believe that show titles would make her any more beautiful or more suitable for breeding. So far, she is a very healthy dog with a stable character — and that’s what matters most.
Birth date: 15. 6. 2021
Father: Qunack’s Favor Lightning McQueen
Mother: Amber od Jersínského potoka
Hereditary Necrotising Myelopathy (ENM): clear
von Willebrand’s disease (vWD): clear
Polymyositis (PM): clear
Patella luxation: 0/0
Hips: HD A/A
Eye examination: clear (12/2023)
Teeth: Full and scissor bite
You can find the data of the father of our A-litter on the homepage of the breeder.