Meliora Drents

This story was originally published in the American Drentsche Patrijshond Association Summer 2025 Newsletter, and a Dutch-translated version in the Vereniging de Drentsche Patrijshond magazine “Onze Drent” in Fall 2025.

In the United States there are an estimated 120-150 living Drentsche Patrijshonden. The population is small, but growing. We have a dedicated community of Drent owners and breeders who are working together via the American Drentsche Patrijshond Association to preserve and advance the breed in the USA while honoring its Dutch heritage.

However, our small sub-population cannot yet self-sustain, and needs genetic material from Europe regularly introduced to avoid inbreeding. There are a few ways this can be done – importing dogs from Europe to the USA (historically the most common), flying females over to Europe for natural breeding, or importing semen from European stud dogs for artificial breeding.

A new regulation was introduced August 1st, 2024 in the USA where imported dogs must be at least 6 months of age or older to cross the international border, via air or land, regardless of their country of origin. This has made importing puppies from European Drent breeders challenging, as they can no longer come at a time when they are small enough to fly in-cabin with their new owners. So we are left with two options: flying females to Europe for breeding, which can be expensive and stressful for the female, or importing semen from European stud dogs into the USA. 

Working together to breed across the world has benefits for the entire Drent population. Pieter Oliehoek’s Population Analysis report from Fall of 2024 identified that, while the total number of dogs is small, there is a large percentage of dogs in the United States who are “green”, or have a lower than average Mean Kinship score to the rest of the Drent population. Many Drents in the United States are closely related to one another, but are not closely related to the larger Drent population in Europe. By keeping these genetic lines alive, they may be able to contribute genetic diversity back to the European population one day. 

In the past few years, there has been increasing interest among US Drent breeders in breeding with frozen semen imported from European stud dogs. While the science has been available for decades, this type of artificial breeding is new for Drentsche Patrijshonden. While there is no evidence that artificial breeding has a negative impact on the fertility of the collected stud dog or on future generations of dogs, it can be more logistically and financially challenging than a natural breeding, though the reward can be great. Timing the implantation of the semen is of utmost importance, as semen which has been frozen does not live as long in the female as it does from a natural breeding. So lots of blood tests are done while the female is in season to try to determine the optimal time to “breed” based on her progesterone levels. The insemination is then completed by a veterinarian.

This year, the third successful breeding of this approach was completed between Boele and Iris – Boele Luna v.d. Nettelhorst (from Vaassen, Netherlands) and Duck Creek’s Two Gun Red Coastal Wonder (from California, USA). Halfway through pregnancy, Iris had an ultrasound that showed three to four fetuses developing. For unknown reasons, however, most were naturally absorbed in the second half of her pregnancy, and a single female puppy was born.

Thankfully, the one puppy has been growing into a beautiful, talented, and very special young girl! She was raised for 8.5 weeks in California before moving to her new family in beautiful Montana, where she will be a hunting and family dog. In California she was called Violet, and is now called Lilla, with the registered name Meliora’s Irbo Arcane Miracle.

During her time in our home in California, I shared a digital photo album with Boele’s owner, her Montana family, and others. Every day I uploaded photos and videos to show her growth and all the little experiences we provided her. I am glad that we were able to include those who were interested in this way, and recommend it for any international breedings!

Through the whole process of semen collection to breeding to puppy birth to going to her new home, we have made many new connections and friends near and far. We are especially grateful to Annette & Robert Jan Rozenbeek for joining us on this journey with Boele, and to Iris’s breeders, Brian and Jenna O’Connor of Two Gun Kennels, for their guidance through the logistics of this process. To preserve our beloved Drent breed, it is essential that we continue to build and maintain community with like-minded individuals. I hope one day to visit Boele and his owners in the Netherlands, and am so thankful for their support throughout this adventure!

Additional Message from Robert Jan Rozebeek: “I’ll just do it, Boele’s sperm will go to the US” I decided. You can never be 100% certain when breeding, I had already learned, and so I just trust the good intentions of man. In this case, the man was Brain O’Connor of the American Drentsche Patrijshond Association. He tried to convince me by email of the usefulness and necessity of allowing the Drent to continue to exist as healthily as possible worldwide, including in America, by working together openly and honestly. Boele is my first dog and I am involved with the breed and do weekly hunting training, but I know very little about dogs or breeding compared to breeders who often have years of experience.

The confidence that my choice was the right one only increased later through contact with Brian and Ellie (owner of bitch Iris and Meliora Drents in San Diego) at every next step: The choice of the bitch, drawing up the agreement, the collection of the sperm, the insemination, the ultrasounds, the birth and seeing Boele’s daughter Violet grow up. Through the almost daily updates of messages, photos and videos I saw that this process was handled very professionally and carefully by them. In addition, I saw how much love, care and dedication this was done with. It felt like Violet grew up next door, but unfortunately I have not seen her in real life (yet). 

I am very enthusiastic about this adventure from a distance, grateful that Boele has been able to make such a positive contribution to the breed in the US and has been able to make everyone involved so happy!