We are thrilled to be working with our friends at High Desert Drents to bring you Iris’s second and final litter, using their foundation stud dog, Finn. Finn is a mature and balanced dog, with fantastic natural instinct in the field, a loving temperament in the home, and an exceptional nose for tracking. Of note, we are fortunate to know several of Finn’s previous offspring out of Iris’s half-sister, Oakley, bred by High Desert. They all are of remarkable temperament – social, joyful, talented, and adaptable, and beloved by their families and everyone who meets them. We expect similar excellent temperaments out of this pairing, which will be the first of two scent-titled Drents (Iris in Scent Work, Finn in Tracking) in North America!

Conformation: As with Iris’s first litter, we selected another stud dog with a beautiful coat and substance to balance Iris’s lighter coat and bone. While never shown in a conformation ring, Finn has been judged by breed experts as an excellent representative of the Drent. Iris has been shown lightly, and consistently receives feedback for her excellent expression and movement. Most importantly, both have a correct, sound, powerful, and athletic structure built to hold up to long days in the field, demonstrated by the fact that both Iris (nearly 5) and Finn (nearly 8) remain in excellent health.

Overall we expect puppies from this pairing that are very conformationally correct to the Dutch breed standard – the form that follows function, and the look that makes the Drent uniquely beautiful.

Working Ability: This is a breeding particularly exciting to me, as it is the first in North America of two dogs titled in an AKC scent sport. Iris achieved her Scent Work Master title in 18 months of trialing, consistently placing in the top 4 in large fields, earning a handful of High in Trials, and with a qualifying score rate 20% higher than average in our region. As of this writing, she is 8 out 10 qualifying scores towards her Scent Work Detective title, the highest achievement in AKC Scent Work. She is also 30/40 qualifying searches towards her Scent Work Master Elite title. She searches with confidence, joy, clarity, and independence, at a lovely efficient pace, where it’s clear that the work itself is the reward (though she’ll happily accept treats for a job well done!).

Finn is the first, and currently only, Drent with an AKC Tracking title, which he coincidentally earned in San Diego in 2019 under a judge who is also one of our favorite local scent work judges. His owners were inspired to pursue the Tracking Dog title after Finn’s natural tracking ability became evident both through the NAVHDA Natural Ability test and in training with a local Search and Rescue group. Both Iris and Finn are known for their dedicated and methodical searching styles. Finn is more of a ground-scenting dog while Iris is more of an air-scenting dog, so we will be interested to see which their puppies excel most at!

Finn is also a reliable practical upland hunting dog, and has passed the NAVHDA Natural Ability test at a young age with maximum scores in Use of Nose and Tracking. Iris has had light field training, where she has been excelling in searching for birds before and after the shot; has an intense, convincing, and productive point; and a excellent natural retrieve fine-tuned by completely force-free training. Both hunt at a moderate range, always out in front of their handlers and within eyesight.

If you are looking for your next partner in scent work, tracking, detection, game recovery, or other nose-first activity, this breeding should be one to seriously consider! We also expect these puppies to be plenty versatile and capable of dabbling in various canine sports, accompanying a foot hunter across varied terrain, and/or joining the family for any adventure.

Finn; shown with owner Jesse Egbert after completing his TD at left.

Temperament: Typical of Drents, Iris and Finn are both exceptionally happy dogs that are a joy to have in their homes. They both represent well the three pillars of the breed. Finn is an athletic and driven dog when outside in the field or around the farm, and an affectionate and loving family companion in the home. Iris is intelligent, playful, active, intuitive, and loves to be wherever her people are. She is extremely clever and picks up new concepts quickly, and will work for food or toys or the opportunity to use to her nose. Both Iris and Finn are naturals with kids, Iris just recently becoming a “big sister” at the end of 2025 and Finn living with six children of all ages.

While we have only had the opportunity to meet Finn in person once before, we are close with four of his previous puppies that live in San Diego; Boots (Oakley x Finn 2022), Remy, Femke, and Koko (Oakley x Finn 2023). We get together with them about quarterly, and I have helped introduce them all to scent work, conformation showing, and field work to various degrees. While all unique in their own ways, all four are social, adaptable, and talented dogs.

We expect for puppies from this pairing to be similarly joyful, intelligent, neutral-to-social with people & dogs, trainable, and overall lovely companions, with medium to medium-high drive & energy that can be channeled into almost any activity and a nice “off switch” in the home.

Iris

Health: A benefit of utilizing a mature stud dog is in seeing how he has held up health-wise. Finn has OFA graded good hips, normal elbows, and normal eyes, and importantly, he is still healthy as a horse at 8 years old. Iris herself is a few years younger at nearly 5, with OFA graded good hips, normal elbows, and normal eyes. Outside of the occasional gastrointestinal upset (usually from too many treats…. oops!), she has also remained completely healthy thus far, and we expect many more years of fun consistent with her pedigree. Additionally, both Iris and Finn have normal blood clotting times as confirmed by Buccal Mucosal Bleeding Time (BMBT) tests performed by veterinarians. While perfect health is never a guarantee, we are pleased with the strong history of good health in Iris, Finn, and their ancestry, and expect healthy and functional puppies.

Finn (left); Iris (right)

Pedigree: We are honored to be bringing together two fantastic pedigrees of dogs born in the States. While Iris and Finn share a kennel name (“Duck Creek“) and some paternal genetics a few generations back (namely from half-brothers Paxon the Gloucester “Paxson”, Finn’s sire, and Joksan Nabar the Gloucester “Booker”, Iris’s great-grandsire), their maternal lines (from their dams, Tule and Ember) are distinct. Tule and Ember were both born in Europe and brought key genetic diversity to the United States, sharing only one great grandfather in Siep Muffty van’t Selihof, a gorgeous dog from the renowned Selihof kennel.

Other Drents of note in the combined pedigree are Iris’s grandfather, Tinus Jinte Basco van’t Steickleholt (“Jarno”), who was the Belgian Drent Club Champion 2012, Dutch Drent Club Campion 2015, and performed well in the field in addition to the conformation ring. Behind both Iris and Finn, there are a few Gloucester dogs – one of the most well-known Dutch kennels, including Dutch champion females Nadezja and Kenzie. We are also pleased to have some Jasperspad females (Jana and Unique Tjieke) in Iris’s paternal line, one of the many across the combined pedigree who have long prioritized maintaining a strong hunting ability in the breed. Their combined pedigree has a Coefficient of Inbreeding of 21.92%, and a Mean Kinship value of 22.44% across all generations, both below the average for the breed (indicating that the puppies in this litter will maintain important genetic diversity for the worldwide Drent population).

This litter will be born, raised at, and picked up from our home in San Diego, California. They will be raised with a mix of Puppy Culture and Avidog protocol, including Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) and Early Scent Introduction (ESI). They will be matched with their families around 7 weeks old by us based on evaluations of each puppy and the desires and goals of each family. Puppies will go home at 8-9 weeks old with detailed health and evaluation records, AKC registration (limited registration or full registration on co-own with us), an extensive digital photo album from birth to pickup, a “go-home bag” of necessities and keepsakes, & a lifetime of support. For more details, check out our Puppy Purchase Process & Application page linked below.