On friday the 13th of november I took a Ryanair flight to Hahn airport in Germany and continued with a Hertz car from there to Kollig, arriving in the middle of the night, to meet the dogs and the owners of my Nord-litter now 1 year old. I must express my humble gratitude to the owners of Kolliger Mühle for their hospitality and for making their holliday houses avaliable for us. Kolliger Mühle is a several centuries old water mill located in a secluded down-valley completely cut off from the surrounding farm-land and villages of the region. Under huge trees and byside the rive Elzbach, which is the water supply for the mill, we had our Nord-litter assembly. the Kolliger Mühle is in the beginning of the landscape of the Eifel and the owners rent out holliday houses on a dog friendly basis. A branch of the famous historic pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela runs along the Kolliger Mühle. So one can make a long walk from there. http://www.kollgermuehle.nl
The litter is definitely a success. Out of 8 puppies 5 survived the selection done by mother nature the first weeks of their life. Being satisfied with the dogs on the one hand and not the least the owners of the puppies on the other. All owners have given good and caring homes for the dogs and all of them have the personal resources for the necessary caretaking of such animals. The litter has derived most of its qualities from the extremes of both the sire and the dam. Ax (mother) with her easy going, loyal and intensely bonding attitude, which she again derived from her father Fango, is represented in the behavior of some of the puppies. Skarvs (father) carefulness, pack-dependancy and somewhat shy behavior is represented in other of the puppies. Bodywise I am especially happy to see that the two males inherited the original bodytype and size of the grandfather Skrim, who is a true old-time Saarlooswolfhond type. The idea behind this litter was to combine the nice body of Skrim (grandfather on the male side) with the easy and open mind of Fango (grandfather on the female side).
