What is the VDD?

     The VDD, Verein Deutsch Drahthaar, is the parent club of the DD.  It is over 100 years old and consists of 34 groups in Germany, the United States and Canada.  It has nearly 11,000 members and registers approximately 3200 puppies/year. It is the largest single versatile dog organization and registry in the world.  The sole purpose of the VDD is to regulate the breeding, testing and evaluation of DD in an effort to provide the best possible versatile dogs to the hunting community while identifying the breeding dogs for the future.  Testing is conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the German JGHV (Jagdgebrauchshundverein – roughly, the “Versatile Hunting Dog Association).  Testing is strongly focused on evaluating those genetic instincts and physical traits needed for dogs to become productive and cooperative hunting partners in a wide range of hunting activities.

     We belong to the VDD because we like the dogs we find within the organization, the people we meet and because we agree with the VDD’s commitment to the versatile dog that puts breeders, handlers and hunters on the same page. We agree with the focus to keep this breed as a high performance versatile dog through testing and breeding requirements. We feel that the future looks bright for the DD because the breed is in the hands of a club that can exercise some control over the breed while still allowing breeders freedom in their choices.  While we may use other training and testing opportunities, we adhere to the VDD breeding guidelines and place greatest value on JGHV testing and our observations of a dog during actual hunting on wild game.

What is a versatile dog?

     The concept of a versatile dog developed in the last half of the 19^th century. Such dogs have been used in all hunting situations-field work, water work, to drive or track big game and for the control of predators. Great importance has always been placed on the reliable retrieving and recovery of shot game, which is required in Germany by law.

      The single most important trait of a versatile dog is mental stability (the word in German is “Wesen” - vay’-zen).  In our opinion, all the desire in the world is of little value unless a dog is mentally sound, can be calm in the presence of game, biddable, compliant and enjoyable to live with.  This stability allows dogs to quickly learn a broad range of hunting related tasks, whether that is searching the field for birds, sitting patiently in a duck blind, or calmly tracking a wounded whitetail hours after the shot.  This calmness and stability does not mean that dogs lack drive-quite the opposite.  Good dogs “turn it on and off”, and with proper training know when to be hard charging and independent and when to accept obedient “chores” that must be done.  All puppies and young dogs are expected to be full of themselves but, with persistent and consistent training, a DD  will be a reliable and productive working dog by its second season.