We, Kim Melsen and Bettine Thorup, have been breeding English Cocker Spaniel, under the Danish Kennel Association since 1993, where we got our afiix "Sundew".

 

Our 3 children are at the age from 10 to 20. We live at the country side and besides the cocker spaniels we have, chickens and bees.

Our dogs live, of course, inside the house as a part of the family and we have a close personal relation to each of them. With our breeding we aim to make healthy beautiful dogs with ever wagging tails and a captivating personality.

We want our dogs to be good at both working - but just as important - relaxing. Therefor it is our goal to make sure that all of our bitches has achieved at least "Exellent" on a FCI approved show. That they have passed an obedience test and a fieldtrial. Our dogs are all working gundogs.

 

Regarding health we are very focused to breed puppies who can live a long life free of inherited diseases. For that reason all of our dogs are genetically tested for the inherited eye disease PRA.

When we choose a stud for our bitches we attempt to find the best possible match, to choose a stud that fits her best, both with the exterior and mentally. It is only rarely possible to find a stud that, on workingtests, has achieved as good results as our females, but as a minimum they have to show spirit and willingness to work. When we have puppies in the house it is a big event, in which the whole family take part.

 

We put a lot of effort into socialising the puppies so they are prepared best possibly for the new life awaiting them. The basic princip is for the puppies to spend as much time with us as possible. We put that into practice by letting them, as soon as they are capable, run free around the house, usually this happens around 4-5 weeks of age. Our children act and behave as they usually do, watches TV, play music, fight with each other, have friends over for visits ect. That gives a lot of socialising "for free". The more planned part of the socialisation can be: call in, playing/retrieving fx. wings and retrieving doves and rabbits. The puppies will be used to hear gunshots too.

 

It is very important for us that the puppies will get a good life when they move to their new homes. Therefor we only sell our puppies to people that wants to work with their dog, we believe that is the best life for a cocker spaniel. We also want our puppies to live as a part of their new family (besides being showdogs, dogs for breeding or for hunting) meaning that they live inside the house and not in an ourdoor enclosed area.

 

We are happy to be available with help and guidance for our puppybuyers, as well as we always enjoy to hear how the dogs are doing after leaving us.Because of the relatively small number of dogs we kept, we do have a waiting list for pups. If You are interested in on of our litters, please contact us.

 

News about puppies planned and born will be written on the Danish side, ( on English ) if we think the litter has any interest for people outside Denmark