Sunnynook Large Munsterlander® Hunting Dogs

A century-old German breed adapted and performance-proven for North American hunting by Sunnynook Kennel

Established in 1977

Joe & Sheila Schmutz, R.R. 2 Site 202 Box 123, Saskatoon, SK Canada S7K 3J5


This webpage was last updated on March 17, 2024


Homepage Table of Contents

  • Sunnynook Large MunsterlanderTM Registration and Performance
  • After Leaving Home - Owner Reports
  • The Sunnynook Tradition through the Generations
  • Forty Years of Sunnynook Large Munsterlanders in 2017
  • Former Feature Dog Stories
  • The stained glass was designed and handcrafted by Janice Staley.


    Obtaining a Sunnynook Pup

    There is typically a waiting list for puppies. Please complete the attached questionnaire, available as a downloadable pdf, if you are interested in a pup from a future litter. You can copy the questions into an email or print, hand write & scan it. (This pdf isn't the type you can write into online). Please email Joe If you prefer to receive this as a Word document by email, that you could write into on your computer and send back.

    Our Sunnynook Promise

    We applaud the diversity of dog breeds with their different working styles and strengths that are available to hunters. We respect the Large Munsterlander's original design and breed management strategy. We do not intend to re-invent the wheel nor alter an established breed at will. Our commitment is to the generations of Large Munsterlander breeders who came before us. Our breeding strategy includes:

    • Evaluating breeding stock through personal hunting use and objective testing in field and water before and after the shot proven through advanced hunting tests
    • Screening dam and sire health via kennel records, hip x-rays and DNA testing
    • Upholding the original breed standard and hunting-oriented form and function through conformation tests
    • Evaluating temperament through our own observations and via trained judges
    • Choosing mates based on complementarity of traits


    Sunnynook Feature Dog

    Krokus, Aiko, and a Village

    They were barely out of the vehicle when Krokus von Kleinenkneten took a bee-line into the willow-bordered semi-permanent pond bordering a canola field. "Zeni" (Sunnynook's Zenaida) took a slightly different cast and when she came behind Krokus into the scent cone, she froze respecting Krokus' up-front position. As I walked past Krokus, the "Huns" (Gray Partridge) bailed out of their willow cover too far for a shot – typical behaviour in late season and on windy days.

    I think that this challenging event with flighty birds at the start of the hunt galvanized both Krokus and Zeni to be extra careful. As planned, they searched small patches of cover singly for the rest of the day.

    That day I hunted differently. It’s not my favourite kind of hunting, to drive on Glen's stubble field, walk under good wind up to a slough, and then drive on to the next one. It can be productive, and energy saving for me, but where is the enjoyment? Where is the exploration of the glacial moraine landscape, the native grasses and shrubs, and the glacial-erratic rocks deposited everywhere, with some re-arranged long ago into Tipi rings? According to Google Earth, I still walked 2.8 km through five spots of prime cover with gun in hand behind the dogs.

    The dogs were phenomenal. Zeni was on point on one flock of Huns that came up through a small set of aspen trees. There was such a whirr of birds, dodging branches, I never got a good line on any of them. Krokus was working the largest patch of cover, where I bagged the two Huns and one young-of-the-year sharp-tailed grouse. One Hun was young too, but the other was an adult male, the dad of the 10-bird family group.

    Krokus and Zeni had several points. It appeared that the strong wind was an advantage, able to move bird scent in the dense cover. The young male Hun fell into tall slough grass with the spot open and visible. Krokus had it right away. The adult male Hun fell in dense, human-height cattails. My heart sank, and then I mentally chastised myself for not waiting until the Hun had cleared the impossible cover.

    I encouraged Krokus, to start her search just a bit down-wind of where the Hun fell, and then stayed out of the way, waiting quietly. She could not see over the cattails to see the fall herself. Soon enough, I could hear her pushing through the stiff cattail stems and abrasive leaves. The Hun must have moved some with its broken wing – I could have hugged Krokus as she came out with it.

    The sharp-tail, fell deep into the base of willow bush at the cattails’ edge. Without the dog, I would have had next to no chance of finding it. As I think back, Krokus has always shown a good nose and knew how to use it. I guess performance-based breeding really works.

    Krokus, as a German import, has a pedigree full of dogs that passed field tests proving complete hunting-level performance on land and water, before and after the shot, as all LMAC-bred dogs do too. There are good hunting dogs afield that have a few champions on the pedigree mixed with lesser qualified or untested ancestors. Why might the successful Versatile Dog breed clubs be so insistent on full hunting-level testing prior to breeding? I think it is because of the breadth of performance that we expect in fully Versatile Dogs: hunt upland birds in open country and forest, search, point and retrieve, track a cripple when required and fetch ducks out of water. That is a tall order, not expected of every hunting dog.

    That diversity of hunting tasks also includes some drives/motivations that border on opposing tendencies or contradictions. Such as, an energetic and rangy search followed, instantly after the shot, with the need for calm and deliberate tracking. Or, alternately pointing and tracking followed by a well-marked fall and a cooperative retrieve. Considering these opposing tendencies, the late Ed Bailey said that Versatile Dogs need to manage their split personalities in the field day in and day out. That successful managing by the dog of the split personality, the split tasks, is as important a goal for Versatile Dog breeders as a productive search or successful tracking.

    Krokus has had three litters. All were good with 4 or more puppies tested. Her last litter, Sunnynook’s J2, with Aiko von Sundorph, was exceptional. We had placed her 10 puppies with hunting families from Ontario to British Columbia. We always encourage our owners to test their dogs in the hope that some will become qualified to breed. The preparation involved also makes for better hunting dogs in the field. We like to say “It takes a village to raise consistently high quality Versatile Hunting Dogs.” With J2, the village-idea truly worked. Eight of the 10 pup owners did their part beautifully and brought their pups to NAVHDA or VHDF-Canada’s Hunting Aptitude Evaluation at 15 months old. Some of the owners were old hands at versatile dog training. For others this was their first Versatile Dog. The test scores are shown below.

    The first thing to recognize is the commitment of the owners. Some drove two days just to get to Saskatoon. The second is the consistency, as mentioned, that all eight puppies passed what LMAC considers evidence of a promising, young hunting dog. Third, all the young dogs showed at least “good performance in all four hunting tasks, including search, pointing, tracking and water work.” Three of them entered the water in a search mode twice right off the bat when no enticement was thrown.It’s nice to see stellar scores - the group of eight had those too. For example, Jaeger's 11 points in tracking was because she tracked the running pheasant over 100 m, pointed it, and then retrieved it.

    Yet, perhaps the best success of a breeding program comes from solid performances across a litter. These are the dogs that go hand-in-hand with ethical and satisfying hunting. With them we can rest easy in the evening, the dog’s head on our knee in the knowledge that all downed birds are in the bag, and later on the dinner plate.

    We applaud the breeders who raised Krokus and Aiko, and the hunter-owners who exposed and brought their young J2 dogs. All of these achievements are clear evidence of a successful village!



    Past Performance

    Thirty-five litters were born at the Sunnynook Kennel since it began in 1977. By 2017, 208 pups were weaned.

    Fifty-five of the 121 pups born in the first 20 litters have been tested in Natural Ability (47%) and 41 of these passed (74%). There are also 6 which went on to pass UPT of 10 run and 11 of 17 passed the Utility test. This speaks well not only of the pups but also of the excellent handlers and homes they found themselves in.

    For more information about the LMs that currently live at Sunnynook.

    Registration and Proof of Performance

    Every Sunnynook puppy born through 2015, is tattooed and comes with a performance-annotated pedigree endorsed by the Large Munsterlander Association of Canada . LMAC is incoportated under the Animal Pedigree Act of Canada affording protection to breeders and owners under Canadian law. Furthermore:

    ~ Abbreviations ~
    appearing on LMAC pedigrees are explained in this downloadable pdf document.

    Why Large Munsterlanders?

    We choose the Large Munsterlander

    Sunnynook Kennel and You

    Breeding Goals - a matter of balance

    Guarantees

    All our dogs and at least 30 of their ancestors are field qualified and free of hip dysplasia (see pedigree). Hunting ability and health is part training/upbringing/food and part genetics. Still, it may happen that a pup does not develop according to our expectation as a hunter, in which case we take the dog back for purchase-price refund or replacement. We guarantee hunting ability and health, not necessarily a dog with automatic breeding potential.

    Placement Policy

    We ask that owners come to pick up their pups. We do not fly pups alone. In some cases a flight by the owner and the pup in the cabin is actually not as expensive as flying a pup alone in the luggage compartment.

    We place dogs only with hunters who expect to train and use the dogs for bird hunting. There are three reasons: 1) Hunters may field test or at least report on the hunting abilities of their dogs from our kennel. This helps us decide on the breeding value of parents for future breeding decisions. 2) Hunting is in the dogs' nature, it can endanger the dog and other wildlife if not appropriately channeled and controlled. 3) The nearly 400 dog breeds in the world are designed for specific and subtly different uses. Hunting and pure companionship make different demands on a dog and on a breeder. We encourage our owners to breed in turn if their dog is exceptional as a hunter. However, we resist having this selection diluted by other (show or companion) interests.


    In our experience a puppy's upbringing involves a series of stages that start at different times and are overlapping. This is roughly as follows:

    0 - 1 1/2 months Pups simply grow and become weaned.
    1 1/2 - 6 months Learn to hunt through play that needs to be frequent, brief and enjoyable (wing-on-a-stick, toy retrieves).
    3 - 24 months Learn manners (in the home, vehicle & kennel, with people and other dogs)
    6 - 18 months Gradual exposure to wild birds, water, retrieving & tracking. Introduction to the shot. This is also a good time for an owner to consider entering the pup in one of several natural-ability-type tests, for an objective evaluation on which areas to stress in future training/exposure, and to provide feedback to the breeder on his/her success and future direction.
    10 - 24 months Gradually increasing insistence on manners on birds through obedience training. At the end of this period is a good time to decide whether the dog would make a positive contribution to the Large Munsterlander breeding pool.
    8 - 36 months Hunting exposure and experience.

    On any of these, we would be pleased to provide advice. The result should be a hunting dog that is a joy to be with, in and out of the hunting season.

    We have provided each owner with a copy of "Training and care of the versatile hunting dog", the classic manual for versatile dogs. This manual is short and specific in its instructions. Other books can amplify these sections. Among them, is an excellent book written by Joan Bailey, entitled "How to help gun dogs train themselves". This title is not just an empty promise. Joan Bailey provides excellent tips about how to make everyday things into learning opportunities for a pup. Look for the book at http://www.swanvalleypress.com.

    A brief description of Wing-on-a-stick play. This is a great game to build passion, capacity and a work ethic, but a few words of advice are in order. Make sessions short and rewarding for the pup. Don't treat it as a substitute for wild birds. By six months, the game should transition into work with wild birds. The wing can be replaced with a dummy and the dog can learn manners and commands, but sight pointing should be replaced by opportunities to point scent by then.

    For the play, keep in mind that pointing is the exaggerated stop-before-the-pounce of wild canines. Build some excitement first by a few chases and then encourage pointing. End the chase by lifting the wing high. When the pup stands and looks at it, lower it gently. Sometimes a sudden drop triggers a strong point - learn to read your dog, and reward it for the slightest progress. The reward is catching the wing, not by the pup pursuing it but by the owner moving it to within the standing pup's reach. Early on, a pup may be rewarded for standing while the wing is lowered from 1 to 1/2 m in the air, about an equal distance away. Later, the pup needs to stand while the wing rests on the ground for the pup to be rewarded, but be sure to end each session with a reward.

    Allow the pup to hold and pull on the wing, praising all the while. Relaxing on the string and then tugging gently can cause the 'bird to escape' again. If the pup has too firm a grip, build trust by picking the pup up and taking away the wing gently, or trading the wing for food or another item the pup wants. After the session, put the wing out of sight. Do not allow prolonged chewing. These sessions are very useful for an owner to learn about the pup's nature, does drive need to be boosted or does the pup have lots of it. These play sessions build rapport. Thought and care should be used in the game, study the pups reactions and respond accordingly for best success - remember, they are still "toddlers".


    A bit about us.....

    Joe is an avid upland bird hunter and also hunts waterfowl "for the dogs"! He is shown here hunting Hungarian partridge in Southern Saskatchewan, with Grackle and Mac. He is a wildlife biologist who has studied birds and fostered conservation throughout his career. He was a NAVHDA judge from 1985 to 2011. He helped found VHDF in 2007 and has been a judge since its inception.

    Sheila helps train the dogs and is actively involved in whelping, etc. but leaves the real hunting to the rest of the family. Sheila retired in 2016 as genetics professor at the University of Saskatchewan. She often used her own dogs teaching examples in both the genetics course she taught and the course of dogs and cats she developed. One of Sheila's research areas is the genetics of coat color in dogs. One of her hobbies is sewing, especially with fur. Sora is on her left and Pika on her right.


    For more information on the Large Munsterlander in Canada

    Please call us if you have any specific questions (306)382-8964. e-mail joe.schmutz@usask.ca or e-mail sheila.schmutz@usask.ca