Welcome to vom Ike Kennel

We are a family run kennel and long time members of Verein Deutsch-Drahthaar, Group North America Breed Club. The Deutsch Drahthaar is an intelligent, energetic and versatile hunting dog that is an excellent hunting companion in the field, water, forest and home.

About our Program

We support and follow VDD testing and Breed Certification.The VDD has proven to be an excellent quality control program and greatly increases success of breeding and owning a quality versatile hunting Drahthaar. Following a strict VDD Germanic system when training and breeding our dogs; a system that can be traced back to the fundamental methods used for the breeds development in the late 19th century. The VDD continues to follow this path today and continues to see improvement in the breed.

Our dogs are friendly and obedient, accept training and are excellent versatile hunters. We raise and socialize our dogs both in our home and kennels to teach and train our dogs comfort and acceptance in any setting. The foundation of training begins at puppy age as we have found that early training greatly increases long term success.

Our History

My family comes from a rich history in hunting and dog training. Childhood memories include spending time with Beagles, field trialed by my Grandfather. We spent a lot of time with English Setters, German Shorthairs, and Brittany Spaniels that our family owned for Quail hunting in West Central Illinois.

I was introduced to the Drahthaar breed in 1988; their versatile superiority quickly became apparent. The ability of this dog to pursue all game, that was also a wonderful companion, is the reason I fell in love with the Drahthaar. It was a defining moment in my life and Vom Ike Kennel was established. My passion for Drahthaar’s has lead me to be heavily involved with the VDD-GNA, where I am a field judge in addition to a breed show judge. I traveled to Germany to attend the Hegewald testing as well as breed shows which helped solidify my deeper understanding of the goal of the breed. I have been a field judge since early 1990 and continue to judge young dog’s performance in an effort to keep my finger on the pulse of the breed and bloodlines. I also maintain my Breed Judge status evaluating coat and form with a team of judges at breed shows. We believe that high level of involvement within the VDD strengthens our own breeding program to produce the highest quality Drahthaar. Today we continue with our breeding program from our home in Baltic, South Dakota where we hold our breedings to the highest standards.