Sunnynook Large Munsterlanders

The L2 Litter

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

last updated May 8, 2025 by Sheila Schmutz

The parents of the Sunnynook's L2 litter, are Sunnynook's Heron and Sunnynook's Fergus. Their pups were born on January 12, 2025: 6 females and 3 males. All have gone to their new homes.

Photo 14 Jan 2025

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Heron’s first litter, the K2 litter, was the 37th litter in our Sunnynook Kennel. Fergus sired the Sunnynook's I2 litter. Both received a Progeny Performance Award for their respective litters, meaning 4 or more pups passed a young dog test.

The pups are all growing well. Their weight graph is shown below and was initially updated weekly. They started getting milk replacer on day 319 and their weights showed a bit more rapid gain, but it really accelerated once they began getting moistened kibble 3 times a day about day 22. All but one pup left the weekend of Mar 14-16 at 8 1/2 weeks, so weight graphs won't appear as often now. The 16-week graph is shown below.

Circles indicate females and squares males.

The photo of the pups is labelled with their birth order number and sex. They immediately form a dense clump if Heron leaves them for even a couple of minutes. (Photo 17 Jan 2025)

Choosing pups began at about 6 weeks but owners have already chosen names: Leica, Loki, Lark, Lady Remington, Lakota, Lux, Lucky, and Leontyne. Pups in the L1 litter were named Leaf, Lobo, Luna, Lyddie, Lynx, so those names are not used again for a Sunnynook pup. Loon will be staying with us for now.

The bitter cold (-25 C and less) finally broke on Friday, 21 February, so the pups were moved to their outside kennel space at about 10 AM. For the first few hours they were confined to their heated-floor box/house, then they were allowed to go into the small fenced area inside by their box and finally allowed to roam the main kennel building area.

On Saturday, 22 February the door to the outside was opened while Joe did some work outside and they thought following him around in the snow was great fun!

5F WhiteMiddle and 8M Heart decided that it's very handy to be able to eat snow when you get thirsty!

The pups are 8 1/2 weeks old and began to leave for their new homes today. It's time. They look longingly at us every time we come near and want to be picked up and get special attention. (photo March 13, 2025)

The Males

1M, Speckles is now Loki. He went to live with Sunnynook's Hercules "Spock" and and Sunnynook's Cue in Saskatoon. He's shown here enjoying big buddy Spock! (Photo 2 Apr 2025)

8M, Heart is now be called Lakota. He's gone to live with Prairie Fire's Axel near Saskatoon. He's pointing his wing-on-a-stick here at 9 weeks old.

Male 3M, called White-Tail is picking up the blue fuzzy toy. (7 Feb 2025) His new name is Lucky. He's gone to live with a couple other dogs near Estevan, SK.

The Females

7F, 3 Spot is interested in the yellow toy. (10 Feb 2025) Her new name is Leica and she has gone to live with her Dad Fergus, here in Saskatoon, and a Lab named Boone.

6F, Pebbles is stretching to reach the lime stringy toy. (10 Feb 2025) She is now named Lark and is living in Perdue, SK with Sunnynook's Chicken.

2F, Diamond is now named Loon, but called "Pike". She went to her new home in Lethbridge to join a household with a young dog called Stew. She's pointing her wing-on-a stick here at 9 weeks.

5F, White Middle, now called Lady Remington "Remi". She's gone to live with a Small Munsterlander in Saskatoon. She's determindedly tracking a scent in this photo. (photo 1 Apr 2025)

This is somehow a pose that only puppies can do...... Here it's 4F, Comma. (7 Feb 2025) But she's also an active girl! (9Feb 2025) Little went to live with a German Shepherd, in Sexsmith, Alberta.

10F, Slivers is now Lux. She went to live with Sunnynook's Bolt, just outside of Saskatoon. She is pointing in her dreams here!

Sunnynook's Heron, proposed dam of the Sunnynook L2 Litter

Heron was born 30 December 2019, here at Sunnynook Kennel. Her mother Krokus von Kleinenkneten is from Germany. Heron's father, Sunnynook’s Cue, is derived from a mix of imports and our own Sunnynook dogs tracing back to our original pair imported in the 1970s. Heron has a fine-boned physique and light body at 59 cm at withers (standard = 58-63) and 23.6 kg (53 lbs). She is a ticked dog with one large black mantle and a few black ticks on white background. Her head is all black. She was scored Very Good for Body and Good for Coat in the LMAC Conformation Evaluation in September 2023.

Heron is a soft-tempered dog, so much so that she would not have done well in a heavy-handed training regime. She does not easily forgive and forget. By the same token, she is also very cooperative and trainable. For example, Heron was apparently challenged by beavers on a long-distance open water retrieve 2 years ago and because of this she avoids big open water to this day. Unless a duck is in open water, in plain sight, Heron chooses to search near-shore water and marsh, but this she does with a good nose and desire to find. In the field, Heron is a joy to watch with a purposeful search, typically casting well out across the wind. In both water and upland she knows to use her good nose well. Heron is a natural retriever, meaning she knows no ear pinch. Heron will sit to deliver with a mere raising of a finger and sit patiently to have her picture taken. She has reached this stage by simply “encouraging” retrieving of frozen pigeons, not dummies, from puppyhood on. Her retrieving patience typically only reaches a limit working on hot days when we tend not to expect show but simply take her bird brought to hand.

Heron is a calm dog, loves people, is a joy to live and travel with, except for see-through hotel stairs. She gets on well with other dogs but may protect her kennel and birds with a cautioning growl to other dogs.

Heron is a healthy dog, with a beautiful and shiny coat, presumably from the prevailing raw-food-recipe diet. Her hips are rated excellent and her elbows are normal. Because neither of parents carries brown nor Grey (Black Hair Follicular Dysplasia), neither does she.

The photo above shows Heron backing her half sister Joli on point. It also shows that Heron has the conformation, stamina and desire to search widely in our open prairie environment. It shows backing, not merely using Joli’s scent cone, because of the good distance between them and also because the Sharp-tailed Grouse had already left.

Heron scored 70 (Very Good) in Hunting Aptitude Evaluation (HAE) at 8.5 months. She ran the Advanced Hunting Aptitude Evaluation three times, passing in September 2023. Details are shown below. These tests are a breeder's tool for confirming the all-around versatile hunting qualities all LMAC LMs have. See another webpage for more information about these tests.

Hunting Aptitude Evaluation (HAE) Scores

Advanced Hunting Aptitude Evaluation (AHAE) Scores

Sunnynook's Fergus, proposed sire of the Sunnynook L2 Litter

Photo by Patricia Oderkirk

Sunnynook's Fergus, was born on 8 July 2017, part of Sunnynook’s 31st litter. The Sunnynook I2 litter was Fergus’ first. Fergus is a house dog who lives with one other dog and a cat in the home. In the words of his owners, “Fergus is the most amazing dog ever!” His calm and confident demeanor is very endearing. Fergus hunts readily even with other intact males that go about their hunting business. Fergus hunts upland birds and waterfowl, including hunts over decoys. Fergus loves the water. Fergus will break ice to enter water, so much so that for the sake of his own health he’s not allowed prolonged exposure to ice cold water and is dried and looked after once soaking wet on very cold days. Fergus’ medium length but very dense coat helps protect him in water and brush. Fergus has an Instagram account @following_fergus

Photo by Patricia Oderkirk

Fergus has pointed nicely since early puppyhood. He is very cooperative and will hold point as long as needed for a shot. Fergus is a gentle retriever and often brings birds to hand still alive. Fergus has also been trained for blood tracking of potentially crippled big game. He was moderately successful in his first test in a 4 hr. old blood track over 400 m. None of the three dogs tested on that hot and windy day were successful and Fergus and his owner plan to try again next year. Fergus has a medium-bone frame at 65 cm high, 71 cm long and 33.6 kg or 74 lbs. The conformation judges gave him a Very Good in both Body and Coat. Fergus was certified free of hip (Good-Excellent) and elbow dysplasia. Neither of Fergus's parents were carriers of brown coat color or Black Hair Follicular Dysplasia, so he can't pass these undesirable traits on to his pups either.

Heron and Fergus, As a Pair

In addition to breeding well-qualified dogs, we pay attention to trait complementarity. Heron is near the lower end of the international height and weight standard for LMs. Fergus, who is squarely in the middle, will complement and ensure as much as possible that their offspring will fall within the breed’s size range and be recognizable as LMs.

Heron was true to her natural hunting instincts and became a capable and enjoyable hunting dog on land and in water. Yet she can lose her cool sometimes, getting carried away with desire, or balking when ‘things aren’t quite right.’ Fergus’ confidence will carry the day, even when the sky seems to be falling.

The Heron x Fergus pups will have two common ancestors in three generations on their pedigree, SaskElkana's Bones and Enzo vom Donnersberg. Their inbreeding coefficient is 3.9.

The pedigree for the expected Sunnynook L2 pups will be shown below. It shows 32 working-dog ancestors that are in hunting homes and fully qualified in field, health, conformation and temperament. We at Sunnynook Kennel and the many breeders who came before us have been diligent and our combined best practice provides quality assurance for our hunter-owners.

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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