Otamarakau Gundogs

02/05/2025

Hot barrels to everyone tomorrow. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable time with friends and family! 🦆

12/03/2025

"I promise you," he said, "on my word of honor, I won't die on the opening day of bird season."

- Robert Ruark, The Old Man and the Boy

Anyone else ready for the first weekend of May?

28/02/2025

Gaston has sired a litter at the Tarnbrae kennel with the lovely Milly. Anyone looking for a quality Brittany get in touch!

20/01/2025

Karamea of Kilmacud at 4 months - photo courtesy of owner P. Taylor

Pups possibly available from this litter - PM for the breeders details.

A little history on the dogs behind the litter:

This is the first litter in the Kilmacud kennel since Vaughan Williams' passing, in the safe hands of his friend and protege Paul Hoather. The Kilmacud Kennel started with the import of two dogs to NZ in 1980, Scott of Spinningloch from the UK, a half-sibling mating on John Nash's Danish import Scott, and My Golden Lady from Ireland, from strong Irish genetics.

The Sire MacKenzie is from the important Seekein 'Honour' litter, bred by Katrina and Alan Jury. At the time this litter eventuated, there hadn't been a working pointer litter since the litter of the dam. Things were looking bleak for the working pointer lines in NZ. This litter was a dual-sired insemination using Both Nantglas of Kilmacud, aka 'The Man', from South Island mountain genetics, and a dog called Purdey Chester, a son of the great FTCH Wingfield Banner, linebred on FTCH Innistona Shoot. As it turns out, Chester was too old to be fertile, and all of the pups were confirmed by DNA test to be Nantglas of Kilmacud's.
MacKenzies' Dam was from the Browning's Dawndale litter, representative of the current NZ trials blood at the time. She was by Sparkfield Flash, imported from Terry Harris in the UK, and her dam was Arddun Daffofil, bred by Bob Whitehead. She was litter sister to FTCH & FCH arddun Damask, owned by Tony Conner, and Arddun Dagger, sire of the Otamarakau B litter. Due to its timing and it's genetics, the Seekein litter was an important litter in the continuation of the working lines present in NZ at the time. Mackenzies' brother Baz was owned by myself and was an exciting dog to hunt over, with an uncanny ability to produce game. He was the sire of the Otamarakau A litter. Baz was rehomed due to my ex-wifes dislike of his singing. In hindsight I should have kept Baz and rehomed the wife. Dogs like him don't come along every day 😆

The Dam of the litter is from the Otamarakau D litter, imported in whelp from kennel Villestofte in Denmark. In an operation of military precision, Villestoftes Asta was taken to Norway to be mated with the sire Prick, with which she had made two previous litters, and produced dogs of great type and ability. Aligning her pregnancy with the tests and vaccinations she required, she landed here with a few weeks to spare and delivered a litter of 13 puppies in August 2019. All of the pups bought great stamina, accurate gamefinding, and strong propensity for backing at a very young age, combined with an agreeable temperament. These traits have certainly bred on readily and the litter has made a great contribution to the working pointer in NZ.

I've got a feeling there's going to be great dogs in this litter of Paul's. Not many left, don't wait!

16/11/2024

A great video, that shows some top Nordic champions. Enjoy

Oscar har fått privilegiet att få gå ut ensam med Sören Mulvad Johansen och hans meriterade hundar. De jagas fasaner och rapphöns med bland annat den svenska...

12/11/2024

One, possibly two puppies available from the litter in Nelson. Not sure when the next working pointer litter will be, don't wait!

14/10/2024

The puppies of MacKenzie and Ella are thriving 🌱

15/09/2024

Ella has given birth to 8 healthy pups. Congrats to Paul and Louise. Enquires to Paul, PM for his details. Some great mountain genetics here!

20/08/2024

Villestoftes Asta

Asta passed away last month. She was imported to New Zealand from Anne-Marie Larsen in Denamark with the help of Joakim Skovgaard Larsen, but not before she was sent to Norway to be mated with Per Zakariassen's good dog Prick. This was to be a third pairing of the two dogs, having produced good results together before. This photo was when I first got her home after quarantine, plump and full of what turned out to be 13 puppies. She trotted into the house and acted like she had been there all her life. She was very tolerant of my then infant son draping himself off of her. This summed Asta up. Anne-Marie told me once, that 'if there's any dog capable of such a long journey, it is Asta'. Her sweet disposition, playful and sometimes goofy, were exactly as described. In fact one of her lasting influences on the pointers at Otamarakau had been her temperament. While the early dogs were stoic, Asta and her progeny added a playful kindness to the family. Her puppies with Prick added stamina, range, strong backing, and many had their father's love of water. As far as I'm aware, she has progeny in 5 different countries. Of the puppies she had here, 2 have been bred in NZ, with another due to whelp soon, and one sired a litter in Australia. Her influcence endures. Thank you Asta for your contribution - I hope there's a Feijoa tree up there in dog heaven for you.

21/07/2024

Great news - Paul Hoather has mated his dog MacKenzie (Seekein Williams Honour) to his bitch Ella (Otamarakau Dottie). Anyone interested in a dog with solid working genetics is encouraged to get in touch. See Pedigrees below:

03/07/2024

Dream few days with Gaston