Claire

Claire came from a Belgian breeder who was living in The Hague, in the Netherlands. I picked her up in September 2013. She was a handful as a puppy, which is typical for a Drent, keeping me on my toes. She grew into a sweet and enthusiastic companion, and I became a champion of the breed.

Owing to the lack of active breeders in North America, I began to consider breeding Claire and undertook her health testing. Everything was great: excellent hips, normal elbows, healthy eyes. Her genetic testing did reveal that she was a carrier of von Willebrand Disease — one copy of the gene rather than two — so she would not be expected to show any bleeding issues herself, but she could pass the disease on unless bred to a male clear of the gene.