Thor II is the second male I have owned the result of mating Eider Vom Wolfsbau and Dejong's Audi, from the kennels of Ray Dejong. Thor I was my first Small Munsterlander and, having the run of our acreage, met an untimely death when run over by a pickup.
After an extensive search for a replacement, I came to the conclusion I wanted another Thor! Thor I had all the criteria mentioned in the book: "The Training and Care of the Versatile Hunting Dog", by Sigbot Winterholt and Edward D. Bailey.
"There are several breeds of versatile dogs common in continental Europe, and with four exceptions, all were developed during the last decades of the 19th century. The four exceptions are much older breeds and provided a base for some of the others. These four are the Weimaraner, the Vizsla, the Brittany Spaniel, and his German cousin, the Small Munsterlander Pointer."
On page 2 the breeders tell what they were attempting to accomplish: The dogs had to possess a keen nose with a strong pointing instinct and a lively temperament. Also Eagerness to retrieve from both land and water, stamina and a durable coat and hide that would not hamper the dogs' work in cold water. The dogs also had to be intelligent, relatively easily trained, having a character compatible to live indoor with their master or to be kenneled.*
I think you can see why I choose this breed. As a youngster, growing up hunting, the only dogs I was accustomed to were best left home as not to scare pheasants well out of range. I was not exposed to pointing dogs until much later in my hunting career. At that point I started my quest.
