After numerous requests here is the story about how it all started with the "von Arlett" Kennels.

It was back in 1972 when I had a female in my kennel for training purposes. Her name was "Elke von der Rosenmatt", a sable female, bred in Switzerland, sired by the famous "Canto von der Wienerau".

"Elke " was rated V1 approximately 20 times in Germany and finished V5 on the National Breeding Trials (Siegerschau).

As a reward for my work as her trainer I received two females from two of Elke’s litters. One was called "Carlie von der Wienerau", a black and brown female sired by "Kai vom Silberbrand", the other one was "Era von der Wienerau", a sable female sired by "Quant von der Wienerau".

These two females were the cornerstones of my breeding activities. Both of them have produced very well. "Carlie" had many successful descendants. Among others the class-winners, one runner-up in the 12-18 months class, 2 VA females and one V1 female. All of these dogs still had the "von der Wienerau"-kennel name. In those days my kennel name did not exist yet.

While I was in Switzerland on vacation I called the owners of the mother of "Elke von der Rosenmatt" and asked them if could come and visit them to see "Elke's" mother. When I arrived we went to the back of the house and the lady called her :"ARLETT, ARLETT, WHERE ARE YOU!!" So obviously, that is where I got the name "Arlett" from.

The first litter I bred using my new kennel name "von Arlett", was in October 1972. The dam was "Era" and the sire was "Irk von der Wienerau". Although this litter was my first one and consisted of only three pups, all three pups became very successful. "As von Arlett" became the Brazilian Sieger and made a name as a great producer. "Argus von Arlett" received many top V ratings just like "Agent", the only sable male in this litter, who later would become the fist sable male in the history of the SV to present a progeny group on the Siegerschau, although he died sadly enough at the age of only 3 ½ years. This progeny group consisted of 17 animals, originating from as few as 11 litters.

As a working dog too, Agent was able to establish himself. Being a very hard dog himself, he was able to produce offspring that participated in the Regional Working Dog Qualification Trials (Landesgruppenausscheidung) and the National Working Dog SchH 3 Trials. (Siegerprüfung)

From the first J-litter that was born in 1984 some dogs became well-known too. "Joker", a sable male that was rated V17 on the Siegerschau, was also able to present a progeny group.

"Joker" was known for his hardness and some of his offspring participated in qualification trials and the national SchH 3 trials. One of his daughters, "Hexe von der Seufzerallee" even won the FCI World Championship! "Joker’s" littermate "Jeannie" was rated V 7 on the national show trials (Siegerschau) and "Java" V32.

The first U-litter Arlett was born in 1986 and brought us several V1 rated females. "Ursa", the best-known of them, won her class about 25 times, also on the so called Landesgruppenschau, a regional championship where dogs come travelling from far to compete.

She was rated V 12 on the Siegerschau. Her littermate "Uschi" too was a class winner many times and finished V 22 on the Siegerschau. Also the other littermates, "Ulli", "Ute" and "Utta" were class winners more than once and produced very well too.

With "Ursa" I first bred a sable male "Plato" sired by "Carlo von der Wienerau". "Plato" was rated SG 15 on the Siegerschau. He also managed to win his class on several regional shows, in the adult class too (V1).

At the end of 1993 I bred "Ursa" to "Yago vom Wildsteiger Land". From this litter we kept a male by the name of "Flick von Arlett" who finished first on all of the shows he participated in, also V1. Unfortunately enough, his show career was abruptly called to an end by a broken toe. Being very popular as a breeding partner in Germany as well as with foreign breeders, he was able to present a progeny group of 17 animals at the earliest possible occasion in 1995. Eight of his offspring were rated in the best rings, three of them were in the top ten on the 1995 Siegerschau.

In 1996, Flick again presented a group of 17 dogs that all received the best possible rating. One male, Shanto’s Xano, a Dutch bred dog from Flick’s very first litter, was even rated VA! Two more dogs were among the top ten ratings, SG 4 in the 18- 24 months class males, "Quai zu den sieben Burgen" and SG 10 in the 12-18 females, "Zula von Arjakjo".

With these two progeny groups, Flick was able to prove his value for breeding and he has certainly proved to be one of the best representatives of the "Uran" bloodline.

After that I bred "Ursa" to "Enzo von der Burg Aliso" and this litter only brought one single female puppy, "Soffie von Arlett". Soffie, however, has already established herself as a top producer. One of her sons, "Italo von Arlett" sired by "Landro vom Mönchberg", finished SG 4 as a sable male in the 18-24 month class on the 1993 Siegerschau. In 1996 Italo was rated V1 four times and V23 on the Siegerschau.

Soffie’s litter sired by "Ulk von Arlett" gave us a dog by the name of "Nicco von Arlett" who received many top ratings and was very popular as a stud with German and foreign breeders. In 1995 "Nicco" was rated V33 on the Siegerschau and the next year he presented 8 of his offspring produced in a time span of four months only. Three of them were among the best thirty, one female "Wendrina von der Kahler Heide" was even rated SG 8 in the 12-18 months class. On the 1998 Siegerschau in Nürnberg, Wendrina and her littermate Woldorona both were honored with the VA title. (Auslese)

Soffie's next litters by "Ulk von Arlett", "Nero vom Hirschel" and "Visum von Arminius" showed me that I have found a worthy successor for Ursa in "Soffie". Altogether, 12 of "Soffie’s" offspring have been presented on the Siegerschau.

"Ulk von Arlett" stems from a combination of "Yago vom Wildsteiger Land" and "Dolly von Arlettt" a daughter of "Fedor von Arminius" that still has "Elke von der Rosenmatt" on her mothers side. "Ulk" was sold as an eight week old puppy to friends in Italy (Gianni and Angelo) and came back to Germany a lot later to be titled and trained. He was rated SG 25 on his first Siegerschau in 1991 and went back to his owners in Italy after that. In 1992 he came back to us and was rated V 7 on the Siegerschau which was a great achievement and success and we were all very happy about it. A few weeks after that Siegerschau I went to Italy to visit his owners and to ask them if they were willing to let us have the dog back, which luckily enough, they did and we are still grateful for that. So we got him back which we have never regretted for a single minute.

Apart from being our most successful dog, Ulk is real nice uncomplicated personality with a great character and a superb fitness. At nine years he is still healthy as a fish in the water and still popular as a stud among German and foreign breeders.

In 1993 Ulk was able to fight himself into the "Auslese" and in the year after, his large progeny group was one of the reasons why he finished as a runner up.

In 1995 Ulk was able to present the largest progeny group and was rewarded the VA 1, Sieger title.

In 1996, he again had the largest progeny group with the largest number of animals that received the best rating. In 1996 Ulk was able to present a class winner for the first time, 18-24 months winner "Junghundsieger Rikkor von Bad Boll" and a female rated VA "Tatja vom Mönchberg" All in all his offspring excels for reasons of hardness, temperament and stamina as well as superb characters.

In 1998 again some of Ulk's offspring received extraordinary ratings. "Pancho von Arlett" was rated SG 5 in the 18-24 months class. Ulk grandson "Mack von Aducht" was able to win the 12-18 months class and Ulk-son "Rikkor von Bad Boll" won the big title, VA1 in the working class. This is the first time since "Uran" that a male who is not yet four years old was able to win the title.

Altogether, "Ulk's" offspring excels because of their resistance to strain and good character with lots of temperament.

Also on the higher levels of the working dog sector Ulk was able to leave his traces. Several of his offspring are being presented here. One of them is "Lasso vom Kämpchen", stemming from Ulk's very first litter. Lasso passed the majority of his titles with a V-rating. Anyone familiar with the working dog trials knows what this means. Apart from that, Lasso participated in the qualifications for the National working dog trials and successfully participated in the National Working dog Trials itself in 1997. On the Siegerschau, lasso was rated V35 in 1996 and V32 in 1997. This brought him the title of "Universalsieger 1997".

Here are some of the highlights of Ulk’s career, a career that is pretty unique so far in the SV.

1 x SV World Champion

2 x Belgian Champion

1 x Dutch Champion

1 x Indonesian Champion

2 x VDH World Champion

2 x VDH European Champion

2 x VDH German Champion


In 1996 he also was best in show on the VDH European Championship Show.

I do hope that people will still remember Ulk in ten years from now, only then he will be a truly great producer.

My complete breeding program has been influenced by the sable color. Approximately 25 % of my dogs are sable. This color does improve the pigmentation, but does not appeal to all breeders, though. Unfortunately enough, many breeders believe that a black and brown dog with one or more sable ancestors, will produce sable dogs himself. This is not true. The sable color is only reproduced dominantly and not recessively , i.e. sables can only be born if at least one of the parents is sable. Even the black and brown animals from a sable - black & brown combination can only reproduce sables if bred to a sable partner. Even an inbreeding to sables cannot produce sables unless one of the parents is a sable him- or herself.

(If you want to learn more about the Transmission of the sable color, click on "SABLES")

As the first person in the SV, I was able to present a purely sable kennel group in 1987, consisting of nothing but sable dogs. I was able to do so three times now. In 1987 my group even finished second, in 1988 fifth and in 1996 third.

Now a little about the van Dorssen family

Fortunately enough, my husband Mathijs or Thijs as his friends call him, had great sympathies for my hobby from the beginning and is very supportive. His help and support have decisively contributed to our success during the last few years. He speaks several languages, so we rarely have problems communicating with people.

Our daughter Alexandra is eight years old now and also an animal lover. All of our dogs are part of the family and this implies that our vacuum cleaner is always busy. Alexandra’s favorite dog is "Flick" who spends most of his time in the house and patiently tolerates all of Alexandra’s jokes and tricks. These two are a truly great team. Alexandra already helps me taking care of the puppies and spends a lot of time in the whelping box with the mother and the newly born babies.

In our house we never get bored.

In the mean time, Alexandra has her own dog. "Ussi von Arlett", a sable female sired by "Max della Loggia dei Mercanti" out of "Soffie", who has already received a few top ratings on large shows.

On the championships for youngsters in 1998, Alexandra has decided to become active herself with her dog. Ever since then, they do "Agility" every week and it is amazing how much fun they both have. I am honestly convinced that this sport has a future, especially for youngsters as an "entry". That the agility is not being taken seriously or even laughed at by extremists from the breeding as well as the working sector is incomprehensible to me now because one thing is certain:

You need a good dog for this too!!