Its been 2 years.. looking for new Shepherd - Page 2

Stay the hell away from Kraftwerk. Just use the search function on this site, and you will find enough to make you stay far, far away!

IIRC, at one time they had a parvo outbreak, and weren't taking the steps a responsible breeder should to control it.

Im not sure how you ignore the lines that the dog comes from or more specific not focus on back massing dogs that provide the traits and type your looking for with similar genetics. The two seem to go together much more often then not. Having parents that have produced what your ideal is on most occasion, usually requires those type & traits in mass behind them. Otherwise its giant dart board to hit a specific small color i.e. red, how is increasing the size of the red target no longer relevant? If she had the dog of her dreams in east line why try and switch to West or Czech not that they won't/can't workout but they are not all the same...

Sistrus, that is a very strong pedigree of DDR dogs, your Alexis. The SV dog in the pedigree is VA3 Bernd vom Lierberg, highly valued in the WL world. He was used very successfully by Haus Himpel. There are none of the 'Martin dogs', the pedigree is free of Wienerau, Arminius, etc.

Re breeders of DDR lines in the US: I have heard very good things about Schraderhaus on the West coast, very positive reports both about the dogs and the breeder. There is also Wunderhaus that uses Schraderhaus dogs, in Texas. Mostly from DDR lines and very popular as companion dogs are Ryanhaus and von Henna-C dogs on the East coast. There are others but these come first to my mind.

I would look carefully at how line bred pups from purely East German lines are (actually, puppy from any line). One cannot breed indefinitely from a closed gene pool, and the East German GSD gene pool isn't huge. And a breeder being local to where you live gives you a chance to see the adult dogs at home and in the field, and get to know the breeder better.

And everything Susie said. Again, good luck in your search.

All said,Good luck,

Thank you everyone-

Susie and Living Fence- I will plan a trip to Schraderhaus if I'm going to pursue the pup from them.  My gut and novice instinct is that the two schraderhaus litter pedigrees seem somewhat different than Alexis.  Alexis fell into place when I least expected her, I somehow hope the same will happen with my next girl.  

Thought I would post 3 litters I am looking at. If I can't get an alpha and first pick I'm going to likely pass.. Two are from Schraderhaus and the other from Diehl. Yes, the Diehl pups are not strong DDR as Alexis, but- I have only heard good temperaments from Mike and know he strives for excellent working dogs- he is not a puppy mill. Obviously I'm choosing the pup but there are many of you on here that have significant more experience than I do. I was grateful to find Alexis; I want to be wise on this next decision.  I'm going to try and reach out to Alexis' original breeder, Shelby from Enckhausen.  If anyone knows her current contact info, I'd be grateful as her number has changed.

1) Schraderhaus
Dam:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=2127828-porsche-von-schraderhaus
Sire:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=517057-lord-von-den-grauen-von-monstab

2) Schraderhaus
Dam:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=716698-denzi-von-schraderhaus
Sire:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=1879939-gerry-von-weltwitz

3) Diehl
Dam:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=2193616-tina-fihrak

Sire:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=2231300-santo-honajzer

Sistrus, I agree with most of the posts on here. Use the pedigree tool and research the breeder and don't get stuck on big named breeders. There are a lot of great dogs out there that have great lineages. My current females is from Gardefense and she has been the perfect working partner at work and home. Good luck with your search.

Matt

Sistrus, You can generate a 3 gen pedigree for each planned litter by using "Mating Outcome", found in the left column on this page.
When you want to post a link and make it clickable, pls use "Enable editor" and click on the link icon, enter the url, and, voila!

By only looking at the pics of sire/dam I´d go with litter no 2, but this only is a gut feeling, not more, not less. I´d need to see sire and dam to know about their working abilities - a good pedigree doesn´t automatically produce good dogs...
On the other hand I trust Mike Diehl, he wouldn´t breed dogs he doesn´t believe in - and he trains his dogs.
At the end of the day I picked all of my dogs out of the gut ( but always after seeing them in real, and spending some time with them ), never relied on someone else´s choice.

My puppy = my choice = my responsibility.

"Diehl on the other hand is not what i would consider a breeder in general. YES he does breed but imho his breeding is not about $$. He has a love and respect for the GSD and is focused on breeding's that he feels will produce even temperament, solid nerve, great drive dogs."

Isn't that exactly what a breeder should be?

To the OP, I'd ask Mike what he thinks he will get as far as drive level in his current litter of puppies. Many of his dogs, especially in the past few years, have been pretty high in drive. Make sure that there's a good match for what you are looking for.

Schraderhaus or Timberhaus (Jill Frost) http://www.timberhausk-9.com/ are reputable breeders of the DDR lines. There's also Kim Haegely, whose foundation dog(s) go back to Cay's brother Alk -- http://www.justk9s.com/

 

Christine 

I don't know alot about Mike Diehl but i've watched videos of Irmus and I know of a Irmus daughter who is a fantastic dog. I also know Lord from your first option. I haven't met him personally but i've met one of his daughters who is an amazing girl. she's thick and her temperament is phenomenal. Lord is definitely one of my top picks for DDR producers. I'm aiming for a Lord pup or grandpup one day. Gerry is a favorite as well. I'm also a fan of Weberhaus GSD's. They sometimes have pure DDR pups or even DDR/Czech. She has Iwan Vom Poppitz, he is a wonderful producer.
http://www.weberhausgsd.com/index.php/litters

I'm still a newbie but I enjoy researching pedigrees and breeders. Definitely plan a trip and meet your dogs parents because the lineage is important and so are the parents and the history of health testing and what each producers in regards to hips/elbows, temperament, and drive. I will never regret visiting my breeder and my dogs parents.They are wonderful dogs. I'm pretty hooked. :-) I plan on getting my second in the distant future from her.

If you don't find something that your heart is set on, wait for the right one. It will come. Good luck!