Herritage Kennels Palos, Illinois - Page 1

I have purchased a German Shepherd from Herritage Kennels & I am very pleased! this lady loves her dogs and also has taken in unwanted dogs as well! two people have passed her property and thrown abused unwanted dogs on her lawn & she nursed them back to health and gave them a forever home!...her son is a Veterinarian and all her dogs are well taken care of!...whoever said they frequently see police at her house is correct, her dogs are purchased by local law enforcement all the time! this lady has been in business for years, over 25 that I personally know of and if she was bad in any way she wouldve been closed down years ago! I got to see all the parents and they are super friendly! no parasites, no diseases, just wonderful! so quit bashing good breeders and save your anger for the puppy mills run mainly by the Amish! and another thing, whoever bashed that their registry wasnt AKC so it must be bad, let me educate you:

AKC Registration Papers and Pedigrees

What They Mean -- And Don't Mean

At some point, if you're talking to an unknowledgeable breeder or a proud but unknowledgeable owner, you might hear something like this:

"My Pomeranian puppy has AKC papers and a pedigree!!"

They expect you to respond with an awed whistle. Here's a better response:

"Oh, yay.

"But I thought AKC registration papers meant good quality!"

Nope. The truth is...

The AKC will register any puppy whose parents are registered.

The AKC registered those parents because their parents were registered.

The AKC registered their parents because...

You get the idea.

Registration is nothing but a mechanical process, a chain of numbers.

You send the AKC money.

If the owners of your puppy's parents and grandparents were all good doobies who kept the chain intact by sending in their own money, the AKC will insert your puppy's name into the database, too.

They'll send you a piece of paper with a number on it.

Voila...he's registered.

Dr. Herm David, Ph.D. says: "The AKC has an infinite supply of numbers. It's a good business to be in."

"But what about a pedigree? Doesn't that mean something?"

Send more money. The AKC will access their database again and it will spit out the names of your puppy's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, as many generations as you're willing to pay for.

Voila...his pedigree.

That's all a pedigree is -- a list of names.

Registration papers and pedigrees don't tell you a single thing about a dog other than its place in the chain of names.

To get registration papers or a pedigree, a Pomeranian doesn't have to meet any qualifications of health, temperament, behavior, or sound structure.

None whatsoever. Your Pomeranian can be purple, sickly, aggressive, obese, ears pointing every which way -- and the AKC will give them the same kind of registration number they give to the Best of Breed champions at the Westminster Kennel Club show. The exact same kind of registration number.

"Good grief! And here I thought AKC registered meant good!"

Don't be fooled. Registration papers don't suggest quality in a Pomeranian any more than registration papers suggest quality in a CAR.

Does buying a "registered" car mean it won't be a clunker? Of course not!

In fact, in CARS, registration papers at least mean that a car has passed a smog check or a mechanical safety check (in most states, anyway).

The AKC registers DOGS

with no health or safety checks at all.

Hopefully you will never again

make the mistake of thinking that the

existence of AKC papers or a pedigree

has anything whatsoever to do

with a dog's quality.

"But papers at least guarantee that a dog is purebred, right?"

I'm beginning to feel like the bearer of bad news here!

Being purebred has nothing to do with registration papers.

Being purebred simply means that a puppy and all of his ancestors going back many generations have the same set of fixed genes.

Fixed genes can be counted on to reproduce traits such as large size, short coat, black color, etc. Having fixed genes is what makes a dog purebred. The presence or absence of registration papers has no effect whatsoever on genes.

In fact, if a dog DOESN'T have those fixed genes, he isn't purebred -- even he HAS registration papers!

What???

It's true. A  puppy can have registration papers that are false. Most canine registries such as the AKC operate on the honor system. They simply take the breeder's word for it that "King" and "Queen" were really the parents of "Solomon."

But scams happen all the time. Let's say someone has a female Pomeranian and a male Pomeranian who are purebred and have registration papers. Unfortunately, the female gets loose and is accidentally bred by the mixed breed who lives down the street. When the litter arrives, a dishonest person could fill out the litter registration paperwork -- claiming that his Pom was the father. The AKC will dutifully send him a bunch of individual registration papers for each puppy, which he will happily pass along to the new owners. And no one will be the wiser until the puppies grow up and start to look suspiciously non-Pomish!

Fortunately, the AKC does have a new DNA testing program where participating breeders submit DNA samples of parents and puppies, which conclusively proves parentage. If you want to be sure of who your puppy's parents really are, look for breeders who participate in this program. However, this technology has limits. Since it's new, PAST dogs in your puppy's pedigree can't be tested.

Always remember that GENES make a dog purebred. The presence or absence of registration papers doesn't change the genes inside a dog. He can be purebred without having papers -- and sadly, he can have papers without really being purebred

"whoever said they frequently see police at her house is correct, her dogs are purchased by local law enforcement all the time!"

Care to provide any proof of the above statement?
Why would any police department buy dogs from her?
She breeds pet quality dogs at best. (And, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with pets.)
Most of the dogs she produces are oversized with zero drive and wouldn't be able to cut it doing work for a department.

I agree with you that AKC registration is just a piece of paper. 
However, it is a bare bones minimum requirement for you to be able to do just about anything with your dog.
The German Shepherd Dog breed is a well established breed.
Shouldn't you be able to meet that bare bones minimum standard if you are going to breed your German Shepherds???
Aren't there more than enough quality German Shepherds with AKC registration available to use as breeding dogs???
Especially when she asks the prices that she does for her dogs???

Just a few things to ponder..........................

I live in Illinois, and grew up in a town close to Palos. I am familiar with Heritage, but more importantly, am familiar with what a well bred Shepherd should be. Heritage does not produce well bred shepherds. They breed primarily for size (as you can see on their website), and I would hope anyone who knows about the breed recognizes what a major fault that is...

No pedigrees listed and no testing done (I believe, though I may be wrong)... as far as I know, they take one oversized male and breed to an oversized female and sell to the uneducated public that thinks bigger is better. Tsk tsk.

Not a fan of this kennel. Websites gives no information on the breeding dogs, and they breed for size. Two red flags that turn me away immediately.

If I had a dollar for every new member with fewer than five posts that made their debut by championing for their favorite breeder...

Am I the only one who suspects that it's likely a staged promotional attempt, either the breeder or person put up by the breeder to post?

Then, you always get the serious first-responders to the scene, who challenge any or all claims that were made...

Like a bad remake, I swear I've seen this show before.

"Dance puppets, dance!"

Yes. I thought that as well. But figured, for the sake of anyone who doesn't know yet, I'd put the info out there....

Ha, they changed their website. At least their dogs are still good "bitters"! I am, however, very disappointed to see that they are no longer breaded.

I wasn't poking at you, minro.  Your added input was very relevant, and mine is certainly off topic!

and then, in a few months, somebody will be posting here that they bought a pup from this kennel and ther pup was sick, or had some defect and they want their money back, but the kennel won't return their calls.  or else they can't get papers and the kennel won't return calls. yada, yada, yada.  same old story; only the names of the characters change.  like i said in another post:  "where in the hell do people find these kennels????"  buy from well known kennels with good reputations.  the longer the waiting list, the better.  good breeders don't have to advertise their dogs.  the dogs and their reputations do the selling. 
pjp

Thanks for the link to this kennel. I'm adding them to my "Breeder Fail" bookmark. My main impression after reading through the site (what I could stomach, that is) is "Me think they doth protest too much" to paraphrase. 
No police department I know of would buy a dog from this type of facility. Granted, my experience is pretty limited, we only worked with units in our vicinity, but every one of them wanted an athletic dog from titled backgrounds (various titles, but there was a list). 
Police cars in the driveway doesn't mean she is selling dogs for actual K9 work. We haven't worked with police departments for at least 6-7 years but we still have contact with the police. They call us when they are looking for a family dog or if another officer they know is looking.  We put a dog with one of our old K9 guys just a week ago. Doesn't mean we are providing actual street dogs. And there are quite a few breeders, who while they don't have the dogs that working units want, are happy to almost give pups to cops just so they can say they sell to the police. 

Oh, I love the variety they call "Double-Layer Coat (All weather dog)"