Breeders - Page 2

Thanks all, very much, for the notes of encouragement! I received her tonight, huge snafu with airlines resulted in her being "laid over" [ anyone fly lately??] in a non-scheduled airport, about 24 hours in delay for us, but she seems healthy, underweight though, 58lbs, way too curious, nice play drive-she takes a tug and throws it up in the air! No strong food drive apparent, that should make basic training interesting. Seems a little skittish, she doesn't know about stairs at all, narrow confines give her pause, but I really love seeing the differences in personality, like a whole new adventure! For now, maybe a week, I'll just play, and converse, and watch her discover our neck of the woods. Definitely will try and get piccies up!

Oh, a quick note to Leoetta, I did read up on Marjorie Zimmerman's site about her GSD Jack Flash [is that a neat name or what!], heartbreak at every page, she said they're trying to develop something to prove markers for DM, but at present, for the most part, it's a roll of the dice for all of us with GSD's, though they can say with some certainty that it's genetic. I so hope they find a cure someday.

Yes, I agree, I surely was enticed by the most extravagant website ever devoted to the sale of a dog, and that it seems almost heretical given the hard,honest work of the dedicated hobby kennels, and the fine, well balanced GSD's they have, and I did look at several, was introduced to some really great people, I just couldn't buy a dog from every one of them. In reality, he sold me my female for about the cost of everyones' 14 week pups, and they're were just too many of them to decide, though I do feel somewhat guilty for not purchasing locally.I suppose it was an attempt to erase the loss of my adult dog, by getting an adult dog, it seems that way. At any rate, my job now is to love my dog, train her to represent the breed well, try and keep her healthy.  James
 

James,
great news that you have your dog at last, i wouldn't worry about the weight at this point I'm sure that when everythign settles she'll come along nicely.

If it were me I'd keep everything light and playfull for the initiall period, the bonding and trust building period where all the learning is fun and she feels safe whilst learning. That doesn't mean not putting in place the building blocks for your boundries but just keeping it light hearted.

But you obviously know enough about all that having had a shepherd previously so all there is to say is good luck and enjoy........and maybe a photo??

My dealings with Bill went back about 30 years ago, before he was HUGE... we hung out looked at dogs, talked pedigrees and I came away with a lovely dog who fit my needs quite well.  The main issue that detractors seem to throw out is that the prices charged by his kennel and affliiates is quite high. If price isn't a major consern for you, and you spell out what you're looking for think you'll do fine.  A friend and I had bought a male pup who didn't pass OFA, and he was replaced with no issues, offered either an even trade on a similar breeding, or a discount (of more than the male's cost) on a 8 month old bitch that I fell in love with.

Bill's been responsible for some top show line dogs being imported into the US and broadened the genetic pool here also.