Our Training Secrets Revealed
This book shares the methods, and the step by step procedures we use in
our obedience school to get our student's dogs to achieve winning scores and
obedience ribbons.
$24.95 CDN or $20.00 US.
Get it at our kennel office, 4352 Middleton Rd, Grasswood, SK, S&T1A9, or
request a mailing. Just send us an email, along with your address.
Registered Shepherds vs Unregistered ones.
Registered dogs have a recorded pedigree that goes back many generations. The records are stored
at a central location where the breed registry is kept; generally by an official government regulated
body. In Canada, this is the Canadian Kennel Club, the CKC. There are all sorts of regulations in place
to ensure that dogs are presicely what their breeders claim them to be, and that the parents are
registered so the bloodlines remain pure. This ensures that German Shepherds are not mixed with
Pomeranians and vice versa.
Tawni von
Bullinger
PUPPY FOR SALE
We have one female puppy from our ‘R’ litter available.
None have been chosen, but we’ve finally satisfied all
of our puppy requests for this breeding season.
Her mother is Sunshadows Inca, and father is
Sunshadows Pan.
Many of the dogs you'll see advertised are not registered, and although they may look like purebreds -
and may actually be - there is no way to ensure that they are. These dogs may be produced by 'backyard
breeders' who happen to have a Shepherd and who have a friend who has one, and they agree that their
dogs are just the best thing they've ever seen. Nobody wants to go to the expense and bother of
registering a breeding kennel, doing the paperwork and paying for litter registrations, so they just breed
the two dogs, produce puppies and advertise them as GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs). This is semi-
allowable unless they claim that the dogs are "Purebred". If they do that, they've broken the law. If only
one of the parents are registered, the pups may not get registered until the other parent becomes
registered.
As a result, unregistered dogs will usually sell for significantly less money because they cannot be shown
in official Shows or Breed Surveys. Besides, hobby breeders may not invest a lot in the process,
sometimes missing vaccinations, worming, etc, and even trying to sell the pups before the optimal 7
weeks of age. There may or may not be any guarantees regarding health issues.
Second; Different Lines of Shepherds for Different Purposes.
A Shepherd from show lines
In the '60s, the breed got split into two sub-breeds; working lines and show lines. The show lines are
mainly bred for their conformation; that is, structure and movement, and these dogs are beautiful to see,
moving gracefully and stacking (the stance needed for the show ring). There were some sacrifices made
to achieve this look. The breeders at the time unintentionally gave up some if the highly desireable traits
that the original Shepherds were bred for; that is, fighting spirit, prey and defensive drive, desire to work,
and the sturdy, squarer stance displayed by all the other canids seen in nature.
By far the largest group of GSD breeders fall into the show category. Showing a dog requires different
work than training it to track, do obedience, and do protection tests.
Currently, there is an effort to attempt to bring the two lines back to one, but the problem is that show
breeders are reluctant to breed to a top working line dog, and working dog owners won’t breed to a show
line dog! Each time this has been tried during the past 30 years, the results have been unacceptable to
both groups; dogs that were less willing to work, and fared badly in shows! The efforts do so continue
however, and we wish them luck.
Two Working Dogs below
Chase, a working dog
with excellent conformation.
There may be as many as 30 or so working Shepherd breeders in Canada, but there are many more
breeders of show line dogs, so how do you tell the difference? Look for titles behind the names of the
parents. IPO, IGP, SchH, plus Herding, Obedience and sport titles tell you that at least the parents are
trainable and have some drive to work. The 'real' telling titles are the IPO, IGP (International Trial Rules)
and SchH (Schutzhund) titles that prove that the dog has attained standards in tracking, obedience and
protection tests. These are the tests that the Germans designed in order to select dogs that are elegible
to be bred.
Labradoodle, a mixed breed‘designer’
dog resulting from a cross between a
Labrador Retriever and a Standard Poodle.
Labradoodles are a popular mixed breed that
cannot be registered and are not 'purebred' dogs.
Pan, a working
area guard dog.
Caper, a competition dog.
Left, a dog from a famous
Canadian show kennel that we
are working in the IGP sport,
planning to title in the Fall.
We may be offering a Tracking Class in the Fall
meeting twice a week for 8 classes. The cost
is $252.00 and maximum class size is 8,
with 2 and 3 instructors. Indicate your interest by email
and we’ll contact you to let you know about a start date/
Just for your Information…
Pan
Full bite on the attack
arm by Pan.
All Purebreds Are Not Created Equal!
What Sets Sunshadows German Shepherds Apart?
Many of the dogs you'll see advertised are not registered, and although they may look
like purebreds - and may actually be - there is no way to ensure that they are. These
dogs may be produced by 'backyard breeders' who happen to have a Shepherd and who
have a friend who has one, and they agree that their dogs are just the best thing they've
ever seen. Nobody wants to go to the expense and bother of registering a breeding
kennel, doing the paperwork and paying for litter registrations, so they just breed the two
dogs, produce puppies and advertise them as GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs). This is
semi-allowable unless they claim that the dogs are "Purebred". If they do that, they've
broken the law. If only one of the parents are registered, the pups may not get registered
until the other parent becomes registered.
As a result, unregistered dogs will usually sell for significantly less money because they
cannot be shown in official Shows or Breed Surveys. Besides, hobby breeders may not
invest a lot in the process, sometimes missing vaccinations, worming, etc, and even
trying to sell the pups before the optimal 7 weeks of age. There may or may not be any
guarantees regarding health issues.
Second; Different Lines of Shepherds for Different
Purposes.
In the '60s, the breed got split into two sub-breeds;
working lines and show lines. The show lines are mainly
bred for their conformation; that is, structure and
movement, and these dogs are beautiful to see, moving
gracefully and stacking (the stance needed for the show
ring). There were some sacrifices made to achieve this
look. The breeders at the time unintentionally gave up
some if the highly desireable traits that the original
Shepherds were bred for; that is, fighting spirit, prey and
defensive drive, desire to work, and the sturdy, squarer
stance displayed by all the other canids seen in nature.
By far the largest group of GSD breeders fall into the
show category. Showing a dog requires different work
than training it to track, do obedience, and do protection
tests.
Currently, there is an effort to attempt to bring the two
lines back to one, but the problem is that show breeders
are reluctant to breed to a top working line dog, and
working dog owners won’t breed to a show line dog!
Each time this has been tried during the past 30 years,
the results have been unacceptable to both groups; dogs
that were less willing to work, and fared badly in shows!
The efforts to do so continue however, and we wish them
luck.
Useful Things to Know about buying a
German Shepherd...
or any dog, for that matter!
There are a few things that may be useful to understand
about the German Shepherds you'll be seeing on your
web search. You'll note a vast discrepancy in prices in
your first glance, and I'll try to address why that is so.
First: Registered Shepherds vs Unregistered ones.
Registered dogs have a recorded pedigree that goes
back many generations. The records are stored at a
central location where the breed registry is kept;
generally by an official government regulated body. In
Canada, this is the Canadian Kennel Club, the CKC.
There are all sorts of regulations in place to ensure that
dogs are presicely what their breeders claim them to be,
and that the parents are registered so the bloodlines
remain pure. This ensures that German Shepherds are
not mixed with Pomeranians and vice versa.
Labradoodles are a popular mixed breed that cannot
be registered and are not 'purebred' dogs.
Many of the dogs you'll see advertised are not
registered, and although they may look like purebreds -
and may actually be - there is no way to ensure that they
are. These dogs may be produced by 'backyard
breeders' who happen to have a Shepherd and who
have a friend who has one, and they agree that their
dogs are just the best thing they've ever seen. Nobody
wants to go to the expense and bother of registering a
breeding kennel, doing the paperwork and paying for
litter registrations, so they just breed the two dogs,
produce puppies and advertise them as GSDs (German
Shepherd Dogs). This is semi-allowable unless they
claim that the dogs are "Purebred". If they do that,
they've broken the law. If only one of the parents are
registered, the pups may not get registered until the
other parent becomes registered.
As a result, unregistered dogs will usually sell for
significantly less money because they cannot be shown
in official Shows or Breed Surveys. Besides, hobby
breeders may not invest a lot in the process, sometimes
missing vaccinations, worming, etc, and even trying to
sell the pups before the optimal 7 weeks of age. There
may or may not be any guarantees regarding health
issues.
Second; Different Lines of Shepherds for Different
Purposes.
In the '60s, the breed got split into two sub-breeds;
working lines and show lines. The show lines are mainly
bred for their conformation; that is, structure and
movement, and these dogs are beautiful to see, moving
gracefully and stacking (the stance needed for the show
ring). There were some sacrifices made to achieve this
look. The breeders at the time unintentionally gave up
some if the highly desireable traits that the original
Shepherds were bred for; that is, fighting spirit, prey and
defensive drive, desire to work, and the sturdy, squarer
stance displayed by all the other canids seen in nature.
By far the largest group of GSD breeders fall into the
show category. Showing a dog requires different work
than training it to track, do obedience, and do protection
tests.
Currently, there is an effort to attempt to bring the two
lines back to one, but the problem is that show breeders
are reluctant to breed to a top working line dog, and
working dog owners won’t breed to a show line dog!
Each time this has been tried during the past 30 years,
the results have been unacceptable to both groups; dogs
that were less willing to work, and fared badly in shows!
The efforts do so continue however, and we wish them
luck.
Two Working Line Shepherds Below
There may be as many as 30 or so working Shepherd
breeders in Canada, but there are many more breeders
of show line dogs, so how do you tell the difference?
Look for titles behind the names of the parents. IPO, IGP,
SchH, plus Herding, Obedience and sport titles tell you
that at least the parents are trainable and have some
drive to work. The 'real' telling titles are the IPO, IGP
(International Trial Rules) and SchH (Schutzhund) titles
that prove that the dog has attained standards in
tracking, obedience and protection tests. These are the
tests that the Germans designed in order to select dogs
that are elegible to be bred.
A Shepherd from
show lines
At Sunshadows German Shepherds, we've focused
on breeding only working lines, and over the past 41
years, we've carefully selected from the best dogs
available from Europe for our breeding stock.
We continue to do so to this day using contacts in
Europe, the U.S. and Canada
We would never claim that by purchasing one of our
Shepherds you could win in conformation matches, but
sadly, there are many show breeders that currently
claim that their dogs can do competitive tracking,
obedience, and protection, and they are partly right -
until it comes to protection. Some of those drives have
been lost in the show lines, traded in for beauty.
Above - Earl von Haus Juros, FH, multiple times
IPO3. He was 'V' rated in conformation by SV
Judge Harald Hohman in 2017. Earl has now retired
as one of our stud dogs. He achieved the High
score in Tracking phase at the Prairie Regional
Championships in 2018 with 197 out of 200 points.
Exceptional German Shepherd Dogs.
“We guarantee that purchasing one of our working
Shepherds will give you a super loyal dog that will
sacrifice its life for you and your family and provide you
with secure peace of mind during its time with you.
You will get a highly intelligent, active dog who wants
to work and make you happy. Our lines have been
carefully bred to be responsive to their owner's needs
and make excellent competition, companion and
service dogs. They are great with children and nasty
to those who threaten their people.”
Earl vom Hous Juros
Labradoodle
‘Flips’ - multiple IGP 3 titles
Put Our Experience At Your Fingertips
Pictures by Julia Grayson,
Austin TX
Sunshadows Bravo SchH3
FYI,
We may be offering a Tracking Class in the
Fall meeting twice a week for 8 classes.
The cost is $252.00 and maximum class
size is 8, with 2 and 3 instructors.
Indicate your interest by email
and we’ll contact you to let you know
about a start date