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.
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.
Nodody 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 competitions. 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 given regarding health issues.
This Husky Shepherd cross is
another common mixed breed.
Second; Different Lines of Shepherds Have Different Purposes.
In the '60s, the breed 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. (See right) The breeders at the time unintentionally gave up
some of the highly desireable traits that the original Shepherds were bred for;
that is, fighting spirit, prey and defensive drives, 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 may requires less 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 no show breeder will breed to a top
working line dog, nor will a working dog owner breed to a show line dog! Each
time this has been tried in the last 30 years, the product was unacceptable to
both groups. We got dogs that were reluctant
to work that would fare badly in shows! The
efforts do continue however, and we wish
them luck.I
There may be as many as 30 or so working
Shepherd breeders in Canada, but there are
many, many more breeders of the show line dogs, so how do you tell the
difference? Look for titles behind the names of the parents. IPO, SchH, and all
the 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.
ABOVE; Earl von Haus Juros, FH, IPO3 several times. He was 'V' rated in conformation by SV
Judge Harald Hohman in 2017. Earl is one of our stud dogs. He recently achieved
the High score in Tracking phase at the Prairie Regional Championships, with
197/200 points.
…pictures by Julia Grayson, Austin TX
At Sunshadows German Shepherds, we've focused on breeding only working lines, and over the past
35 years, we've carefully selected some of the best dogs available from Europe as our breeding foundation
dogs. We continue to do so to this day. Our contacts in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, are watching for an
outstanding young dog, and when they see one, we are informed. We then scrutinize the pedigrees of the
suggested dog and if it fits with our own lines and the type of personality and temperament we require , only
then, we may purchase it - after going to see it.
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. Much of those drives have been lost in the
show lines, traded in for beauty.
Exceptional German Shepherd Dogs.
“We guarantee that purchasing one of our working Shepherds will give you a super loyal dog that would 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.”
Dogs Available Now
Tawni von Bullinger
Working line stud dog, Amok von
Klimmer
All Purebreds Are Not Created Equal!
What Sets Sunshadows German Shepherds Apart?
At the moment, we have no adult dogs available, but we are
about to breed a couple of litters ready in spring of 2020.
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 competitions.
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 given
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 much less
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 no show breeder
will breed to a top working line dog, nor will a working dog
owner 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 not only
reluctant to work, but also fared badly in shows! The
efforts do continue however, and we wish them luck.
There may be as many as 30 or so working Shepherd
breeders in Canada, but there are many, many more
breeders of the show line dogs, so how do you tell the
difference? Look for titles behind the names of the parents.
IPO, SchH, and all the 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.
Show line German Shepherd
Available Now
At Sunshadows German Shepherds, we've focused on
breeding only working lines, and over the past 35 years,
we've carefully selected some of the best dogs available from
Europe as our breeding foundation dogs. We continue to do
so to this day. Our contacts in Europe, the U.S. and Canada,
are watching for an outstanding young dog, and when they
see one, we are informed. We then scrutinize the pedigrees
of the suggested dog and if it fits with our own lines and the
type of temperament we are selecting, we may purchase it -
after going to see it.
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. Much of those drives have been lost in the show
lines, traded in for beauty.
Earl von Haus Juros, FH, multiple times IPO3. He was 'V'
rated in conformation by SV Judge Harald Hohman in
2017. Earl is one of our stud dogs. He recently achieved
the High score in Tracking phase at the Prairie Regional
Championships, with 197/200 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.”
All Purebreds Are Not Created Equal!
What Sets Sunshadows
German Shepherds Apart?
At the moment, we have no
adult dogs available, but we are
about to breed a couple of litters ready in spring of 2020.
picture by Julia Grayson, Austin TX
Labradoodle
Shepherd - Husky cross
‘Flips’ - multiple IGP 3 titles