About Us
I am a "small-time" breeder located north of Edmonton, Alberta. My family and I live in a farming community in an area in which I grew up - surrounded by people i've known for years. I have always loved animals - whether it was a "pet" cow I called Sassy, or one of the many unwanted strays that would turn up and call our farm home. I once even tried to rescue some baby mice after my cat ate their mother. My husband and I are both College and University educated individuals. I am educated as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal - but at this point in my life I am chosing to only work casually (primarily from home) as a Legal Assistant and doing webpage work, etc inorder to stay home for my children (and animals). I am breeding because I love German Shepherds, and I love the happiness a puppy/dog can bring to the lives of others.
I officially fell in love with the German Shepherd breed after watching the movie K-9, starring James Belushi. The beauty and intelligence of the breed immediately had me hooked. Some years ago I found my "birth" parents - only to find that I had two Aunts who bred/competed with German Shepherds - maybe this is something that is "in my blood", or maybe it's a coincidence. Regardless, this is the breed for me.
I received my first pure-bred German Shepherd in 1990 as a birthday gift. She was from a good breeder, with her father being on the Edmonton Police force. She was my best-friend and confidant for 12 years - with me through thick and thin. I always had the intention of breeding and/or competing with her, but life brought me children instead. Eventhough she didn't have titles behind her name, she was a wonderful friend to my kids and myself.
We live on a 1/4 section of land with our yard site being approximately 7 acres, which we have fenced in for the safety of our dogs. We have split our yard into two for times when we have to separate our dogs (to avoid an unplanned breeding or a personality conflict), or to keep them away from vehicles when we have company - and yet still being able to give them plenty of freedom. Very rarely do we use any pesticides or herbicides - not only for our own health but for the health of our pets. We have a chainlink and concrete dog run for instances when the dogs and/or pups may have to be kept separate, or for their safety when we are away for an extended period of time (which is very rare). We use crates only as necessary to maintain a healthy pack order. But overall our dogs are part of our family and have the freedom to roam the whole yard - they romp through the snow in winter and the leaves in fall. In the summer they love to pick peas from my garden. They have doggy beds in our insulated garage, with a doggy door to come and go through. Each night I "tuck them in" and give them a treat. They take turns going with us for car rides and coming into the house. We have committed to our 4 German Shepherds for the length of their lives. They are well-socialized loving dogs that have been raised around children.
At this point in my life I have chosen to not pursue "titles" for my dogs, which does not mean that I think they are not capable of achieving them. I have high regard for the intelligence of my dogs and may some day decide to prove it by having someone else tell me that yes, they are intelligent. And if that day comes - well, watch out when I put my mind to something. LOL
At this point I am committed to the puppies we produce. I am not a "puppy mill" and do not plan to breed my females more than about once a year inorder to give our females a chance to bounce back after having pups. We practice many of the teachings of the Monks of New Skete (their book is pictured on the left) when it comes to raising our pups.
Weeks 1 - 4 - Our pups are born in the house and stay in the house until they are about 4 weeks old - because in those early weeks it is very important that they receive lots of socialization with humans. In those first 4 or so weeks they received lots of handling, love and attention and they stay in a open central location where they are exposed to all of the normal household noises, smells and activities.
Weeks 4 - 7 - During this time they spend most of their time outside with all of our dogs inorder to learn how to socialize with other dogs - which is so very important at that stage of their lives. At the same time they are exposed to all of the sights, sounds and scents of being outside. We take them into different parts of our yard and let them investigate through trees, tall grass, etc because we firmly believe that having to think their way through small challenges at a young age will produce a much more intelligent dog. When they are not being supervised they call our garage and/or dog run home (depending on the weather) - we spend ALOT of time outside, but when we aren't watching we need to protect them from various dangers including the foxes, owls and hawks that we unfortunately have too many of.
Throughout we encourage the pups to use training pads, and try to get them accustomed to certain "people words". We and our dogs work jointly to produce healthy, intelligent, confident pups. We are committed to producing the best pups we can - ones that will be loving, devoted, healthy and intelligent companions.
