German Shoeherd breeder help

German Shepherd breeder help

A friend of mine said her parents are planning on getting a GSD to "replace" her when she goes off to college. Her father has owned a few in the past and really likes the breed. She said they were looking at a breeder in VA that they found in the paper but she wanted my advice on what to look for in a good breeder. I didn't want to overwhelm or confuse her so I mainly pushed health screening, even if you don't care about breeder ethics you'll care about your own dog's future health right?
She asked if I'd find her some breeders to show her parents.

So I looked and have a list, if anyone's willing to look at some or all of them I'd REALLY appreciate it. Some I really like, others I'm on the fence about. The last one confuses me a bit because the males are all titles and health tested but the females appear to have none of that?? Well here it goes:

1. Welcome to Blackthorn Working German Shepherds
2. vom Rheinland
3. Riddlebrook German Shepherds - Breeders of the finest quality German Shepherds
4. Estaron German Shepherds
5. vom Airmont German Shepherds
6. Rock Solid German Shepherds
7. index
8. DDR German Shepherds Breeder Working DDR German Shepherds
9. Connecticut German Shepherd Dog Breeder
10. Home
11. Guter Mannes Hirt - Home
12. german shepherds, welsh corgis with tails, EZ Brook

Thanks everyone, I'm starting to go cross eyed looking at them all, I'm sure I missed some things...not to mention I don't know what sort of titles should really be expected of breeding quality Shepherds.

lol this is trickier because they aren't overtly bad.

I say no to the last one because of this:
vs
United Schutzhund Clubs of America - Breed Standard
a kg is ~ 2.2 lbs. So a male should be 66-88lbs. Kinda out of standard, huh?

I'll look at the others.

What is the energy level they want for a dog?

The energy of a working line GSD can be too mush for some people.

I thought that too Sapphire, but a breeder should have something on the calmer end of the spectrum every once in a while.

From what I see of the second breeder I like it (except for the whole assaulted by their music thing lol)

I've been in contact with many working line GSD breeders and most of them on average get at least one pup per litter that is a dog with a lower drive and energy level. Sometimes you might have to wait a little before a pet quality pup is produced, but it happens pretty often.

Thanks for that Xandra, I hadn't noticed that on their site but I had on many others, it's amazing how many breeders I saw were advertising their "oversized plush shepherds" no thanks.


I'm not entirely sure what energy level they are looking for. So if they want a shepherd I'm showing them a shepherd breeder and hoping they know what real shepherds are like and aren't used to watered down ones. The rest is up to the breeder, I'm sure they'll provide the proper pup for the family. She told me her father would not get a rescue dog because he wanted a high quality Shepherd and was willing to spend up to $3000 so maybe he has experienced good ones, who knows. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow though, but I want to give her the list tomorrow, I'm not sure if she's going on internship or not. If she is then tomorrow's her last day of high school.

Well, Maxy, I wouldn't imagine they'd need a terribly high energy dog to herd shoes


(Sorry, couldn't resist, I guess you gotta make sure you keep the Birkenstocks separated from the Manolos :rofl1: )

LOL yes I noticed that and it's been fixed

LOL! I kept looking at it and thinking, "another rare breed?"

And then it hit me :doh:

well I tried to fix it....it didn't work out so well

these are "showline" breeders, not my cup of tea, but I've seen some of their dogs and they're nice. And they do show and work their dogs, i've worked some of them and they're in VA i think.

Home of German Shepherds

also a place in VA i've seen dogs from, working and show

~*~Home of VA 3

Have you thought about asking DanL? His Gunnar's an impressive, well balanced GSD

Sorry, nothing useful to contribute, LOL

OMG...........those two fluff ball pups sitting together on the front page are giving me PUPPY FEVER.......BIG TIME! Those cute floppy ears standing up and tilting in..........SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!

That is all

Why thank you! We totally lucked out with him and really only knew we wanted a "German" line dog- had no clue about show vs working splits in the German lines. Our breeders litters after his were all German show lines- nice looking dogs but not a whole lot of drive.

Honestly, you can find an excellent GSD for well under $1000- there is no need to spend $3000 unless you are importing something from proven working lines, and even then, it's a crap shoot. My friend sells his for around 600 bucks and they are real nice working line dogs. Several of them are police dogs now, all over the country. He'd be considered a BYB by many here but my next dog will come from him. His dogs are worked, taken care of, and are very healthy and stable temperamented.

The best thing is to visit the breeders, observe their dogs, and see what you like. That's how we found Gunnar, who is half working and half German show line

are the people located in Virginia? (I see your from Mass), there are some good breeders in the new england area depending on what they are looking for.

I'd say the average price for a working line can be 12-1800..german show lines are usually higher.

While I didn't look at many of the links you posted, I've heard good things about Rheinland,,in CT there is Old Farm Kennels (they have gorgeous working line dogs),,there's a couple in Mass that have nice dogs.

I think first, they have to know what type they want to live with, what if anything, they want to do with the dog, do they want high energy? low energy?

Thanks for the input everyone, I'll recommend Rheinland for sure. I'm going to take off sachsenwolf, windy ridge, Rock Solid, Guter Mannes Hirt, and EZ Brook. Should I take off Estaron simply because they are show breeders? (in your opinion).

If I did it would leave:

1. Welcome to Blackthorn Working German Shepherds
2. vom Rheinland
3. Riddlebrook German Shepherds - Breeders of the finest quality German Shepherds
4. vom Airmont German Shepherds
5. DDR German Shepherds Breeder Working DDR German Shepherds
6. Connecticut German Shepherd Dog Breeder

Can anyone specifically say what it is they don't like about each one, I don't want to take them off just because you don't like them, not that I don't trust you Just would like to be informed, I don't know how easy it is to get some of those titles.

Release the hounds: My only issues with those breeders are the amount of litters they appear to be breeding, perhaps I'm misunderstanding...the first one looks like it has 8 recent/soon to be litters (perhaps the females are owned by someone else?). The second has two litters due this month, perhaps that is all they'll have but if not then I am concerned, plus having two litters at once seems like a bit much too.

I'll add old farm kennels to the list, although I can't seem to find too much health testing on them, some are but many are not. Is there any database like OFA for that German version of hip/elbow testing? So I can type in the names and see if they've been tested?

My friend is from Massachusetts as well. They had found a breeder in VA so I know they are willing to go to surrounding states.

I do not know if they plan to do anything with the dog or what energy level they want. All I know is the father likes shepherds and they have two young kids (middle school aged and kindergarten age).

Thanks for the help everyone!

More than 'cause they are show breeders, the reason would be they are AKC dogs.

Many people (including myself) don't consider the AKC a REAL GSD.

If your friend wants to work this dog, or participate in sports an akc is not recomended Unless your friend wants to show in the AKC , this type of dogs have being breed MOSTLY for the flying trot, and not any type of working abilty.


The german showline ( west lines) is different, they are capable of doing work some of them can have sch 3 and this is a very difficult test , in fact in germany at least one of the parents needs a sch title to be bred.


In this list of 6 breeders, they appear to be very good, I like a lot the breeders #3 and #4.

I'm not and expert in DDR and czech lines, so I'm not sure on the conformation.

Your friend has a particular line in mind?

If not you can show this link to help Breed Types & Related Families

Umm, my dog is AKC registered and is a working line/German show line cross. AKC has nothing to do with the dogs breeding, only that it's registered with AKC.

If you are talking about American show line dogs, yes, very few can do any kind of work. The German show lines are not a lot better, dont' let the Sch titles fool you.

I had a chance to check out your "pics" above.

First Old Farm in CT, imports alot of dogs, their breeding stock IS ofa'd or german stamped. so they do health test their breeding stock.

There's kind of a mismash of different lines going on. You've got some that are DDR/czech and some west german. I think you need to find out EXACTLY what your friends want to do with a dog.

Also there is Ryanhaus I think in salsbury MA? and Miles River in MA. they both have nice dogs.

IF your friends do NOT want HIGH energy , GO GO GO, and "I NEED A JOB" type dog, I would advise them to stay away from the czech lines. I have a czech (my 2nd) and they are definately NOT for everyone, very high maintenance. Most tend to have alot of defense drive and well, if they don't know what their doing, they may not like what they end up with.

If they are looking to do schutzund, protection work, then go with a breeder who is doing just that with their dogs.

Obedience, agility, while I don't see those things mentioned on the breeders you posted, it's not out of the norm but I'd be looking maybe for something a little lower keyed.

While many of the die hard german dog owners/breeders think the american lined dogs are crap, there are some very nice AM lined dogs out there that do well in obed/agility/good companions, you just have to know what your looking for.

But then again, you have to know what your looking for and what you expect and want out of a dog.

I really suggest they check out Miles River and/or Ryan haus since they live in MA . Nice dogs, middle of the road, ddr lines, I always found my ddr dogs easy trainers and easy to live with (tho some may disagree).

Oh yes I ment the american show lines, sorry about that.

And thanks for the sch comment.