GSD Breeder experience... ongoing

[toyotaspeed90]

Oh...and be happy that the breeder didn't add in the future value of training 2 years of pups to that $25k!

The breeder who sold us the puppy and young adult who passed young does not do in-house training/obedience training classes. The young adult we got from her required as much, if not more, work than a puppy to get house broken, among other things.

The kennel/breeder we saw last weekend is the one that has training/obedience classes

I've done my best to keep this 'factual'.

Also to add - we cannot get a 'rescue' whether we trusted the temperament or not. We have tried a few and we have 2 things against us - we don't have a fenced yard (cannot get one, really) and we have small children. Those are essentially 'no go' reasons for the local GSD rescues and they refuse to even respond to an application.

 

[gilamonster]

Sad story, hopefully you get some closure in the end. But, like several other posters I wouldn't take another dog from this breeder. It sounds like they aren't real interested in what's best for their dogs. Only what's best for their wallets.

I can recommend the breeder I used for my gsd, but not sure if you are looking for anything like that. I'd buy a dog from her every year if I could afford it.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Things have just been odd..... until all of the dust settles I'm withholding the breeder name - for now I'll simply disclose they are in Washington and don't refer to themselves as a 'Kennel'.

The 'Kennel' we did work with, on the other hand, is doing great things. They have some unsavory reviews online, but ownership has changed hands in the past couple years (reviews were prior to that) and major changes have taken place there - with facilities, breeding program, and training. That breeder/kennel is Von Walberg Kennels.

We chose one of their prized 'young adults' because his temperament was so similar to our passed 5 year old it wasn't even funny - and I can tell you, that temperament is quite rare.

With that type of personality we should have taken a step back and thought/remembered what the bond was like between my wife and our passed pup. In that situation, my wife got her when the pup was 2 years old but didn't have the interaction/bonding/training that is equivalent to what Von Walberg offers. So when my wife got her, the pup bonded with my wife almost immediately. Even after years of being with her myself, the bond was strong but never what it was with my wife.

We believe the pup we got from Von Walberg had made that 'bond' with one of their trainers. He refused to eat (in 4 days he ate about 1lb of fresh food), didn't make a sound, and after 2 days (though we did our best to entice him, give him praise, attempt to give treats, go on walks, take him with when we went places) he just short of refused to leave one of the dog beds we had set up in our living room (and I was sleeping on the couch next to him during the night).

It unfortunately didn't work out - most of those traits/concerns are trainable or will change with time, but not drinking water and not eating was sort of the big concern.

We took him back on day 5.

While that wasn't fun, when I dropped him off he immediately perked up. After a week we got a follow up that he was "back to his loud rambunctious self" - none of which we saw.

We have decided to wait until 2019 to at least start talking about another pup.