7/7/2023

VON HOFFNUNG ("of Hope") Home of Von Hoffnung “of hope” German Shepherds. Long Coat and Standard Coated Puppies. Our dogs are the old line German Shepherds of carefully selected bloodlines: DDR (East German), Czech and Slovak, as well as old world West German bloodlines, bred for work, security, and companionship. We want sensible yet Happy dogs, ge...

2/14/2023

Many people have experienced the frustration of trying to work with a dog who simply does not have correct temperament for the task at hand. But with a dog of good temperament, training for a given task becomes almost easy. Years ago when I was looking for my first Search and Rescue dog to train, I learned that many dogs are simply not suited to the w...

2/13/2023

For twenty years now, we have been breeding fine German Shepherd Dogs. What separates a Breeding Program from simply “breeding dogs” is that a Breeding Program is constantly working toward an ideal, testing dogs to see how they contribute to that ideal, and checking progeny for Health and Temperament over time by keeping in touch with Puppy Families. A...

2/13/2023

With the proven record of the German Shepherd Dog in the Seeing Eye, herding, police work, and as family guard and companion, most of us realize that a good shepherd is the best dog we could ever imagine. But how do you go about finding a good one among the sea of poorly bred ones that are so common? Something I have learned about selecting a dog:  yo...

8/4/2022

German Shepherd Definitions The credentials of the German Shepherds that comprise our World Class breeding stock speak for themselves. All are 100% West German bloodlines with Koerklasse 1. To achieve this coveted Koerklasse 1 (Kkl1) rating, the dogs must compete for titles in Germany or America under the rules and auspices of the Club for GermanShep...

8/2/2022

March 12, 2012 Am I a Snob? Why I Don’t Like Doodle Dogs – 21 by Brian Lynn In my last blog about the AKC registration statistics, Gun Dogger Garry Pennycuff took exception to a line about the fad of crossing an absurd number of breeds with poodles. I didn’t want to sidetrack the conversation at that point, but I will gladly go into more detail now....

7/25/2015

Cardinal and Elsa LONG COATED GERMAN SHEPHERDS (Long haired German Shepherds) When Rittmeister von Stephanitz first brought attention to the German Shepherd Dog as a recognized breed, there were two varieties of coat in the dogs, long coat and the short stock coat most often seen today. Stephanitz, recognizing the incredible versatility of this do...

7/25/2015

Macho One of the reasons to choose a German Shepherd is for their innate protection and guarding ability.  Of dog breeds, the German Shepherd is distinctly reserved with strangers and able to discern between friend and foe.  With special training, such as Schutzhund (IPO) or Personal Protection, these natural instincts can be developed such that th...

4/18/2015

One of the things our dogs enjoy is tracking.  It is innate to dogs to be able to follow a scent all the way to it’s source. The dog’s ability to smell is said to be anywhere from 10,000 times to 100,000 times better than a humans.   There is great comfort in knowing that your dog will be able to find a missing family member.  We use this ability of...

6/28/2014

At five weeks old, you can start to see the difference in coat type from a long coated German Shepherd puppy and a short standard coated puppy.  It is more difficult in person than in these photos, but here you go. Did you figure it out? In both pictures, the puppy on the left is the long coated pup.  The best way to tell is looking at the muzz...