Our breeding philosophy and goals are to produce working dogs, sport dogs, and family companions with excellent temperament, correct structure, and excellent health.  We do not breed show dogs.   We feel the German and American German Shepherd show dog breeders have deviated dangerously away from the original German Shepherd Dog as developed by Captain von Stephanitz.  http://maxvstephanitz.homestead.com/index.html   They have selected both incorrect structure and temperament. 

Our dogs do not have the crippled, grossly over angled or roached back show dog structure or the watered down temperament.  http://www.dogstuff.info/gsd_balance.html  Our dogs are full of temperament and personality to perform any job required of them.  http://www.leerburg.com/gsd-gate.htm

We select dogs that are social and good with children.  An inappropriately aggressive dog or an extremely sharp dog, that must be put away whenever visitors come over, is not what we consider the proper German Shepherd temperament. http://maxvstephanitz.homestead.com/mvs_temperament.html A personal or family protector cannot protect if it is always lock up when strangers are around.  Although the correct temperament for a German Shepherd is to be aloof and neutral with strangers, it must be social enough to accompany you during your daily activities and encounters with others when functioning as a working K9 or family companion.   

We consider the working blood lined German Shepherd to be the best family companion, child's friend, and family security you can buy.  As a working K-9, they have proven themselves as the best all around dog. Their potential is limited only by their trainer. 

All our dogs undergo OFA hip or foreign equivalent, before starting in our breeding program.  All puppies are vet checked, wormed, vaccinated, and either micro chipped and/or tattooed before leaving for their new homes.

We raise our pups using the "Super Dog" method to maximize their neurological development.

http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiever.html         

We extensively socialize our puppies to new situations, sounds, surfaces, adults and children ( I have 5 kids), and anything else we can find.  We feel this start will benefit the puppies and their new families greatly.  This helps develop confident, stable pups who view the world as an exciting place to investigate.

We are constantly evaluating each litter for their qualities in temperament, health, and structure but can only do this with the new owner's assistance.  We follow both horizontal pedigrees of our puppies( father/mother, grandparents, great grandparents...) AND vertical pedigrees ( litter mates ) to check for correct temperament, health, and structure.  With this complete picture of the dogs we produce, we can continue with successful breeding combinations or change them when required.  Please click on the following link to read about using horizontal and vertical pedigrees to determine proper breeding's. http://www.offa.org/hovanart.pdf