Meet the breeders

How did you first become involved with dogs?

We had a family pet called Laddie, an Airedale/Collie cross  who lived to the ripe old age of fourteen.

What attracted you to German Shepherds as a breed?

When I decided the time was right to get my own dog , I was looking for a medium to large size as that’s what I had been used to. I wanted something pleasing to the eye, that could be worked and would enjoy the mental stimulation of training and also be a loyal family companion. The German Shepherd stood out above the rest for me and so I purchased my first dog called Ben in 1980.

He was full of character and to be honest a bit of a handful at first and so we both went to school at a local “Alsatian” training club. Yes, it was that long ago the term was still widely used. We both learnt a lot and Ben progressed to a good level of training.

However, the methods used then were quite different in many ways from those I use now. Ben lived until the age of eleven and will never be forgotten as my first introduction to the breed.

What influenced you to breed German Shepherds?

Well, after Ben personal circumstances and work commitments meant that there was a break of ten years before getting my next shepherd. I decided this time to have a bitch called Flossy who was to be a family companion. Although being a very loving girl I soon realized that she was extremely nervous by nature and even to this day, she is now seven, this trait is still with her.

This started us off on our quest to produce better, and two years later we were lucky enough to hear of a litter of puppies who’s parents had both been trained for agility and obedience. We went to see them and both mother and father were good looking with good temperaments. The breeder offered us the choice of the bitches and we went for Molly.

As Molly developed her characteristics of a laid back temperament together with a willingness to learn gave us the idea that these good traits would go well towards developing good quality lines.

We then spent the next year researching the necessary requirements, which included having Molly’s hips scored. This proved to be successful, her score being within the guidelines set out by the BVA scheme. Things were gradually being put into place but we had to be patient.

We then moved to a cottage which gave us the facilities to let Molly breed and let her puppies have the best start in their lives.

With everything in place we decided to go ahead, feeling that we could make a positive contribution to this wonderful breed. The next step was now to find a suitable stud dog.

How did you find a stud dog?

This seemed like a daunting task at first ,especially as we were not in the show scene and therefore had limited contacts.

The internet came to the rescue and as Hazel is much better at operating the "mouse" than I am, she contacted some breeders who had stud dogs available. We only had one reply and will always be grateful to David and Rhoda Payne of the Videx kennel for their help and support in getting us started.

We took Molly to see them ,to make sure that she was suitable for breeding and then chose Immo vom mons Tabor  from their stud dogs. Molly didn’t complain and enjoyed it so much went back the following year for a second helping!!

Unfortunately both Mollies litters were huge, thirteen pups each time, this we learned was probably due to the fact that , she too ,was also  from a large litter, something we hadn’t considered. However you live and learn and with the great strain this put on her we felt we should retire her early, although her pups were a credit to her, thinking that she had done her bit.

I kept a bitch from her first litter (DEEVAZ AUKA “SOSH”) who has turned out to be the best worker so far, being extremely quick and willing to learn . Sosh is an “IMMO” look alike being one of the reasons  why I ran her on .

I made the decision only recently not to breed from her because she is small, although beautifully put together, and feel that she may not be able to cope if she too has large litters like her mum. I will, no doubt, always be wondering what she would have produced but it would not be fair to her to take the risk.

What are your plans for the future?

Well, we had the pleasure of looking after a long coated shepherd called Chester, his owner no longer being able to care for him. He was the most adorable giant of a dog. Sadly he was only with us for a few months before having to be put to sleep due to an illness which,  despite surgery, could not save him and has gone undiagnosed to this day.

He left such an imprint on us that we came to the decision, as Molly was being retired, to concentrate on trying to produce long coats as well as standard coats. We did in fact have many enquiries for long coats when Molly’s  last litter was available.

 So we now needed to find a good quality  foundation bitch carrying the long coat gene. We wanted the best  and so our first option was to contact  David and Rhoda again and to our amazement her best producer Maike vom Martlesberg was shortly due to whelp and occasionally produced long coat pups.

Luck was on our side and of her six pups one was a long coat bitch. We went to see her at four weeks, she was absolutely gorgeous and our foundation bitch had been found. Her name is Dina and she is now fourteen months old. We had her hips scored just after her first birthday and were delighted when the result came back from the BVA with a score of 8:3=11.

She is from German lines and is line bred 5,5 to Jeck vom Noricum therefore having a great background. She has a super temperament, beautiful markings and is a very big girl. We are currently on the look out for a suitable stud dog carrying the long coat gene and hope to mate her later in 2007.

What has been your greatest achievement so far?

We are not in the show scene from our own choice. Therefore we cannot talk of achievements in the sense of placings or cups and rosettes. We can only answer this in the context of our personal feelings, and have to say the best so far is finding Dina and watching her develop.

Dog breeding is not an exact science, being  in the main down to a lot of hard work and soul searching in trying to do the right thing to produce German Shepherd Dogs with the best in temperament, health, and looks. We have taken a great deal of time searching to achieve this.

What has been your biggest disappointment?

Undoubtedly losing Chester after such a short time. He will always be in our thoughts and we miss him terribly to this day.

Paul & Hazel Davis  2006