PIPER - PIXIE AND PANOS (FEMALE)
In early 2015 my wife JoAnna and I had to put our German Shepherd of 14 years down after a short
battle with Osteosarcoma. He was a wonderful dog with a great disposition, and other than some minor
arthritis and allergies was incredibly healthy his entire life. He was our first GSD and when we got him
we knew nothing of health testing or breed standards. We rolled the dice with a backyard breeder and
were lucky enough to come out as winners in the end.
With the knowledge that we accumulated over the last 14 years we began our search for a new breeder
with a better idea of what to watch out for. Now if I learned one thing during my search it’s that
breeders are some of the worst communicators in the world. I probably contacted 15 to 20 kennels
throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, and out of all them only two or three got back to me. One was a
small hobby breeder near Madison that was planning an upcoming litter to be whelped in May or June.
They did all the required health testing and the Sire and Dam where both from a very nice pedigree. So
we put ourselves on the list and waited for our puppy to arrive.
On April 2nd we got the news that the dam had failed to become pregnant and they advised us to start
looking for a new breeder. I was home from work that day, Jo called and said she found a breeder up in
Black River Falls called Creekside that we missed. I looked at the website, did a little research on their
dogs and shot a message to Jennifer through Facebook that night. I asked the standard questions
without ever really expecting to hear back from her. Her response to me was instant. The amazing part
about that is she was at the Vet with Pixie who was at that exact moment giving birth to a very large
litter of puppies. And it just so happened that she had a couple extra, so they actually had some pups
that weren’t yet spoken for. After some more research we put ourselves on the list and away we went.
Jennifer posted either videos or pictures of the puppies almost daily on Facebook so were able to see
them grow up a bit. After the first round of solo photos I noticed the “lime green” female had a certain
look in her eye. I don’t know why but there was something about the look she was giving the camera in
all her photos. She just looked like she had spunky independent attitude from her photo and that was
the type of dog we wanted.
At 4 weeks or so we made the drive up to Jennifer and Jays to meet them and the dogs. The one thing
that impressed me the most was just how nice and calm all of her dogs were. Especially Pixie, who
seemed more than willing to let a couple of complete strangers handle her puppies. We left for home
that day completely at ease with the decision we had made. Now all we had to do was wait and see if
we were able to get the puppy we wanted. Since we had last pick we were a little worried, but a couple
of weeks later we received the news we wanted to hear. Lime Green puppy was ours, we named her
Piper and brought her home the next week.
One thing we learned with our last dog is German Shepherds can be a bit of a “challenge” in the puppy
months. Jake gave us a nice little collection of destroyed shoes and furniture. But Piper who is now 5 ½
months old has been about as close to a perfect puppy as anyone could hope for. Maybe we’re just
better at this now but I was expecting so much more destruction, she hasn’t even gotten a pair of my
shoes. And now that teething is almost done and she is getting over the dreaded “landshark” phase,
maybe we’ll get through this with our house intact. Training has also been a breeze, this dog just loves
to work. The first night we got her home she learned sit in a matter of minutes of walking through the
door. From then on it’s been a steady progression of learned commands, too many to actually list here.
She just recently earned here STAR Puppy certification at the German Shepherd Dog Club of WI and
we’ve now started Beginner Obedience classes, and are on the road towards earning her Canine Good
Citizen title.
I will add one more thing, and this in my opinion is the most important aspect to consider when buying a
large powerful dog like the German Shepherd. And that is its temperament. These dogs have the power
to do serious damage to a human or another animal when they are full grown. A dog with questionable
breeding can be nervy, and a nervy dog of this size is a recipe for disaster. Anybody looking to own a
GSD has a responsibility to keep all of that in mind before they purchase. Jennifer and Jays dogs are calm
and stable, and they produce calm and stable dogs. The way Pixie acted towards us the day we met her
puppies was what convinced me we made the right decision, and Piper has proven me right. She has
been calm as can be in situations that will make other dogs jumpy or want to run and hide. Our
neighborhood can sound like a war zone with all the fireworks on the 4th of July. And a parade goes right
by our house within 20 feet of our front door. Fireworks, sirens, horses, loud motorcycles, she was
exposed to it all that day and none of it phased her. She handled it all like a champ
The entire experience from the day we first talked to Jennifer to the support we have received since we
brought Piper home has been nothing but positive. We are thinking about possibly getting another dog
in a couple of years after Piper is full grown, Creekside will definitely be our first call. Jeff and Joanna H.
battle with Osteosarcoma. He was a wonderful dog with a great disposition, and other than some minor
arthritis and allergies was incredibly healthy his entire life. He was our first GSD and when we got him
we knew nothing of health testing or breed standards. We rolled the dice with a backyard breeder and
were lucky enough to come out as winners in the end.
With the knowledge that we accumulated over the last 14 years we began our search for a new breeder
with a better idea of what to watch out for. Now if I learned one thing during my search it’s that
breeders are some of the worst communicators in the world. I probably contacted 15 to 20 kennels
throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, and out of all them only two or three got back to me. One was a
small hobby breeder near Madison that was planning an upcoming litter to be whelped in May or June.
They did all the required health testing and the Sire and Dam where both from a very nice pedigree. So
we put ourselves on the list and waited for our puppy to arrive.
On April 2nd we got the news that the dam had failed to become pregnant and they advised us to start
looking for a new breeder. I was home from work that day, Jo called and said she found a breeder up in
Black River Falls called Creekside that we missed. I looked at the website, did a little research on their
dogs and shot a message to Jennifer through Facebook that night. I asked the standard questions
without ever really expecting to hear back from her. Her response to me was instant. The amazing part
about that is she was at the Vet with Pixie who was at that exact moment giving birth to a very large
litter of puppies. And it just so happened that she had a couple extra, so they actually had some pups
that weren’t yet spoken for. After some more research we put ourselves on the list and away we went.
Jennifer posted either videos or pictures of the puppies almost daily on Facebook so were able to see
them grow up a bit. After the first round of solo photos I noticed the “lime green” female had a certain
look in her eye. I don’t know why but there was something about the look she was giving the camera in
all her photos. She just looked like she had spunky independent attitude from her photo and that was
the type of dog we wanted.
At 4 weeks or so we made the drive up to Jennifer and Jays to meet them and the dogs. The one thing
that impressed me the most was just how nice and calm all of her dogs were. Especially Pixie, who
seemed more than willing to let a couple of complete strangers handle her puppies. We left for home
that day completely at ease with the decision we had made. Now all we had to do was wait and see if
we were able to get the puppy we wanted. Since we had last pick we were a little worried, but a couple
of weeks later we received the news we wanted to hear. Lime Green puppy was ours, we named her
Piper and brought her home the next week.
One thing we learned with our last dog is German Shepherds can be a bit of a “challenge” in the puppy
months. Jake gave us a nice little collection of destroyed shoes and furniture. But Piper who is now 5 ½
months old has been about as close to a perfect puppy as anyone could hope for. Maybe we’re just
better at this now but I was expecting so much more destruction, she hasn’t even gotten a pair of my
shoes. And now that teething is almost done and she is getting over the dreaded “landshark” phase,
maybe we’ll get through this with our house intact. Training has also been a breeze, this dog just loves
to work. The first night we got her home she learned sit in a matter of minutes of walking through the
door. From then on it’s been a steady progression of learned commands, too many to actually list here.
She just recently earned here STAR Puppy certification at the German Shepherd Dog Club of WI and
we’ve now started Beginner Obedience classes, and are on the road towards earning her Canine Good
Citizen title.
I will add one more thing, and this in my opinion is the most important aspect to consider when buying a
large powerful dog like the German Shepherd. And that is its temperament. These dogs have the power
to do serious damage to a human or another animal when they are full grown. A dog with questionable
breeding can be nervy, and a nervy dog of this size is a recipe for disaster. Anybody looking to own a
GSD has a responsibility to keep all of that in mind before they purchase. Jennifer and Jays dogs are calm
and stable, and they produce calm and stable dogs. The way Pixie acted towards us the day we met her
puppies was what convinced me we made the right decision, and Piper has proven me right. She has
been calm as can be in situations that will make other dogs jumpy or want to run and hide. Our
neighborhood can sound like a war zone with all the fireworks on the 4th of July. And a parade goes right
by our house within 20 feet of our front door. Fireworks, sirens, horses, loud motorcycles, she was
exposed to it all that day and none of it phased her. She handled it all like a champ
The entire experience from the day we first talked to Jennifer to the support we have received since we
brought Piper home has been nothing but positive. We are thinking about possibly getting another dog
in a couple of years after Piper is full grown, Creekside will definitely be our first call. Jeff and Joanna H.
