# Pacific Northwest Breeder Recommendations (WGSL's)



## JustinM509 (Sep 5, 2012)

So I'm starting my search again for a new German Shepherd puppy. In searching I've found a lot of the results are pretty old so I wanted to get a fresh take. 

Our amazing boy Nordik passed away unexpectedly at 5 1/2 from intestinal torsion and we were devastated but are finally ready to get another GSD. I did quite a bit of searching on here last time but ultimately got our boy from a nearby breeder with puppies available at the time. Multiple people on here had warned me against the particular breeder but admittedly we wanted a puppy quickly and went against that advice.

This time I would like to do a better job and not settle for the convenient option. We are willing to travel about anywhere in the Pacific Northwest including, western Washington, eastern Oregon, British Columbia, Idaho, and western Montana. We are located in Spokane, WA. We are looking for a HEALTHY, show line red/black, male puppy, to be an active hiking companion and family pet.

Here is where I'm at so far on breeders.

*Theishof Shepherds* is my #1 choice but her upcoming litters will be Sable's and are nearly all reserved. I spoke with Heidi who will have one "show line" litter probably available in 6+ months but based on some plans we have that might not work well for us.

Another choice that I've found is *Bullinger Shepherds* near Vancouver, BC. From what I've read on the forums she has a good reputation and I feel pretty comfortable getting a dog from her. I would love input, good and bad about Bullinger before we pull the trigger.

Are there any other comparable reputable breeders with beautiful, healthy, showline dogs in the PNW? I feel like there has to be! Any help would be awesome as we are looking to put down a deposit as soon as possible.

Thanks!


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

Heidi Theis is the only breeder I recommend any more. Her dogs are well worth the wait. 
Sheilah


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## happyheike (Apr 18, 2017)

My daughter has a *Candle Hill *Shepherd.
The breeder is in Northern Idaho and Vader was shipped at 8wks to New Jersey.
He is now 5yrs and healthy, steady as they come.
Tell the truth,wish he was mine.


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## Raven. (Jul 22, 2014)

Hi,

I picked up a puppy in September from Tracy and couldn't be happier with the match. I have been to some training classes nearby in Cloverdale and have met at least 15 other Bullinger Shepherds of various ages and feel even more comfortable with my decision to purchase her from Tracy.


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## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

Just met a 5 month old red/black pup from a breeder up in WA, what a nice temperament and structure! Sorry I forgot the kennel name.


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## giebel (Jul 28, 2016)

Hi Justin and forum folks!
My dilemma is somewhat similar to yours. My beloved 12 yo GSD passed away 18 months ago. About a year ago I feel I found the perfect breeder in Theishof. I’m looking for WGSL, companion dog, therapy work ,some ipo, stable sound temp, I work as a school counselor/ social worker and have worked at residential summer camp for the past 20 plus summers. So of course I would involve my dog in everything I do. I live in Nor Cal and would like to meet the Mother and Father before committing. Also I would prefer to get a pup in the spring or summer( when I have off from work and commit extra puppy bonding socializing time) I was on the list for a male stock coat pup from Theishof in the Spring of 17( 3rd on the list but the litter only produced two males). Currently Theishof has only sables coming up so I’m stuck in a dilemma to wait or go with another breeder. So far I haven’t found anyone at the caliber of Theishof. That being said I have not visited Bullinger or met any dogs of there’s. Suggestions anyone? Life is lonely without a beloved GSD on top of being a healthy option( I’ve gained weight without a dog Any other breeder recommendations? Willing to travel( 2 hour flight or up to 10 hours driving). Worst case scenario I will wait on a Theishof pup( a life long 13 year best buddy is no small decision)


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## cezcal20 (Mar 19, 2015)

*I looked online and found some WGSL breeders*

Illinois : https://www.mittelwest.com/
California : Von Salerno World Class German Shepherds Southern California
Washington state : https://www.helensberggermanshepherd.com/
Washington state: https://www.vonwaldberg.com/
Texas : Nevada Haus | German Shepherd Puppies for Sale | German Shepherd Breeder


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## JustinM509 (Sep 5, 2012)

giebel said:


> Hi Justin and forum folks!
> My dilemma is somewhat similar to yours. My beloved 12 yo GSD passed away 18 months ago. About a year ago I feel I found the perfect breeder in Theishof. I’m looking for WGSL, companion dog, therapy work ,some ipo, stable sound temp, I work as a school counselor/ social worker and have worked at residential summer camp for the past 20 plus summers. So of course I would involve my dog in everything I do. I live in Nor Cal and would like to meet the Mother and Father before committing. Also I would prefer to get a pup in the spring or summer( when I have off from work and commit extra puppy bonding socializing time) I was on the list for a male stock coat pup from Theishof in the Spring of 17( 3rd on the list but the litter only produced two males). Currently Theishof has only sables coming up so I’m stuck in a dilemma to wait or go with another breeder. So far I haven’t found anyone at the caliber of Theishof. That being said I have not visited Bullinger or met any dogs of there’s. Suggestions anyone? Life is lonely without a beloved GSD on top of being a healthy option( I’ve gained weight without a dog Any other breeder recommendations? Willing to travel( 2 hour flight or up to 10 hours driving). Worst case scenario I will wait on a Theishof pup( a life long 13 year best buddy is no small decision)




Hi there @giebel! Sorry to hear about your pup, 12 years must have been a great life but it’s never long enough! It’s definitely unfortunate Theishof doesn’t have what you’re looking for either. We just recently had to make the same decision; whether to wait for a Theishof or look somewhere else. A lot of the private messages encouraged me to wait and if you can then it is probably good advice. I started to look at breeders who share bloodlines or stud dogs with Theishof and found that both Mittlewest and Von Salerno (listed above in another post) had litters from the same Theishof U Litter father Solo  http://www.vonsalerno.com/Diva-x-Solo/. Also, Heidi’s Stud Male, Uric von der Piste Trophe also had a litter from Hodenhof  http://hodenhof.com/Litter_Sires.html in Canby, OR but I don’t really know anything about those breeders otherwise. Might be something to look into! That being said, we weren’t interested in shipping a dog and finally did decide on a Bullinger Shepherd based on a majority of good feedback and multiple conversations with Tracy Bullinger. She has a pretty long waiting list so fingers crossed we’ll have one soon!


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## Shepdad (Oct 24, 2017)

JustinM509 said:


> *Theishof Shepherds* is my #1 choice but her upcoming litters will be Sable's and are nearly all reserved. I spoke with Heidi who will have one "show line" litter probably available in 6+ months but based on some plans we have that might not work well for us.


You said "her upcoming litters will be Sable". I looked at her web site and she has 2 breedings coming up where the sires are sable WL and the dams are B&T (or B&R as some prefer) SLs. That means the litters are more likely to have some B&R pups and some sable pups.


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## Shepdad (Oct 24, 2017)

giebel said:


> Currently Theishof has only sables coming up so I’m stuck in a dilemma to wait or go with another breeder.


Again, when you breed sable to B&R, you can still get B&R pups.


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## giebel (Jul 28, 2016)

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yes I understand that sables can produce bnr but the pairings with Theishof current upcoming litters are not what I’m looking for( I should have clarified that so my apologies) Has anyone shipped a pup from Canada? If I got a dog from Bullinger it would be a two day long haul 15 hour drive. I read that dogs coming from Canada have to be 4 months and rabies vaccine. I definitely would prefer to get a pup at 8-9 weeks. Thanks everyone


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

There is a USCA show in Modesto/Merced area in April I think. You would get to see a lot of WGSL dogs there.


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## JustinM509 (Sep 5, 2012)

giebel said:


> Thanks everyone for the advice. Yes I understand that sables can produce bnr but the pairings with Theishof current upcoming litters are not what I’m looking for( I should have clarified that so my apologies) Has anyone shipped a pup from Canada? If I got a dog from Bullinger it would be a two day long haul 15 hour drive. I read that dogs coming from Canada have to be 4 months and rabies vaccine. I definitely would prefer to get a pup at 8-9 weeks. Thanks everyone




Tracy is very knowledgeable about the import process. They can be imported at 8 weeks with the proper paperwork and a confinement agreement per the cdc. Definitely worth a read and a discussion with Tracy about what it all means if it’s something your interested in.  https://www.cdc.gov/importation/laws-and-regulations/dog-confinement-agreements.html

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## giebel (Jul 28, 2016)

Thanks ,Yes i definitely want to check out the USCA national show in Ione Ca in April. Thanks again everyone for your knowledge , insight and passion for our beloved GSD's.


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## seattleK (Feb 23, 2017)

I live in Redmond, WA and got my pup from Vom HausReid in Eugene, OR. Jennifer is the daughter of Ray and have been breeding dogs for police and family companions for a Loooong time. We ourselves wanted a boy who is not too high on drive but is very trainable and would love the outdoors and that is exactly what we got. Jennifer is a little 'old school' and not the most prompt online but in person she gives you a 110%. Definitely recommend you take a look at them..



JustinM509 said:


> So I'm starting my search again for a new German Shepherd puppy. In searching I've found a lot of the results are pretty old so I wanted to get a fresh take.
> 
> Our amazing boy Nordik passed away unexpectedly at 5 1/2 from intestinal torsion and we were devastated but are finally ready to get another GSD. I did quite a bit of searching on here last time but ultimately got our boy from a nearby breeder with puppies available at the time. Multiple people on here had warned me against the particular breeder but admittedly we wanted a puppy quickly and went against that advice.
> 
> ...


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## Sweet Stella (Feb 7, 2018)

OP,

Who did you end up going with? I'm in Portland and just starting my search as our male passed away at the beginning of the month. I've only adopted in the past, so I'm not familiar with local breeding scene, will be interested in anything you've learned through your search. Thanks.


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## JustinM509 (Sep 5, 2012)

Sweet Stella said:


> OP,
> 
> 
> 
> Who did you end up going with? I'm in Portland and just starting my search as our male passed away at the beginning of the month. I've only adopted in the past, so I'm not familiar with local breeding scene, will be interested in anything you've learned through your search. Thanks.




Sorry for the REALLY late response but for the benefit of this thread at least we decided to go with Bullinger Shepherds in Vancouver BC. The import paperwork and process was very intimidating but ended up being easy although I’m not sure I’d do it again. Our first choice was Theishof but they did not have litters available that fit our timeline. Even with Bullinger we had to wait about 6 months for our Male. He is 9 months now and healthy, happy, and a handful but a beautiful dog.











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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

He is gorgeous! Enjoy him! Max has some bullinger gsd a bit back in his lines.


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## Laura (Mar 23, 2010)

Kistha Haus GSDs in Lower Lake, CA. We have two black sable DDRs, male and female. Excellent dogs at a reasonable price. Kim Haegely, on Facebook has several dogs and puppies available now.


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## lmsmith (Apr 3, 2019)

*Sweet Stella: Did you find breeders in PDX?*

Hi Sweet Stella. I'm new to GSD.com and I noticed you asked OP if she found a breeder she liked as you also live in the PDX area. I as well live in PDX and was wondering if your search for a breeder came up with any ones you would point me to from your searches. We are looking for a black female and are having a tough time finding anything locally. Much obliged!








Sweet Stella said:


> OP,
> 
> Who did you end up going with? I'm in Portland and just starting my search as our male passed away at the beginning of the month. I've only adopted in the past, so I'm not familiar with local breeding scene, will be interested in anything you've learned through your search. Thanks.


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## Sweet Stella (Feb 7, 2018)

lmsmith said:


> *Sweet Stella: Did you find breeders in PDX?*
> 
> Hi Sweet Stella. I'm new to GSD.com and I noticed you asked OP if she found a breeder she liked as you also live in the PDX area. I as well live in PDX and was wondering if your search for a breeder came up with any ones you would point me to from your searches. We are looking for a black female and are having a tough time finding anything locally. Much obliged!


Sorry for the super delayed response. Basically, what happened was I got put on a wait list for Theisof in Idaho and in the meantime was looking around at some other breeders, but ended up fostering a young GSD in a really bad situation to help out a rescue I work with and ended up just keeping the dog instead of getting a puppy. 

As far as local breeders go, I met with a few. The one that really impressed me was actually mentioned in this thread and that is Hodenhof in Canby. She's not a super big operation, but she was super responsive and nice and her kennel was very clean, her dogs super well kept and had very excellent temperaments. I have no doubt they would make phenomenal family pets. Her bitch who I was considering a littler from at the time nwas a Bullinger line dog and she uses studs from various breeders as mentioned above. They were all WGSL dogs, very beautiful dogs -- I admittedly am more drawn to WL Shepherds, but I was very impressed and would buy a pup from her in the future, for sure. 

As far as black Shepherds go, my friend recently got a black female from Kraftwerk. She's very stout and with a super bold temperament, but I would never pay those prices in a million years. Schraderhaus up by Olympia will have lots of black litters, she is a top-notch DDR breeder, not sure if you're into that. Theisof also is working WL stuff into her program, not sure if she's producing all black dogs, though. 

Best of luck (if you haven't found your dog already).


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