# Looking for a breeder in IL



## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

We purchased a GSD puppy from a breeder here in IL last fall. The puppy was 7 months old when she suddenly collapsed and died a few weeks ago. The postmortem showed she died from gastric torsion/bloat. The breeder avoided us and was uncommunicative--we had to chase her to get any response. The puppy came with a health guarantee, but the breeder is offering us nothing but $200 off another puppy even though HER OWN VET did the postmortem and told us that the torsion can be genetic/congenital. We do want to get another puppy, as we had planned on the pup being part of our family for years. However, having had such a negative experience with this breeder, we do not want to risk dealing with her again and are seeking a different breeder.

We are interested in German show lines, not working lines. The dog will be our family pet, and we do have a 5-year-old. Our puppy was soooo good with our little one--very protective of her when she was outside, yet would play so gently with her.

Can anyone recommend a REPUTABLE breeder in the northern IL/southern WI area that is known to communicate with their puppy owners beyond the sale?

Thanks!


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## jaggirl47 (Jul 18, 2009)

I know you said German show lines, but I have been very pleased with my breeder. He does Czech Working Lines. If you are interested, I will post his info. He is in Illinois.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Robin from Huerta Hoff is a member here and carefully/responsibly breeds SL's.
Kennel Team Huerta Hof German Shepherds - German shepherd dog
The link for their website isn't working, PM(robinheurta) her here to get in contact
Sorry about the loss of your pup


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I'm sorry for your loss especially in such a young dog

No breeder can guarantee against bloat, to many factors go into it. Good luck in your search


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Carlos and Robin Huerta (Huerta Hof)


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

sorry to hear about your PUP!!!!!!!

as Jakoda mentioned though bloat really isn't the breeders fault, and the breeder most likely did not lie about the pup being healthy.


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## fam07 (Apr 17, 2011)

There are some recent pics of Huerta Hof pups. If you do a name search you should be able to find them. Our puppy is one of them!


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## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

We understand that bloat isn't the breeder's fault, nor was it caused by anything we did. Just a crummy fluke. It was the way the breeder treated us that was so bad--slow to return even the initial call that the puppy died, then not calling us back when she said she would, then yesterday she lied to my husband about what her vet told her. My husband called the vet back and asked if he'd talked to the breeder, and he said he had, and that he told her the same thing he told my husband--that there can be a genetic aspect of bloat. I know she couldn't have forseen it, but given that the puppy was so young and there were no symptoms or warning, and based on the opinion of HER vet, we thought she might honor the health guarantee by at least offering to split the cost of a new puppy. Unfortunately, we're left with 3 heartbroken kids and a lot of time and money invested, so we're very wary going forward with another puppy.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I can't blame you for being wary, unfortunately stuff happens and it isn't alway good

I would definately contact Robin she is a member here and has an excellent reputation for producing nice dogs


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

jaggirl47 said:


> I know you said German show lines, but I have been very pleased with my breeder. He does Czech Working Lines. If you are interested, I will post his info. He is in Illinois.


:thumbup:

Getting my pup from the same breeder.


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

LaRen616 said:


> :thumbup:
> 
> Getting my pup from the same breeder.


agreed, not show lines, but some beautiful Czech dogs


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## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

Who is your breeder? Sounds like several on the forum recommend them.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

Ferguson said:


> Who is your breeder? Sounds like several on the forum recommend them.


Shepherds By Design 

http://www.shepherdsbydesignk9.com/

I just figured out that you were asking about Robin! OOPS!


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

If you're looking for a German show line puppy and you're in IL, speaking to Robin at Huerta Hof would be a great start.

She's a member of this board and is a pretty active poster.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

Lucy Dog said:


> If you're looking for a German show line puppy and you're in IL, speaking to Robin at Huerta Hof would be a great start.
> 
> She's a member of this board and is a pretty active poster.


:thumbup: I second this. 

If I were getting a German Showline GSD, I would get one from her.


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## sagelfn (Aug 13, 2009)

Agree with everyone else. Robin and Carlos Huerta :thumbup:


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## Xeph (Jun 19, 2005)

If I were looking for a German show line, I'd go to Robin and Carlos


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## boeselager (Feb 26, 2008)

I would also go with Robin and Carlos if I was looking for West German Show lines!!! Don't know them personally, but have heard a ton of good things about them


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## beginnerGSD (May 8, 2011)

Hello.
It seems that everyone points to Huerta Hof, which I will look into for my first GSD. However, I did meet a dog in my neighborhood from My Body Guard Dogs, located in Marengo, IL. He was massively beautiful, and seemed to have a wonderful temperment (he also seemed like a big whiny baby). Is anyone familiar with that breeder?

Also, can anyone elaborate on the GSD and cats? I will get a puppy, but if the pup doesn't come home until 8 weeks +/-, is it later than desirable in the socialization period regarding exposure? 

Thank you!


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

Never heard of My Body Guard Dogs. But as far as cats, there should be no problem with the pup but the cat may have some issues. As far as the 8 weeks old that is not to old, it is about the right age and in the State of IL it is the law that puppies can not be sold before 8 weeks. So do not let anyone sell you a pup younger than that.


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

My female never met a cat until she was about a year old. It was actually a litter of abandoned kittens that I fostered. They were about 4-5 wks old. She fell in love with them. She is good with cats/kittens in the house, but we still have issues with her wanting to chase outside when they run. Just remember slow introductions. Through a door at first, then a gate, then just you in the door way and let the cat/kitten go to the dog to sniff.


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

I don't know any breeder that guarantees a puppy against bloat. If Huerta Hof do than that is wonderful. I would not bad mouth your original breeder just based on unfortunate death of your puppy. I also believe that your breeder was uncommunicative because she was upset that you did not watch your puppy close enough to see the signs and symptoms of bloat and to act soon enough to save your pup. Sorry, but bloat can be genetic, but there are more things going into it.


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

Oksana...I cannot guarantee a puppy or any dog against the possibility of bloat....it is an unfortunate situation that any dog can be faced with.
And even if the owners act immediately....it can still end in tragedy.
I don't know who the breeder is of this particular puppy/dog....so I wouldn't even chance commenting regarding them....and I do not breeder bash.
I can say this though......if a young dog (from our breeding) suddenly passed away from bloat or any other tragic incident, I know that my husband and myself would do what we could to help fill the empty void and hurt that the person or family would be feeling.......that I can guarantee.

Sometimes, terrible things happen to wonderful companions....no fault from anyone.


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

Yes and it is really not fair to blame the OP for not recognizing the signs-


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

Robin, I know, and I am sure you would go out of your way to ease the pain of the puppy owners. It's such a tragedy... I just don't feel it's justified to put the blame for the bloat on the breeder and place any demands and expecting refund for 'genetic disease'. I would also go with a different breeder in this case simply to avoid a reminder of the tragedy, but I would not hold the breeder responsible for fulfilling the warranty.

PS Holland, I just tried to show that there is a different side to this story, and the breeder can have her own view of the situation. A devil's advocate thing...


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

I agree...and nor would I.
I don't believe that bloat, along with some other horrible tragedies are the "fault" of anyone....


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## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

I am the original poster and, I just want to clarify a few things:
In the days before and the morning of her sudden death, our puppy had NO signs of bloat. I had a 9-year-old Greyhound 15 years ago that got bloat, and his stomach became very distended, he was drooling and frothing, he could not eat, drink, or poop, and he was panting heavily. Unfortunately, because of his age, the vet felt that he had very little chance of surviving the surgery to correct the torsion, so we made the difficult decision to have him put down. 
Having had a dog with bloat, I knew what symptoms to watch for. Our puppy had none of them. The breeder's vet did the postmortem, and he explained that if the stomach twists in one direction, you get the symptoms, and there may be time to save the dog. However, our 7-month-old puppy's stomach twisted in the opposite direction, cutting off a major artery suddenly, and she literally went from walking across the room to collapsing and dying within 2 minutes. My 2 daughters saw the whole thing happen, which was horribly traumatic for all of us.
I agree, there is no way the breeder could have predicted or guaranteed against bloat. Nor was there anything we did that caused the problem, and it happened so fast that there was nothing we could have done to save her, even if a vet was standing right there as it was happening. However, both our vet and the breeder's vet said that bloat usually occurs in older dogs, 7+ years old, not in puppies. Genetic defect? Perhaps not. Odd fluke of nature? More likely.
The problem was had was with the way the breeder treated us after Holly's death. She treated us as if we had either purposely or negligently killed her. She used a clause in her contract that voids the health guarantee if you do not feed the dog the brand of food she recommends. We had been feeding Holly the food from the breeder, but several months before Holly's death, when we needed more food, the breeder did not have any in stock, so we had to switch to a different food, approved by our vet as perfectly healthy food. We mixed the food from the breeder with the new food for quite some time to ease the transition, and she had no problem.
The breeder and her husband also run a training school and boarding kennel. Holly went to puppy class there, and we boarded her there 2-3 times for a day or two at a time. They saw Holly quite frequently, and were able to see that she was healthy, happy, well cared for and loved, so for her to treat us as if we had been negligent was terribly hurtful.
We realize now that we should not have signed the contract with the food clause in it, and I have only come across one other breeder who has such a clause in her contract. We will avoid such breeders this time, having learned a hard lesson.


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## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

Robin, this is exactly the sort of response we expected from our breeder, and sums up why we were so hurt and disgusted with her response.



robinhuerta said:


> I can say this though......if a young dog (from our breeding) suddenly passed away from bloat or any other tragic incident, I know that my husband and myself would do what we could to help fill the empty void and hurt that the person or family would be feeling.......that I can guarantee.
> 
> Sometimes, terrible things happen to wonderful companions....no fault from anyone.


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## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

holland said:


> Yes and it is really not fair to blame the OP for not recognizing the signs-


Thank you for your support!!


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

May also state that I think the "food clause" in contracts is ridiculous.....
Since breeders can "honestly" *NOT* _guarantee_ anything about another living, breathing creature...the added "food clauses" just make me sigh...
Breeders offer "guarantees" as a provision...a "means" to prove that, they as breeders will stand by their puppies/dogs......it should not become "void" because of the brand of food you choose.
JMO


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I agree with Robin on the food thing, and ya know even if it was in the contract, in my opinion, the breeder could have been more sympathetic and offered you another puppy vs using it as a means to say "well you didn't feed what I said, contract null and void"..very sad


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## Ferguson (May 4, 2011)

Thanks Diane--that helps validate our feeling that the breeder could have handled things in a kinder, more sympathetic way.


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