# In search of Draven (My puppies name)



## TrentL (May 10, 2011)

Okay so here is my adventures of puppy chosing! (This will be a bit long I tend to be long winded sometimes, hopefully its formatted for easy reading)

I've written A LOT on various posts, but I'm going to stick to this post now and just update it now and then.

Our Situation:
Life time around dogs but its the first dog that will be *mine*.
My father was a GSD breeder 15-20 years ago.
My father will be providing alot of help in training and puppy choosing.
I'm married with 2 fun loving, quiet, and a little timid girls.
I'm hoping to do Obedience, Utility and Tracking. (This is where I think I'm going to go: Best Friends Dog Training)
In the end I want a dog that is a great companion for all the family, my best friend, and if we manage to get our Obedience and Utility Excellence in that process AWESOME!
Books that I've read in the last 6-7months
How to Raise the Perfect Dog by Cesar Millan
The Art of Raising a Puppy by The monks of New Skete
How to be Your Dog's Best Friend by The monks of new Skete

(I'm always looking for new books and tips)


So Breeder:
So this is the breeder I chose: Bluemist Kennels (Bluemist (GSD's) - German Shepherd Dogs - Ingleside, ON - Local Business | Facebook)
I was looking for: 
A breeder who had dogs that I loved the look of.
A breeder that was within 1 hour of my house.
A breeder who would let me visit as often as I wanted
A breeder who had the Sire and Dam onsite for me to see.
A breeder who would be interested in the puppy and us after purchase (Guidance, suggestions etc)
A breeder who was interested in what I was doing with the dog.
A breeder who gave me a "Good" feeling.
The one I chose after about two - three months of searching, this breeder matched all the above.

PEDIGREE: (The Sire and Dam: I couldn't find the Dam's pedigree but I found her parents
SIRE: Bernd vom Asgard ( V Bernd vom Asgard - German Shepherd Dog )
DAM: Kashmir (Below is her parents)
Dam: Gretchin: Bluemist Gretchen Red Neck Woman - German Shepherd Dog
Sire: Gunnar: CAN CH. Bluemist Drakar Gunnar - German Shepherd Dog

The two males:









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As I mentioned in another post:

Light Blue: Will have a plush coat, has shown some alpha tendancies when I've been there (Fighting to get out from the "Sleeping Pile" climbs up on top, often involves himself in wrestling and "fight club" is almost always the instigator from what I've seen. He seems very gungho you can see this in the videoon their facebook page, when they were outside for the first time, he gets caught up on the excerise pen, but comes back soon after to jump out.

Dark Blue: Is quite, don't hear from him much, tends to be on the receiving end of "Fight Club" but doesn't back down, seems very calm. The online video he's a bit more timid about jumping out of the exercise pen, he looks at it then walks away.

Visit: August 25, 2012:
We got to spend some time on the floor with the two males, and eventually the light blue one wanted back in the kennel with the females and his litter mates, while Dark Blue was content to stay with us, and sat in my wife's lap for awhile (She put him there) eventually he started wandering around the area exploring. Lightblue wasn't as interested in us as Dark Blue, but was very friendly and wandered around and wrestled his litter mates (The breeder put all the puppies down with our permission to have some social time for all the pups)

So we're going back again this Saturday (We go every weekend to see the puppies and watch them grow) we don't have to make any choices until 7weeks though. I should have more photos and more stories to tell about the boys!


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Beautiful puppies . The temperament changes very fast so it's nice to have a breeder willing to work with you in choosing the perfect puppy, takes a lot of the stress away 

Very cute name!


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

"I'm hoping to do Obedience, Utility and Tracking. (This is where I think I'm going to go: Best Friends Dog Training)
In the end I want a dog that is a great companion for all the family, my best friend, and if we manage to get our Obedience and Utility Excellence in that process AWESOME"

Has your breeder any experience in working with her dogs , the basic CanKC trials, schutzhund, anything, then ask her. 
The club you have chosen is excellent . Why not ask one of them to come with you when the dogs are around 6-7 weeks to assess them. Give them a fee . 

Carmen
CARMSPACK.com


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## TrentL (May 10, 2011)

The breeder has shown her dogs, and I know she trained with a local popular fellow named Art Newman. Who Kim Cooper (Best Friends) also trained with.

My father got his CDX and UDX with his dogs way back when, and most of his dogs went to Police for Drug Sniffing. So he's helping me, as well as the breeder knows what I'm looking for, and she has trained, she also has the dogs assessed as well by a neutral party. So between My Dad, Myself, My breeder, and the Neutral Assessment I'm positive we can nail the dog we want (I'm loving Dark Blue... but I won't choose to my breeder forces me to )

The reason I chose the one listed above is out of all 5-6 places I was looking at this is the only one that brought a smile to my breeders face, the rest of them she wouldn't suggest, but didn't give reasons, just suggested we go visit them onsite and see for ourselves.


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## TrentL (May 10, 2011)

Shade said:


> Beautiful puppies . The temperament changes very fast so it's nice to have a breeder willing to work with you in choosing the perfect puppy, takes a lot of the stress away
> 
> Very cute name!


Yes the breeder cares about her Pups there were so many examples of them loving their dogs, little things that I really liked, that it won me over.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

cute puppies! From what you posted above, I'd be leaning towards Dark Blue, but as Shade said, the temps change from day to day, visit to visit, next time you go, things may be opposite!

It's good you have alot of input from the breeder who has been with them since day one..


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## TrentL (May 10, 2011)

So we finally made our decision after reading the papers between the two males, the other male seemed a bit more agressive, and he was pretty aloof with the family, he wasn't shy around us, but didn't show much interest.

Draven on the other hand...





































He was right in our faces and in my lap and my daughters lap he was very interested in us, wanted belly rubs, giving out kisses.

On top of that he also was the calmer of the two, was not scared of loud noises, and inquisitive about them. The breeder is starting early stages of sit, down, heal as you can see by him sitting pretty for some cookies (Kibble) above.


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## FrankieC (Aug 15, 2012)

Good call.  That's the way I would have gone. Congrats! 

So nice to be able to visit them first hand before deciding. We won't have that luxury and really have to count on the breeder to match us up properly.


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## TrentL (May 10, 2011)

And for those who were following the "How to make sure my wife doesn't steal my dog" thread...

He seemed to like me more  (For now :laugh Though he was pretty much attached to my youngest daughter too (in yellow)

Whoops i double posted a picture... I meant to post


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

awww cute pics! congrats!!


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

so what was the test ?
did your crew of experts have any input


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

Congrats, Trent!!


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## TrentL (May 10, 2011)

The tests I think are the ones that every breeder does (Testing Aggressiveness, Sounds senisitive, touch sensitivity, and a bunch of things) 

My father (Who worked with shepherds for about 20 years retired in his 50's (15ish years ago) said there was tests he did on shepherds on how they reacted to things and rated them, normally done by someone who isn't affiliated with the Breeder.

I figured it was always done. 

Thanks everyone


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