and the beat goes on

V20 Lana delivered the L litter of pups on the 15th of December 07 Sired by Zuni. Three only, 2 boys, 1 girl. Two for me, and one to sell. This may well be Zuni's last litter, as he's 10 1/2 so I have to be careful with what I sell. All three are very good looking pups. This is "Lancelot" ;) I absolutely want one more Zuni son to raise here and this is him. Zuess is already Five after all. Fiesty and independent he was from day one this boy.

I'm working on some very great future generations, but its hard work and a lot of puzzle pieces to put and keep together this bloodline.

Utica is pregnant by Cody, Zuni's fabulous 100% Wienerau son. She is due on the 20th of Feb 08 with 3 to 4 pups. She never has large litters, some females do, some don't. After this litter she will be retired from breeding and move to a friend who has a German Shepherd and she'll be doing a bit of Schutzhund with her.

Meantime, another incredible female is arriving on the 21st! Which will hopefully insert more of the rare Wienerau bloodline into this tiny breeding program of mine.

The Next Generations

The purpose of any hobby breeder (meaning non commercial and in it for the betterment of the breed) is to perpetuate your own bloodline of choice. Those who have your kennel name on them and to show them and hopefully do well in the show circuit. Realistically this is a tough long road and many people with good intentions, lack the stamina and the money to do so. Therefore, they try to offset the cost of this with selling some of the pups.
There is not one litter wherein all pups are good enough for breeding, no matter what the breed. IF you're lucky, out of a litter of 10 you have 2 or 3 which will qualify to IMPROVE the breed in any of the following ways, but rarely in ALL of these requirements:
Health
Conformation
Character

Health is extremely important, naturally. In a German Shepherd dog, the joints are always nr 1. Today, the German SV requires all pink papered dogs to get hip/elbow approval for breeding.

Conformation: This is important because it usually pertains to what the dog was bred to do.
Hunting, Herding, Swimming and such.
In the GSD it is connected to the athletic workability, stamina. Therefor, structurally they must be of the standard.
The cosmetics, such as color, eye, coats (long or stock coated) teeth, are important but secondary.

Character: in a GSD the dog for breeding must be confident, character outgoing and strong and have courage.
Be a trainable dog. If a dog has weak nerves, this dog will pass this on in some of the pups, especially if its the dam who raises them.

Schutzhund therefor is building a GSDs resume. This is the German's three phase sport for protection, training and tracking which all dogs have to pass. In addition, the dogs for breeding must be hip/elbow approved, DNA registered, and Critiqued by a judge. This is called the Körung.

In short, a lot of money and time is invested in these dogs. The German Shepherd dog is still the most demanding breed for any breeder to be in IF IT IS DONE RIGHT.

The Next Imports...

I then was able to purchase Joga and Uschi vom Klebinger Schloss. Joga was 6 and never conceived, which was a darn shame as she is a daughter of VA Odin Hirschel and V2 Ultri vd Wienerau. But, she had erratic heat cycles and bled too much and was spayed for her health and found that she had cysts in her uterus.

Uschi was young and crazy upon arrival and I didn't have her papers. So it took about 10 months of 'negotiating' with the daughter and self-proclaimed heiress of the Klebinger Schloss kennel till I finally, with assistance of the German SV, obtained her papers. Once I had her papers, I was able to get her hips rated. Uschi is now at the time of this writing, five years old and in Germany for her Schutzhund titles. She past her Schutzhund 1 title in two months time, a record. I have not bred her successfully, though I tried once (not to Zuni) and she didn't conceive. So I can only hope she will be bred successfully in the next few months to a qualified male in Germany. I have a great one in mind, but we'll see before I let that cat out of the bag...

In spring of 2004 I was able to bring VA Dian vom Baronenwald to the USA.
A gorgeous male and a great find.
He is the son of VA1 (italy) Hobby vom Gletschertopf >>>>

After that purchase, I was able to bring in Gina vom Trossbachtal. The daugther of one, if not THE best producing male in the GSD world, called Hobby vom Gletschertopf. And half sister to VA Dian vom Baronenwald. And with her came Utica vom Lehnhof, the daughter of another superb producer, Zeppo vom Klebinger Schloss and Gina Trossbachtal. Here pictured is Gina T.

Out of Gina x Zuni I kept GiGi, a fabulous old line world look she has. Because both Sire and Dam are from the late 90's she is so special. All the over sized - breeding mishaps of the time during 97-06 happened when judges started favoring the more massive masculine looks, thereby letting over-sized dogs in the breeding programs, with as a reaction. Over -sized dogs. The SV has become strict again and the standards have to be adhered to again.
Out of Dian and Utica I have "hellonlegs" Hermania vom Kerschberger. A handful of super drives dog which could easily become a police dog. She never walks, only runs. And, its best that she carries something (prey) in her mouth or she is looking for trouble with the other females.... (yes, picking a fight for dominance)

Then came another great find. V20 Lana vom Klebinger Schloss (by now you are seeing the name vom Klebinger Schloss again and again) Simple explanation: Lorenz Stroble, the breeder of vom Klebinger Schloss, was very good friends with Walter Martin. The breeder of the Wienerau Kennel. Lorenz bred under the Wienerau kennel name under guidance of Walter Martin until Walter died in 1996. Which was something Walter Martin did with many 'unknown' breeders. Thereby, helping them with his knowledge of the 'stamping' process. (=what a dog passes on consistently to his offspring) Walter was an extremely jovial kind and generous man. He 'gave' dogs away often and created a lot of goodwill because of it. He was the most prolific breeder of his time with a 50+ year resume!

Back to Lana.... I was able to bring in Lana in the spring of 06. She was pregnant by V11 Xaro d'Ulmental, a fabulous male, but not my first choice, of course. I was not the one who had control of that breeding. And only because of his lack of immediate Wienerau blood was Xaro not my first choice. He is a gorgeous male. However, I will be up against that at some point, so I must seek out the Wienerau Type, even if they lack the pedigree. Xaro is not that type, but gorgeous he is. I kept one female pup, Jexi, who now is in Germany for her titles as well, together with Uschi. The female pup is much of her mothers type, but a bit smaller, which is a good thing, as Lana is a on the upper size of the standard.

In breeding German Shepherds, we must stick to the standard size or the working ability is lost due to over-sized frames.

On the Search for More Dogs

A bout of luck came when I found a kennel in Belgium, by the name of vom Venushof, who's breeder/owner had been friends with Walter since the day of VA1 Uran Wildsteiger Land. -the late 80s- This breeder had a lot of knowledge of dogs, and of Walter Martin which he was able to share with me.
(It took several years after that for the actual Wienerau Kennel to have a website and I was able to establish contact with them. I had already parked the Wienerau.com name somewhere as I was afraid that they'd loose out on it and once they went online with their zwinger-wienerau.com name, I pointed the Wienerau.com name to their site.)

From this breeder, Robert Venus, I first purchased Aline vom Venushof, a stunning red and black female and 100% Wienerau. Her sire is Apasche von der Wienerau and her dam is Ussaja von der Wienerau. Bred to Zuni she became the dam of the "A" litter out of which incredible "Ardan Cody vom Kerschberger" came and his sister "Aine" - which produced a three three (3,3) Line-breeding on Matty von der Wienerau.

After having been at the German World Championships 2x at the point of this writing, Cody could have been extremely high in the rankings as truly there was not one dog in the top I would trade him for. Cody is privately owned but thankfully lives near me. That is why you see pictures of him all over my website. He is an amazing dog. Cody and Aline, his Dam >>>>
Zuni, is, of course, the Sire of Cody.

I bred Aline twice more to two different males, but they were outcrosses away from the Wienerau lines, and clearly the A litter was the superior litter of the three litters.

The important part for a breeder is to keep track of as many pups as possible they produce. Most breeders can't do that, but for me, I have to see that the proof is in the pudding. Especially in that first growing year of the pups it is important to see them develop. If you don't its difficult to breed for the betterment of the breed. Yes, it's still a crapshoot...

Then, I came up on Mercedes and Madonna von der Drei Sonnenseen. Two 100% Wienerau Bloodlined sisters with outstanding pedigrees and OFA Good hips. Madonna, the sister with all the attitude and super working drives, yet the lighter colors. Mercedes has the nicer colors, bit better conformation, but an ear set a bit croocked and her head not to strong in the nerves.

Madonna past on her strong character to her one pup in the one pup "B" litter, which is Bonita vom Kerschberger. Out of Zuni, thereby making another 100% Wienerau bloodline. I have yet to breed Bonita and she d.o.b is 12.8.03
I bred both sisters (at very different times) to Zuni.
Bonita pictured at above left.
Madonna, her fabulous dam, pictured below











Out of Mercedes I held back the only stock coated female (there were 2 males, 2 females) This was the "E" litter. However, Mercedes stamped her croocked ear on this pup "Elsie" and Elsie was way too much of an alpha dog to live with us in a true pack. She remained small stature, fast as lightning, full of courage, hence she was sold to a Police K9 trainer where she is now at work doing some good in the world of fighting crime. Elsie pictured at right>>>

Mercedes pictured below

Search for the Perfect Mate...

About two months to obtaining Zuni's papers, I started looking for the 'Perfect Mate' to compliment him. Not an easy task when all is new. The only direction I had was, yes you guessed it, the internet...
I figured, I'd found my Zuni on the net, why not a mate for him too.
No idea how many websites I must have reviewed and I landed on a German Site where a dog was just a striking resemblance to Zuni. I wrote the lady who ran that website about the dog, who informed me the dog (Hummel) was on hold for a lady on the East Coast. So, I, the pitbull, said "ok, let me know if she doesn't come through with the money and I'll buy her". I didn't hear for a week, wrote her again, and pretty much said, the dog is still on your site, what's going on?
Hummel was shipped a couple of weeks later to yours truly.
In my wildest dreams can't I even begin to explain why or how I got Zuni, and then Hummel, who then had the Z litter which created a 2,3 (two generations on the Sire's side and three generations on the Dam's side) on
Noscha Wienerau and her sister Nova Wienerau, who had placed SG4 in the young dogs' class world champion ships. But this is why I began to clue in on the importance of Line Breeding. Not to be confused with In Breeding.
Needless to say, I was completely stunned that I had seen the likeness in Hummel of that bloodline that I've now become so attached to.
The more I looked for Wienerau dogs, the less there were. And though the Wienerau Kennel is still in existence today it is in a very small format from when Mr. Walter Martin was alive. Please refer to the Wienerau website for more stories on their history.