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.

Resistance is Futile

There is no such thing as telling me how hard it will be to get something, because that alone will make me do it. But, it was more important to me to succeed for Zuni and First Contact was 'chilly' to say the least with the All Encompassing Body of the SV.
Of course, to proof that I had the dog connected to that tattoo was something that was merely one step, verification by the vet. Then, came the cold chill of silence.
The Germans require DNA REGISTRATION for all breeding stock and Zuni's parents, Qrick and Noscha were DNA registered in Germany.
So, I offer to sent blood, hair strands or the whole dog (just kidding) for proof. There came the first snag. Though Noscha (who placed 16th in the world by the way) was DNA registered, the SV had changed to a new Company for their DNA-registrations. The old one, where Noscha's DNA was, would not release anything other than there had been a disagreement with the SV and unless that was resolved, no DNA would ever be released done by them for the SV.
lovely...
Stubbornly, I sent in Zuni's DNA (hair with follicles) and had them register his DNA and compare it to Qrick, his sire.
Then the search for Noscha started. It took a long time before I had tracked her down to MEXICO CITY, Mexico! Where she lived the good live with a nice lady who took care of her for Noscha's actual owner. Though the lady was nice, she was unwilling to help me with the DNA situation, even though I offered to pay, of course. She said, Noscha was DNA registered and the SV needs to own up to their responsibility with the former DNA company.
Yes, I get that too, but the SV obviously didn't and never has since.
In any case, The SV began to realize I seriously had my teeth into this and wasn't letting go, so I went through remaining hoops, get the purchase contract to them, wait again, then post in the SV magazine for 2 consecutive months, wait some more, to announce that I was trying to obtain his papers, and nearly after a year of all this I received the SV Pink Papers on Zuni.
-to be continued-

And so it goes, My Pandora Box Opens

Zuni became my 24/7 protection companion dog. Hah, my line of work, the Real Estate fixer upper and Rental business takes me around town. Though I strictly brought Zuni into our lives to protect Ginger, Tornado and myself on our walks, he is a cool dog to take everywhere. He is cool, calm and collected and knows exactly how to behave. Making very good impressions and giving the German Shepherd Dog a better name all around town.
I had NO intentions of ever becoming a breeder of anything. But, I constantly got asked if I bred him, would I let them know, they were interested in a pup out of such a great dog.
It would be a crime not to put progeny on the planet of such a great dog. However, breeding wasn't anything I'd wanted to do, and the knowledge it required would be more than just " lets get a female from anywhere and get her knocked up" THAT much or better,little, I knew... Coming from Europe the looks of the GSDs are quite different than those bred here, hence I imported Zuni from Europe.
And the other kicker: I didn't purchase him with his papers! So, I knew I was not interested and no papers, that made it official.
YEAH RIGHT!
I had a tenant who had 5 GSDs at that point and nice ones, by the way. The real German import lines. He was able to point out to me that my male, Zuni, was of an outstanding noble breeding. He called it "he looks like Royalty to me" yadiyadiya - of course, I feel that way too, especially now, with all I know about the German Shepherd Dogs and their lines, but then I was kind of like, Tenant kissing up to the Landlord stuff to me.
Either way, that tenant points out that through Zuni's ear tattoo I could find out who he really is...
That first AHA that is what that tattoo is about!!!
I said, I'd look into it then and that night (gotta love the internet) I went online and typed in
German Shepherd Pedigrees
to just see what would come up and a whole lot came up. The lady whom I contacted gave me instructions as to what to do to get the complete tattoo read by my vet and get back with her.
I did that and sent her that info where upon her reaction was.
That tattoo belongs to a dog called "Nolte von der Wienerau" and I DOUBT that you have a dog from THAT kennel without his papers.
You can imagine what I thought and did next.
von der Wienerau German Shepherd Dogs in the search engine and VAVOOM there was the first sign of true greatness that had come to my door by sheer stroke of dumb luck and awesome timing by the universe.
I can see Walter Martin smiling from heaven every time I hug his great dog. Walter Martin was the breeder of von der Wienerau kennel in Germany and I am, hands down, his biggest fan. More on (Walter Martin )

So you see, the challenge was on and I had no idea how great that one would be. To obtain Zuni's papers from the German Shepherd Dog registry in Germany, the SV (schaferhunde verein)
-to be continued-

More Psychic Zuni

I've taken him to the Vet for checkups and I'm never worried. So, he behaves great. The time I took him to the Vet to have his hip X-rays reviewed for a second opinion (to see if it was worth it going through with the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals -ofa- Certification) I was nervous. Now, remember, Zuni normally knows who I'm anxious about. This time, he couldn't pinpoint the culprit (it was the X-ray, not the Vet) so he barked and threatened everyone who came near me, making sure he'd cover all the angles ;-) We muzzled him... (OFA GOOD by the way!)

A huge spray of water flies over me just as I'm walking into my garage to go play/work with Zuni. I had a heart attack and thought my waterlines had frozen and busted. You don't want that with an adobe (mud) walled garage... So, I scooted Zuni and Hummel outside so I could go find out where the water was coming from but kept freaking out more as i couldn't find it fast enough in my panic. I'm sure he knew of my anxiety and was again in the dark as to why I was so frantic. I called my neighbor whom Zuni had met maybe 3 or 4 sporadic times, and the neighbor said he'd come over right away. I, meantime found the shutoff but wondered what happened with the neighbor coming over 'right away' and as I went outside to go ck, he comes up hill and says "I would have been here sooner, had it not been for Zuni blocking my way" He said Zuni did an excellent job in preventing him from coming nearer to the house, and it wasn't until his wife, who Zuni knows well, came up and was able to 'convince' Zuni to let him continue. My neighbor said it made quite an impression on him to see Zuni and Hummel come run high speed towards him... Yep, That'll make your heart stop...

The last story is about us going to the Waste Station. (county dump). Where a VERY obnoxious guy (used)* to work. He would not let you do this, or that, and always sending you from one bin to another for NO reason. So, i thought iI'd be ahead of him and ask him which bin does he want me to use ? He says "A", right. We start unloading quite a large load and while Carlos is hauling a HUGE and heavy doghouse onto the bin, the jerk changes his mind and says for us to take the doghouse off and put it back in my trailer and drive it to the other bin... I THINK NOT , knowwhatimean...

I look at the guy and tell him he must be out of his mind to think that I will do that and he starts approaching me yelling and screaming that I HAVE TO DO WHAT HE SAYS bla bla bla... And, I go "if you want to get on my nerves some more, go for it " and he starts getting really close in my face. I'm not afraid nor uncomfortable. First of all, there are 3 witnesses and Zuni is in the car with the back window open, so he can jump out if he needs to. He knew I was not scared, or whatever and just laid there while i was literally SCREAMING on the top of my lungs at the guy. Now that is knowing the difference. Most other dogs would have been out and into action biting away for NO GOOD REASON. This boy doesn't back down in situations he's not supposed to, but will NOT act either when he knows I have the situation under control. (And this is WHY the guy USED* to work there.....)

I traveled with Zuni to see one of his pups, Zoltan, in Eldorado. Since Zoltan had just had his 'operation' I could not let Zuni see him as Zoltan is crazy about his daddy and would pop a stitch, so I left Zuni in the car with the windows half open as it was pretty hot. Well, within no time Zuni had popped thru one of the windows to be near us, and Zoltan indeed was in pup heaven for a second as I put Zuni back in the car and rolled up all four windows to about one feet of space this time. Speaking of determination (which Zoltan inherited too, but that's another story) Zuni crammed himself through my front passenger side window, hurting his leg somewhat and nearly neutering himself :( I'm guessing. He's 26" at the withers and hair was all along side the top of the window where he pushed himself through. What I'm trying to indicate with this that if ever I'm in trouble, he'll go through fire, windows, barbed wires and such to get me out of it. This time he just wanted to be visiting with his son too as he had been there several times before and didn't understand WHY he could not come out... In training he does great on the long down for example ;)

I've heard so many stories about dogs and their skills ( i could give many examples). This is not a skill. But, then what is it? psychic...

-to be continued-

Psychic Zuni

The psychic tests came when I was uncomfortable in several situations we've now encountered together. And this is where that amazing instinct lives in a dog that bonds with its owner. This is what I want to put forth in his progeny.

On one dreary day, I had to interview a couple of handy man at an empty house I was about to remodel. One of them gave me the creeps, and Zuni noticed it. He would circle the guy, punched and pushed him with his nose, tried to dominate him ;-), and would not let up. I apologized forever to the guy, but I also kept Zuni with me, as I thought Zuni thought something was wrong with this guy.

Of course, he picked up on my anxiety.

Another occasion with a handy man who had been too touchy feely with me (and I was about to deck him for it), was picked up by Zuni. He instantly started to 'dominate' that one too. And, I might add, he NEVER does that for any other reason other than to tell who's boss.

Yet one more incident in a remodeling job where a drunken laborer stood half naked (it was ugly) behind the stove cooking himself a gross breakfast. Oh yeah, it was 9am Saturday morning, and he was supposed to be sober and working... Anyway, I proceeded to tell him to GET OUT. And, of course, he refused while swaying left and right. I said, "are you sure about that?" And he's like, '"ITS SATURDAY" and I'm like "yeah, and you were here to work, not to sleep and party" so, he continuous with some profanity and I went "ZUuuuuuuuuuuuniiiiiiiiiiiii, Here.....!" And I told him to stand next to me. Which he did, ever so innocently. Just standing there made the guy get his stuff and get the out of my house... Zuni was just doing his job in the most appropriate way. He knows how to size up a situation! Its amazing.

Then, a near car accident we were involved with. Some drunk passes me on a spot with NO visibility, thereby heading directly into an oncoming car who's driver swerved off the road onto the bank of the country road. I pull over, run up the hill like an 18 year old...puff puff, and forget that I left Zuni in the car with $50 worth of steaks... I make sure the woman is okay first who almost got hit, but thankfully didn't get hurt , though she side swiped his car but landed against the fence. It was her lucky day. After about 10 minutes of reading the drunk the riot act and waiting for the cops, the ambulance showed and the girl was ck'd out for any injuries. After about 20 minutes the cops showed, and a lot of folks are standing around and I suddenly realize Zuni is in the car with the BEEF!!! So i run downhill, open the door and he had not touched a thing! I get him out of the car and walk him uphill (he pulled me, so it was easier the 2nd time around) and I start talking to the cops, the girl, the neighbors and Zuni behaves exemplary ignoring everyone and everything quietly standing next to me. Then he suddenly goes into ALERT mode and barks fervently towards a certain direction. So, we all look up, and low and behold, the drunk that created this accident is coming our way. WELL, until he noticed Zuni, that is... Unbelievable, since he had not seen this idiot before, but knew instinctively that this was the person that had created that anxiety in me!!!

Not out of the Woods yet though...

But we were only in our infancy of beginning to understand each other.

Unbeknown to me, I did one thing right from the start. The many walks we took daily was, what is in dog language "hunting buddies" and that is what brought him and I closer.

The training (ie: listening to me) was not so much down packed yet. He just didn't take me that seriously ;)

After many cries of help to several much more experienced dog trainers

(the seller was pretty out of the picture to help) I started to understand, that this boy needed ME to relax... So, I finally threw my hands up in the air and said "fine, you here, I'll relax, & I'm sure we'll figure it out...."

I talked with more SAR trainers, Schutzhund trainers and Police Officers with k9s and slowly figured out how he was trained. He was finally responding to me, because I had started to clue in that he was very well trained, but how, was the question. So, I was able to have him entertained with his searches, and retrievals, and if I hid he came to look for me, but I was wrongfully convinced by one so called dog trainer that I should not do the bite work training myself. So, i left that out for a year. Sorry to say...for Zuni, as he loves it!

When I did get a bite sleeve, the soft kinds from Belgium because they feel real, and that's what I wanted, he grabbed it like he crazy man. And, "aus" (out the sleeve) means nothing to him... So, now I was finally able to do the bite work with him too. And, he does it inside or outside, as well as searching.

A Bumpy Start

Never underestimate a trained dog...

I paid a good sum (cheap now in retrospect for what I got) of money for Zuni. I Paid for training with a dog included. He was going to be just a pet to protect us. But, 'green me' who yes, knew how to train circus acts to dogs, was unaccustomed to a dog trained for work and in need of structure... Not much of that around here.
He was used to sleeping in a confined space, a kennel or a crate, and ended up eating my antique couch and table as I'd removed this ugly eye sore from my (then) pretty living room.

Due to my lack of knowledge I'd put him in the garage due to that eating of the antiques, on day three. Went to sleep and at about midnight heard a soft "Whao Whao" from very nearby. I was upright in bed thinking, that is NOT possible that he's in my house!
WRONG, he was in the house. I scratched my head and walked to the kitchen into the garage door and it was open.
He managed, in a short period of time, to open that heavy door which opens toward him and help himself into my house. THEN he announced it to me like "OK, I got this challenge, what's next?"
Needless to say, he was sleeping in the house from then on and in the crate with the kennel door open.

We went for a walk on about Day 5 OFF the property and into that infamous Arroyo where little Ginger was attacked. Mind you, Zuni didn't really listen to me at all yet, as he thought I had no idea what was going on. But, I figured he'd shown good instincts and was a truly calm dog and did stick around so off we went.
We're on our way back and suddenly out of nowhere come three dogs charging downhill and Ginger at 20lbs and Tornado at 45lbs charge UPhill towards them! I had a heart attack, needless to say. And I was speechless. I saw Zuni look at me, and I was like 'GO' (in other words save the mutts from their extinction) And OFF he went charging like a missile towards those dogs. The hilarious part was, that those dogs saw him coming and screeched to a halt, and turned and ran off. While the two mutts, Ginger and Tornado thought that they'd done this great feat, they had no idea of that power house behind them.
The beauty of this was, that at that point Zuni stopped and came back. He'd done his job, done it precisely the way I would have wanted him to do, without getting in a fight. Diffuse the situation.
Awesome, just awesome.

And Then What Happened?

Zuni arrived on August 17th 2000 in Colorado Springs, CO from Amsterdam Holland. Being familiar with German Shepherds from way back, now a bit older, a person recognizes a great dog, and I was 'a bit' intimidated. It was dark and his crate, due to delays smelled pretty bad.
Immediately Zuni seemed to take charge, and make me feel at ease. He followed my lead when I put him in the car that was the first time I felt safe when filling up gas when dark with the window rolled down. We received our first of many Many compliments to follow right there.
"Nice dog you have there M'am!"
Our drive was uneventful, but oh so memorable. I remember talking to him about his new life, how lucky I was to have him and how grateful I was that he didn't need to go to a war zone.
Zuni was what is called a Dual Purpose Dog. That means, that dog can do anything, from Patrol work to War Zone Bomb search and Rescue missions. You name it, the dog is over qualified. And here he comes 10 acres of the Land of Manana, with two mutts and an 'owner' to protect and who is going to pamper him endlessly.

Now that is not a bad deal for any of us...!

In the beginning...

I remember being around 10 or 11 years of age and 'living' practically at the horse stables where my cousin worked and my father had a harness horse stabled called Gregorius and where a litter of mix shepherds were born. All male, 5 of them. They were all called HENKIE. I pretty much was raising them and went into the woods with them all the time feeling like one of the pack. I contribute my insight in shepherds nature due to being around them so much at that early stage where one sponges up so easily like a second language. They all remained at the stables for the remainder of their life. Of course, when I turned 15, 16 and became a teenager, boys were more interesting...and I was not at the stables any longer though I still loved dogs and I had a small very smart doggie called Thunder which I taught every trick in the book. But, as you can see, I never forgot about the 5 Henkie's and what I learned from them. So I hope that any child lucky enough to have a German Shepherd will learn and thrive and start a life long love affair with this incredible breed too. And that he or she may always remember his first German Shepherd they way I do of all my 5 Henkie's!

Then, my friend Ivonne, her family had German Shepherds all her life, but I met her when they had Lex. We were about 16 then and Lex was just such a supremely beautiful red and black west german show line male. A true protector and great character dog. She still loves shepherds more than anything though her husband wanted a Rhodesian Ridgeback due to the shedding. Believe me, she loves him, but she knows the difference...

The 3rd phenomenal Shepherd I met was when I was 18 and visiting in Southern France. FiFi. Here a drawing I did of her of a picture I took of her. This female belonged to a friend who wanted to give her to me, as she followed me around in stead of him from the getgo. But I was living in Switzerland and couldn't bring her there. He adopted her out to a large ranch after a while. This female was a superb example of a GSD. She protected me without becoming a danger to her environment. Another valuable learning lesson of how they are supposed to be.


Much later on in life:
One day, in June of 2000, while I took my two mutt dogs out to the arroyo for our usual walk, the smaller one, Ginger, was attacked in the distance. I was not quick enough to stop the attack, but I managed to chase of that creepy dog who attacked her. Needless to say, I was extremely upset, (there is no word for Fear and Anger at the same time, but that was it) in tears, and Ginger was slowly bleeding from her belly. The three of us were stuck in the arroyo behind fences and barbed wires, and Ginger not letting me pick her up, I swore that would not ever happen to us again. After I coaxed her for an hour to slowly proceed (she wouldn't let me pick her up) I was near enough my house to run uphill in 90 degree temps, and get in my car, drive down hill with a crate and get her to enter into it. (after challenging barbed wires, mind you) I drove like a maniac to the vet, then 35 min away, where she was put back together for $1000.-- but what's money in that case anyway. The next day, I went on the internet, and typed in "german shepherd protection dogs" Which led me on a search of many sites, and I contacted one, from whence I purchased my Pandora Box. ZUNI. There can only be ONE Zuni. Ever.