German Shepherds Forum banner

Searching for right breeder in Central New Jersey

10K views 58 replies 22 participants last post by  huntergreen 
#1 ·
Happy Holidays!

I will be a first time GSD owner and looking for the right breeder in Central New Jersey area. I thought you all here could help guide me to a good breeder in the area (or should I import one or ship one in from another state, seems wierd to me) and also to critique a breeder as a way to educate myself on different things I have little knowledge on thus far (i.e. line breeding, pedigree details, etc).

First and foremost, I am looking for a companion dog to join my pack, wife, two children (4 years and 2 years), and our house cat. I'm also very interested in pursuing Schutzhund with the GSD, but not on a competitive basis (more of a way for the dog and I to learn about the sport together, to bond together, and to enhance his training with professionals). I'm also looking to purchase the pup no earlier then a spring 2008 litter. My budget is up to $2,500. I don't care so far (since I have little knowledge of) which line the dog comes from as long as it's German and not American, healthy (parents OFA normal/good), correct temperment, genetics are stacked my way for a good long term healthy dog.

After the holidays in Jan, I'll be visiting several kennels in the area. I will also start going to the local club events to meet other GSD lovers and really see what the breed, training, and show/sports are about. I'm compiling an entire list of questions for the breeder and preparing myself and my home for the pup (references, financial / time budgetting, fixing the 16x9 kennel i have on my property, etc).

I would appreciate any help you might have in locating the right breeder for me that you think breeds the kind of pup I am looking for, advice/guidance on the type of lines I should look at, and any feedback on the below breeder and dogs.

After doing some research about the local clubs, I found a breeder who is the president of two clubs (one with USA and the other with GSDCA-WDA). The web site for his breeding program is at: Jagermeister Shepherds .

He has a litter planned with the below dogs in 2008. When I do a Mate! check on the pedigrees, there are several linebreedings coming up that I am worried about. The dam also worries me with the linebreeding, but I have no experience to undestand if this is a red flag or not.

Sire: Branco vom Banholz; SchH3, IPO3, FH, KKL2 - Pedigree

Dam: Beau van 't Leefdaalhof ; SchH1 - Pedigree

As somewhat of a case study, what do you think of the above dogs, what kind of litter they might produce, and the kennel in general from the web site I linked.

I understand there are a lot of other important factors to consider with this kennel, and I will gather that information when I visit, but I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time if the dogs he has and plans to breed are just not correct or desirable.

Thank you for any help you can offer and have a great holiday!
 
See less See more
#52 ·
Re: Searching for right breeder in Central New Jer

For what it's worth, this consumer (and I don't even like that term in context of purchasing a pup to join my family) actually finds breeders who offer only limited registration (to new buyers) a responsible act. I believe this lends a certain credibility to the breeder that they care more about the breed/dog and less about the sale itself. This tells me the breeder is more likely to be honest, have integrity, have standards that the breed/pups meet, and is overall going to be more attractive for me.

I might change my mind on that as I continue to go through the process of finding and purchasing a pup, but so far I have an inclination for breeders who have responsible contracts vice breeders that are looking for a sale and want to walk away from the deal.
 
#54 ·
Re: Searching for right breeder in Central New Jer

Originally Posted By: Smithie86But, the question still stands: what breeders do limited 100% of the time?

Or is it subjective, depending on the situation -disqualifying faults such as long hair, missing testicals, etc, the ability and/or experience of the owner?
Thus far, we have done it 100% of the time on pups we've sold. The only exception has been on pups we kept ourselves, and we plan to change that moving forward just to eliminate possible problems if we have to rehome the dog because it doesn't work out.

There are cases where we'd be willing to consider not doing limited, but those are rare. And there are cases where no matter what we would never sell the pup without limited (such as coat, missing testicle, etc...)
 
#56 ·
Re: Searching for right breeder in Central New Jer

http://www.wilmothdogs.com/WK9/ - Highly recommended - have not yet reached out to the breeder

I have one of their dogs. He will be turning 1 at the end of this month. I love Kathy. She was helpful and extremely knowlegable. We made the tripout there form LBI area. He is very well mannered and a quick learn. We are training in Lakewood but I have thought about doing Sch. with him. The problem is everything is a haul.

Wilmoth came reccomended from someone on this board and I have never been disappointed. Please feel free to PM me if needed.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top