Canisphere Shepherd Testimonials

Hello Karen

Hope this email finds you and yours in good health and not possibly frozen. We had the a blast of some of your Canadian air this past week or so and it was frigid. I showed Gabriel and Dazzle this past weekend in Brooksville, Fl. In my parts this is the beginning of the winter circuit so I am told. We didn't get any points but Gabriel, as usual was a hit. Our judge yesterday, (Sun).Chuck Trotter gave him Reserve Winners against 5 other dogs. He was 2nd in Open and my handler told me that the Judge told the winner that his winners dog was not a gimme as Gabriel is an up and comer that will be hard to beat. Mr. Trotter spoke with Susan (my handler)  for awhile after placing Gabriel 2nd and said that he loved the depth of color, his bone, temperament and the whole dog. He asked how the dog was being worked and she told him I have been road working him. Mr. Trotter asked if I was using a treadmill and she told him no it was real road work. His next comment was for her to put on her running shoes because in not too long a time, she would not be able to keep up with him. Since Gabriel's last show in Nov. 2011 I have been taking him to a dirt road every other day and having a friend drive the van at 5-7 miles per hour for 1 to 1 and half miles while Gabriel is on a 15 ft lead. WOW, is he ever a beauty. The work is really paying off as he is moving out in front and starting to pull on the lead. His extension is much better and will get stronger. You will be glad to know his tail was perfect in the ring both days with no curl and yes Susan will need to improve her cardio to keep up with him. On Sat. he took second in his class behind the same dog but did not do anything else. All of a sudden I have several handlers commenting on him and recommending where I should show next to help create majors. Amazing, don't think I will enter him to be a filler at this point, we will take our small shows for now and when he is ready, he will not be their filler for majors, he will take the major.  

Brooksville was testing ground as there was heavy competition. He beat out 2 of Jimmy Moses' dogs on Sunday. The positive comments of the Judge really propel me to keep him working. We show in Ocala, Fl. in 2 weeks to Judge Carol White-Moser. She is the Judge, when Gabriel was in 12-18 months class pulled me aside, advised me to get a handler as Gabriel was a very nice dog. We will see if she feels the same way on Jan. 28th. Gabriel is now 26 months.Let's hope so, I would like to add to his four points. I will take his pix and send to you. I thank you for the superb breeding of this dog and most importantly, his wonderful temperament and companionship.

As for Dazle, she is a looker, too but is clueless in the ring. Sat was her 1st time back in the ring since she was 7-8 months old.  She is now 22 months old. It was 32 degrees and she had a blast but would not hold still, shyed away from the Judge (highly unusual since she is miss social butterfly) and gaited for maybe 5 seconds. Her movement of choice was galloping in the cold. She was much better on Sun., she did not shy away from the Judge Trotter and she held her stand much better and her down and back pattern was beautiful.  When she moves correctly her extension is actually smoother than Gabriel's with a lot less work. She has been road worked some but not as much as Gabriel. A lot of people seem to think she is a little coated but in comparison to others in the ring, not really. Judge Trotter on Sun. had no issues with her coat. She will be worked more before returning to the ring. She is as her brother, the greatest temperament and awesome companion.

I know this is a long email but want you to know the impact Gabriel specifically is creating. We love all our dogs with our hearts and souls. Of the 5 shepherds we have, 4 are Canisphere bred. Thank you. Will be in touch again as our showing progresses.

 

Warmest regards,

Robyn and Robin Meares

Fleming Island, Florida

Hi Karen,

I wanted to send you an update on Bullet.  He is now going to be 7yrs old.  It has been a very long time since I have sent you an update.  Time just passes so quickly.  Bullet is a Kris/Orianna son.

He has matured into an exceptional dog.  It has been a joy to own and train with him.  He is trained thru Utility, earned his CGC and Therapy Dog titles.  Recently we started tracking. While attending a tracking seminar the instructor , a Belgian Shep devotee, critic him as having a deep nose and good drive and he would gladly have Bullet to work with. It was an honor to hear that from a man with multiple tracking titles and is also a Search and Rescue expert.  Bullet and I have also done our part to help with the education and understanding of the breed. For the past 2 years we have represented the GSD club of America at the Meet the Breeds event held in NYC.  Bullet was a wonderful representation of the GSD breed and has developed a fan club.  Among the literly hundreds of people that he greeted and was petted by, he had about a dozen people come to the booth just to see him and showed us his picture that they had kept on their phones for the past year!  He followed in his father's foot steps of appearing in the Review(Dec. 2009 he is the one in all the pics) in an article about the event.  We also had the honor of having him picked to represent the breed in a photographic breed book.  And unexpectedly the forensic team from the NYPD asked to take hair and DNA samples from him to use in their lab for identification, not exactly a k-9 but still doing his part for law enforcement!!!  As my husband is police officer we where very proud to donate!  As you can see we have been very busy.  He is not only my training partner, but continues to be the heart of our family.  He is my sons playmate, out fielding in baseball, k-9 in search for the bad guys and million other games they have made up.  One very special moment for me was when a highly re guarded breeder form our area, well known for her dogs and their accomplishments approached me at a show, while holding his head in her hands she expressed how lovely he was and asked about his pedigree.  I proudly told her about him and Canisphere.  Thank you for breeding such an amazing dog.  I feel he is every thing that this breed is meant to be.  Devoted,  intelligent and has a willingness to work.  He is, as I said before, the heart of our family.

Take Care

Leslie Curtis & Bullet (Happily living and training in New Jersey, USA)

Hi Karen,

 

I hope you remember me I got my puppy, whom I call muffin and Gilette from you.  They are phenomenal dogs and I had two stories to share.  In December we had a 20 inch snow storm, I was on crutches and in addition to the Shepherds I have this little yorkie mutt that I found at work and adopted,  well I couldn't go out the little dog did and got stuck in the snow and muffin must have sensed the predicament and dug him out of the snow and then nudged him back into the house,  it was amazing I wish I had been able to take pictures of it.   This past Monday I had to take the two shepherds to the vet, Gilette had a little problem and muffin needed her shots and my vet, who has been in business for almost 30 years (I hadn't seen him with muffin since she was a small puppy) said I probably have the two best shepherds he has ever met. He really meant it,  he said he is used to shepherds who have to be muzzled and are scared and he wasn't used to being able to play and pet them as he did mine.  Muffin likes to go to the vet as there are lots of people around to pet her,  she even kissed the vet and he was truly amazed at her disposition.  I have always treated the dogs good and never hit them and always give them love but the temperament comes from your great breeding and anyone and everyone i meet who wants a shepherd I give them your website.  They are truly great dogs  and I thank you for them.

 

Tara McCann

Hi Karen,

Well our little Yaffa is now one year old and oh what a treasure she is. She has brought such joy to our lives. She is strong willed (which I like) and a great protector yet she is gentle, very clever and eager to learn new things. I guess I could have said all that by just saying she is everything I had hoped for and much much more. As you know the G.S. is very chatty and can be quite loud at times so I have taught her to whisper. It is the funnies thing. Everything we teach Yaffa we give it a word and a hand signal. We began the whisper by first teaching her to speak. The hand signal is 4 fingers and the thumb coming together. That took all of about 2 minutes. After that I whispered to her,,,Yaffa Whisper and gave her a tiny hand signal of the index finger coming together with the thumb. After about half a dozen tries she had it down pat. Now when she gets roudy for too long we just give her the thumb and finger and she immediately gives us a barely audible "woof". It truly is a whisper. Can you tell yet that we are having fun with her? lolI am attaching a picture of Beate's grandson giving Yaffa a big hug. Note Yaffa is watching me for instructions on how to act. She does not see the little ones often so we were thrilled to see how passive she is with them. We check in on your web site every couple of weeks and admire the puppies and feel sad when we see the adults from time to time who have to be relocated. It would give us great pleasure to give Yaffa a companion to play with but the little Bichon would just get lost in the shuffle and that wouldn't do. So instead Yaffa goes to doggie day care every Friday and has the time of her life playing with all the other dogs. They just love her there too of course.

Well Karen I could go on and on about how wonderful Yaffa is but I know you have better things to do with your time. We would however like to thank you once again for our beautiful companion. She is the absolute greatest.

Joan & Beate Zahn

Hi karen

i was looking at your web page and saw pictures of summer aka libby she is the love of our lives. she will be two feb 16 and i have to tell you she is one smart gorgeous animal im always bragging. we are still thinking about a male from rudy.s litter. we,ll keep in touch and thank you for summer she means the word to me.

Hello again

more praise for the Canisphere dogs. I am happy to report that my beloved "Berry", O My Mayberry vom Canisphere (a Dylan and Ora puppy, 2003) has earned his CD and is working toward his CDX. He is one leg away from his 2cd Rally Advanced Excellent title. At 5 yoa he is without a doubt the best ever, my heart and soul dog as I always call him. Our Canisphere girl, "Ruby", Willow Ruby Red vom Canisphere (a Dylan and Varina puppy(2003) has her own brags. She beat her brother at achieving her CD and is also working on her CDX. Ruby is learning Agility and having a ball. Both these dogs have the most spectacular temperament, not to mention their looks. We will never own a GSD from anywhere but Canisphere. Both Berry and Ruby are long coated and turn heads every day. Thanks again for the opportunity to live with such awesome, loving companions.

Robyn L. Meares
Orange Park, Fl. USAHi

Karen

Hoping this email finds you in good spirits and health.

Wanted to update you on Kassie’s accomplishments. This weekend she achieved her Utility Title, Rally Advanced title, and her GCN title. She is now officially known as OTCH Ch. Kassie Vom Canisphere, TT, GCN, RN (Carro), RNA (CKC), SchH2, OVC H/E. She received two High in Utility, three Third in Class (Rally Advanced) and one Second in Class (Rally Advanced). I think that she may be the only female GSD in Canada with these titles, but I am waiting for confirmation from the CKC. At the same trial, one of her sons received two legs towards his Companion Dog title and a grandson placed Third in Class (four times) to get his CD title in one weekend. So, needless to say, I am very proud of her. Bob wanted me to ask you how many dogs you will be entering in our Regionals at the end of May? We are expecting a full trial of 24 dogs and we are hoping to bring in a large entry into conformation.

Take care and warmest regards.
Trish McGonigal

Hello There,

Well another job well done from the Shepherds from Canisphere. Another reason to be thankful we met you and Lawrence. Not sure if Gerry got to chat with you this am, but someone was going to try to break in last night but thanks to the wonderful shepherds i have they woke me up so i heard whoever it was and called the cops. They had not found anyone when they had left but there was foot tracks by the back of my house. Not sure why or what they were looking for but a least they never got in. Definitely scared now been a couple of years since this has happened but Jamie was here and they caught the guy. Gonna go get some more signs today for the windows, whoever it was i dont think will be brave enough to come back. well i just wanted to drop you a little line before i have to take Landon to Nursery school to say thank you for doing what you do, and for breeding and raising such wonderful shepherds that will protect me and the boys. Thanks again.
On a happier note 3 of the cops wanted to see my dogs and the one asked me about the puppies, not the way i like to advertising but tried to end the night on a little bit of a better note. didnt sleep much after though, kept having awful dreams afterwards, maybe ill have a nap later this afternoon. Well i better get going. Thanks for listening and we will talk soon.

Kristin