Article Index
TESTIMONIALS
This past week I have been sick with the flu and although all 3 dogs can easily be found nearby, Blizzard has not left my side. I have to tell him to go outside and even then he comes right back ASAP!
Talk to you soon.
Rosa, now five years old, is the ever playful soul and faithful companion. And, a pal with our cat … especially at nap time.
Our basic obedience training ended in November. I will continue to do more obedience with her but the next level doesn't start till February so I looked for agility. I had to search hard for daytime agility training but I found one up near Yorkdale. The format is the teacher tells us all what the next exercise is and what to do to reward the dog in incremental steps as it approaches the desired behaviour (shaping). During her instruction we have our dogs quietly next to us and when she's finished we get to try the exercise. Every time we try something new (go through a tunnel, go up and down a ramp, have paws on a specific target pad etc etc) Yuki needs no shaping, no luring, nothing - she just does it. The instructor initially asked "has she done this before?" - now she just says Yuki is a natural. It's almost like Yuki listens to the instructions and understands. The instructor told me that if Yuki wasn't so young, she would have thought I was being disingenuous about not having any agility training experience. So yeah, Yuki is super smart but you guys KNOW that already!! Thank you again for entrusting her to me.
Wishing you and your family the very best of the Christmas season and a very happy new year.
As for the training she has been very easy to train overall, especially potty training which must have been practiced on your farm because she was sitting at the door waiting to be escorted to her washroom within the first few days of having her home (No accidents in the house). Ahri also loves to spend time with my other dog (Zelda) who is a 3.5 year old female boxer who can be excitable at times, but they seem to play for most of the day and then cuddle together at night. I believe Ahri to be a mostly submissive puppy so training with that in mind has been fairly simple in general and it's been even simpler with Zelda's influence who is as submissive/obedient as dogs get. I've got her to respond to "sit", "come", "paw", "no", "hey" (tonal differences), "cage/crate", "Ahri", and various body language cues. Another thing to mention about training is she has never barked other than when she is playing with Zelda and it is a playful bark, otherwise she is extremely quiet. Which was something I didn't have to train, she is just really quiet borderline silent. Last thing I wanted to mention about training is the puppy biting stage of growth, Ahri has shown tremendous mental growth on this stage in particular. When I first brought her home she was biting everything from shoes to cords. Within a week of diligent watching and training she no longer bites things other than toys and that extends to her now sleeping on our shoes and sometimes she puts her face inside my shoes rather than chew them. The biting may have been prevented due to her and Zelda playing and play biting each other. She may have just gained the bite inhibition much sooner than I initially expected.
She is already turning out to be a wonderful puppy, and it's only really going to get better as the weeks pass by. I wanted to thank you for allowing me the chance to come by your farm myself and witness the lifestyle they lived. I'm really happy I chose you Gabe over closer breeders.
My name is Tara and 3 years ago I purchased my first white German Shepherd for my father. He turned out to be the biggest blessing and best dog we have ever owned! Now I am looking for another for myself and my husband. Would love to reserve a male if possible?
You should know Blizzard is the most perfect dog we have ever owned!!!!!! Perfect straight back, strong legs and hips, beautiful face and sweet as can be! I would definitely be willing to wait for your next litter knowing that I would be getting a good blood line such as Blizzard's!
I've attached a few pictures for you to see. Believe it or not, I found my husband at the dog park. Blizzard and my husband's German Shepherd clicked first, and played cupid. We were married at the dog park where we met this past July with the dogs included!! Haha
Although Blizzard is my dad and brother's dog, and I don't live with him, Blizzard has always treated me differently. I think he knows I was the one who picked him up and brought him to the place he now calls home. We have a very special bond, and I have been taking him to the dog park almost every day since he was only 5 or 6 months old.
We're impressed of his knowledge already. You sure did a great job during his first two months!
He has an amazing character, is not nervous, he LOVES kids (and everybody actually). We could't have asked for a better dog.
He's very popular wherever we go. Oh! And it took a while but we found he's name: Kuma
Thanks again to you and your family.
Jasper was the star of the our local ski club this winter. If you received an unusual spike in inquiries from the GTA-Caledon area it is no doubt due to the dozens of conversations Jasper sparked most of which involved strangers asking where we procured such a magnificent dog. In fact, so many people would ask about Jasper that it began to interfere in our skiing and snowshoeing schedule so much that I adjusted my hours at the ski club!
From a physical perspective, we are impressed. Jasper regularly does a thousand feet of elevation gain on our weekend hikes which are over 15KM each. We get him really muddy but he cleans up nice, just like you said - we never really bathe him, the dirt just crumbles off on its own, a miracle to behold. He also plays nicely with other dogs on a regular basis. He is exceptionally well socialized.
Thanks for doing such a great job with this breed. You already have us thinking about getting a second dog.
I just wanted to give you an update on our puppy Bauer (he was the male puppy from your River x Kuna litter this past summer). He's doing great so far. We couldn't have asked for a better dog. He hasn't had any health problems. He's very friendly and smart. He's almost 8 months old and still growing. He's getting along well with other dogs. Our cats still don't like him very much, but he's not aggressive towards them and we can all sleep in the same bed at night without incident. So overall, things are going great! We took him to the dog park for the first time last week and he loved being able to run around without his leash. I took some pictures of him at the dog park that I wanted to share with you. I've attached some of the pictures to this e-mail. Feel free to put these pictures on your website or facebook if you want.
Thanks again for breeding such a great dog! Maybe this summer we'll be able to come by for a visit so that Bauer can see his mom and dad again.
Cheers, Adam
Nova is a great dog and we are both having a great time with her. She's learned to sit and wait to be fed when we signal for her to eat. She can sit, shake, she rings a bell to let us know when she needs to use the bathroom, and she can sleep with the crate door open without chewing up anything! Lol. We do socialize her A LOT with other dogs and take her everywhere with us, depending if we can take dogs with us. We are definitely happy with her, thanks for choosing a great dog for us
Just wanted to leave a quick update on Yuki. First of all she is doing amazing. She has been completely housebroken for a while now, and she is so quick to learn new things. Her and her big brother Eddie get along incredibly. They love to play together, and eat together, sometimes they even enjoy staying in the same crate together! She is an amazing dog and I could not be happier with her :)She is 51 pounds now, and all up to date on her shots. I got her spayed yesterday and although drowsy last night, she seemed to bounce back fast and is back to playing with her toys this morning. She gets a long with other dogs so quickly but she loves nothing more than to be around me and my family! Thank you for such an amazing dog!
I tried to submit a testimonial but it wouldn't let me so this was the best way I could get in touch with you. Riven is doing AMAZING, he is brilliant and incredibly easy to train. He is almost fully house trained (knock on wood) and has already learned the commands "sit" "Down" "Heel" "Okay" "Come" and "Spin". He is also amazing off leash in the forest behind our house, never goes out of sight. Other than that he is fit as a fiddle, 37 pounds and going on 18 weeks. Thanks again for everything I couldn't ask for a better friend
Baby "Benz" is home safe and sound. We got into Sudbury about 5:15pm. Long drive. Lots of freezing rain, bad roads and slow drive (ploughs and sloppy roads). Benz settled in well after the first 5 minutes. He slept most of the way and we took him out for a few stops along the way. He was happy to meet my Mom and then my Sister and her family before coming home. He seems to enjoy snow...:) He is sleeping now. He was showered with gifts from my family and everyone just loves him. He has a very sweet personality and we just love him. Will send photos soon. Thank you again and we know we made the right decision with Andega Kennels.... :)
Oh Gabriele! This puppy is such a joy! He is so smart, and so affectionate! He hasn't even barked yet! Just whines sometimes.... I must have picked the best one! Haha... He does sit sometimes on command, he hasn't had any 'accidents', always goes outside on the grass where he is supposed to go! My brother even swears he knows to go to the door when he has to use the washroom lol. We all just love him so much! I can't wait to explore dog parks and watch him grow! Thank you, Thank you, Thannnkk youuu! Unfortunately the video won't send but,when giving my dad his Birthday gift, my dad's exact reaction was "are you serious? Are you serious?!" Lol I will send some pictures as he grows if you'd like... See how much he grows up to look like his father perhaps :-) Thank you so much again, from the bottom of my heart!
I can't believe it's been over a year since we picked up our beautiful puppy! I just want to write a little note with some updates over the last year:) Fritz is amazing. He's incredibly intelligent, loyal and the hot shot of the dog park around here. He adores people and more than anything other dogs. A social butterfly if you will. We enrolled him in training courses last spring which went really well as well. He has a number of girlfriends at the park. His favourite breed is golden retrievers. He can't get enough of them. He has an occasional garbage surfing problem that we're working on but that's really the only thing he can be naughty with. He took a ten day vacation with us to PEI this summer and his beautiful white fur was red from the sand for days. I can't tell you how many people complement him. He also sleeps on his back against walls with his legs straight up in the air! He's truly a beauty and you sure do a great job Gabe! I've enclosed some photos of our little man and I hope you're doing well. Shame we don't need a dog every year just to come up there. But we will take a visit soon to show him to you:) We love him. He's our new best friend! Thanks Gabe,
Hope all is well, I just wanted to send along some pictures of Piper we had done last weekend. She is so beautiful and we couldn't be happier with her! She is doing great, and is such a joy to have around! She could play fetch for hours and loves playing with Kozmo. She recently figured out how to jump up on the bed and it's her new favorite place. She has adapted so well to her kennel and just loves it now and goes in all by herself. Thank you for such an amazing dog! :)
Big hugs from me and Rosa. She is now about nine and half months old and is a wonderful family dog.We go for walks often and meet lots of other dogs and people of all ages. The happy puppy is named for the white rose on the Town Coat of Arms and she seems to enjoy exploring the Town on our walks. As a younger puppy her interest in lawn bowling in the park surprised me when she sat down to watch. I think it was the rolling balls, mostly. And another surprise …she is a water dog and loves swimming especially when retrieving sticks from the lake. Her white coat is amazingly resilient to dirt even with her occasional romping in the mud of the fish pond! Rosa is playfully inquisitive and even though she is still a puppy she is a quick learner. For example, she crate trained within days of me bringing her home and was no longer in need of crating by four months of age. Rosa is much admired, many people comment on how beautiful a dog she is and she has a good temperament to match. I believe her early experiences at your home were instrumental to her development. I thank you for taking the time to socialize the puppies early and treating them so well. I also appreciate that you take the time to be accessible to this first time owner of a large breed dog.
The puppy is absolutely wonderful. Julia is totally in love with him. We are trying to crate train him but he doesn't like the crate. He loves going outside. He likes the snow. He loves our Lab named Lucky, -he follows him everywhere and Lucky won't let him out of his site. Since Tasha died, Lucky had no one to run with and now he follows Woolly everywhere. Woolly barks at the cats and they just keep their distance. They have grown up with dogs so they are not intimidated by them. So far, so good with Woolly. I let him out about 2-3 times during the night. How long does he usually sleep during the night before he needs to do potty? Any tips, please pass them along. Also, its nice to have a baby again. He is sooooo cute and cudly and he is getting smothered with kisses. Thank you again for letting us adopt him. Its fun watching Julia because she calls him her baby and he gravitates towards her. Its a beautiful thing. How is Meagan? Does she miss him? Tell her thank you for raising such a wonderful puppy."
How are you? I thought I would send a quick email to say 'hello' to let you know that Koby is doing great...I can't believe it's been a year 'tomorrow' so in honour of his birthday I wanted to say 'hi' to you and to let you know that he is doing great and IS amazing! He's such a wonderful and social boy who just wants to play all the time and loves to take long drives and especially his walks in the woods chasing deer (he finds them all the time). He's great with kids, loves the snow and everyone that meets him say that he's unbelievably beautiful and well-natured. So 'Thank You' and everything that you do. I hope both Cody and Kuna are doing well too! Oh, one more thing, we are meeting up with his sister, Zakia for a play date at the dog park on the weekend in honour of their 1st birthday. I've enclosed some pics for you....take care and all the best! :-) Cheers!
We took Stella for a walk in the woods yesterday so I thought I would send you some pictures of our pretty girl. She loves to climb up on this particular tree that has fallen down. Jim coaxed her up this fallen tree when she was just a pup, but now she just runs up it on her own. I took these pictures before she got into the pond and came out really dirty. She loves water so I take her and Lily almost every day to the river. She is a very happy dog, just enjoys everything, you can just see that in her. She's quite funny and has a very unique personality. I've also attached a picture of her with her best friend, Ed the cat. They hang out together all the time. It's very weird because she chases our white cat but never does that to Ed. We'll try to drop in some day on our way to the cottage. Talk to you soon.
Here is a little update on Jay-Jay: She is doing very well and fits perfectly with the family! She is a bundle of joy an loves to play in the backyard! She already knows ''sit'', ''lay down'' and asks for the door when she needs to go. We want to say thank you again for our little Jay-Jay and we will update you again very soon!
Thought I would let you know that Kobi has settled right into his new life here on the east coast. He is a little rockstar at the dog parks! So many people stop and ask what kind of dog he is and comment on how gorgeous he is! He really is a great dog and we are so proud to have him as a member of the family! I have him scheduled for puppy classes starting tomorrow which I think will be easy for him as he learns so fast. he already responds to come, sit, stay, lay down, paw, off, give and he (for the most part) uses the bathroom where we need him to! I had him at an off leash provincial park today and he stayed right along side me the whole time! Thanks again for such a wonderful companion!!
Steve and I wanted to write a few lines for your testimonials section, although you have heard before from us about how proud we are with this happy and precious ball of fur you have trusted us, so people who visit your website can figure out what wonderful dogs you breed. By the way, those who want to see how this puppy is growing, feel more than welcome to visit the page I have built and I keep updating here.
So much information can be found there, from the detailed pedigree with pictures for 5 generations, to the pictures and videos from the day he was picked up, surrounded by his canine family, to the moment he arrived at his new forever home, and then the "real time" process of growing. To summarize these two weeks, since Beethoven is with us, we can say this is a super dog in every sense. Tremendous puppy. Time will just confirm this feeling.
About the look, I can say his structure is awesome, perfect scissors bite, symmetric and stunning ears, impressive black pigment in all the right places, big strong chest, well boned, very white fur, and the list goes on. Our veterinarian said "This is the old style great german shepherd dog, hard to find nowadays, and without that weird rear angulation". Big and beautiful. Strongly healthy.
About the temperament, for what we can see so far, this seems to be the dog that can do all: extremely active and lively, always in the center of the action, curious without fear, ready to lead any new challenge, quick to learn, extremely smart (he only needs one time to discover how to solve a problem), amazingly energetic, always happy and smiling. Surprisingly he didn't show any fear or hesitation when we have made a big noise: on purpose I exploded a plastic bag to observe his reaction, what scared our older Belgian shepherd dog. On the opposite, he tried to discover the source of the noise. Beethoven plays with our dog (4 times bigger than him), during long sessions of chewing each other, and again, he is fearless.
I have the impression that with the right training and control he will be a great natural protector. Particularly I observed the behavior of his dad, Cody, when we visited you, and I was more than pleased: when I was outside (at the arrival) he barked fiercely threatening me with the message "Don't dare to invade this territory, or...". But when you granted me the entrance to your house, he immediately realized that I was someone to trust. And he was so extremely friendly and sweet with me (the video in Beethoven's page, referred above, is a proof), I could pet and hug him like we were old friends. What a big kisser! I feel his son, our joy, has inherited this fabulous temperament of his Sire.
Beethoven is seductive and charming. If he was a man, I would fall in love helplessly! Therefore Steve, my husband, doesn't have to regret anything. On the other hand, fortunately Beethoven is not a girl, otherwise I would be so jealous when Steve hugs him :-) Another topic I would like to mention, to let potential buyers of Andega's puppies know, is the quality of life that Gabe gives to her dogs: each dog has his/her own fenced mini backyard with adequate shelters, everything clean and neat. This is not a puppy mill. It is not by chance that Rhonda McMahan (Surefire Shepherds), the breeder of White German Shepherds with the highest reputation of in the U.S.A. has given Gabe the quality of dogs she has for Andega's breeding program. I have no doubt that Gabe has to be the best WGSD breeder in Canada.
Steve and I couldn't be happier with Beethoven, and we are 100% sure this will remain like this during the (hopefully VERY long) life of our puppy. He is a jewel that deserves to be treasured.
Matt and I just wanted to update you on how Grayson is doing. He is the most amazing dog! He has not had an accident in the house since the first week we brought him home (which is especially impressive considering we live in a condo and don?t have a backyard). He slept through every night we have had him in his crate without complaint. He sleeps on all car rides on his Batman blanket in the backseat. Grayson walks to work with me everyday, and we live in the downtown core of Toronto so he passes all sorts of distractions such as sirens, protests, parades, concerts and masses of people and he heels beside me the whole way. I work at a dog day care and he is still in the small room because of his age, but he plays so well with the little dogs. His best friend is a French Bulldog who likes to chew on his ears while they wrestle. Grayson is incredibly friendly, outgoing and calm. We get stopped all the time by people who want to fawn over him, and he is always the perfect pup, he doesn?t even jump up on little kids who squeal and pull on his ears. We have taken him to Toronto Island on the ferry, and he has seen the fireworks over lake Ontario and he is perfectly content with all new experiences. He is very food motivated and so easy to train and is great off-leash, as he very conscientious of Matt and I. We could not be more pleased with him, thank you (and Sega and Cody) so much for such a wonderful puppy! Ps. I've attached some pictures, and we will send more when he is 6 months along with proof of his neuter.
I just wanted to give you an update on how Mako is doing. He has been a great addition to our family. He loves the dog park we take him to. He just started puppy kindergarden. He is so gentle with the kids and pets in our family. He gets his next shot on the 30th of June and I will send you an update and some photos.
