Stuttgart, Fanto and Akira !

A visit to Stuttgart  just on the heels of the Stuttgart 21 demonstrations. Then off to neighbouring Kursterdingen to sit with Olliver and Claudi Menzel at their kennel to set up the mating with their wonderful stud dog Fanto von der Lobdeburg. Fanto offers a real alternative to the Fero and Mink bloodlines, so it is very intersting gentically. Also he was SG ( very good ) twice at the LGA. Check out the video here!

He is a nice large and strong male with really nice full, hard grips. Excellent hips and elbow ratings and very promising progeny.He also has a very nice temperament with a good amount of aggression.

So I will keep my fingers crossed that Akira has nice puppies from this pairing.

Claudia and Olliver are very focused on their breeding program to make sure they use some of the alternative bloodlines, and produce healthy dogs with the ability and drive for work and sport. It has been a great experience so far seeing first hand how they train and interact with their dogs.

I will be here in this city for a couple days and then back to Heide, via Frankfurt and Hamburg. Then back to training and preparations for next week !

Czech out the latest addition to the Project- Pohranicni Straze Kennel insight

Firstly, I would like to say that to get to this particular Interview was an adventure in and of itself. It took almost 24 hours by train from Heide, where I am staying in Germany to the town of Mělník, in the Czech Republic.  I got to visit Berlin first and then Prague on my way back to Germany.


At first, when I decided to do this project, I thought that to understand the German Shepherd and its breeding over the years you must first understand the people and the cultures that created and influenced the breed. I must thank Zdenek "Hans" Blabla from Alpine K-9 for helping me to set up this interview. Hans himself is very knowledgeable about the dogs from the Czech origin, as he was the original importer into America of them since 1965.


There in Mělník I was fortunate to sit with Jiri Novotny from Z Jirkova Dvora kennels. Jiri was for 21 years a Director at the Czech Border Patrol Kennels known as z Pohranicni Straze. His current breeding program is severely influenced by the system he practiced in those times as the kennel director. He also works closely with other breeders like Jiri from Jipo Me Kennels and together they preserve the style of dog that was used for Border Patrol, personal protection and Police and Military services.


Here you can see a little taste of my experience in the city and with Jiri, Czech it out!!