Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge
Hi Everyone,
Today I’m posting an article about Keystone German Shepherds & Kennels in the Mannford Reporter written by by C.L. Harmon
Publisher:
Their names are Dean and Patty Heckathorn and they are a nice little secret tucked away in the country just off Hwy 48 South.Their secret is their success in breeding over 25 champion or grand champion Heidelberg Shepherds in the past several years.
Dean, a former biologist for the US Department of Fish & Wildlife for 18 years, raises, trains and cares for animals full time. Patty still works for the Wildlife Department as a secretary, but also works in the business as well as attending shows with Dean.
In 1996 while living in Daphne, Alabama, Dean started poking around the internet about a place where he could purchase a shepherd. His parents had had them and so he grew up with a fondness for them. After an exhausted search, he found a place with Heidelberg Shepherds in Springs, Texas. The next day, after a ten hour drive, the couple purchased a male and female shepherd.
Although, the couple initially only wanted a shepherd as a pet, they fell in love with the Heidelberg “brand” and decided to do a couple of breedings. They kept a few from the litters and then bought a few more dogs from the breeder in Texas and their kennel was born. In 1999,
Dean got transferred to Oklahoma. At this time the couple had 12 dogs and opened up shop here. Eleven years and several dog days later later, due to federal cutbacks, Dean was to be transferred again in 2010 to Albuquerque, NM. Only now they had several more dogs and uprooting wasn’t simply not feasible. What had been a hobby suddenly became a full-time business venture for the couple.
“I had always wanted my dogs to be available to everyone and so our prices had been $5-600 cheaper than our nearest competitor,” Dean said. However, he was forced to raise his prices in order to make the kennel a viable business that would make a living. They are still cheaper than their competitors, Dean said. Puppies sell now between $1,200-1,500.
One of the concepts the couple use in training is their choice to train family dogs as opposed to many types of shepherds which are trained for law enforcement purposes. They are trained home security, but are smart enough to know the difference between a kid climbing the fence to retrieve a football and the burglar breaking into a home, Dean said.
This breed is sweet natured and are very loyal have a natural herding instinct, Dean explained. “We raise family dogs that are loving family members and protective of the family,” Dean said. In their 18 years of raising, they have bred approximately 700 puppies.
The couple also offers several other services including: boarding, training, pet supplies, microchipping and even a free obedience class on Saturday mornings for all breeds to help teach them basic obedience and social skills.
Please continue to check out our web page as we post updates on available litters: https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/PuppiesForSale.htm. We have several wonderful German shepherd puppies for sale that that are ready to go home.
Please call me at (918) 261-4729 if you would like to take one of puppies home with you. Please visit our web page to learn more about these wonderful Heidelberg German Shepherds that we raise at Keystone German Shepherds & Kennels. https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/
Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge
Hi Everyone,
I’ve got some special female puppies out of Grand Champion, Champion, Certified Service Dog, Heidelberg’s Kodiak v Queridad OFAA24G Excellent, DNA #V495166 (Kodi) and Heidelberg’s Candee Fontana (Shae). This is Shae’s last litter.
Kodi in Tulsa
Grand Champion, Champion Heidelberg’s Kodiak v Qeridad Ready for Another Road Trip
Shae
These special puppies, I’m only offering them to my faithful blog readers. Actually I really do not want to sell them, but we must keep our breeding females below 9 or we’ll have to to submit to having the Oklahoma Department of AG out here telling me how to raise shepherds. Personally, I don’t care to have anymore government intrusion in my life than that which is absolutely necessary. Anyway, back to the puppies.
There were three puppies in this litter, 1 male and 2 females. Smaller litters are common with older females. Shae waited until her last litter to produce her best puppies. I absolutely fell in love with all three of the puppies. They are intelligent, confident, slightly independent, and alpha. I’ve had them outside in the kennel with puppies that are two-weeks older, but there is no doubt who are top puppies. While being dominant, they are not mean or vicious rather they are sweet even in their play. They are natural pack leaders. Sorry, the boy isn’t for sale unless someone offers me crazy money for him. The two girls are priced at $1,500.00.
Heidelberg’s Valerie Candeef
Heidelberg’s Vega Candeef
Please continue to check out our web page as we post updates on available litters: https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/PuppiesForSale.htm. We have several wonderful German shepherd puppies for sale that that are ready to go home.
Please call me at (918) 261-4729 if you would like to take one of puppies home with you. Please visit our web page to learn more about these wonderful Heidelberg German Shepherds that we raise at Keystone German Shepherds & Kennels. https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/
It so important to provide supplement nutrition including macro and micro nutrients to the diet of your German Shepherd Dog especially as growing puppy.Researchers have just discovered how important vitamin c is to proper growth and development of joints while German shepherd Dogs are growing.If insufficient amounts of vitamin c are provided in the diet during growth spurts that joint disease can develop even in puppies that are not genetically predisposed to joint disease.
Feeding just dry-food will leave your German Shepherd Dog or puppy deficient on macro and micro nutrients, vitamins, and certain minerals.The reason why these supposedly balanced and even the top-of-the-line dry-foods cannot supply these nutrients, vitamins, and minerals needed for proper growth and maintenance is due to the way it is manufactured.Dry-food is cooked at such high temperatures and extruded at such high pressures that the nutrient values that are in the starting ingredients are destroyed or altered in such a way that they cannot be assimilated or digested.
This is why we supplement our Heidelberg German Shepherd Dogs’ diet with our Pure Total Dog Supplement, which provides all the macro and macro nutrient, vitamins and minerals in a form that is readily digested and absorbed by your German shepherd.Our Pure Total Dog Supplement is loaded with vitamin C, all the B-complexes including biotin and B-6 and 12, Digest K yeast which helps with digestion, desiccated liver powder, which helps with finicky eaters, selenium that is important with skeletal growth maintenance, Omega 3 oils, which supports the circulatory system, and Diatomite powder, which provides the macro nutrients needed for joint growth and maintenance.
Pure Total Dog Supplement
Our Pure Total Dog Supplement in combination with a daily tablespoon of Cod liver oil, which provides vitamin A and E and a good quality dry-food will provide everything needed for your German Shepherd Dog or puppy to grow correctly and thrive.
We sell our Pure Total Dog Supplement and Cod liver oil to the public.Our Pure Total Dog Supplement cost $19.95 and is a four month supply for one dog.Our cod liver oil comes in a quart bottle and will last two-months for one dog and is priced at $19.50.Our cod liver oil is imported from Iceland and is the most contaminant free cod liver oil available.We only purchase human grade for our dogs, which decreases possible contaminants such as PCB’s. Dioxins, and mercury. Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested in purchasing these items from us.
A Happy Healthy Correctly Fed and Supplemented Puppy
Today I’m going to offer a short but important basic obedience tip. When heeling with your German shepherd Dog or puppy start off with your left foot. This may be awkward especially for right handed people because most of us will start walking with our dominant side, but with a little practice it will become natural.Starting off with your left foot provides a visual clue to your German Shepherd Dog to start heeling with you. Also, if you have proper leash placement by starting with your left foot the leash should be engaged by your left knee or thigh coming forwards, thus giving a physical cue to your shepherd to begin heeling when the engaged leash pulls them slightly forwards.The other advantage of starting to with your left foot is while your dog or puppy is in the heeling position and in a sit-stay you can move out of the heeling position by starting with your right foot and not trigger your German to move out of the sit-stay position.This is useful for moving in front of your dog to begin a different training exercise such as ‘stay’ followed by the come command.
German Shepherd Dogs in Heeling Position While on a Sit-Stay Command
German Shepherd Dogs Heeling at Keystone German Shepherd Training Class
Remember even if you only have 5 minutes a day to practice obedience training with your German Shepherd Dog or puppy, go ahead and utilize those 5 minutes because overtime it will pay off with great benefits for you and your German shepherd.
Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge
Hi Everyone,
Damon is a young 14-month-old, long-coat Heidelberg German shepherd that has almost completed his first level of Rally.Damon and his owner went out to the barn to feed their horses . Damon is still on leash while feeding because he likes to chase the neighbor’s cats (he mainly wants to play) and he wants to herd the horses at inappropriate times.The owner had experienced some health problems and has been falling a lot, and this time she fell at the barn and badly twisted her leg.She screamed and dropped the leash.
A Six-Month-Old Heidelberg’s Damon Relaxing at Home
Once she had dropped the leash she thought ‘oh no Damon is going to chase the horses and I am hurt too bad to stop him.However to her surprise Damon straddled her while she was lying down and stood over her until she was able to stand.Damon stood there on alert guarding her and trying to figure out what happened and why did his owner fall.She said, ‘it was so obvious he was guarding me’.Damon completely ignored the neighbor’s cats and horses and focused completely on protecting his owner.Once Damon realized there was no real threat he got behind his owner and started pushing on her back with his head to help nudge her up.
A Six-Month-Old Heidelberg’s Damon Sitting Nicely at Home
I have experienced similar behavior with our Heidelberg German shepherd while falling in the show ring.I have taken some hard falls over the years while running around the ring and each time our shepherds have immediately come up to me and start licking my face.Whereas, I have seen other shepherds being shown where the handler has fallen and let go off the leash and these shepherds that are not Heidelberg’s have taken off running away out of the ring and if they didn’t have a leash where somebody was able to grab them, they would probably still be running today.
A Six-Month-Old Heidelberg’s Damon Standing Nicely at Home
If you are considering getting a German shepherd puppy consider getting one of our older puppies and save a little money on some very high quality shepherds.
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