Most Important Command to Teach Your Dog

Most Important Command to Teach Your Dog

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

The first and most important training command you can teach your dog is to come to you when called. Even if you live in a subdivision and your dog is either secured in the backyard or on a leash there will be a time when your dog or puppy slips the lead or escapes the backyard. By correctly training your dog to come when called can save its life or save you from an expensive vet bill. For example, you are walking your dog on a leash and a cat runs out in front of you into traffic. You are relaxed and not expecting your dog to bolt, thus the leash slips out of your hand and your dog is after the cat heading into traffic. Unless the dog is well trained to come there is nothing you can do except pray.

A Two-Year-Old Patriot playing in Pine Bluff, AR at Dog Show in February 2013

A Two-Year-Old Patriot playing in Pine Bluff, AR at Dog Show in February 2013

You can and should start training your new puppy to come to you when called as soon as it comes home with you. Do this at home and often, have tiny treats that your puppy cannot resist, and frequently say your puppy’s name followed by the word “come”. Every time the puppy comes to you give it a treat and love on the puppy then spend a couple minutes playing. The command to come should always be a positive experience for the puppy and never punish your puppy or dog for not coming. If they don’t come be patient and just try again in a few minutes. The idea is to make the come command enticing and irresistible from the dogs’ point of view and this takes time and patience. Making the come command enticing to your new puppy is done by treats they love, affection, and play. If you do this exercise four to five times a day while your puppy is young by the time you actually start formal training with a leash your puppy will be coming to you directly with great enthusiasm.

Heidelberg's William v Carlie (Jury)

Heidelberg’s William v Carlie (Jury)

Nothing makes a dog owner more proud than when their dog or puppy comes to them during training class with great enthusiasm. Once the dog starts formal training you will first teach your puppy or dog to stay and once that is mastered you can start training using the come command on leash using the three enticements of irresistible treats, love and praise, and play. If your adult will not come when you call it, even if your dog is old, you can train it come with practice and using the three positive enticements. Next time, I’ll show you how to train your dog to stay and to stay for hours if necessary.

Well socialized male Heidelberg's German Shepherd Dogs

Well socialized male Heidelberg’s German Shepherd Dogs

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 puppies that that are ready to go home.   Also, please see our web page: https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/
Sincerely,
KeystoneGermanShepherds

Historical of Keystone German Shepherds

Historical of Keystone German Shepherds

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

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:

Dean & Patty Heckathorn show off some puppies at Keystone German Shepherds & Kennels.

Dean & Patty Heckathorn and their former champion Kodi.

Dean & Patty Heckathorn show off some puppies at Keystone German Shepherds & Kennels.

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.

For more information about Keystone German Shepherds & Kennels, call 918-261-4729, email [email protected] or visit keystonegermanshepherds.com

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/

Sincerely,

Dean Heckathorn

Puppies For Sale

Puppies For Sale

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

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

Kodi in Tulsa

Traveling with Your German Shepherd Dog

Grand Champion, Champion Heidelberg’s Kodiak v Qeridad Ready for Another Road Trip

German Shepherds Will Protect Your Property From Strange Dogs and People

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 Candee

Heidelberg’s Valerie Candeef

Heidleberg's Vega 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/

Sincerely,

Dean Heckathorn

 

Puppies For Sale

Pups For Sale

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

We have several German Shepherd Puppies for sale.  The first that I would like to write about are two girl puppies out of Heidelberg’s Patriot v Atlantan whose almost a new champion and Heidelberg’s Winter Xandrac.  Winter is the classical female German Shepherd type.  She is not overly large, but when you look at her you know that she’s female and she is very beautiful.  Patriot is our largest male and could easily be 110 pounds lean weight at maturity.  Winter had three of the largest female puppies that I have ever seen at birth.  I’ve been doing this for over twenty years and have seen a lot of German shepherd puppies born.  Therefore, when I say the largest that really means something well beyond just big pups.  These three puppies have continued to remain unusually large.

Heidelberg's Patriot v Atlantan

Heidelberg’s Patriot v Atlantan

Heidelberg's Winter Xandrac

Heidelberg’s  Xandrac Carenf

However, the beast thing I like about these puppies is that they demonstrate flawless temperament with ornery personalities.   The one that we have sold, I was told is already barking at 10 weeks-of -age at strange cars and people coming to the door, which is what this elderly gentleman wanted was to be alerted to strangers coming on his property.

Xena and Xandra Winterx big puppies ready to go to a new home

Xena and Xandra Winterx big puppies ready to go to a new home

She also is protecting their property, he said that he saw her get into it with a giant crawdad that was crossing the yard.  (We have had an unusually wet Spring and everything is saturated) After being pinched on the nose several times, she figured out that she could pull a rear guard maneuver on this crawdad and safely dispatch this evil enemy that had invaded her owner’s yard.

We have her sister’s here available at https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/.  Priced at $1,500.00 for someone looking for beautiful, large female puppies that will also be protective.  These are breeding and show quality females, even though I have them priced as companions.

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/

Sincerely,

Dean Heckathorn

 

 

 

Puppies For Sale

Vitamins Are Essential to Your Dogs Diet

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

Exploring the vast prairie of the Washita National Wildlife Refuge

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to re post about how important it is to supplement your dog and even more so for growing puppies.  Diets should be supplemented with vitamins and cod liver oil.  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

Pure Total Dog Supplement

Our Pure Total Dog Supplement in combination with a daily tablespoon of Perfect 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. Our Perfect Cod Liver Oil provides for proper growth and maintenance of the circulatory system and brain, as well as the eyes.  The cod liver oil will also keep the coats bright and shiny and if used daily will reduce shedding in the house with proper brushing.  Also, if you have seen dandruff or flaky skin on your dog, the cod liver oil will resolve that problem while eliminating itchy skin.  Be aware that cod liver oil is the king of all fish oils, and common fish oils that are sold at feed stores will not provide the same level of benefits and are many times loaded with contaminants and are rancid.

Pure Cod Liver Oil

Perfect  Cod Liver Oil

We sell our Pure Total Dog Supplement and Perfect 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 $19.75.  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 order online at https://squareup.com/market/keystone-german-shepherds-and-kennels or go to our web page and click on order online at https://kgsd.inventivehorizons.com/.

A Happy Healthy Correctly Fed and Supplemented Puppy

A Happy Healthy Correctly Fed and Supplemented Puppy

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 puppies that that are ready to go home.

Ask me a Question and I will provide my