Breeding Philosophy

We are proud members and signatories of the breeder code of ethics with both the German Shepherd Dog Club of America and the German Shepherd Dog Club of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

We are members of both of these clubs to help promote proper breeding of the German Shepherd and to help people find healthy, well bred German Shepherd Dogs. Casamoko German Shepherds is a “preservation breeder” meaning that we work hard to produce German Shepherds that adhere to the American Kennel Club’s German Shepherd standard in temperament, type, structure, and size. We strive to breed dogs that are intelligent, healthy, long-lived and great representatives of the breed. Preserving the breed for it’s intended purpose is important to maintain the correct structure and working ability for the breed for future generations. German Shepherds are a herding breed, as such many of our dogs have herding titles or are instinct tested to ensure their herding ability is still preserved in the breed.

We are responsible breeders that have been breeding German Shepherds since 2006. Much research is given to each litter planned, researching pedigrees and health clearances on the dogs in a lineage. All of our breeding stock has been certified by the Orthopedic Foundation of Animals (OFA), with results available on the public database at www.ofa.org. Our breeding stock goes through rigorous health screening and are also evaluated on their temperaments and trainability. Typically our dogs have titles they have earned before they are bred. Casamoko Shepherds compete in numerous American Kennel Club (AKC) events, check out our brag page to see what the dogs are up to. Many of our breeding dogs are shown in conformation to evaluate them against the AKC breed standard for German Shepherds. We aspire to produce dogs that are the epitome of what a German Shepherd should be with outstanding structure, temperament and work ethic.

As a veterinarian studying genetics has always intrigued me, so evaluating the genetics of the German Shepherd Dog has been fascinating over the years. Besides the minimal testing recommended by the German Shepherd Dog Club of America, (hips and elbows certified), I evaluate my breeding stock for numerous other genetic and testable diseases including heart, eye, thyroid evaluations as well as genetic testing for degenerative myelopathy, MDR1, etc. A knowledge of genetics and heritability has been indispensable for helping to screen and eliminate genetic diseases from our breeding lines. Many of our dogs are CHIC certified, meaning they have had all the testing recommended by the German Shepherd Dog Club of America.

I also studied animal behavior and love to learn about how dogs learn and the training techniques that can be used to teach them. I enjoy training all of my dogs and finding out what they excel at and what they enjoy. All of our dogs start training classes as puppies and we recommend the same for the puppies that we sell. We are able to refer owners to trainers in the area, some of the trainers even own dog’s that we have bred. A well trained German Shepherd is a joy to live with but also to bring out in public and have the dog interact with others. Any behavioral issues that occur in a puppy we bred is offered free veterinary advice and training information of how to correct or train to get positive results.

Our dogs are also Temperament Tested and Certified by the German Shepherd Dog Club of America. This test demonstrates that the dog is of sound mind. We believe that having an appropriate temperament is the most important thing when purchasing a German Shepherd. A lot of your puppy’s temperament is heritable and will depend on the temperament of his/her sire and dam. Choosing breeding stock with outstanding temperaments helps achieve our goals. One of the best parts of breeding is watching the puppies develop their temperaments and personalities and seeing how they learn new behaviors.

Our dogs and puppies are all raised in our home to experience all the noises and things that happen in a busy household. They start with early neurologic stimulation before their eyes are even open to make them more adept to handling stress when they are older and as they grow they get a modified puppy culture exposure to teach them how to be the best puppies possible. Our puppies go to their homes with exposure to many different experiences before leaving our home including car rides, meeting people, positive crate exposure, house training, treats and play. Play time includes tunnels, balance balls and boards, slides, climbing obstacles, and many other enrichment toys and activities.

Most of our breeding stock comes from generations of our breeding, which means great experience and expectations of what our lines produce both in health and temperament. Some of our breeding stock is produced from other outstanding breeders around the country that have the same high standards that we have. When we purchase a dog for the breeding program, we look at healthy testing, pedigree and temperament to find a dog that will meet our stringent criteria for the breeding program. We sometimes choose to use a stud dog from outside lines for our breedings to add in new bloodlines or line breed on a line that we are trying to get more consistency in type or temperament from that line. Any stud dog that we choose, we hold to the same standards as our dogs in health, conformation and temperament.

After our females and males are retired from the breeding program they are spayed and neutered and live out their retirement doing dog sports for fun including agility, rally, herding, obedience, scent work, or sometimes just lying on the couch all day. We have numerous dogs that we have bred and/or owned that are part of the 13 Club from the German Shepherd Dog Club of America. To be eligible for the 13 Club the dog has to live to it’s twelfth birthday, something that we are very happy to have happen in many of our dogs and pups. You will see the 13 Club designation behind many of our retired dogs in the breeding program.

If you are interested in an exceptional German Shepherd to compete in AKC events like conformation, agility, obedience, rally, scent work, herding, therapy work, service dog, or a wonderful companion, please reach out to see when we will have pups available. Feel free to contact us for more information. To get on the waiting list, fill out the application by hitting the application button.