Guardian Angel Shepherds...

 

For LIFE!

 

Meet "Fuzzbucket"!

My one and only long hair puppy!

 

Gorgeous Boy!

Look at this gorgeous boy!  This is Dak vom Zem-Hrad from the Czech Republic. Aka as Hawk!  Look at that structure!  Straight back.  Well muscled legs. Large square head. Soft eye. Loves people but can take down a bad guy in a heart beat!

 I just love him!

Mary Ann Marcellus 

Voted Top 5 German Shepherd Breeders in Alberta (2022)

Great News!

All pups have passed their health checks, received their first shots and were microchipped yesterday!

Mary Ann Marcellus 

Voted one of the top 5 German Shepherd Breeders in Alberta (2022)

Aptitude Test "These are my kind of puppies!"

 The obstacle course is just one part of the Aptitude Test.  This test is a new and much improved version of the one I have been using for decades.  I took a 3 day course on how to conduct and assess it from Gayle Watkins, the person that wrote it.  At that time, I was lucky enough to have her assess 2 of my puppies along with 2 puppies of different breeds as demonstration dogs.  Her comment at the end of testing my puppies was "Now these are my kind of puppies!"  That was high praise from someone who tests hundreds of puppies a year!  I was so proud of my "Angels"!

People often ask me...

People often ask me "How do you get anything done with these adorable puppies around"?  The sad truth is, I spend approximately 98% of my time cleaning, feeding, washing dishes, getting supplies, answering phone calls, answering emails, giving vitamins, doing laundry, entertaining puppy owners or potential puppy clients, washing floors, taking photographs, vet visits, microchipping, updating my blog and Facebook and caring for all the other dogs.  I rarely just get to sit and enjoy my puppies.  

But when I do get to sit and enjoy them, it makes all the work worthwhile!

Gypsy's Puppies!

Mr. Brown

Miss Pink

Mr. Green

Mr. Blue

Miss Orange

Mr. Light Blue
 

First Puppy Nail Trim

Puppies get their nails trimmed every Wednesday and dewormed every Monday.  This will make your lives easier when you get them home as these two needed activities will be just part of their routines!

 

Gaia Puppies 2 weeks old - a few available for adoption

Mr Grey - Black

Mr Brown - Sable

Mr Blue - Black

Miss Pink - Black

Miss Yellow - Sable

Mr Light Blue - Black

Ms Purple - Black

 

Voted 1 of the top 5 German Shepherd Breeders Alberta! (2022)

Wow! I've been voted one of the top five German Shepherd breeders in Alberta! What an honor!

https://www.dogsoul.net/2022/03/german-shepherd-breeders-alberta.html?m=1


Mary Ann

Gypsy had her puppies!

A few of these puppies are still available for adoption.  Please contact me through my website

www.myguardianangelshepherds.com

 

Oh the life!

This is Gypsy and my helper Meagan.  Looks like they are both on a break!

You'll Never Guess What?!

As most of you know, I have been looking for a new stud dog since shortly after my beautiful, all black, Merlin, passed away.  Turns out that was 2.75 years ago.  Not 2 years like I had thought.  

Well, about a week ago, I saw a dog on the internet that was absolutely perfect!  But I had seen 3 perfect dogs before, so I dared not get too excited about this one.  Seemed I always JUST missed out.  Sold last week, sold yesterday etc.  

But this time I can tell you that FINALLY I was successful!  I didn't want to say anything, just in case...  but now I can say, without any reservation, THAT I HAVE A NEW STUD DOG!!!

He flew in from the Czech Republic a little over a week ago and he is now here at Guardian Angel Shepherds!  WOOHOO!!

He is a gorgeous dark sable, 12 months old, and great confirmation (IOW straight back) He has all his health clearances and is trained in protection.  He would be considered a green protection dog at this age.  But he is fearless!  He came out of the airline crate like he owned the world!  New smells, new people, new COUNTRY! Nothing phased him.  And he's huge for a 12 month old!  He looks like he's 3 years old!  Big boy, very muscular, can't imagine what he'll look like at 3 years.  

It will take a few months to get his papers and health clearances from Europe.  In the meantime I will introduce him to a life in the house with the rest of the pack.  He was born and raised in a working kennel environment so he knows nothing about house manners.  Or people manners for that matter.  He just about knocked me down 3 times when we first took him out of the crate.  Not his fault.  He was never taught!  So I have my work cut out for me.

His registered name is "Dak" but I have given him a call name.  He will go by "Hawk" from now on.  He is learning very quickly about house life but it could take some time for him to be accepted into the pack.  Maybe months.  He will never socialize with the other stud dogs, Rommel and Tazer.  Rommel is retired but he doesn't know that!  You would never expect stud dogs to get along.  Every stud dog must believe he is the Alpha of the pack.  So you could imagine the horrific event should they come in contact with one another.  Living with a pack is nothing like having a couple of dogs around the house.  You have to understand pack dynamics to have a successful breeding pack.

So that's my exciting news!  I will add photos as we get them.  But for now...

Introducing 'HAWK"

Our First Walk!

Cruz Rommel Puppies 14 days old

Cruz is doing great!

Cruz is doing wonderfully well.  A little slower to get up than usual but other than that, she's great!  Her waist line pre-breeding was 28 inches.  I measured her a couple of days ago and she's now sitting at 32 inches!  There's an old wives tale that states you can tell how many puppies they are having by how many inches they increase.  So if I measure her a few days ahead of her whelping date, that should give us a rough idea.  But I think the better thing to do is an x-ray to get a better idea!  They are not 100% correct all the time but they give you a good general idea.  I don't do that because I'm impatient and want to know how many pups she is having as soon as possible!  I do it for the health of the Mom.  If I know there are 8 pups in there and she has given birth to six but nothing has progressed for many hours, I know there might be a pup stuck.  That can be life threatening to Mom and the remaining pups.  I need to get the vet here right away!  

But the x-ray can be wrong at times.  I've had the x-ray tell me 8 pups and there was 10!  2 pups were hiding behind the others!  So sometimes I get x-rays and sometimes I don't.  It's a judgement call I make shortly before whelping.  Will I do it this time?  Who knows!  You will all have to wait and see!

TTFN

A Tribute to Shiloh

A Tribute to Marcellus' Divine Intervention aka Shiloh

Shiloh has crossed the rainbow bridge at the age of 11.5 years.  Shiloh owned Debra Lamb and the two of them were inseparable for 11 1/2 years.  I first met Debra 12 years ago when she came to visit, looking for a K9 partner.  She was the perfect fit for a Guardian Angel Shepherd.  Loving, caring, attentive and the list goes on.  She took home Marcellus' Divine Intervention.  Shiloh was a Kahlua/Justice puppy.  She had lots of energy but lots of wisdom too.  She impressed me one day when she was inside a wire crate sleeping.  I called the puppies to dinner and the opening of the crate was facing away from the door.  She could easily see all the pups scrambling out the door and down the hall towards their dinner bowls.  She was jumping at the wall of the crate when all of a sudden she just stopped.  You could see the cogs in her head spinning.  All of a sudden she turned around and bolted in the opposite direction.  The direction of the open door.  For a 4 week old puppy to figure out if she went away from where she wanted to go to get to where she wanted to go amazed me!  Heck!  She just learned how to walk a week ago!  She continued to impress me until it was time for her to go to her new home at 8 weeks old.  From what I understand, she continued to impress people her whole life!

Debra stayed in touch with me over the years and I was always excited to see new pictures of what they were up to lately.  You could tell they had an incredible bond.

Debra has made a short video to honour Shiloh's life on YouTube.  Please check it out and if you can, please leave Debra your  condolences.  Shiloh  was a great dog and she will be sadly missed by many dogs and people alike.

Marcellus' Divine Intervention aka Shiloh


Mary Ann

Cruz & Rommel have been bred!  If everything goes according to plan, we will have puppies just after Christmas!

If you're wondering why Cruz is missing the tip of her right ear, she can thank Auntie Isis for that!  Playtime got a little too rough!  I took her to the vet and they tried to stitch the split together but it wasn't successful.  We ended up with one pointy ear and one rounded one!  It's a long way from her heart!

Puppies Due April 4th!!!

FINALLY!  Cruz came into heat on January 20th.  She and Merlin were put together on Jan. 26 and again Jan 29th but it just wasn't quite time yet.  Jan 30, Feb 1 & Feb 3 were successful matings.  Usually I breed only twice but I wanted to be absolutely sure of the timing so this time she was bred a third time. 


There are two scientific ways that I use to determine when the female is ovulating.  One is to collect saliva and let it dry without disturbing it.  After it dries, it will have a crystalline look thru the microscope.  It is called "ferning".  If there is no ferning yet, there is no point in breeding.  (This works for people to by the way!)


The other way I use, is to collect swabs off the vaginal wall.  By staining the blood cells on a microscope slide you can see if the cells are "cornified".  When they become flattened and jagged, and you can no longer see the nucleus, the female is ovulating. 


I collect samples both in the morning and evening to see how far things have progressed. It takes about an hour each time. I try to leave nothing to chance.  According to both tests, she was ovulating on all the days she was bred.  The sperm can last 2-3 days inside the body so essentially she had viable sperm from Jan 30 all the way thru until Feb.5.  That should cover all of our bases!


It will be 30-35 days at the earliest before we know if she caught.  I'm not going to bother ultrasounding her again because last time it was a waste of $150.  They told me they saw puppies and in hind sight I really wonder if they saw anything at all.  I think maybe they just wanted to see puppies.  Whatever the case, I will take her in to be palpated at 30-35 days and even then, it may be hard to tell. 


So wish us luck.  Pray for us.  Whatever your lifestyle is.  Please send your good thoughts to Cruz to have a healthy litter and a successful birthing process.  Maybe my dog building will have finished being constructed by then!  It's hard to find the time to work on it.


So after death, comes life.  Kahlua was Cruz's mother so she would have been a Grandma again.  I miss my old girl terribly but time marches on.  Hopefully I can spend my time with her Grandpuppies in a few months from now. 


PUPPIES DUE APRIL 4, 2015!