Celhaus ii Litter (Lively bred to Quasi)
Whelped January 22, 2015
The ii litter had only two pups: a female, Spirit, whom I kept, and a male, Comanche, who went for Search & Rescue. See info and photos of Spirit in the “Our Family” section, and Comanche in the “Lively Pups” page in the “Past Litters” section.
pedigree
temperament test results: Police/Narcotics test and Search & Rescue test
Sire: Quasi vom Geistwasser BH AD
whelped 10/24/10
OFA Excellent Hips, PennHip 90th Percentile, OFA Elbows, OFA Cardiac, OFA Thyroid OFA Eyes, OFA DM (free), von Willebrand’s and hemophilia free
TLI Test normal at 47 months (free of EPI – Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency)
I was very lucky to acquire Quasi in July 2014. I really, really like this dog and am very grateful to Bill & Jen at www.kulladogs.com for letting me have him. Be sure to check out Quasi’s page of info and background that Bill & Jen provided me (in the Our Family section of this website). I had planned to immediately begin Quasi’s agility and nosework training when he arrived, but an injury (to me) kept me on my back from July to November. I’m still not moving well enough to begin his agility training though I hope to soon.
Quasi was nearly ready to try for his Schutzhund 1 title when I bought him. I’m going to try next spring to make the drive to the closest Schutzhund club (250 miles one way) often enough to learn how to work him and try for his “1” next October. Although he is very capable of getting all his Schutzhund titles, I will stop at the 1 because the distance is too great plus I usually have a litter to care for during the summer. Breeding Lively back to back this time means I’ll wait a year before I breed her again, thus opening up next summer to the possibility of working on his Schutzhund 1.
He has great hunt drive, loving to use his nose and searching very intensely when his ball takes a bad bounce and he has to find it. He shows that same desire to use his nose in nose work classes. I hope to do AKC tracking with him once he gets his Schutzhund 1. I won’t do it before that because Schutzhund demands a very precise, footprint to footprint tracking style and takes points off for any casting for the track. I won’t relax his tracking style for the faster, less compulsive AKC and Search & Rescue tracking style until we are done with Schutzhund.
Quasi began nose work classes in September and has done great. We started with 2 other dogs in the class, had 3 sessions and then one dog got very sick and the other quit coming, so after a couple of weeks with no classes, Jody, the instructor, suggested that I join another class. That class had been working since February and the dogs are already doing 3 scents (birch, anise and cloves) plus searching for multiple hides around the room. Usually for the first several months you do only one scent (first one is birch) and you work in a series of three-draw plastic storage containers so that the dog learns to hunt systematically and to stay on the scent when it finds it. There is only one hide per turn so they learn to stop when they find it. Then you add anise and they work the boxes to find two hides, one of each scent. You don’t usually add cloves for quite a while, once the dogs are searching outside areas and vehicles for the first two scents. Quasi’s first introduction to anise and to searching for two scents in each of his turns to work was at that class. He picked it up right away. Then Jody began hiding scents away from the boxes and he figured that out right away. The second time we went to that class, Quasi found all three scents no matter where they were hidden, in every turn. PLUS he already stayed on the scent until I told him that was enough, better than the others did. He doesn’t find the scents as fast as the others, but he works systematically and, when they aren’t in the boxes, on his own has figured out to look at each end of the set of boxes in the general area.
Quasi has great retrieve drive. He also enjoys learning and shows a lively curiosity about everything new. I anticipate a lot of fun training him in any venue I try.
He is also a very social dog so I will certify him as a therapy dog sometime soon.
Dam: Celhaus Celebrate Life (Lively)
whelped 11/3/09
NADAC Agility titles: Novice Regular, Novice Tunnelers Unfortunately, the agility trials were moved from a site 1 1/2 hours away to one that is 3 1/2 hours distance. I have to drive back and forth each day since I have other dogs at home I must care for each evening, so our chances for more agility titles are low.
Currently Lively is in training for Nosework titles, a fun new competition venue, derived from narcotics dog training. At our first Nosework Trial in May 2014, she received the first two titles in Exterior Searches, NNE1 (where they search for Birch Essential Oil) and NNE2 (where they search for Anise Essential Oil). On July 1st, 2014, the United Kennel Club took over nose work from its originating United Nosework organization. They will not allow trials until after they have incorporated all the information of every dog that titled under United Nosework. Lively continues training in the interim and will compete for more titles next summer once UKC allows trials to be held. She will also begin tracking and resume agility once the snow melts next spring.
Lively is a Therapy Dog, registered with Therapy Dogs Inc.
OFA “fair” hips, PennHip 60th percentile, OFA Elbows, OFA Cardiac, OFA Thyroid, OFA DM (carrier), CERF, von Willebrand’s and hemophilia free
free of EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) at 24 months
I usually don’t begin competing with my dogs before they’re two, but our trainer, Sunny, decided to have some evening mini-trials in August of 2011 and I thought they’d be great show experience for Lively, even though she was only 21 months old. The first one consisted of two TouchNGo classes. Lively blew a discrimination on the first one (very common in new dogs) but nailed the second class and got her first Q. She even beat Chaos & Berakah, who missed discriminations in both classes. The second mini-trial consisted of two Tunnelers classes, and all three of my dogs Q’d both times – we came home with 6 Q’s for the evening. Lively decided she, like Berakah, liked competing, so I entered her in the Labor Day trial in Gillette. I had to work one of the four days but we went the other three. Lively had 5 Q’s out of 6 classes the first day, leaving me with my mouth open in astonishment. She had 3 Q’s out of 6 classes the second day, and 3 Q’s out of 4 classes on the last day. When the dust cleared, she had achieved her Novice Regular & Tunnelers classes plus a leg each towards her Outstanding titles, as well as a Chances Q, two Jumpers Q’s, and two TouchNGo Q’s, an amazing haul for a beginner dog. Unfortunately, just when she was ready to seriously compete, the trials in Gillette (only 100 miles away) were discontinued and moved to a facility out of Red Lodge (some 3.5 hours drive each way). Since I have no one to care for the dogs left behind, I can only attend trials where I can drive back and forth each day, so the Gillette trials were doable while the Red Lodge trials weren’t, at least until I retired and had more energy to do a lot of driving. I hope to resume trialing her in the summer of 2015.
Maternal Grand Sire: Kway vom Posthorn SchH3 (LGA) KKL1 High Protection (97 V) at the 2007 Americans
“a” normal hips HDZW 66
whelped 9/9/00 – still doing great at 12!
free of EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) and of the Degenerative Myelopathy gene.
According to his owner (Bill Kulla), “Kway participated in two research studies that are working to identify a genetic marker for EPI and DM, so that one day we may eliminate these devastating diseases from our breed.”
Other quotes from Kway’s website, www.kulladogs.com:
Kway (pronounced “Kwhy”) is the expression of his world class bloodlines: son of Asko von der Lutter and grandson of Aly vom Vordersteinwald. Asko was the 1998 Bundessieger and 2000 WUSV World Champion and has proven himself as producer already. At the past three BSPs, Asko had more sons shown than any other dog. Aly was a close second.
Kway himself is a true all-three-phase dog: tracking is deep-nosed and methodical, obedience is fast and animated yet precise, and bitework is extremely strong with full, hard grips. Kway is balanced in the protection work and brings his natural aggression to the work for strong guarding. Through all three phases, Kway is a dog that is in true harmony with his handler, and their strong bond is evident on and off the field.
Always pronounced in courage; in Kway’s breed survey special mention is made of his exceptional temperament.
Kway is linebred 5-5 on Urs aus der Hopfenstraße, and he carries the black recessive.
Bill reports that Kway loves to retrieve and is good with everyone. He also is good with other dogs, including small dogs, and enjoys nurturing puppies. I really liked him when I took Quinta to be bred in 2009. Kway had been retired for two years, but put on a beautiful obedience demonstration for me. He was five days from turning nine years old but sure didn’t look it as he heeled, ran and jumped. I took photos of him.
Maternal Grand Dam: Celhaus Quintessence
NADAC Agility titles: Novice Jumpers Superior, Novice Regular, Novice Tunnelers Outstanding, Novice Chances, 2 legs towards her Open Jumpers title, 2 legs towards her Novice TouchNGo title, 2 legs towards her Novice Weavers title and 1 leg towards her Novice Hoopers title
AKC agility titles: one leg in each of Standard, Jumpers with Weaves & FAST
OFA hips (good); OFA Elbows; OFA Thyroid; OFA Cardiac; CERF; also tested EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency), von Willebrand’s and hemophilia free. In December, 2007, Quinta received her Health Award Certificate of Recognition from the German Shepherd Dog Club of America.
Quinta, commonly known as “Wild Thing”, was the character of the family. She loved to work, begged to train, and got into all kinds of trouble when we didn’t. She was crazy about agility. Her biggest problem was remembering to listen to me and go the direction I indicated, rather than attack every obstacle in sight. When she did remember, she was extremely intense and concentrated, a joy to work, and nearly always took 1st place. She also did extremely well in obedience and tracking but we never tried for titles since trials are few and far between. Quinta was very much like her mother, Jubilee, and grandmother, Glory. She was quite dramatic, very fast and athletic, loved to tease, and had trouble being a “good” girl.
Maternal Great Grandsire: Bianko vom Leerburg (“Comanche”)
OFA GOOD hips, OFA elbows
Janet Wilt’s Comanche was a Search & Rescue dog, certified in Avalanche, Water, Tracking, Wilderness Rescue and Cadaver. He was also certified as a narcotics dog (4 odors), evidence and building search.
See Janet’s Search & Rescue group, Jackson Hole Independent Search Dog Teams, www.jhsearchdogs.org.
Maternal Great Granddam: Celhaus Jubilee CGC CD NA NAP TDInc , made it to 14 1/3 years.
OFA GOOD hips, OFA elbows, OFA cardiac, OFA thyroid, von Willebrand’s free, CERF
Retired Therapy Dog
She has her Companion Dog title and her AKC Novice Agility titles and only needed one more qualifying score to finish her Novice Jumpers title, but she developed spurs on her back (from being such an athletic, body-slamming, hard-playing dog all her life), so her jumping and competing days are over.
Jubilee is the most athletic GSD I’ve ever known–unless it’s her daughter, Quinta or granddaughter, Lively. At 13 1/2, she is still healthy, though arthritis from bridging in her back has slowed her down considerably. When she was just a pup she would jump into the back of a 3/4 ton pickup from which I was shoveling wood shavings, trudge to the top of the shavings pile, and get on top of the cab. She would climb, jump, drill through incredible obstacles to retrieve her toys (the favorite of which is the Frisbee). She loved obedience, tracking and agility. Her tracking was very intense and only needed proofing to be ready to try for her Tracking Dog title. When she hurt her back, I retired her.