Von Hasental References

Dear Jan

I've been wanting to write you about how pleased we are with Erth. He has been such a pleasure to be with. He has been such an easy dog to house break and obedience train. Erth picks up on the sightest ques.
He has been in so many different situations, and has never been agressive towards other dogs or children. However, when he was three months old, Erth and I were walking around the back of our house and ran into a lion about 20 ft away. Erth instantly started after him and scared him off. Very protective at such a young age..
We go on hikes and horse rides and he follows along with us and absolutely loves it. I get so many compliments on how beautiful he is. The coloring of his coat is oustanding.
Erth still loves water and baths. He is just a great companion for us. Thank you so much for breeding and starting such terrific German Shepherd.

Steve -- Casper, WY

Jan,

My family would like to extend a note of gratitude for the effort you put into breeding and raising our Fercedes (“Sadie”). Since the day we got her off the plane she has been nothing but calm, self assured, well socialized, loving and very intelligent. We spent a lot of time researching breeders on the internet (both big and small) and could have bought from any of the breeders we found and talked with. We chose your family sized breeding service based on what we felt was your commitment and passion for your puppies. Any breeder that wanted to check us out as much as we wanted to check them out had to care about their puppies a lot. However, with the internet you never know these days.

After working with you for the last 12 weeks and having Sadie in our home for 4 of those weeks, there may be breeders that care as much for their puppies, but there is not other GSD breeder that works harder or that is more passionate about preparing GSD puppies for their future homes. Your hard work to socialize Sadie has paid off for us! There is no place that we can not take her. From day one, nothing has fazed her; people, places, loud noises she is rock solid. Everyone that has met her comments on her disposition and how great she is.

I believe a lot of the credit goes to the time you put in working and socializing them, but I would be amiss if I did not tell you how important I now think the Military Super Dog Program is to their development. Prior to speaking with you I had no idea what the “Super Dog Program” was all about. With research, I learned about the US military’s use of the program and was skeptical about the actual results of the program. I guess there is a chance we’re just lucky and Sadie was an incredible puppy, but I think the more realistic reasoning for her behavior and temperament at this stage of her life is von Hasental’s commitment to breeding strong bloodline puppies, your commitment to the first 16 weeks of their lives and the effort you make to socialize the puppies.

We are grateful that we chose your facility to breed and prepare Sadie for our family. Committing to bringing a GSD into our home was a big decision that we did not take lightly. If there is anything we can do to help you or a prospective family in the process of choosing a breeder please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be sending regular updates on Sadie Girl so you can see how well she is developing.

With Respect,
Kevin B and Family --Louisiana

Dear Jan,
After searching for almost one year, we finally found our pup through Von Hasental. He is such a wonderful addition to our family. He is so lovable, affectionate and gentle. Not to mention that he is good looking with great color and markings. He is not aggressive nor a bully and appears to have a great temperament with a sound mind. You did something special with raising him in his formative weeks which is critical from day one to week eight when we acquired him. I commend you. At eleven weeks old using "positivity methods" with "clicker" training, he can humbly heel, sit, come here, down, fetch, drop it and find me. Now, we are practicing wait, place, front and heel around me to a sit position commands in gentle ways. He is so smart; and when we are outside walking around, he stays close to me noticing where I am at all times. But don't let all his gentleness and loveability fool you. At 13 weeks, he is starting to show his protective instinct with confidence and he has a pronounced prey drive even before this period. It is unbelievable. Again like I said, you did something special with the litter care from the critical period of day one to week eight. This explains his great attitude and confidence. It would be difficult for me to duplicate that from eight weeks on. Having great balance, I believe you bred the perfect true German Shepherd in Fodka. Now, I will try to continue what you have started with his development. I thank you so very much for giving us a head start. This is priceless.

Conrad -- Washington State

Dear Jan,

My family and I would like to express our gratitude for breeding such a wonderful GSD, Forrus.

After having our previous German shepherd for 14 years, I know how important it is to find a competent breeder who takes the time and effort in caring for her dogs and puppies, as you do. The commitment, passion and devotion to Forrus since his birth are truly priceless in every sense of the world. It is very clear that you take great time selecting and breeding the proper dogs to produce superior puppies. He is so much more than we ever expected.

Upon Forrus arrival here after a seven hour journey, he remained calm, excited and eager to greet us. I was so surprised that he came out of his crate wagging his tail, knowing things were different. Honestly, he was nothing but secure and happy!! Clearly, these qualities were a direct result to the many hours of care he received when you had him at your home. Since being with us, his unconditional love and his unbelievable demeanor have brought us tremendous joy. He loves interacting with our three cats; he loves children; he entertains himself for hours with his toys; he is quiet in a room full of people; he walks confident through busy intersections; he walks calmly up and down a four foot ramp; he greets everyone wherever he goes with kisses, including other dogs even if their not well mannered. At our horse barn he demonstrates his intelligence by knowing to stay away from the horses, but yet always manages to keep an eye on us. Never does he stray away; he always comes when called. From walking on a leash to simple commands, he proves time and time again his intelligence.

We cannot thank you enough for spending such quality times with him during the first nine weeks of life. I honestly believe your care and devotion to socializing him during that time ultimately sets the stage for his behavior as an adult GSD. We will keep you updated with his obedience training progress, as well as additional pictures as he matures and grows.

Best regards,

Linda, Jonathan, Jacqueline and Eryn --Michigan

Sadie is awesome! She is about 60-62 pounds now (not one ounce of fat, just a full frame), strong, beautiful and smart.
She absolutely loves kids. She shadows my girls everywhere they go. None of the neighborhood kids are scared of her because they all met Sadie when she was only 10 pounds. I took her to a 3 year old b-day party for my Godchild last week, he loves Sadie. When we walked in all the parents got big eyed and thought I was crazy for bringing such a big dog to a little kid’s party. Well, within about 3-4 minutes, those same parents were just amazed how gentle she was. Sadie was the hit of the party! There was a little pool and the kids were splashing her and Sadie LOVES the water and kids. She just played with them like she was one of them, it was just beautiful!

Greetings Jan,

I’m sending you another update, I want to thank you so much for the fine breeding of Fodka. I consider myself lucky. He turned out to be a beautiful pup. I get lots of comments when we are out and about in public. I can't count the times people have told me that he is handsome or pretty. He is everything a GSD should be and that started on day one with you as the Breeder. What you did from birth was so critical to what he is today. With the many generations of Shutzhund in his background, he has an acute prey drive, intelligence, looks, protectiveness, confidence, hardness and gentleness within the pack that the GSD should be. In my mind, he is the total dog. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Now that he is over a year old, together we are working on our aerobics training program. I have bought an attachment for my mountain bicycle for jogging with dogs, a speedometer telling me how far or fast he has trotted, a front/back flashers and a headlight which is on even during daylight hours. During our workouts, I watch his gait because I want that gliding flying trot. Furthermore to give him a heads-up during our runs, he knows the commands of: "gee and haw" when slowly turning right or left, “easy” when he is going too fast, “hup” when we need to go quickly and a long “whoa” when slowing down for a stop. We live in a quiet neighborhood. I wear a bicycle helmet with a mirror so I know who is behind us and face on-coming traffic so I know who is in front. On our workouts, we ride up and down the streets alternating every other day with jogging for several miles. Of course, there are rest days. I am always cognizant of the traffic, outdoor temperature and his body language when we are working out.

When we are out, he commands attention in the way he walks and trots. I get comments all the time from people just honking their horn, smiling, or waving at us as they pass by. I even had strangers wave to us from inside their homes. It’s amazing and makes you proud knowing that this boy is special.

In his other attributes, he has a good nose and prey drive. We have an outdoor exercise in which I hide my baseball hat or glove in a group of bushes, walk back a half-block or so, wait for several minutes and I release him for the find. It’s amazing that he finds the article because sometimes waiting several minutes I forget exactly where I had placed it. Also, he is ball crazy along with being gentle and lovable to all in the household. He follows me wherever I go in the house or outside to the bathroom, kitchen, garage, mailbox, taking the garbage out, walking beside me while mowing the yard etc. and he never wanders. He is just glad to be right there with me at all times. In addition when Fodka was little, I taught him to go to the bathroom in the garden or along the way between the back and front yards. To this day, he has used the garden and not the lawn to delete. It's funny sometimes because he would be outside in the back and I would see him from inside the house running across the yard. I suspected that he was chasing something but he was just in a hurry to go to the bathroom and use the garden not the lawn. It is funny to see him run for that.

Finally, I consider myself blessed with this particular breeding and it all started with you. Those critical weeks since birth had a lot to do with his outcome today. He is a wonderful dog. I wished that everyone wanting a GSD can tap into your breeding program. Thank you kindly. I am indebted to you.