DOGMEN breeds select quality litters of working German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois, with an occasional Dutch Shepherd and Doberman litter. We breed for true working ability, not for a type. The ability to think and react under stress. With almost 30 years of experience, we can ensure genetic soundness in both temperament and structure.

We at DOGMEN, follow a very strict breeding philosophy, using only the best and the fittest of our working K-9's. It is our desire to breed the original Shepherd's Dog; Intelligent, healthy animals that were stable around children, loyal & protective of the family with the ability to think and distinguish a threat from a non-threat. We do not believe that a ball crazy driven animal is necessary for work. On the contrary, the same animal that lies quietly at the foot of your child's bed should jump to work when required to do so. Noble of character, courageous of heart our dogs possess a natural beauty of which you will be proud.

THE DAM & SIRE:

The parents of each and every litter are certified working service ä dogs. This means each prospective parent must successfully complete training at our facility overseen by Mike McConnery for obedience under stress, working agility, scent work and or protection work. The rigors of training not only test each dog's physical abilities, but also his or her structure, temperament and stability.

It is not our policy to have "brood bitches" or "stud males". The dogs used at DOGMEN for breeding are our own personal dogs, which live and work in our home around our children. They protect our home and guard our perimeter. They are SAR dogs, Victim's dogs, Detection dogs, law enforcement dogs and more. They are fully trained service dogs, actively working in our home or on the street.

We do not have row upon row of kennels; housing breeding stock whose sole purpose in life is to reproduce. We will breed a female for one or two litter and then sell her. This ensures she gets a good home, has a functional working life and we are able to preserve desired bloodlines, without having many, many dogs confined to a life of kennelization. When a child earns a diploma after years of schooling, they continue on to a productive, challenging working world. When a dog receives a sporting title, he is retired from work and imprisoned to a life of reproduction. When a dog completes his training, it should be a beginning, not an end.

OUR PUPS:

We breed for consistency in stable temperament, healthy structure and working ability, and sell no lesser pups. Our pups are all priced the same according to breed. There are no variances in price within a given litter. No inflated price for "pick of the litter". While pups may vary somewhat in their personalities, each and every pup will reflect their future handler and environment they are placed in. We do not price our pups according to their pedigree or papers, rather the working ability, stable temperament and good health for which they are bred. Whether you are looking for a pup for home, SAR, or law enforcement, we assure you a pup of good working quality. A dog in the home that must function around children and in public has a job to do, just as a dog used for security or search and rescue. Only their training and environment will differ. You deserve a pup of solid nerves and soundness in health for your family and your children or patrolling the streets in your neighborhood.

THE DOGMEN GERMAN SHEPHERD:

It is our goal to return the German Shepherd's Dog to his original form and function. Before public popularity and poor breeding ruined the German Shepherd, he was an extremely intelligent, versatile working animal. Today we see animals that are either extremely prey driven, with the inability to think and function in any serious situations and settle down in a home, or dogs with little or no desire to work. Breeding for a type rather than working ability has produced animals with extremely sloped backs and over angulated legs. Human vanity over the years has crippled the German Shepherd both physically and mentally to the poor specimen we often see today. We breed the original German Shepherd's Dog.

Purchase a German Shepherd from DOGMEN, and you will get an animal with great temperament, solid nerves and true working ability. Our dogs have solid, straight backs, and legs, which provides you with a healthy animal to enjoy for many years. A German Shepherd suitable for home and personal protection, great with kids; and with specialized training, a very effective and efficient law enforcement or military k-9. A straight-backed medium to medium large sized dog with minimal leg angulation. Our German Shepherds have steady nerves, a natural desire to work, intelligence with beauty to match.

Our German Shepherd dogs are available black and tan or bi-color (predominately black), with occasional black and red, pure black and sable. Our males will finish at 75 - 85 pounds with some variances thereof. We try to avoid breeding oversized dogs as their excessive bulk decreases their agility, their stamina, the health of their structure and their longevity.

THE DOGMEN BELGIAN MALINOIS:

It is our goal to maintain the integrity of the Malinois and not let the breed deteriorate to the unmanageable and over excited prey driven animal that is becoming prevalent today. A Malinois bred at DOGMEN has a strong desire to work, yet steady and manageable, with the ability to think and react under stress. This dog is suitable for work or family alike. Look at vintage dog photos of the German Shepherd from the 1920 or prior and you will see a strong resemblance to the Belgian Malinois.

Our Malinois come in fawn to red and varying shades of sables.

WHELPING PHILOSOPHY:

The human hand has done much to ruin not only many of our well loved, noble working dogs but also many other animals that were once necessary for man's survival. When reading our beliefs please consider that the road to hell is often paved with good intention. Consider also the strength and hardiness of the mustang compared to the domestic horse. The difference being intervention by the hand of man compared to that of Mother Nature.

It is our firm belief that many modern whelping aids contribute to the decline of our noble breeds of dogs. Heating whelping boxes create an unnatural environment for the dam and her pups. Sickly pups or pups specifically pushed out of the litter by the dam, would otherwise have naturally passed. The heated whelping box along with human induced supplemental feedings ensure every pup survives. To the unschooled heart this may initially appear a wonderful thing. To the knowledgeable dog breeder, truly devoted to the benefit of his breed a great injustice has been done. Consider this. This pup grows into a beautiful looking German Shepherd. Hidden within is a genetic weakness, which may not show up until he is older unless he comes under some stress in his life. The unknowing owner chooses this dog for breeding and you have now weakened the loyal and devoted breed of the German Shepherd. This weakness could lie in health, in temperament, in physical structure or in simple heart.

With the exception of the occasion female living in the home with us, our pups are born out of doors in a sheltered, protected area. We believe very strongly in "survival of the fittest" and allow nature to cull the weak. Our mothers are strong, fit, and healthy working dogs and they are wormed two weeks prior to whelping. Pups are wormed and vaccinated regularly. We do not whelp puppies in climate controlled areas where each and every pup is guaranteed to survive. We do not hand feed or supplement the sick, even in large litters. Pups nurse of their mother's milk, full of natural anti bodies necessary for a healthy functional immune system. We do allow the physically strong and the strong willed to survive. We certainly do not like to see a pup die, however we do both you and the breed a disservice by assisting a pup to live which would normally and naturally have died. As mentioned above, this pup may carry a genetic weakness, which will be passed on to future generations or develop into health problems which are not seen till the dog is much older. After breeding for generation the strongest, fittest working dogs, we have developed a line of genetically, hardy, fit, healthy working dogs.

Breeding dogs must be conducted with knowledge and discipline, not ruled by emotion. Dogs are our most loyal and devoted friends and we do them a great injustice by creating genetic weakness in temperament, structure, and working ability with human intervention.

IMPRINTING:

All pups receive contact and handling by our children shortly after birth. They continue to receive adult and child contact as they grow on a daily basis. This ensures well-socialized animals with plenty of handling by children. Pups are taken into the home so that they become accustomed to this environment and the various sights, sounds and surfaces that accompany it. They also have exposure to various kinds of livestock including horses.

PAPERS:

At Dogmen we breed based on temperament, health and workability. We look at performance not pedigree. It is our firm belief that many of our dog registries and their promotion of breeding for a type have directly caused the decline of our working breeds. We have Retrievers that can no longer retrieve, Pointers that no longer Point, and German Shepherds that no longer have the traits of intelligence, loyalty, and protectiveness they were bred to have. It is our desire to permanently move away from these registries. They have not only damaged the physical appearance of our dogs, but their temperament, the health of their structure and their general health.

At this time you can expect to receive either CKC or AKC papers for your German Shepherd, CKC or UKC papers for most Belgian Malinois. Please check with us for information on specific litters.

GUARANTEE:

We provide a written lifetime genetic health guarantee. For detailed terms and conditions of this guarantee, please contact us.

SUPPORT:

We offer lifetime email or phone support for questions and concerns you may have with your pup or dog for his or her life. We offer pubic classes for local clients, and longer Bootcamps or a training web site with a discussion board for out of town clients. Our training web site can be seen @ www.k9soldiers.com

OUR LINES:

A big question for most people is what lines are your dogs? Where are they from? Well, our dogs are our own bred, raised and trained by Mike & Petra McConnery. They are Dogmen lines. They are our lines, bred and raised on our facility. We believe a dedicated breeder can only hope to improve his chosen breed by knowing his dogs, by raising them, by working with them, generation after generation. Occasionally we will introduce a new dog into our breeding program, to diversify and improve our genetic resources. This dog must pass our training requirements and demonstrate stability around children before he or she is introduced into our breeding program. The first litter is kept back and raised on our facility, so that we may observe the health, temperament and workability of their offspring. This dog is chosen based on his/her performance, not his country of origin, nor his pedigree.

We are strongly opposed to dog jockeying and constantly selling pups from import parents only. You can never truly know the dogs you sell or breed if they are always stemming from another breeder's stock. Every decade seems to bring with it the "trendy flavor" for dog importing. In German Shepherds it has passed from West Germany to East Germany to the Czech Republic. Good and bad specimens exist in any given country. All German Shepherds can be traced back to Germany. It is up to the individual breeder to maintain the health and integrity of the breed.

We stay away from show and sporting lines and breed strictly working lines suitable for family, therapy work, law enforcement, search and rescue and any real life related application. We find show lines to have heavy back and hock angulation creating an animal with an unnatural gait and structure. As workability is no longer part of the show ring, the original steady temperament, intelligence, and natural ability of the breed is lost. We find the sporting world has created and unbalanced, prey driven animal, which has lost the ability to function calmly and think things through. These dogs will often chase a ball through a running fan with no thought process. They often will not settle quietly in the home. They are no longer a thinking animal but the driven thoughtless creature they have been bred to be.

You will find that most of our female German Shepherd's Dogs are descendants of the dogs of Mike's mentor, Guenther.

CHOOSING A PUP

The selection of pups is done simply by order of deposit received. The first deposit received on the litter constitutes first choice from the litter. We do not charge more for first choice, nor do we believe in "pick of the litter". Every pup has the same chance as the next. It is you the handler that will determine the outcome. To every person viewing the litter, there will be a different "pick of the litter". Clients may choose their own pup with our guidance or may have us choose for them. That decision we leave to you.

PUPPY TESTS

Puppy tests generally leave people feeling very good about their chosen pup or very disappointed. We do not feel puppy tests to be accurate criteria for judging pups. This would be akin to walking into a human nursery and determining which infant will be a doctor, which will be a mechanic, which an artist, simply by dropping your keys on the floor. Any pup may react differently on any given day. Only by working with pups hands on over many, many weeks in a variety of situations may indicate more of the pup's character and where his strengths lie. Remember, give a man without artistic talent the finest brushes and paint and what do you think will appear on canvas? Give an artist the same and he will create a masterpiece.

HOMES OUR PUPS MAY GO TO

We like to see our dogs go to homes where they have a purpose. This purpose could be a child's companion, a family's protector, a SAR dog, an Assistance Dog, a Security K-9 or Law Enforcement K-9. A life, where they will be treated with kindness, respect and dignity. We do not place dogs in homes destined for the show ring nor for sport competition.

To view some of our dogs in their new homes, please go to our Photo Gallery and look up links entitled At Home, At Work, AT Play. Our dogs have been privileged to be placed in such homes as with families, as SAR dogs, as Diamond Dogs, Victim's Service Dogs, Assistance Dogs, Therapy Dogs, Seeing Eye Dogs, the RCMP and various Federal and State Law Enforcement Agencies.

For References, please click here.