Working Dogs

Breeder of working line German Shepherds // IGP competitor // Hobby photographer // I won't make this a big ad blog my dogs are just my entire personality anyway // Adventures in training, info dumping about genetics and pedigrees, and of course puppy photos when I have them

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I'm Rachel. I adore German Shepherds and compete in IGP. I've been to regional and national level trials and titled two different dogs in the sport. My goal is to breed strong dogs that excel in bitesports while also being excellent and pretty family dogs. Health and temperament is a priority to me.

Sonnengold translated to "Sungold." Sungold or Tsornin is a horse in "The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley, one of my favorite books as a child.

My website is sonnengoldgsds.weebly.com .

I take a lot of photos of my dogs.

Dogs:

SG Amos vom Haus Dooling IGP3 CGC

SG Gaia von LaMarca IGP2 Ang

Atomic von Sonnengold WB

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Thought for today:

If I'd gone back in time and swapped out Atomic and Amos, I think I'd be enamored with either one.

One thing I remember so heavily when I had Amos as a puppy was how confident and bold and easy to work with he was. Of course, he barked at dogs and people but I had a dog previously who did that at a whole other level, so I was really just happy the dog didn't freak out or pee on anything he wasn't supposed to when we went out. So was he actually? I think so, I just think I didn't worry so much about the tiny signals a dog gives. He's still one of the most confident dogs I know and I'd trust him anywhere. Now, I have a lot more experience reading dog body language, so now I see more.

This kinda came to the front of my mind after taking Atomic to a busy park. He growled and barked at a dude that was acting weird on the trail, trying to talk to me and generally kinda just making things uncomfortable. I was beating myself up on the way back for a perfect socializarion outting being ruined by that...but was it?? But before and after, Atomic passed dozens of people in tight quarters and didn't bat an eye or make a peep - believe me I watched his every minute movement like a hawk. He had a fun time with the sand and water at the lake and sniffed around and only dragged me up like one flight of stairs unnecessarily quickly - but mostly was a very well behaved and perfectly relaxed citizen. He barked and growled yes....at a guy being weird that was making *me* nervous? Almost like that's what we have German Shepherds for. That's his job.

But that's also why it's so important to have people around you that know what they're looking at and that can keep you from losing the forest for the trees.

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Evening walkies

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Bobbie was bred this weekend. Hopefully we have some puppies this spring. 🤞

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Santa brought chickens

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Very good assistant cooks! If assistant cooking involved eating the ingredients and laying in the middle of the floor.

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He drags his ass like his dad. 😂

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Atomic is my keeper puppy from my A-litter.

I really hope he'll have good hip and elbow ratings because I really like this guy! He's pretty much exactly what I hoped for from the pairing and I'll make a post later talking about why I did it. I hope this guy will be my competition dog.

Pedigree link:

https://www.working-dog.com/dogs-details/8022580/Atomic-von-Sonnengold

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Bobbie!! The best girl.

Bobbie is IGP2 and breed surveyed through USCA. She has an SG show rating.

For reference: a breed survey requires passing hips and elbow ratings (she also has the best spine rating possible), an AD (endurance test), a show rating, a dental notation, a BH, an IGP1 or better, and to pass a temperament test and conformation evaluation again.

She's got an very nice pedigree. Her father is K'nox vom Tollhaus, the winner of the 2019 SV BSP, and her mother is a daughter of Extreme Orex Aykmar, a very successful IGP competitor in Czech. Her pedigree is fairly open otherwise, but she has a lot of nice dogs.

Bobbie is a spicy girl with fairly thin nerve and a lot of aggression in protection. She doesn't like people and tolerates contact out of obedience. She's very loving with us though. She has a lot of drive, solid environmental nerve, and is very biddable with her handler.

Her first litter was very nice! I bred her to a very prey heavy male with a more open temperament and the puppies are all very nice working and family dogs. Very stable and a lot of fun - their families are all very happy with them.

Here is her pedigree:

https://www.working-dog.com/dogs-details/7554446/Gaia-von-LaMarca

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My boy Amos.

The dog that really started my love for GSDs and dog sports.

Amos is 5 years old and unfortunately retired from sport as he is dysplastic + he has something going on in his back that just makes traveling and training rough on him. I don't believe any of that is genetic, just bad luck! He was landed on wrong by his mother as a puppy on his rear.

He is 5 x IGP3 and way more dog than I needed as a beginner, but I wouldn't change it. He is a pretty strong dog with a lot of opinions, not sensitive at all and I would absolutely trust him in a protection scenario. He's a very thick nerved dog.

He's got an awesome pedigree. Amos is linebred on an Asko vd Lutter daughter and has some very nice older dogs pretty close up!

Amos vom Haus Dooling | Hundeprofil - Informationen und Daten – working-dog

Alle relevanten Informationen sowie Bilder, Videos und einen detaillierten Stammbaum zu Amos vom Haus Dooling findest du bei working-dog.

He is my best friend and an incredible dog. He doesn't do much work anymore and we miss that but he lives as a wonderful puppy raiser and companion now. He is a very talented foot warmer, but has decided things like "outting the ball" and "not biting Mom" are far beneath him.

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Mother and son:

Bobbie (Gaia von LaMarca) on top.

Atomic on the bottom.

Atomic is about 10 months old. He looks a lot like his mother but got some traits from his father as well.