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What is a Heidelberg?
The word Heidelberg
in reference to German Shepherd connotes a very specific type of shepherd.
In addition, a name is feared and reviled by our competitors.
The sport of conformation showing dogs is extremely time consuming and
expensive. When we show up at the
shows our competitors realize that we are likely going to win most all the
available points for that cluster of shows, and this is very discouraging to
them. For this fact, we are not well
loved by our competitors.
If you are interested in showing shepherds and want to win
then purchase a Heidelberg. However, if you are more
interested in being liked by everyone then buy one of our competitor’s dogs.
Heidelberg is a kennel name that was started in 1971 by Mr. Thompson
and his lifetime friend Mr. Richards (pronounced Ri-shard).
Mr. Thompson purchased his foundation stock from a competitor, who is
a longtime AKC judge. Her kennel produced Grand Victor Harrigan, whom many of the old timers claim was the
greatest shepherd that ever lived. Harrigan
was from Grand Victor Lance of Franjo who was purchased directly from a breeder
in Germany. Once it was realized WSUV (the
controlling body in Europe that oversees breeding, registration, and exports of
German Shepherds) realized the quality of Lance of Franjo, the rules governing
exports of shepherds to the United States was changed and greatly restricted.
From these same lines that produced Harrigan gave rise to
Heidelberg German Shepherds as well as many of the other highly regarded top
producing kennels in the United States. Unfortunately,
these regarded kennels went another direction in their breeding in the late
1970’s and early 1980’s by producing a more extreme show shepherd and in
many cases disregarding temperament.
Mr. Thompson’s first guidelines of breeding are
temperament, followed by health, and finally show quality and appearance.
In the 1980’s to reinforce the lines, Mr. Thompson purchased Select
Champion Sundown Von Freya for the unheard price of $20,000.00.
More than 120 champions later and several thousands of
satisfied owners of the Heidelberg German Shepherds we have the current
Heidelberg German Shepherd that is world-renowned.
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