About Us
A brief history on me and how I got into breeding and training working dogs:
I was born with the animal lover gene. My mother owned a pet store my entire life and had many animal obsessions like I do. She bred several breeds of dogs, as well as birds, and married a man who – begrudgingly – tolerated this, despite being a “car guy.” I am so thankful for these two great people. They allowed me to grow my love for animal husbandry, starting with breeding reptiles, and having a yard full of dogs and a barn full of horses. We always had at least one German Shepherd at all times growing up, though never working line. I bred and sold snakes (Red Tail Boa Morphs) and koi fish too. In 2008 – at the ripe old age of 17 – I was pretty sure I was an adult and knew everything. I was going to move out of my parent’s house. I am laughing at this now wishing I still had the comforts of living at home that I took for granted. I gathered my possessions, loaded my little Australian Shepherd dog in my pick up truck and off I went into the world. Little did I know that paying bills with my own money was really hard, and living alone was pretty scary. I decided that having a protection dog was a good idea after a scare where someone was banging on my doors and windows when I was home alone; with all my advanced wisdom I started looking on Craigslist for a dog that would suit my needs. I came across a one-year-old black, spayed female German Shepherd in Las Vegas, Nevada name Casey von der Canyon who was obedience and protection trained, priced at a whopping $800. I had never driven out of about a 80 mile radius from home at this point in my life, but I jumped in my pick up that day and off I drove. 6 hours later I pulled in to a residential area and the owner proceeds to show me the dog’s obedience commands, which was actually pretty good (even in retrospect). As I got closer to the dog, she growled at me. The man put her in a crate in the back seat of my truck and told me if I fed her from my hand she’d eventually warm up to me. I asked if her hips were good “and all that” and of course he said they were. In my naivety, I didn’t ask for any proof of such claims. I got in the truck with this snarling, growling dog and drove home. This adventure actually ended up – for the most part – turning out quite well. Casey invoked the deep love I have for the German Shepherd Dog. Her entire world revolved around me, she LOVED to work and worked just to please me. She was a civil bitch and would fight to the death for me if needed. She made me feel like someone special. Casey loved other dogs and raised several litters of orphan foster bottle pups, cleaning and laying with them after I fed them. She really had the most perfect temperament of any dog I’ve ever owned to this day. I started researching protection trainers in California – wanting to keep her skills tuned up – and went to several. All of them used techniques or exhibited behavior that just didn’t seem right to me and so I didn’t keep going back very long. One day I was working at my mother’s pet store and a regular client, Diane Brown, came in and we were chatting; she told me how she had bought a working line Doberman and started training for a sport called Schutzhund with a man named Joel Monroe and gave me a brief explanation of what it involved. As soon as I got home I got on the internet and started watching videos, reading all I could and I was hooked. I knew this is what I wanted to do. I called up Joel and went to visit him. My first time on a Schutzhund field was when I was now barely 18 years old, wide-eyed and with my 800 dollar dog that I got of Craigslist…and it went smashingly! Joel was kind and it was obvious he knew what he was doing. He was clear and fair with the dogs and his methods made sense. Casey was a super star! She lit up barking, she had great grip. I got nothing but compliments. I was in heaven. Fast forward a few months and I got my first BH in Menlo Park at the Schutzhund Club and Police Dog Training field owed by Randy Tyson and her husband Dave Witmer. [I should also add that I was so nervous that I puked right outside the gate before I walked onto the field to do my BH, but ended up putting together a beautiful routine and I got many compliments from the German judge.] At this point I ate, slept and breathed training. I trained at home every day, I went to club night at Joel’s religiously despite the 3 hour drive each way. I watched and tried to learn something from every dog that came on the field. I would stay until 2-3:00 o’clock in the morning, go to breakfast at Denny’s with all the club members and then drive 3 hours home and go to work. Fast forward a few more months and everything was shaping together to get my SCHH1 (this was before they changed the name of the sport several times), I was sitting on the couch one day and something just popped up in my brain that I probably should have Casey’s hips x-rayed since we were working on the one meter jump and I had no proof of what the previous owner told me in regards to her joints. Off to the vet we went and suddenly everything made sense…why she was so cheap, why she was spayed, why there was no proof of x-rays. She had one hip that was very bad and one hip that was certainly not good. I was devastated. I went home and I cried, and I cried, and I cried some more. I finally decided that it was in her best interest to retire her from Schutzhund and just do personal protection and get another dog for sport. I decided to call up Randy Tyson, because I knew that she had been breeding working dogs for far longer than I’d been alive and ask about buying a puppy to start training with. She, in her very-Randy way (I’ll touch on that later), said very matter of factly “I’ve got two bitches I held back to grow out. I would sell to a working home. One will work for you, one will not. They’re $2500, come to the field on this day and time. I got up at That was Nola vom Haus Tyson. She was a great dog, super drive, completely stable, social but had a civl streak. She was the first dog that I 100% trained myself from a puppy and titled. I ended up getting an IPO1 with her and she was the foundation female for my program, producing many great dogs. I kept a female from her (Bling aus dem Tal) and titled her myself and a son that I am in the process of training now (2019). I originally had no intentions to breed dogs, but between the point in time of finding out about Casey having hip dysplasia and titling Nola I had heard so many stories similar to mine…new people to the sport gets a dog having a good temperament but bad health, or having no drive to work, or various other issues and I decided I wanted to give it my all to produce great dogs that had great health, who would work but “normal” people could handle too. I should also add a note about Casey – her breeder was not the one that had deceived me about her; the breeder – Barbara Andersen – was a great, reputable breeder who had kept her for their program and when they found out she was dysplastic they spayed her and rehomed her with a contract that the owner was not to sell or rehome the dog. I later contacted Barbara and she became a great mentor for me and helped guide me in breeding great litters. Randy Tyson has also played an immense role in my life as a breeder and competitor. I have used her studs to build my program and picked her brain on breeding and dogs in general for the last decade. She is a wealth of information and the epitome of reputable breeder. I also fell into carpooling with a great lady named Terri Hacobian, who helped shape my formative years in the sport as a young woman and her upbeat demeanor and pure heart shown a light for me any time I needed it. Fast forward to today, I have been training with Joel for over a decade. He has helped me more than I can imagine – with working dogs, sure, but as growing as a person too. Joel is the most honest, genuine person I have ever met in the dog world and he has helped me build a training program that’s allowed me to title multiple dogs from BH to IPO/IGP3, and FH. I have competed at a regional and national level with multiple dogs. I have trained client dogs to titles and I import and sell great older dogs for others to enjoy. I would not have a business if it weren’t for him (and his amazing wife Britt). The other people in my life that I could not leave out are the helpers – no training program that involves protection could survive without great helpers. They put their bodies on the line for us and often go without thanks. Joel was my original helper, but people like Kyle Krotter, Kris Taylor, Jose Curiel, Gawin Intawong, and Noe Lua just to name a few have played an integral part in building my dogs to train and compete. Kris Taylor of Taylor Made Working Dogs (and Liz Snider) have added so much to my training program as well. I put my entire heart and soul into breeding, training and competing with these dogs. Not every litter turns out the way you think they’re going to, or the way you want them to, but I pride myself on pairing titled, health tested dogs together and trying to improve the next generation. I’ve always said that anyone with a pocketbook can import dogs and breed them, but what makes a good breeder is how they handle it when the shit hits the fan. No matter how well you do your research on pedigrees, no matter how well you test your dogs, things are always going to pop up at some point. Any breeder who says they’ve never had a hip or elbow issue pop up either A) has not bred many dogs, B) doesn’t x-ray their dogs, or C) is flat lying to you. It’s going to happen, but in the hopes of doing right by the breed, the dogs, the clients and my own heart I offer a full guarantee on my pups and try to handle problems in the most ethical, understanding way I can.
Some of the dogs I’ve titled:
Casey von der Canyon – BH
Nola vom Haus Tyson – BH, IPO1
Bling aus dem Tal – BH, IPO1
Gina Yucero Bohemia – BH, IPO1, IPO2, IPO3, regional competitor
Cerberus aus dem Tal – BH, IGP1, IGP2, IGP3, regional competitor
Jorry z Kraja husitu – BH
Ipolani von der Werstkuste – IGP1 (2x)
Zorro von der Mohnwiese, IPO3, IGP3 (3x), FH, national competitor
Sultan Eqidius – IGP3 (3x), FH, national competitor
Freda ze Soutoku Sazavy (Malinois) – IGP1
Asllan Jandera-Slovakia, IGP1, IGP2, IGP3, national competitor
Trek aus dem Tal, BH
Other Titled dogs from my kennel:
Para aus dem Tal, BH
Vino aus dem Tal, BH
Rue la Roux aus dem Tal, BH
Crisis aus dem Tal, IGP1
Indy aus dem Tal, IGP3
Flynn aus dem Tal, IGP3, national competitor
Bona aus dem Tal BH, IPO1
Rweck aus dem Tal, BH
Brick aus dem Tal, BH
Faust aus dem Tal, PD1, OB1
Cion aus dem Tal, BH, IGP3
Dory Aus Dem Tal, BH, CGC, FO
Squeaker aus dem Tal, BH, IGP1
Quinzy aus dem Tal, BH, IGP1
Eero aus dem Tal, BH
Xenos aus dem Tal, BH, IGP3
Kara aus dem Tal, BH
Gryphon – Nazgul aus dem Tal, BH, IGP3
Taja aus dem Tal – certified hearing assistance dog
Archie aus dem Tal – BH, DN, DJ, CGCA, CGCU, TKN Canine Good Citizen, Advanced Canine Good Citizen, Urban Canine Good Citizen, and Novice Trick Dog, BH
M4 aus dem Tal, BH
Lynx aus dem Tal, BH
