ABOUT US
Vom Geliebten Haus is a small family-owned and family-operated German Shepherd Dog kennel located in beautiful rural Wisconsin. All kennel daily operations, breeding decisions, marketing, web design and development, social media marketing, customer service and support and everything else that happens in our kennel is managed just by us two, Serge and Veronika, a husband and wife. We have been married for seventeen years and have four children, with their busy life full of activities and special events. We have no employees and get no help from outside the farm. All the dogs we use in our breeding we own in full and all the dogs that you find listed on our website live with us as a part of our family; there are no dogs that live somewhere else, no co-ownership dogs or leased dogs. This ensures we can make all decisions in best interest of the dogs, and not being tied by contracts with larger breeding facilities. This also ensures our program stays small and we do not overproduce puppies. We choose quality over quantity.
2008
2021
2008
HOW IT STARTED
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We both have owned dogs for many years but purchased our first breeding German Shepherd Dog, Casar in 2011. We found it difficult to find well bred puppy with properly health tested and titled parents in our rural area which brought on our decision to raise German Shepherds ourselves. Veronika's parents have been raising and breeding Rough Collies for over 10 years in Europe and she has learned to understand the concepts of breeding dogs early in her life. Serge has owned and trained various breeds of dogs for some time in Europe before he met Veronika and have always enjoyed working wtih dogs. When we decided to create a family of our own, there was no question that we will have dogs and that we will be “doing dogs” at some time. While Veronika was really leaning towards a yellow lab or a golden retriever, Serge made it very clear that the only dog they will ever have as their family pet, a companion and protector - will be the perfect dog, A German Shepherd. This first put Veronika off, as she was thinking of a German Shepherd as a vicious, police dog, not suitable for a family. On the other hand, Serge had experience working with various breeds and knew the difference of working with a Labrador retriever, a Rottweiler, and a German Shepherds. He was certain that the best breed of dog ever existed - is a German Shepherd. Now, looking back we are so thankful that this was a decision we have made. Never in our life we have regret choosing a German Shepherd over other breeds. For once you owned a true German Shepherds - you will never go back to other breeds.
We took much time to learn about the breed, proper bloodlines, temperaments, health, diet, behavior, standards and history. In addition to learning about the breed and dogs in general, we visited numerous breeders and looked at their facilities and practices. Not only we want to offer better quality puppies, we want to offer a better breeding practices, too - when a puppy is not viewed as another "product" for sale, and a producing female is not just that - a "factory" (actual word used by a breeder of 30-years). We want to make sure that we can offer humanity, compassion and care and always focus on our dogs and their health & well-being first. Every dog we own and breed, we love dearly and we know our dogs love us back eternally. We want to share this wonderful feeling with more families. To know that because of us someone is now experiences the same kind love in their life and is loved back - makes everything worth it. We continue our education being involved with AKC breeder’s education classes as we continue focusing on producing better quality puppies with the main goal of preserving the breed and improving our breeding program.
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We currently live on a beautiful farmstead just north of Menomonie, WI. Our home was designed by us and custom built by Amish carpenter to accommodate our life with dogs and create a warm and spacious kennels inside our home. While our dogs are living inside our home, we also have a large outside kennel that was custom built by the same Amish carpenter. If our dogs are not loose around with us - then they are usually in their fenced yard or in their indoor and outdoor kennels. They will announce visitor's arrival but when they get used to them, everyone gets to see how kind and loving our German Shepherds are.
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BREEDING PROGRAM
All our litters are well planned, usually 6-months in advance. Once a female is due in heat, we get her ready by taking her for a full vet exam, doing bloodwork and making sure that she is healthy to have a litter. Pregnant females are always with us, as we keep a close eye on every female during her pregnancy. About two weeks before the delivery, we transfer female into the whelping box in our basement, so she gets used to it and feels comfortable and safe. We keep a door into the basement open, so a female can come to us anytime she wants to and does not feel locked in a whelping room all by herself. Once the due date is approaching, we take a pregnant female for another vet exam and puppy count X-rays. After the puppy count is done, we narrow down the due date and wait for the natural labor. At this time, usually one of us sleeps in a basement by the whelping box (there is a comfy couch there) and if we don't - we take turns to check on a female at least every two hours (yes, even through the night). We also measure the temperature of a female daily to note the start of the labor. All puppies are born in our warm home, in the whelping room, where they then spend first four weeks of their life. We handle newborn puppies daily, measure their weight and do a series of Early Neurological Exercises to stimulate their nervous system and assure that our puppies have a head start in life. At age of two weeks we begin bi-weekly deworming. We typically do not start supplementing puppies until four weeks. At four weeks old, we transfer puppies upstairs, into our puppy nook in the dining room area, where puppies then begin to see and accept life with humans.
Our puppies are raised in our puppy nook, with constant human interaction. We change their blankets every day and start supplementing with solid foods and potty training. This ensures that our puppies learn at an early age about socialization, indoor and outdoor noises, they get used to kids, other dogs and various happenings around the house. Once they hit about 6 weeks old we allow them to go outside as they continue potty training. At age between seven and eight weeks, we take puppies to meet with our vet; at this time all puppies are also microchipped and vaccinated so they are ready to leave to their forever homes at eight weeks of age.
Our hope for our puppy families is not only that they find a quality German Shepherd in our program, but they bring home their new family member. We hope that families stay in touch and update us on our puppies. Our dogs and puppies are a huge part of our family, when they leave, a part of us does too. We do not let just anyone buy our puppies and therefore we interview each family to ensure they understand the dog ownership challenges & benefits.
We are open everyday, but per scheduled appointment only, as our kennel is also our home.
At the initial visit, families will get an opportunity to meet with us, meet our dogs, discuss our puppy program, ask us any questions and take a look at the paperwork, sample sales contact.
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If they decide to place a deposit, to be added to our waiting list, we can also do this at the same time.
Please let us know if you have any questions and if you have time for a visit.
Looking forward to hearing back from you and working with your family!