Throughout the years,
many people have asked
my husband and myself
when and how we became
interested in German Shepherds,
and why
Oversized Old Type Shepherds
To answer that question, let me go back
to 1956, when I was just fourteen years old.
That was the year my husband Jerry and I first met
and fell in love. It was also the year we met a police
officer who raised large German Shepherds.
Back then, German Shepherds were typically referred
to by many people as Police dogs because they were
(and still are) the breed most often used for police work.
This particular police officer happened to have his jeep
parked in front of the post office in Running Springs,Calif.
(in the San Bernardino, Mountains). I shall never forget
seeing that beautiful dog sitting there in that jeep!
We were both so impressed that we decided then and there t
hat we were going to have these wonderful animals in our home
and in our lives one day. I guess you could say that "love at
first site" hit me twice that year! Both of those love affairs
continue to this day, and I have been truly blessed by the
enduring quality of each!
My husband and I were married in January of 1959.
We finally got our first German Shepherd in 1964.
She was a wonderful dog. She was black and gun metal silver -- a color you rarely see today.. Her name was Grindell. I had picked out a very nice male to breed her to, but oddly, (I thought), she would have no part of him. She had her eyes set on another dog, and when I saw him, I was amazed. He was the biggest German Shepherd I had ever seen!
Not only was he large, but he was truly beautiful with strong, sound conformation, a glowing, correct coat, a perfect head, and all of the
qualities I had sought since that fateful day
at the post office in Running Springs!
It turned out that this gorgeous male Shepherd was owned by a German man who had brought the dog with him from Europe. He called the dog an Alsatian rather than a Shepherd, but thankfully the dog had been registered with the American Kennel Club as a bona fide German Shepherd, onetheless. We made arrangements to fulfill Grindell's heart's desire, and two months later, a litter of thirteen puppies
arrived in my bedroom!
Our two young sons were completely enthralled with the puppies, and were a great help in their early training and socialization. Eventually, we chose a gorgeous black and silver male to be our first homebred
KiestHaus Shepherd, and carry on what would become the KiestHaus legacy. (Note: Our initial kennel name was LayZK, later changed to KiestHaus) The boys named the puppy Lobo, and he grew to be 130 pounds and the sire of many generations
of Old Style Giant Traditional German Shepherd Dogs.
As a foundation sire, Lobo more than lived up to his promise.
I could easily pen an entire book about that one special dog and his many adventures. In one incident, he saved the family from a rattlesnake who had invited himself to a fourth of July picnic. Bitten three times by that snake, that strong, powerful family protector and loyal friend never wavered in standing between us and danger.
As a show dog, he finished at the top of every class he was
ever entered in. He left nothing unturned. On the ranch, he
helped raise kittens, foals, new born calves, baby lambs, piglets...
you name it and he cared for it.
Never a more wonderful dog was born.
For my family and myself, we knew that with Lobo
we were on the right track with our KiestHaus dogs.
Our love for the versatile, beautiful superdog,
the German Shepherd, would endure for the rest
of our lives. Lobo stamped his great qualities on
each of his pups, and we have continued to pattern
our breeding program on his temperament,
his soundness, his beauty, his courage,
and his intelligence.
Later that year, we were able to
obtain a wonderful female Shepherd
from the police officer we had
met at the post office nearly
a decade earlier.
The rest, as they say,
is history!