Does anyone have any information regarding this Czech Kennel?

They have produced some notable dogs but not much seems to be known about them at all. They certainly don't do any advertising or have a web site that I have seen.

If anyone has a dog from Ben-Ju, I would be interested to hear about them.

Art Lavely

What are you looking for? Husband has known Breeder for years.

Knew Norbo, Chuna, Tango and Tea.

I would also like to know about Norbo offspring?? I Love the large boned GSD's. I just came across a site with him on it and to me I think that he's the best looking GSD that I've seen (personal preference, don't know about others here just my opinion).

Funny you should say that Adam, Norbo is the dog that won me over time after time. He is an awesome example of a "Real" Czech Dog that did very well in sport with 6 WUSV competitions. I believe Norbo was actually born in Slovakia since that is where his namesake kennel is located.

I have never seen him in person, but I know Brian Clingan has personally worked Norbo and wrote an excellent article about him. I know Sue said her husband knows Norbo as well.

I have a Norbo puppy (Grandson) and his drives are very good. From what I have seen, Norbo reproduced himself pretty well. Others may have more insight than I do about that though. I can only go by what I have seen.

Last year I checked they were going to try and breed Norbo one more time this Spring and that is probably gonna be it for his Stud career, that would be worth looking at depending on who he is bred to......

There are two types of the GSD (physical attributes) that I love? I don't know if I can relay what I see into words but I'l tyr.

The first is like some of the Czech dogs that I'v seen (or believe to be that type). Little shorter in stature, but large chest and bone structure. With a square snout (more square if that makes sense?). I guess I like the square head and snout as opposed to a more pointed nose (mae sense there??) Color is of no concern, but I've seen some that I like more than others??

Keep in mind that I do not discriminate between dogs based solely upon looks. Since I'm new to the working GSD I wouldn't try and choose just upon look, rather get a reliable breeder to steer me towards the right (first) working line GSD for me??

Thanks

Adam

Adam I can relate to what your likes are, after seen so many different bloodlines and it comes with the different looks I like the "square head" if you will , but then again I like the very typee head too.It all depends on the whole package.My youngest male has a bit of a more square head type than my older male.I ahve seen some shepherds that i did not like the head at all, yet everything else was nice but I like the whole package on a dog and you can have it if you know what you want..
If you look at my young male(he was 8 months on my signature picture) you can see that he has a huge head compare to my older male on the right(black sable).

Like Art stated I did get to meet Norbo about a year and half ago but it was a friend of mine that did all the decoy work while we were at VDH K9. Norbo was everything I thought he would be, I only wish I could have seen him work in his prime. Here is a paragraph from the article Art spoke of.

The first time I laid eyes on Norbo I was amazed at the shear confidence this dog exudes! When he saw us standing with Dari he never once took his eyes off of us and the look in his eyes spoke volumes! This dog has NO fear and I truly believe he thinks he owns the world.

When the time came for John to work Norbo it was like watching a living legend coming out of that kennel. I was seriously in awe of this dog's work ethic. This dog is 10 years old and still wants to work as long as they will let him. Below are a few things John had to say about working Norbo.

"Norbo came out of the inside kennel, and was about 50 ft. away from me. The night before when we had seen him in the kennel through the window, there was an obvious confidence in a dog that looked like he was 10 years old. That first look at 50 ft., when he saw me with my equipment on, was the picture of Norbo you see on the Jinopo site. I could see the twinkle in his eye 50 ft. away.

John, Dari's husband brought him up, and he was already firing up. Just me looking at him was all he needed. I agitated him up, gave a couple of run-by's, and then went in for the bite, and he crushed it. The first thing I noticed was that his head occupied the sleeve from my wrist to my elbow, then, I started to notice the pressure. This was a fairly new sleeve, and he was calm, looking at me straight in the eye, and totally full. I started to pressure him, and he absolutely hit another level. He didn't re-bite, he just crunched harder. John outed him, and he was silent until he told him to hold. His bark and hold was totally focused, and rhythmic.

The re-bite was just as the first, the more pressure, the harder the bite...from hard to "I don't know if I can slip this sleeve" hard. He outed again, and we did about a 25 ft. pursuit. I've seen all those videos where he brings Jiri to the ground and I honestly wondered how much acting was in the video. He was not that fast, but he definitely jumped into the bite, and right after he got the bite, he does this neck whip thing, and I thought I was going down. I didn't, but man, I was close. Just fought him a bit, slipped the sleeve and put him away. It was an honor, and a pleasure to work this legendary dog."

I own a 2.5 year old Norbo Ben Ju daughter named Reyna Van Den Heuvel and after seeing Norbo in person it makes me even more proud to own progeny from him. This is what my TD says about Reyna.

"Reyna is a medium sized female with a high activity level, and clear headed. She has a good natural tracking drive that is very easy to train. Reyna has a high toy & play drive mixed with a natural work ethic and willingness to please. She has everything you would want in a protection dog solid nerve, strong prey, solid defense, and an overall desire to get in the middle of a situation. Reyna has been a pleasure to train at only 18 months she has all the working ability of a 24 month old Male."

Shoot me a PM if you would like to see video and pics of Reyna.