Does anyone have any experience with this breeder? http://www.prairieacreskennel.com/

My boyfriend is looking into getting a GSD of his own and is going through their area next week and is going to have a look.

The lady seemed really nice and helpful but my boyfriend and I are generally new to selecting from breeders and their lines of dogs. Any thoughts?

Edit: Thought I might add that we are only interested in a pet, not a working dog.

Thanks in advance!

Looking through their site I learned that they are a breeder that I would not personally buy or recommend a pup or dog from. They don't say anything about OFA 's or any other health clearances. I am sure that I could go on...and on...and on, but I won't. I will save the time and energy....

What are looking for in your dog? I am sure there are other breeders you could find that at the very least will OFA the dogs they breed.

If I missed the ofa certs that they did I apologize... but I didn't see any through the sire and dam pages.

Thank you for the hasty reply. I see this on their 'about us' page, and the first thing she mentioned was OFA on the phone to my boyfriend ( he was the one who talked to her )

"We have AKC and APRI registered German Shepherds from quality OFA/Penn-Hip lines with various Titles."

And this as well:

"Pet guarantee is replacement for $250.00 if at one of age this puppy does not rate at least a hip score of moderate from the OFA or at least 30% after 4 months with PENN-HIP. Breeder guarantee is replacement for $250.00 if at one year of age does not rate at least a Fair with the OFA or at least 40% after 4 months old with PENN-HIP."

We are just looking for a pet, one we can train for obedience and take with us on our outings to go pretty much anywhere. We're pretty active.

If she has these things on her dogs then this is something that I would advertise on the web page. They look to me to be American lines.....depends on what you are looking for in your dog. You are the one that will have to live with the dog for 10 to 12 years or more. You will want to get the most healthy dog you can for the next decade. By going with a breeder that has these health clearances on their dogs you are taking steps in the right direction at getting a dog from a breeder that is thinking of the breed and not how fat their pocket is.

I would recommend a breeder with German working lines but I am bias!

After re- reading your post, she says, quality dogs from OFA and Penn Hip LINES. Doesn't mean that HER DOGs are OFA'd or Penn Hip Cert.

Ask her if her dogs are cert. with either? If they are then you make the call but I would still recommend someone with a lower drive working line. You only want a pet and that would make a good pet, from healthy well bred lines.

I would pass on this kennel for the above mentioned issues but I also would question about the quality of socialization of the pups when they have had 6 litters in 3 months and appears to be a family affair type kennel (looks like a husband and wife with young kids). In the last 7 months they have had a total of 8 litters with 56 puppies. That is a lot of puppies for essentially two adults with young kids to raise right - or at least how I expect a puppy I get to be raised.

Of course, the APRI registration always concerns me. APRI is basically a puppymill registry and if their dogs are all AKC registered, why bother registering them with a substandard registry? At least three of their dogs are APRI registered and not AKC. That is a huge red flag for me because the APRI is not reputable when it comes to ensuring pedigree etc and looking at their bitch Lorrie's SweetRed Jessie k, I would not be surprised if there was something else in there.

I see that a lot with standard poodles. They advertise "OFA lines" that kills me!

Alot of dogs there. I wouldn't get a puppy from Kavik,(Sept 21st litter) his ears don't look like they stand properly.


http://www.prairieacreskennel.com/pb/wp_b4ed0cd0/images/img8283462835a823d9b.JPG

They have a female that weighs 125 lbs. Yikes! Personally I don't like the pigmentation on those dogs. They neither working lines nor show lines.

Heather,
I will add some OFA dogma to the mix:
I got a GSD from a rescue group about 11 years ago. She was 18 months old when I got her and her hips started going bad on her about 4 years later.

Obviously, there is no OFA guarantee from a rescue group, but the learning point was NEVER AGAIN. It's a HORRIBLE thing to watch your dog go cripple from hip dysplasia.

If you're making a 10-12 year investment, do yourself the favor of leaving as little as possible to chance.

Wow, thank you all for your input and help for me! The pup he was interested in is actually not up on the site, he called her about white pups and she told him there were three available. Two are from the Kavik male with odd-standing ears ( Thank you so much, Janet, for pointing that out- I didn't even notice! ) and one between these two:

Sire - Prairieacres Poorboy Skippy (white)
Dam - Prairieacres Silver's Diamond (black &silver)

The second pup is going to be 10 weeks old by the time he gets there to see and she said that this particular one she was going to keep for her breeding program for several reasons but says due to the harsh winter in store and her abundance of dogs she has already she changed her mind and was putting him up for sale that night.

She said something about how that pup was born with a black nose and paw pads when all her other whites are born with pink and how it means he has good pigment. She also said he had personality and was a tough little pup ( no idea what she meant by tough ). She offered him pictures tonight because she had none of him on the site because she intended to keep him.