~ World Class Working German Shepherds from the Mission Valley ~

SAPPHIRE SHEPHERDS NEWS

Hello Everyone!  In response to requests we have received for more updates I will be making this web page my "News Letter" and attempt to update it the 1st week of each month with news that friends and viewers may fine interesting.  Hope you enjoy - Ramona
 

~MAY 2008~

A very busy month! Thanks to all for sending in updates on what you and your dogs have been up to.  It is great to hear so many have been busy training and having success and fun!!!

SANTO of Sapphire Mountain ( Rocky/Oresta son), enjoying a couple hours of play with the family at the Mission Dam.  Santo is Chip' dog.  He is certified in Narcotics and Cadaver and will be replacing Rocky as stud dog.

BROOK, a 4 month old (Rocky/Ajsa female) fun photos playing with Brook taken after a evening tracking session.
 

 

Congratulations go out to Dave MacDougall and OTTO of Sapphire Mountain ( Rocky/Petra son) on passing their AD.  Was very good to hear all the positive comments the judge had to say about Otto!

Below is a recent email and photo submitted by Julie T. Chapman, MT about SUKA of Sapphire Mountain (Rocky/Oresta female). 

Ramona, It’s been forever since I’ve written, and I thought you might like to hear more about how Suka is doing. Short story: we’ve found our calling in agility. Suka is AWESOME at it! Photo attached. Longer story: everywhere we go to trial, we get compliments – people want to know about her, what her breeding is, and so on. We are doing really, really well! We’re now competing at the top levels of AKC agility (in the Excellent classes), since Suka blew through Novice and Open with tremendous ease. She’s fast enough that we even sometimes beat border collies – the breed of choice for agility!! But generally, when we run clean, we win – unless my instructor is competing in the same class with her BC J. My instructor, Wendy Parciak, has been to the Nationals twice now, so it’s an honor to compete in the same classes with her!
We had a seminar here in Missoula a few weeks ago with Barb Davis, an agility World Team member. After watching us work, Barb suggested that we think about gunning for Nationals competition!!! WOW. That sort of took my breath away. I mean, Suka and I learned agility together from the ground up – I’m a total novice – but I have a talented, fast dog in my girl and we can go far. Last year when we were still competing in Open, we went to the spring trial in Moses Lake, WA. One of the trial staff, who travels up and down the west coast, said he’d never seen such a fast GSD – he loved her. And the trial judge, Dan Butcher, who is a terrific, well-known judge and goes all over the country, told me “Your shepherd is *awesome*!”.I’ve also just posted some videos of us at a trial a couple weeks ago in Idaho Falls on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iK-xesPM34             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_fR6VD2PmI

I’ve discovered the germanshepherds.com forums, and have been participating particularly on the agility forum – just discovered someone in Kansas who knows 2 Sapphire dogs there, a Rocky-Petra boy and a Rocky-Oresta dog. Small world! I hope your new digs in the Mission valley are suiting you – I see some new dogs on your website! All the best -

Mark of AZ, submitted these photos of his dogs.  He owns 4 of our dogs and uses a couple of them for detection work in AZ. These 2 photos show his male KID ( a Rocky/Pearl son), playing around in the back yard. 

~APRIL 2008~

~MARCH 2008~

Daughter of our Rocky Venusina Sopka and Varna z Pohranicni straze; RHEA of Sapphire Mountain has just received an EXCELLENT Hip rating from OFA!

This photo was recently submitted to me by Glenn McDonald of OR. He is the owner/trainer/handler of SKY of Sapphire Mountain, Rocky / Pearl son.  Sky is a working SAR dog for Wallowa County.  Sky is a large male, in great shape at 98 pounds.  He is certified in Cadaver and will be testing for OSSA Trailing next month which requires a 1 1/2 mile 12 hr trail. Glenn states Sky is trailing almost exclusively off lead now and is doing great, loves his work!. Thanks Glenn for the email and photo.

We have just imported an excellent, breeding female for DIAMOND H LIVESTOCK;  EMISE. She is a proven producer of working Police and healthy offspring.  She will be an excellent foundation breeding female for our friends.  Information to be posted soon.

~FEBRUARY 2008~

I received an email from Jiri Novotny in regards to Mambo.  It gave me great news on Mambo's hip and elbow production for the past year.  According to the Czech registry, Mambo is one of the best producers of healthy hips and elbows!!

Diamond H Livestock was in Brazil during this month.  We thank them for the great job in promoting our dogs!

~JANUARY 2008~

A beautiful photo to get us through the next couple months of winter..

Click on photo to enlarge

~DECEMBER 2007~

All of us at Sapphire Shepherds send wishes to all our friends and clients across the globe for a very Prosperous and Healthy year ahead!  Happy New Year!!

Congratulations also go out to OTTO of Sapphire Mountain.  A Rocky/Petra son who certified OFA GOOD hips also received the highest hip rating after having the same x-rays submitted to Germany,  a NORMAL.  It is very interesting to get two different ratings on the same set of x-rays.  I was able to see the x-rays before they where submitted and they are a beautiful set of hips.

Condolences go out to Amy on the loss of her year old Lary/Pearl female.  Amy was close to certification in Wilderness Trailing and Cadaver with her dog when an unexpected accident happened.  Much time and effort goes into raising and training these dogs.  Words cannot express how we feel.

New information that you may find interesting on our ABOUT US web page.

MAMBO is here!!!!!!

~NOVEMBER 2007~
 

WINTER IS HERE!!

Young Daniel and Lary playing in the seasons first snow.

The following email and photos have been submitted by Mr. Lloyd Dorfman of NJ.  Lloyd purchased one of our young started dogs for family companionship and protection.  I "Thank" Lloyd and his family for providing a great home for ZARAH and his brother, Mr. Eric Dorfman of Dorfman K9 for helping us place some of our young started dogs this past year.

Lloyd P. Dorfman
  

~OCTOBER 2007~
 

Mr. Bill Caporali, owner of Beartooth K9 submitted these photos from their recent litter sired by Rocky.  A very nice litter of 6 pups, one male placed as a prospect for Police work, and a female in this litter was retained by Bill and will be prepared for detection work for his company. Bill had very nice comments about this litters working ability and temperament!  I want to "Thank" Bill again for his interest in our dogs!
Lornell & Eliska female
male pup.

An interesting article sent in from SAR K9 handler Glenn about his young dog SKY and their first find. Sky is a Rocky/Pearl son.  Click here to read: Page 1 of  2.

Big congratulation go out to Dave MacDougall and his dog OTTO of Sapphire Mountain for passing their BH!!!

Natasha' OFA results on her hips and elbows are in: Hips; GOOD and Elbows; NORMAL. Natasha is a daughter of Rocky and Oresta.  Natasha has now been bred to Czar.  Recent photos of Natasha and Czar:
 
 
 
 

~SEPTEMBER 2007~
 

Congratulations go out to OTTO of Sapphire Mountain (Rocky/Petra son) and AMARA of Sapphire Mountain (Rocky/Varna daughter), both dogs certified OFA Hips GOOD and Elbows NEGATIVE !!!!!

RHEA of Sapphire Mountain & SANTO of Sapphire Mountain are now
CADAVER LEVEL 1 certified. 
Trained and handled by Ramona Helmer, tested under Tri-State requirements.

A couple of photos we thought you all would enjoy that have been submitted by owners of our pups.  The first is a photo taken of the PAWS SAR group in Alaska. These beautiful photos of dogs and their handlers was sent to me from Rebecca Bullman, she owns NIKE  (certified Cadaver, Trailing, Air Scenting , Water and a littermate to our NATASHA)  shown seated in front left-dark black sable female. please click on this link to view photos:  http://www.akinthemomentphoto.com/-/akinthemomentphoto/slideshow.asp?cat=65580


Below are photos of Odin, a Rocky/Petra male. Odin and his owner Steve are currently training in personal protection and are doing very well!!

Early this month we had an enjoyable visit from Dave MacDougall of Prairie Shepherds.  We enjoyed several days of working dogs, much fun and had the pleasure of seeing OTTO again and the very nice dog he has grown to be!  I will soon be posting many photos within the next week of this visit.

~AUGUST 2007~
 

On August 29th. both SANTO of Sapphire Mountain and RHEA of Sapphire Mountain passed the first part of the Tri-State Cadaver Area Search test.  I hope to pass both dogs on the 2nd part of this certification (Bone Discrimination test),  by the end of September for completion of Tri-State Cadaver Certification.

~JULY 2007~
 

July has been a very busy month.  Temperatures have been exceptionally hot, even had a tornado touch down just 15 miles to the north of us, pretty unheard of for Montana. So its up early and out late in the evening for working dogs.  Rhea, Natasha and Santo are close to testing for certification in cadaver and I hope to accomplish this in the coming month. Oresta, even though she is retired from our breeding program is active as ever and still being worked.  She occasionally runs tracks and enjoys being worked in cadaver. Natasha is coming along fine in cadaver and is a blast to run trails with!  I hope to certify her soon in cadaver and later on in wilderness trailing.  Many thanks to Chip, Sarah and Daniel for putting up with my persistent bugging to help in hiding sources and laying trails for me!!
We have a exceptional new breeding female coming in and will post her within the next week along with her planed breeding to Rocky! We also have some very interesting working  litters coming up.  I will be posting these breeding in the next few days.
Hope all is well with you and your dogs!
Ramona

New trained dogs posted for sale on OUR YOUNG ADULTS web page!!

For all of you asking for more ROCKY pups - A new breeding female to be posted soon and she will breed to ROCKY by years end!!

New litters to be posted soon!!!!

Congratulations Rimrock Shepherds on Mira of Sapphire Mountain ( Rocky/Warna) OFA GOOD Hip rating!!! 

The Rocky/Petra "O" litter turned 2 years this month.  Happy Birthday to all!

 
Shasta at 2 yrs and one of my favorite action photos of Shasta at 14 months!

These are a variety of photos taken the past month:  Hope you enjoy!

Rocky and NATASHA of Sapphire Mountain
(Rocky/Oresta)
 

Rocky and NATASHA of Sapphire Mountain
(Rocky/Oresta)
 

Lary with just a "little" stick he found down by the creek.

Chip getting in some fly fishing on our creek. 
Lary and Rhea helping.

Rhea and Chip.

~JUNE 2007~

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Big congratulations to MICHALLE McMILLAN and QUINN of Sapphire Mountain ( a Rocky / Pearl daughter ) on passing Cadaver certification!!!! Michalle and Quinn tested under Tri-State requirements and are members of Lake County SAR. Congratulations are also in order to Ann Wilson of Idaho and her dog SASHA on their Cadaver certification also!

Mr. Bill Caporali, owner of Bear Tooth K9 has purchased stud service to ROCKY VENUSIA SOPKA.  Bill owns a very nice, working narcotic detection female "ZAHRA VALTARA of SAPPHIRE MOUNTAIN" from our Chasinta z Pohranicni straze.  We "Thank" Bill for looking to our bloodlines to add more working dogs to his business. We are looking forward to seeing this litter!  Should be some very nice working prospects!

ZAHRA, working narcotic detection dog.
 

~MAY 2007~

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SANTO of SAPPHIRE MOUNTAIN (Rocky x Oresta male) DOB: 3-21-2006 passed his Narcotics dog evaluation.  A big "THANK YOU" to trainer Cris Goodhue of High Country K9 for the excellent job of training and caring for Santo!!  Santo was also given a 90% in a evaluation of making a good patrol dog given his age. We plan to pursue training for patrol work in the fall and to bring Santo into or breeding program of working dogs within the next 2 years.  Santo is owned by Chip Helmer. 


(scroll to the bottom to view training photos of Santo and Cris).

~APRIL 2007~

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A big "THANK YOU" to Bacardi Rum for their purchase of a Sapphire Shepherd pup, and their donation of this pup, along with the cost of training, to the very lucky MICHALLE MCMILLAN of LAKE COUNTY SEARCH AND RESCUE!!!!!  We would also like to say 'Thank you" to Chuck of K9 Recourses in Colorado for the recommendation of our kennel. 

Bacardi Rum has recognized the serious need for reliable dogs and handlers in SAR, along with the tremendous amount of time and expenses that is involved in training one of these dogs who are often trained in a number of different search disciplines, and often work in very extreme conditions.  They have also acknowledged our breeding program as one that can produce dogs for this very demanding working field.  We hope other corporations and individuals with follow their lead of their generous donation.

Below are photos of our trip to beautiful Vail Colorado for their annual Spring Back to Vail Summer celebration. The young pup in the photos is a 4 month old male from our Lary Bret-Bett / Black Pearl v. Sapphire Mountain breeding.

     
         Pup with celebrity / Michalle receiving her pup during half-time show /  Ramona-Michalle                               
     


         

      
Ramona  and Vail CO      /       Michalle sound bite     /      Ramona and pup
 

~ MARCH 2007~

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New information on ROCKY'S mother Hobby Venusina sopka that you may or may not know about. 
#1:  Results for World Championships FH track by Hobby Venusina sopka in Finland, 2003 where she came in 7th with a score of 186.  Top score that day was 197 out of 200!!!!   
http://www.sportdog.ru/cohttp://www.sportdog.ru/competition/2003/WM-IPO-FH-2003.pdf
PO-FH-2003.pd
#2: World FH Championships in Slovakia, 2002. Hobby Venusina sopka came in 10th with a score of 180.  The highest that day was only 193!!http://www.sportdog
.http://www.chienplus.com/championnat-du-monde-FCI-pistage-2000.htm
/competition/2003/WM-IPO-FH-2003.pdf
Big 'THANK YOU" to Dave MacDougall of www.prairieshepherds.com for finding this information on HOBBY!!!.

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New update on our Stud Service web page!!
And the posted planned breedings taking place later this month to the following outside females!!

Thank You & Congratulations to Mr.& Mrs. Eenhuis on the purchase of Stud Service to LARY BRET-BETT for their wonderful female MIRA, a (Rocky/Warna daughter). We can't wait to see these pups!!  There will be some very strong working pups in this litter!!!

Mira, getting serious with a game of rag-play.

Mira

And, Thank You & Congratulations to Mr.& Mrs. Zink on the purchase of Stud Service to LARY BRET-BETT for their wonderful female AMARA, a (Rocky/Warna daughter).  Another litter that we will look forward to seeing!! There will be some very strong working pups in this litter also!!!

A big congratulations to Rebecca Bullman and NIKE ( Rocky/Oresta-daughter) of Alaska on certification in Cadaver, Trailing, Water and Air Scent.  And to Rebecca a even bigger congratulation on the "other" great news:) !!

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SANTO of SAPPHIRE MOUNTAIN:  ( Rocky/Oresta son)  has started training for certification in Narcotics with trainer Cris Goodhue.  He is alot of dog, very confident, dominate and full of working drives. Santo is my husbands dog, they go everywhere together.  Santo is a very nice male who will be brought into our breeding program at a future date.
Photos are at 1 year of age taken at a training get-together.  Click photos to enlarge.

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Photos below are taken from a recent day of training with friends. I brought 2 pups along, RUCAS (Lary/Pearl male), and his brother SAMSON (purchased by Betty Stoudt of www.amulettk9.com for a detection prospect in PA). I worked them in tracking, no photos of them. Fun Day had by all.

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~LAND for SALE~

2 - 10 acre parcels.  Property has 16.5 inches of gravity flow irrigation, 1 well, 2 septic approvals, is fenced, and fronts a paved road.  A country store which offers gas and propane is within 2 blocks, a wonderful K- 8 school is located within 2 miles along with a fire station.  Property backs a proposed community park.  This property is level and is located in the rural beautiful Bitterroot Valley of Stevensville, Montana.  Owner financing is available. Price 200,000 per 10 acre.  Inquires can be directed to the owner, Frank Mogan at 1-406-360-2105