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Hi Tim,
I checked out their web site. I guess these are the things to consider:
If you are looking for a “good looking” german Shepherd from West German lines – the kennel certainly seems to produce a lot of them. Their dogs are gorgeous and they have a large list of testimonials.
I don’t have much love for kennels that breed for the main purpose of profit – which the kennel doesn’t seem to hide, but at least they seem to be doing a good job at it (clean kennels, professional service, etc..) with a good guarantee. I believe they have been around for about 10 years producing A LOT of dogs and the fact that you don’t see the internet flooded with a lot of negative feedback is good.
West German lines are the German “show dog” version of the shepherd. Therefore they are beautiful dogs. One saving grace from the German “show dogs” compared to American show dogs is that in Germany they still require certain temperamant tests for breeding. I have noticed with the West german lines that bad temperamants can emerge quick in a breeding program if you do not stay on top of the temperamants you breed to.
I have noticed on Kolenda’s web page that some of the bitches for their upcoming litters have nothing other than a hip x-ray to qualify them as brood bitches.
That is basically what happened to the American Shepherd – where we started off with good stock and many breeders priorities became beauty to win at shows and making money. That’s why so many Amercian line shepherds have genetic based behavior problems.
Their dogs live in kennels – and there is no way that they are rotating that amount of dogs into their homes to get a good picture of what they are like living with a family.
If your reason for getting a shepherd is to have a companion and you prefer the West German look – I would recommend seeking out a smaller scale hobby breeder who’s dogs live in a home and have proven to behave exactly the way you would like your dog to behave – definitely meet both parents and test the individual puppies. Do NOT buy one of the more dominant or shy puppies and NEVER the alpha of the litter if you are looking for a companion.
Even though Kolenda has a lot of good testimonials it still only represents probably 1 % of what they produce considering their volume.
That being said for what they are , what you see is what you get. If you really like their pups go to the kennel and meet the parent’s and the pups because the biggest concern that I hear is that of the temperamants since it doesn’t seem to be a breeding priority. Even a dog that is titled in Schutzhund can have a temperamant not ideal for a companion and some of the bitches don’t even have that.
Here are just a couple threads I found on other forums:
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/choosing-breeder/96136-kolenda-kennels.html
http://www.dogforums.com/2-general-dog-forum/77694-how-ask-mentoring.html
There is also this web site which seems kind of fishy to me – since it seems to have been put up only to make a review of the kennel and it is EXTREMELY positive, but judge for yourself:
http://www.germanshepherdmichigan.com/kolenda-kennels-review/
Remember, I have no love for any breeder that I don’t think is in it to better the breed or support what the breed was meant to do. I don’t want to be unfair since this is a private forum and not easy for anyone to speak their disagreement.
That being said – they are above the puppy mills and back yard breeders that have really hurt the breed and ethical enough to not have complaints flooding the internet. I’m sure if you go there and choose carefully you can find a good pup – since obviously many people have.
Hope this helps.
Mike
