We're Gonna Have Babies!

We are so excited!  Our Eicke vom Silvertbach, who certified as a Narcotic Detector Dog at a March United States Police Canine Association trial, has been positively verified as pregnant by ultrasound!  The father of the litter is Adonis vom Grand Kevin, SchH3, FH, ZTP, AD, aka "Toni".  The babies are due to arrive around May 22nd.  Eicke has not slowed down too much yet, but she IS getting bigger every day!

Awesome Tracking Job!!

Police K9 Sabiye von Bachbett and handler Deputy Brandon Stoughtenger got called out to do a track late one afternoon this week following a break-in.  The team tracked the bad guys for TWO MILES through winter wheat, woods, and river bottom.  While on the track, they recovered a bag dropped by the robbers, containing crow bars and masks.  The team pushed the three guys right into the arms of waiting deputies that had set up a perimeter around the search area, resulting in the arrest of the three.  Here is a picture of Sabiye with the recovered stolen items valued at $4,000.00.  What a great job!!

Disaster Dog Test Training!

Congratulations to Jodie Alwin and her "Java", (a daughter of our Irco), on their successful disaster dog training recently! Here's the story in Jodie's own words...

"I went to Illinois today for the Disaster Relief Dog test. It was an incredible experience. Hardest testing we ever did. Started at 8am and finished at 6pm. There was everything from Helicopter landing 50 feet from the dog, firemen with their darth vadar masks with oxygen, boat rides and smashing dog on dog in a bus. Literally.   Java just shined at everything.

There are about only 60 of these dogs in the nation. She is such a good dog. She was the crowd favorite (including with the German judge). We started with 21 dogs and ended up with 10. Big group actually.

So thanks again for this dog. She is so incredibly special and has touched so many people (she made one evaluator cry). Technically she is not a titled DSR dog yet as we need to go to a real disaster before we can get our title."

Hooray for Java and Jodie!!  You go, girls!!

Happy Birthday Irco!

Our big, handsome Irco vom Weiten Land, SchH3, IPO3, FH turns 11 years old today!  A happy, healthy boy, we wish him many more years!  Here's a photo I took of him a few weeks ago.

Bachbett Boxers in the News!

K9 Cliff vom Grand Kevin is retiring from the LaCrosse County Sheriff's Department, and young Sabiye von Bachbett will be covering Cliff's "beat" from now on.  And of course, Sabiye's sister, Shawnee von Bachbett, has been sworn in as a deputy in neighboring Trempealeau County, where her and Sabiye's Mom, Heline vom Talersberg, is ALSO an active police K9.  And this past week, all of the K9s made the local news, with articles in the LaCrosse Tribune and in the Trempealeau County Times.  Here is a link to the Tribune article on Cliff and Sabiye and it includes a photo of the two together. http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_76ac3220-d389-11e0-9600-001cc4c002e0.html.  Unfortunately, the Trempealeau paper does not have a web site, but here is the picture of Deputies Shawnee and MacDonah. Congrats to all and a very long and happy retirement Cliffer!!

Deputy Dog!

Shawnee von Bachbett is pictured here with her handler and the judge at her swearing in ceremony last night.  Judge John Damon, (who also swore in Shawnee's Mom Heline several years ago), gave Shawnee the oath during the monthly meeting of the Trempealeau County Board.  Shawnee and handler Deputy Travis McDonah then went out and promptly got their first three drug arrests!  Good job!

Not to be outdone, brother Sabiye, one of LaCrosse County Sheriff's Department's K9 Boxers, did a successful criminal suspect track last night as well.  Also new to the job, this was Sabiye's first track.  Another good job- congratulations Deputy Stoughtenger!

Law Enforcement Family!

Here's a picture of K9 Heline (center, with handler Deputy Tim Wilson), and her two law enforcement offspring!  Daughter K9 Shawnee von Bachbett is on the left (with handler Deputy Travis McDonah), and son K9 Sabiye von Bachbett is on the right (with Deputy Brandon Stoughtenger).  Shawnee will be hitting the streets soon, as a tracking and narcotics detection dog.  Sabiye is a patrol and narcotics detection dog.  And Heline has gotten an "upgrade" to full patrol apprehension dog, as well as tracking and narcotics!

Cliff DAREs to Go to School!

K9 Cliff and handler Brandon Stoughtenger did a demo at the D.A.R.E. graduation for a fith grade class at a local school today.  He was a real hit!  Many people associate Cliff with his video on Youtube Extreme Police K9 where he looks, well, like a beast!  And he is a beast in protection work, but like a really great German Boxer should, he has a solid, reliable, friendly temperament, and is extremely trustworthy.  He loves kids, and enjoys doing these demos where he gets to meet his adoring public!

New Police K9 Boxer!

Sabiye von Bachbett, son of National Sieger Arames vom Messingsberg, SchH2, DPO1, FH and Police K9 Heline vom Talersberg, SchH2, DPO1, has followed his mother's footsteps into a career in law enforcement.  Sabiye will be working as a dual purpose (drug and patrol) K9 in LaCrosse County.  He is pictured here wearing his K9 Armor vest donated by the Wisconsin Vest A Dog program, that makes these life saving vests available to police dogs at no charge!  Thanks to these folks for their great work!  And good luck to Sabiye and handler Brandon Stoughtenger in their career together as a team.

2011 ABC Successes!

Congratulations to Anja von Waldstadt (Arames vom Messingsberg X Josephine von Bachbett), owned, bred, and trained by Renee Williams, and littermate Ava Josephine von Waldstadt, owned and trained by Elisabeth Lonergan, on their successes at the American Boxer Club Nationals!  Here's a video of the girls in the parade of titleholders!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BefSvtObLGU

Happy Birthday UVW von Bachbett Litter!

Today we wish a very "Happy Birthday" to...
Uma,
Udo Josef,
Ulysses Samson,
Ursa Mukki,
Veena,
Vanessa Mae,
Virginia Countess (aka Vonnie),
Vika,
Vargus,
Wily, and
Wilhelmina

One year ago today, Sofia delivered our biggest litter in over 20 years of breeding, eleven sassy, healthy baby Boxers! Here's a picture of the very tired Mom and her active brood of seven girls and four boys!

May they and their owners all have a long and happy life together!

Congratulations to Sula von Bachbett, new CD!

Kudos go out to Scott Hurley and our Sula von Bachbett who finished her AKC Companion Dog title today!  The team did it in three trials, in three days, starting on Friday!  Their first leg was a 196.5 out of 200 and a 2nd place in class. (Beat by wife Carmen Hurley and her Rottie girl Noel).  Saturday was leg number 2 and a 1st place with 197!  Then today, the team sewed up the new title with a 195.5 and another 2nd place (yes, Carmen and Noel again in the top spot!!)  Congratulations to Scott and Sula (who is the daughter of Arames von Messingsberg, SchH2, DPO1, FH1 and Police K9 Heline vom Talersberg, SchH2, DPO1), and to Carmen and Noel.

Happy Birthday T Litter von Bachbett!

One year ago today, Shawnee gave birth to our "T" litter, sired by Cliff. Happy First Birthday to Titan, Tex, Troy, Tegan, Tawny, and Tugg! I would have loved to add a photo of them to this blog, but Blogger will not allow me to upload images today! Oh well, trust me, they were very cute!!

2010 Favorite Pic!

To the Chinese, 2010 was the Year of the Tiger, but at Bachbett Kennels it was the Year of the Puppy! Seventeen of them, to be exact, and so it is no surprise that my favorite photograph that I shot last year is an image of one of our puppies. Hope you like it, too!

I turned the original color photo into a black and white image, but kept the pink petunias and the eye color of the pup. Pups at this age have that bluish tinge to their eyes, and I think it is quite striking. What do you think?

Although the color version of this photo has been on our web site for some time, this is the first time I have published this B&W version.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Mutant Monster Boxer Puppies!!

I had a couple of my German Boxer puppies running outside and playing in and around our trout ponds the other day, and, as usual, I was snapping away photos of them with my Nikon DSLR camera. They are typically very photogenic, and terribly cute. But later, when I reviewed the shots I had taken, I had to laugh when I saw the one you see here! Caught in mid-flight, these three Boxer girls have the funniest and contorted facial expressions! Add some flying ears and they look like a monster movie in the making! Just had to share!

Happy National Dog Day!

Today is National Dog Day!

Give that special four legged friend of yours a big old hug! Better yet, take them for a nice long walk, go for a run in the park, or treat them to some great one-on-one time with the most important person in their life!

Pool Party Puppies!

The dog days of summer are upon us, and with the heat and humidity rising today, the puppies and I had a pool party. Their favorite pool activity, (besides drinking the contents of the pool), is bobbing for toys, as this picture of some of the partygoers illustrates. The frog toy is popular, because he floats, and when gripped, squeaks. Once a toy is grabbed, the winning puppy leaps from the pool, followed by the others in chase, and then victory laps are done all around the yard, frequently involving scaling patio furniture. The whole group then ends up back at the pool, where they leap in and start the game all over again.

Tails! You win!

Wow! Things around here have been busy, busy, and it has been quite a while since I posted! More puppies have left our German Boxer nest since then. Speaking of puppies, a number of people have asked why our latest pups have been left with tails intact. There are several reasons why we chose to not dock this time around.

Because our dogs are of European descent, the ones we have imported in the past 10 years have had tails. Much of Europe bans both tail docking and ear cropping. Although it seemed strange to us at first, we have now become accustomed to our long tailed Boxers, and actually like how expressive the tails are. It is very easy to "read" the dogs' mind set by their tails. And who knew how much a happy Boxer (and they are almost ALWAYS happy) wags his tail!! So when you see a tail on a Boxer, it can denote their European heritage, opposed to American breeding lines. And because some of the people that acquire dogs from us compete internationally, having a tail on their dog will not limit their ability to compete in docked tail "banned" countries.

Another reason the tails were left on is, frankly, because docking them has always been a pain, literally AND figuratively. Regardless of whether we had them stitched, superglued, or stapled, the Momma dogs just never could leave those stump ends alone, and invariably chewed the ends open on one or more pups, meaning more trips to the vet and the threat of infection. Not to mention a few pups ending up with Rottweiler stumps as the Momma dogs chewed the already short tails even shorter!

But there has been a lot of resistance among some potential puppy buyers. In fact, several people have passed on one of these exceptionally talented young Boxers simply because of the long tails! That's too bad, because these are some of the finest puppies we have produced in our 20 plus years of breeding German Boxers. But their loss is someone else's gain.

So will I leave the tails on next time I breed a litter of German Boxers? That remains to be seen.

Another Happy Home

This weekend yet another of Cliff's and Sofia's German Boxer puppies left Bachbett Boxers to start a new and happy life! Frank and Kim picked up their boy on Saturday, and he joins their female Boxer Tes. Kim reports that the new boy, whose call name is Samson, is the hit of the neighborhood.