Welcome to the website for Vom Zeder Haus German Shepherds. Vom Zeder Haus is a German Shepherd breeding and training kennel. We are located near Norris lake in Tennessee, a little over two hours south of Lexington Kentucky, and one hour northeast of Knoxville Tennessee. Our dogs are European West German Shepherds,or in other words they are Authentic German Shepherds.You will find no American, Americanized or watered down German Shepherds at Vom Zeder Haus.We Breed only European quality dogs, and we adhere to the European breeding standard.All Vom Zeder Haus dogs are either European Imports, or are 1st generation U.S. born. All of our dogs are real life working dogs, or they are Schutzhund Titled. All Vom Zeder Haus German Shepherds have healthy hips, having either been certified in Europe, or are Veterinarian  Certified in the United States. All documentation for Schutzhund Titles and Hip Certification/X-Rays are available to Vom Zeder Haus Clients and kennel visitors. 
     As you read thru our website you will find that it is very different than other German Shepherd Breeder websites.The main purpose of most German Shepherd websites is to ''sell'' you a dog. The main purpose of this website is to educate the American public about the German Shepherd breed. We are always looking for responsible, intelligent people to place our puppies with, but first and foremost, we want you to learn more about these magnificent Animals. Unless you have either owned, bred or trained German Shepherds in EUROPE, then there is much for you to learn about this breed!!  By reading this website, you will more about the German Shepherd Breed than 99% of Americans associated with this breed, including Veterinarians, German Shepherd Owners and German Shepherd Breeders!!  The reason that puppy mills and irresponsible greedy breeders have all but ruined the German Shepherd breed ,and gotten away with this for years, is because of people taking an irresponsible laid back approach to pursuing a German Shepherd!! We Have a passion for the German Shepherd Dog, and we despise the Worldwide greed, ignorance and exploitation that surrounds the Breed. We never want to give the impression that we think we are the only good German Shepherd Breeder in America, there are other good breeders in America, but for each good one, there are literally one million bad ones and we want you to recognize the difference!!
     There are many mis-conceptions about the German Shepherd , and there has always been a major exploitation of the Breed which has ultimately led to an inferior dog in the U.S., and a reduction of breed quality in Europe.  99.9% of so called German Shepherds in America are not Authentic German Shepherds, only a watered down, distance cousin of the true Breed.  Sometimes this is a result of greedy people who are just out for your money. In other cases, it's simply a situation in which some person knows very little about the German Shepherd breed,and probably less than you do, they just go out and buy multiple inferior German Shepherds and begin breeding them. Depending on which European Judge, breeder or Breed Warden that you talk to, they estimate that there are between 5 and 10 German Shepherd Breeders in the United States, adhering to the European standard,and thus producing European quality dogs.Most of these are breeders with DDR lines, and keep in mind that this is 5 to 10 out of the Millions of German Shepherd breeders in the United States. A person once told us that they doubted these statistics.... This was our response.... "For 70+ years, the German Shepherd was used by Police Departments in the U.S., as well as the United States Military. Since the 1990's, Very few U.S. Police Departments use the German Shepherd. Additionally, German Shepherds now only make up a small percentage of the dogs used by the United States Military. In Europe However, where they have been Enforcing the Law, and exercising Military Warfare for hundreds of years, the German Shepherd Has, is, and will always be an elite working dog and Family Dog"!! It is the True European German Shepherd, that make up the dogs of Vom Zeder Haus. 
     While we have placed German Shepherds with Law Enforcement agencies and the U.S. Government, 95% of our dogs are placed with Families and private individuals.German Shepherds should meet the European breed standard,so we breed as they breed in Europe, that is....to produce a very balanced, complete dog.We produce German Shepherds that can be your running or hiking partner in the morning,do Police tactical work during the day,a childes playmate during the evening,and protect his owner and Family at night. 
     When Max Vom Stephanitz, Arthur Myer, Wolfgang Hobbes and Konrad Most developed the German Shepherd breed in the early 1900's, the modern German Shepherd Dog and the breeding practices that surround it, are NOT what they had in mind.  Most people in the United States are unaware that there are actually three sub-species of the German Shepherd Breed and that each is a completely different dog.  As you read thru this website,the three sub-species of German Shepherds will be discussed in detail. 
       So why are our dogs Authentic? There are three principles that have to apply to any kennel and breeding program in the World for the dogs to be Authentic German Shepherds #1 Whether imports or not, the dogs must have been bred to the European Breeding Standerd.#2 Then the dogs must be European quality German Shepherds.#3 The person calling themselves a Breeder must then be breeding under the terms and conditions of the European Breeding standerd as imposed by the German S.V. We will add here that as German Shepherd breeding and training has become a buisness and political over the years, that the rules and policies of the German S.V. have been softened which has led to puppymills and many inferior dogs now being produced in Germany. Vom Zeder Haus adheres to the old German Breeding standerds, which required that whether a dog was Schutzhund titled or not, it had to be a True working dog, not the modern Schutzhund titled dogs, most of which are merely show and competetion dogs that would run away on the front lines in Afghanistan. Because of many inferior dogs now being produced in Germany, we are now acquiring our dogs from Central Europe, primarly the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as the breeding programs in these countries are about 30 years behind Germany, which is a good thing.  The European Breeding Standard, and the breeding programs in Europe are discussed elsewhere in this website.
      Authentic German Shepherds were created from Wolves which is why they are so magnificent and make the best working and Family dogs. In 2011, the University of Tennessee Veterinary research program conducted an extensive study to see how close the modern German Shepherd was to the Gray Wolf both genetically and behaviorally. After  U.T. toured and researched dozens of German Shepherd kennels in the State of Tennessee, it was our kennel, Vom Zeder Haus that was chosen as the subject of their study. This because our dogs are of a very pure West German strain of the breed, and because of the overall quality of our breeding program. 
    
     While our dogs have been hand picked from around the world or from our own litters to be a part of our breeding program,they are not kennel dogs or economic entities that we use to make money.While German Shepherds are meant to be working dogs,they are also meant to be Family dogs. Our dogs live the lifestyle as did dogs of rural Europe many years ago. We start off every morning with a 5 mile run or Mountain Bike ride on the trails around the farm.The remainder of the day our dogs are engaged in various activities from herding and protecting livestock, swimming,hiking,or honing their protection skills. When we work our dogs here its not done on a soccer field or such. Our dogs are worked in the woods and water,and put in situations in which they have to think for themselves. 
     Our German Shepherds can speak for themselves, Vom Zeder Haus welcomes good potential placements to our Kennel to meet our dogs, meet us and see the environment we have chosen for our operation. Our Kennel is actually a German Shepherd farm as it encompasses 52 acres, two homes, two barns, two ponds, two creeks, and several other out buildings. We keep an ample supply of good German beer,and the coffee pot is always on....

.......Of the Millions of German Shepherd breeders in the world,Vom Zeder Haus is the ONLY Kennel to provide a 100% buyback policy with every dog that we place!!!!....Why?....Because people in the United States breed dogs because they need your money! We don't need your money,we breed German Shepherds for the sole reason of improving this breed.When we place a dog,we want our owners to be satisfied and our dogs to be happy!
........Of the Millions of German Shepherd Breeders and Kennels Worldwide,Vom Zeder Haus German Shepherds, located in a rural farming community in East Tennessee,is the ONLY kennel to CONSISTENTLY maintain a waiting list for German Shepherd puppies!!!!  Why?.....Because of the quality of our dogs, and the quality of our breeding program........ This is something that we are not boasting about, its just a fact!!!!

      Regarding the quality of the German Shepherd dog,the German Shepherds of Vom Zeder Haus are truly in the top 1% of all German Shepherds worldwide.Not because they are here.....That's why they are here!! We realize that this looks and sounds like an over-statement,however..... Were not concerned with ''Selling'' you a dog,that's why we stress on this website for potential German Shepherd owners to visit as many kennels as you can,because doing so will further educate you about the breed,and most importantly,about breeders.If however you are invited to visit Vom Zeder Haus, then you will know what a European quality German Shepherd is,and the environment that a quality breeding program should be in.German Shepherds evolved from the mountains,woods and water of Germany.Several years ago,and after years of searching,we acquired the property which is now ''Vom Zeder Haus'',because it entails what the German Shepherd Dog came from ''Mountains, woods and water. The fact that one of the oldest sheep farms in the U.S. is adjacent to Vom Zeder Haus, and the best German type Beer brewery in America is only 35 nautical miles from our kennel,well that's just a coincidence!!!!
 

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