Dear Mr. & Mrs. Steward,
Cutter is an amazing dog! He is so good with everybody and especially little children. He is very smart and I love to play and walk with him. My favorite thing about Cutter is that he is so loving and affectionate. He follows me everywhere. Thank you for letting me become Cutter's owner.
Sincerely, Vince Zador

Dear Valerie and Darrick,
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to open our home to Cutter. Cutter is truly magnificent, he has beautiful markings and has a wonderful disposition. He has made our family complete. It has been a great experience for Vincent. He is establishing a great bond between a boy and his dog. They are inseparable. We look forward to many years of happiness and can't thank you both enough. We are so happy to have found a breeder that is very knowledgeable and cares so much about raising exceptional dogs! We would highly recommend you to anyone.

Dear Mrs. Steward,
It is hard to believe that a full year has gone by since Cutter came into our lives. You couldn't ask for a better dog. He is so gentle and has to be the best face washer on the East Coast. Cutter has had great success in all of his training classes and is on his way to getting his Pet Therapy Certification. He already visits the nursing home where my Great Grandmother is. He is wonderful with everyone. It is amazing what a gentle giant he is. Cutter loves car rides and especially loves to play ball. We have so much fun together. 
Thank you so much for a wonderful dog.
Vince

I was searching a lot of websites and checking out a lot of breeders in Canada and US, until I came across von Scotlynburgh site. I was looking to get a puppy with the special bloodlines, for showing and sport. As soon as I saw Windy von el Tous (the mother of my puppy), and found out that Valerie just bred her to Rio di Casa Nobili, I made up my mind. From the very beginning Valerie was very professional and scrupulous about every little detail. I was getting a pick of the litter female. My communication with Valerie started before the puppies were born over the internet (I live in Toronto, Canada). Some people said that it is too risky to get a dog from a long distance like that, but not in my case. I got exactly what I was hoping for, Valerie helped me to make up my mind to pick a female (I was stuck between two). Everything she said about the character of the dog and her looks was exactly right. Also every week I was getting tons of photos of all the puppies, sometimes twice a week, with the detailed description of each puppy’s character. At the airport the puppy came flying out of her cage, the only thing she cared for was food. She was not disturbed by a long trip at all (she had to come with 2 planes and was in the cage for about 10 hours). She has the best temperament and the best looks I was hoping for. This fall we are going for her first show and I hope we will do very well. Thank you, Valerie, for sending Carrera von Scotlynburgh to our family.
Olga, Toronto

VP1 Campina von Scotlynburgh
 

Campina will be staying here at Von Scotlynburgh Shepherds with her father, Rio, and mother, Windy, where she will be shown and worked in the sport of Schutzhund. She began her young show career with a fabulous start, earning two very promising placements prior to turning six months old, one being at a WDA REGIONAL show, and both under two different SV judges. Both judges commented on her nice movement, correct front, beautiful expression, and stunning deep red pigment. Campina followed up with the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains REGIONAL Conformation Show under National Breed Warden and USA Judge Karen MacIntyre, earning VP1 in the 6-9 month class. 

Campina is a tremendously spirited puppy, delighting everyone who meets her. She has endless energy, a quality we find challenging at times, but she is perfectly balanced with such an undeniable eagerness to please and innate intelligence, making training enjoyable. She often carries a toy in her mouth for an hour, sporadically teasing us with a “run by” and then prances, tail wagging, just out of arm’s reach, making sure she gets the attention she desires. 

Campina is confident and tenacious, friendly and vivacious, yet loyal and incredibly loving. She is especially wonderful with children, somehow always able to differentiate them from adults, voluntarily approaching them freely and gently. She is naturally curious, never passing up an opportunity to explore, rarely hesitating, even in unfamiliar surroundings.

Campina is an absolute joy and we are thrilled to have such a super girl out of Rio’s first litter with Von Scotlynburgh. She is a clown like her dad, yet also possesses the sweet character of her mother, Windy. Campina has the drive and toughness required of a Schutzhund dog and the beauty and elegance needed for the conformation ring. 

The other basic quality we love so much about Campina is her enthusiasm for sharing countless puppy kisses with us. We feel lucky to have bred this very special young girl at Von Scotlynburgh.

How do we express what Jess has done for our household? She is just a 5 & 1/2 month old puppy, how could she have any impact on our lives. Well let me tell you, the sky is now blue and the sun is shining.

We lost our beloved German Shepherd Kyle last May. It was an unexpected death due to complication following surgery. It was quite a shock to us all and we have all been living in his after glow. Every corner we turned was a reminder of his noble presence. To make matters worse just a year earlier we had lost our other Shepherd to cancer. Donner had put up a gallant fight but after a year of chemo we knew it was only fair to let our friend die in dignity. Donner died in my arms after spending his last afternoon with me. I shared my lunch with him and just spent the day being with him. We always referred to them as the boys or the bookends. Donner was the pack leader and was always on guard watching over everyone.

When Donner died Kyle took over that role. His whole life he had lived in Donner’s shadow, now at the age of 10 he took on the role of Sentinel. There is no better breed of dog than the shepherd. When we found our family without one, we could not bear the emptiness. Somehow we were not complete we were lacking and our hearts were crying so. After a few weeks I started searching the web for a German Shepherd, not really knowing what I was looking for. I made a few inquires but was not really finding what I was looking for. I knew this time around I wanted a female. My first shepherd was a female and she was one of those dogs you consider your once in a life time dog. I also didn’t want to feel like I was replacing the boys. So I started looking for a female puppy. It took a couple of months of half searching before I became serious. The longing in my heart was becoming unbearable. Then one day I received an e-mail from Val, she had heard from another breeder that I was looking for a female. She sent me a picture of Clarice (now Jess) and that was all it took. It was love at first sight. 

We were so excited; Jess flew in from Colorado to Texas to her new home in Florida. It was over a six hour trip for her and I was so worried, but Val told me she used Continental air lines and they were very reliable. She was right as usual. I will never forget when we saw our Jess for the first time. Everyone in the Airport was trying to get a look at her. We were the proud new owners of our precious little Jess. She looked at us through the crate with such love and trust she truly knew she had come home. She instantly bonded with my daughter Sydney and she now sleeps in her bedroom with her. She comes to work everyday with me and sleeps in her crate while I do my work. Then at 3:00 when it is time to go get Sydney she wakes up and we go home. In the mornings and later afternoons she has our farm to explore, she enjoys the horses and is not afraid of them. 

I also have a Jack Russell who has adjusted rather nicely to Jess. Though at times I believe Skip is wondering when Jess is going to go back to where ever she came from. Skip is older and doesn’t have the energy level that Jess has. I really believe that Jess was just what our house needed to heal. There is laughter again where there use to be tears. She in no way replaced our Boys, but in her own way, she has filled that void in our hearts, and we have a whole new beginning in which to explore and share our lives with our very special Jess. Val we are eternally grateful to you. 

Niki was named for the town, Saint Nicolas, in Haiti, where her new dad is the CEO of a northern Caribbean resource development and land management company. There she will be fulfilling her duties in the prestigious position of CED (Chief Executive Dog).

Hi Val,
Niki is just doing great! What a wonderful GSD puppy — actually a young strong dog now. Confident, fit, tremendous drive, strikingly beautiful. Not afraid of anything, yet clearly highly intelligent. She could easily make Schutzhund 3 (if I had the time). She will be a superb companion dog to me and a wonderful Community Relations Director for the Haiti project! Niki has Rio’s looks, with his mask, eyes and strong color but I see Windy’s easy grace when she is relaxed. She looks very feminine to me but most people assume she is a male because of her strength and drive. As you said, Niki is a little Tomboy at heart. 
  Right now we are in a holding pattern for deployment to Haiti due to some business issues, and in the meantime I am renting a house right on the Atlantic beach near St Augustine, Florida. Just me, Marty my Army buddy and business partner from New Zealand, and Niki. Beautiful location. So far this morning we have done two good trots on the beach, ~3-4 km each time; Niki loves the ocean and is already a strong swimmer. She races right into the big waves and then body surfs to shore, swimming in if the water is too deep. I have an 18-ft rowing dory being delivered today so she will get some boat time this weekend. I took her out on Lake Dillon in a little rowboat before leaving Colorado and she also got some water time in the mountain streams before we left. So she has been used to water almost from the beginning. 
  What I am most happy about is her socialization. She does great with kids, not overly interested in them but if they show any interest in her -- wanting to pet her etc... -- she just loves the attention and is very gentle with kids now, after the initial puppy thing of wanting to jump up on them. She also does great with adults, not extremely outgoing which is fine, but if I introduce someone as a “New Friend” she immediately makes friends with them. When we visited my mother in Indiana — spent a few days on her farm on the way to Florida — as soon as I let her out of the car there, she ran right up to my mom and started licking her, she knew immediately who she was. Same with my brother. 
  She was alongside a 6-month old GSD male the other day and Niki was clearly the stronger and more confident dog. The young male shied away. Niki is truly an Alpha dog, not just an Alpha female. A 2-year old Labrador male she was playing with just rolled over and showed his stomach to her, which the dog books say is a clear sign of submission.
  We have had several sessions with an excellent professional trainer the vet in the Keys recommended and Niki is doing well with basic obedience, she is still a puppy so I do not expect perfection but she is just doing great with ‘sit, down, come here, stay, lets go’. A little weak still on ‘heel’ as one would expect at 5 months, but getting there. We are now pretty much past the rock-chewing problem; she knows “Drop it” real well (a good thing as her big girl teeth are now coming in, and looking perfect). She has mostly learned to not jump up on people now (except for me of course and sometimes my pals; she seems to understand that the guys and I don't mind). She likes ladies; not enough women in her life so if we are walking she loves attention from women and girls. I bet I have had more conversations with attractive women since I got Niki than in the past 20 years, a nice benefit! Of course they are interested in her, not me. Oh well. 
  Niki knows that I like to rise around 0500 so if I am not up by ~0530 two little German Shepherd paws appear on the bed and I get some good kisses. She looks at me with those big brown eyes as if to say “Time to get up and go outside Dad.” She has slept right by my bed or sleeping bag since the first night I took her to the mountains. I love her a lot; she really makes me feel wanted just the way she looks at me. 
  Her favorite game is ‘ball’ which means fetch; she loves her Kongs and we play ball a lot with these, she likes the unpredictable way they bounce. I even have a floating one for the ocean. She bounds after them and brings them back to me to toss again and again. In the Keys she found a coconut that she loved chewing and chasing around and we played ball with this. Plenty of coconuts where we are going in Haiti. She will love it there, with her own beautiful beach. 
  Niki is just adapting wonderfully. She was housebroken as soon as I took her to the mountains; maybe one little ‘accident’ but that was all. She waits until she is outside and in a discreet place; very ladylike. 
  What a lot of new experiences for a young puppy, from the mountains of Colorado to the Indiana farm country, Florida Keys — where she first discovered the ocean, on the quiet side of Islamorada; she loved it there — and now the real ocean. Thanks for staying in touch, Best to Darrick and tell him he is right about the females!
John

Hi Val and Darrick,
   Wow, the year went fast! Niki is 1 year now, and what a perfectly beautiful German Shepherd she has become! Plus she is as smart a GSD as I have ever known, and I have known some smart ones. We are back in the States now, Haiti project is on hold for a while, but as you can see she did just fine down there! The local people just loved her, and she loved them, and the beach, ocean, etc... She has adapted to so much, and has now flown on 3 different aircrafts, with no problems. A perfect traveler. But I think she loves the snow back home in Colorado more than anything!
   Niki's siblings look great on your website, I especially love Campina, she looks so much like Niki. Maybe we can visit next time we are near the Springs. Niki loves playing with other dogs more than anything. And goats, horses, donkeys, cats, dolphins (yes, really -- in the surf in Florida). Also people, the Haitian kids and grown-ups all really loved her. The two ladies that ran the little hotel we stayed in called Niki "La Belle Femme Mole Saint Nicolas." (loose translation: prettiest girl in town!) Very well socialized!
   Some people in Florida said they think she is a Lab in disguise, she loves the water so much. Campina is just gorgeous, I bet she and Niki would really like playing together. This winter was little hectic, just enough time for a visit to the mountains, but good chance I will have more time in Colorado soon.
   What a first year of life Niki has had, Colorado mountains in the summer, Indiana running after fireflies, the Florida Keys with quiet bays to swim in, surfing in north Florida, flying into the Bahamas and Haiti, chasing butterflies on the beach in Haiti and learning about Caribbean people and all the 3rd-world farm animals, back to the USA, cross country skiing with me in Colorado. She is my little Special Forces Dog. She has seen several different vets now and they all say she is perfect. Weight is 64 pounds now, she is lean and strong. She has the most unbelievable range of facial expressions, uncannily human in her emotional communication.
   Great to hear from you also, I think about you and Darrick and Shannon a lot, Darrick was sure right about a GSD female being perfect for us guys. Would be great to visit and see Windy, Rio and Campina (beautiful name). Your website is really great, I have shown it to my mom -- she loves Niki -- so she knows some of Niki's family. I especially enjoyed reading about Niki's siblings, wonderful that they all seem to have found loving homes.
All I can say is Thanks for bringing her into my life.
Best regards,
John

Cobra von Scotlynburgh  "Renzo"

I cannot begin to tell you how much we love Renzo (Cobra). Having owned both German and American German Shepherds over the last fifteen years, I can definitely see the difference when a puppy is well socialized and loved by the breeder. After Tyson, my five year old male who died from cancer in April, I knew I had to immediately get another puppy as a companion for my three year old female shepherd, Ziti. Valerie you couldn't have been more helpful and at the same time sympathetic than you were. Even though I was still a little leery to purchase a puppy over the internet, the minute I picked up Renzo at Delta and heard from the employees how great he had been and his reaction when he saw me, I knew I had made the right choice. Thank you so much for being the kind and considerate person you are and you and your family's love for the German Shepherd breed. I can't wait to purchase my next puppy from you!
Dorothy Vinson

Testimonial coming soon.

VP2 Capri von Scotlynburgh

Testimonial coming soon.