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Vom Dreifke German Shepherds


Country United States
State Virginia
City Mckenney
Phone 804-896-1066
Website http://www.vomdreifkeshepherds.com/

Vom Dreifke German Shepherds Reviews

Most Useful Comment
  • Feb 23, 2019

Sells Dutch Shepherds with horrible temperaments

First and foremost, I want to make clear that I am not a breeder hater. I think proper breeders with pedigrees for every dog they sell, who do NOT make a living on selling puppies, are needed and valuable in the world. These breeders vet potential buyers and make sure temperaments and energy match up with the lifestyle of the new owners. These breeders are valuable, important and only help better the breed they choose as a whole.

This is NOT what Vom Dreifke German Shepherds does. And below is my story in as much detail as I can without throwing other people who are part of this story under the bus. I AM SORRY FOR THE WALL OF TEXT. But this is a 2 year saga that has left me emotionally exhausted and kicking myself for not being better at choosing a breeder. I wish I knew more about breeder research so I could have avoided this.

In April 2017 I purchased a Dutch Shepherd puppy from Gayle Dale (Barnes, Dreifke, Tate and many other previous names precede her) of Vom Dreifke German Shepherds. The puppy was 7 weeks old. (My mistake #2, after my #1 mistake of thinking I had found a caring and reputable breeder). Mistake #3? Was that this was her first time breeding pure Dutch Shepherd Puppies.

She asked me no questions about my intentions. Point blank, I asked Gayle what a Dutch Shepherd is like, because I had never owned one before. She DID tell me they were very high energy and would require a lot of training and adequate exercise. She DID say that if I intended to just sit around the house, then this would not be a good dog for me.

Having every intention of spending all my waking hours for the next two years training the puppy, I told her that I intended to use the puppy as a future hiking/adventure/travel companion. When I asked if this would be a suitable "job" for a Dutch puppy, she said yes that should be good.

I enjoy a challenge and wanted a highly trainable animal. All in all, this sounded like a good breed choice for me from what I was told and what I had researched about the breed specifically. I also have several training classes near me at my disposal, which I intended to use for help and guidance to attain the goals I had for the puppy.

I picked the puppy out myself. (Should have been Red flag #4) The puppy was, well, a puppy for three weeks. Being only 7 weeks old when I brought her home, she didn't have much of a personality and the only things I could work on were bringing her out around people for socializing and potty training/creating a housebreaking schedule.

At week 10, a switch flicked in my puppy's brain. This tiny 10 week old puppy, with her deceptively cute face and huge ears, started snapping and lunging at every single human being and animal that passed by. Some people were kind enough to stop and let me try to socialize her with them. She wasn't yet big and scary, so it was easy to explain that we were in training. I would hand people hot dogs and chicken, her favorite treats, and have her take them from strangers who would do nothing but stand there with the treats in their hand. The puppy would still lunge and snap at their hands, take the treats, and then scream bark and try to bite. It was scary and mortifying.

After two weeks of trying to do normal socialization exercises, I finally called a local trainer who deals with reactive animals. She does weekly socialization and obedience classes. When I explained the problem my now 12 week old puppy was exhibiting, she was shocked. She told me to continue having people over, not to let them interact with the dog or react to her nonsense. Unfortunately she also told me that a puppy exhibiting those behaviors would not be able to be in her group classes, putting a huge damper on my puppy socializing plans.

After two more weeks of the same lunging, barking, snarling and snapping, I felt emotionally drained and incapable of doing anything for this Dutch Shepherd puppy. I was told the puppy would be high energy and need a ton of exercise. Not that they would be aggressive.

I decided to call the breeder to ask more questions about this litter.

I was told this litter "can be aggressive". And that a couple people had returned their puppies from this litter back to Gayle for this same behavior. She did not offer to take the puppy.

Ignoring the fact that I should have cut my losses and asked to return the puppy at that time, I asked if there was anything else I could do instead. Were there any training suggestions that could help me succeed in training this Dutch Shepherd baby? I loved the puppy very much already.

Gayle got on her computer, I could hear her nails typing on the keyboard. She searched for IPO clubs in my area, telling my that this would be the best solution for a puppy like this. She gave me the number to the nearest club

I called this club, which was still an hour away from where I lived. The owner told me to bring the puppy in. So I did. She told me that the reactions the dog was having was fear aggression.

The club owner also said the breeder of this puppy had no business breeding Dutch or Malinois if this is what she is producing and selling. But she said she would help me.

For 7 whole months, every week, I or my husband brought this puppy to IPO club for what we thought would be socialization. We would report to the head trainer what was happening with her at home every week and she would tell us how to handle the dog. On top of this, the trainer had my puppy participating in tracking, obedience, and, unfortunately, bitework. I was told doing this foundation work would help calm the puppy down in the future and show her when it was OK to bite. I was told she would at least be able to be around people so long as people left her alone.

During this time, I had a lot of fun learning a new type of sport/training. The dog was much bigger, eager to learn and seemed to enjoy working alongside me and my husband. She ignored the club members as they would just sit in chairs and not approach me or her.

However. At home and in public, she was still that 10 week old puppy. If people got too close, even if they were not trying to touch her or run at her, the dog would lose her mind. She would lunge and bark her head off. No amount of positive reinforcement or desensitization training or obedience made that go away.

I could not have people over unless the dog was on a leash. And even then it was extremely chaotic and consisted of a lot of scream barking and lunging, making visits nerve wracking and completely about the dog.

I brought to the head trainer of the club my continued concerns in November 2017. She told me not to have people near her. The dog would be fine. And continued training the dog in bitework.

This started to make me feel uneasy. I was worried the dog would hurt someone with how she acted. And it seemed the trainer was more concerned with training this dog in IPO instead of telling me that the sport was not suitable for a reactive dog. When I would bring up a socialization concern, She didn't seem concerned about the dog's reactions at home anymore.

But I also didn't know what else to do. There were not a lot of options for me because the training classes around me were group classes and wouldn't take a fear reactive dog.

In December 2017, I wrote a 2 star Yelp review of the breeder. explaining the dog's fear reactivity that started at an early age and how I was advised to take her to an IPO club.

The breeder first contacted me through facebook, apologizing for my experience and saying she would not be repeating that Dutch Shepherd breeding as she has had many problems with that litter. She did not offer to take the dog.

She then called the training club and complained about the review. When I came to the club the next (and last) time, the head trainer screamed at me and berated me for saying my dog was dangerous and that people can't pet her. She "threatened" me by saying she would not train the dog in bitework anymore. I deleted my review, but I never came back to the club after that. That threat made it very clear to me that this dog was NOT suited to bitework, and that the trainer was not helping her in a socialization aspect.

I started 2018 in a desperate search for a new trainer to help me learn to manage this now 1 year old extremely fear reactive dog. Finally, I resorted to contacting the first training class I had called in the beginning, I begged her for help finding a trainer who could handle reactive dogs and teach me how to modify her behavior.

She pointed me to a one on one trainer who worked with me through all of 2018. I thank God for this man every single day.

During this time, I also stumbled into contact with two people who owned dutch shepherds from Gayle. We met on a Dutch Shepherd owner help board on facebook. .

The first person owned a puppy from a repeat breeding of my girl's litter. Which was concerning. Since Gayle had told me she would NOT be repeating that breeding due to all the issues. This girl had a 10 week old Dutch puppy who was reacting the exact same way my dog was. She had not been told about my dog. She had not been told about the litter that had puppies returned for this reason. There was no transparency or honesty from the breeder. This woman with small children was sold a reactive dutch shepherd with no warning about the previous litter. That puppy was rehomed to someone who would use the dog for scent-detection instead of as a family pet.

The second person I came into contact with was someone who had a dog from the exact same litter as mine. She paid for numerous training courses and tried to work with the dog for over a year. The dog, however, was aggressive to the person's son and sent him to the hospital. This person wanted nothing to do with Gayle because they didn't trust her or her business/dog placement practices.

After speaking to these people, I felt more vindicated in my choices. I promptly left the breeder a 1 star review (lower than last time, because it was clear she didn't care AT ALL about what she was producing) on her facebook, detailing all the struggles I was enduring and urging people to look more into who they were buying from.

Her daughter and two of her friends started a facebook tirade against me, which was full of bullying and wild, ridiculous lies and accusations.

The breeder herself responded to the review saying she was going to be "contacting my trainer" (the ipo trainer) to talk about this because "the dog was fine" and "not aggressive". This breeder has NEVER met my dog. Not since she was 7 weeks old. And she still didn't offer to take her back.

She responded more to the review publicly, saying I was just a bad owner and didn't know what I was getting myself in to. She said I should have done more research and that i just didn't understand the breed and how to work with them.

Here I am, two years later. I worked with the new trainer I found all of 2018. He told me this dog never should have trained in bitework, and shame on the trainer who let her do that.

The dog was still unpredictable and incapable of being around my friends. She ended up biting someone who was helping me train her in an exercise given to me by my trainer. It was a fail moment, but a moment that was triggered by nothing. My friend didn't move. Didn't talk. Didn't look at the dog. The dog just lunged at her and bit her thigh.

I had to make the decision to rehome my dog. But I couldn't do this in a normal fashion. I refused to send her to a shelter, where I knew she would be euthanized due to her temperament.

This dog is so goofy and loving and energetic and FUN to be with when no one else is around. After 2 years, I was insanely attached to her.

And I certainly didn't trust this breeder to take her. I didn't trust her abilities to home any of her dogs after 3 people have had the exact same situation with her dutch shepherds.

My trainer helped my find a rescue who was more than happy to take her. They asked if I had a contract with the breeder to return the dog. No. I do not. There is nothing in the paperwork given to me stating that I must return a dog to this breeder. I gave them my copy of the paperwork. And that's that.

The dog is living with someone whose heart rests with difficult animals. They post pictures of her all the time and the dog is very happy and healthy. I have no doubt that this was the best decision for her and that she is with the people who will help her and work with her in the right way.

That hasn't stopped the breeder from trolling this rescue's facebook page (my old IPO trainer saw the posting for this dog and told the breeder... I haven't had contact with either for a year). The breeder got her friends to brigade the page and leave negative reviews, posting lies that I was breaching a contract and that I just didn't know what I was doing. They continue harassing the rescue to give the dog back.

The rescue is keeping me posted but is adamant that they will not be returning the dog to Vom Dreifke German Shepherds. They have asked the breeder to produce proof that the dog is to be returned to Gayle. Gayle has provided nothing. Only harasses them.

The dog is micro chipped in the Rescue's name and we have paperwork proving the breeder has no claim on her.

This whole experience has been an incredible nightmare. Puppy mills and BYB are no joke and Vom Dreifke German shepherds is one of the worst.

SUMMARY:

If you do not want a painful saga of drama and heartache, do some research on Vom Dreifke German Shepherds. They are a puppy mill that moved from Illinois to Tennessee, then to Virginia (previously under the name of Ravenwolf shepherds). Gayle changes her last name constantly as she moves. The scam reports for Ravenwolf detail exactly the type of person this breeder is. I cannot speak for her German Shepherds. But please do research on Dutch Shepherd Breeders. There are maybe 3 reputable Dutch breeders in all the United States. And Vom Dreifke German Shepherds is NOT one of them.

Mark as Useful [3 votes]
Most Useful Comment
  • Jan 18, 2017

I bought a dog - a rescue - from Gayle Dale of Vom Dreifke Shepherds. I am disabled and looking for a service dog candidate. I was assured of a few things with this dog. She was supposed to know basic obedience (sit, down, stay, come), be a perfect stable temperament, and be completely free of hip dysplasia. When I first met the dog she seemed to be this. However, when I brought her home and to a vet, the story starts to go downhill.

The first thing I noticed was her incredibly oily and smelly fur. I figured she was just dirty, so I gave her a bath. WIthin a week she was back to smelling the same. I mentioned this to my vet, and the vet took a sample from her ear (one of the smellier places) and said that she had a yeast infection there, and that a skin infection was also fairly likely.

The vet told me she had hookworms and heartworms. So, I began treating her. I figured: okay, dogs get worms, that happens sometimes. Plus, we live in the southeast, which means even a few months of preventative skipped equals heartworms. Well, as soon as she was treated for the hookworms her temperament changed completely. Whereas before she was calm, now she was incredibly high energy and high anxiety. If I stepped out of the room she cried and barked incessantly. I couldn't leave her alone for fear she would hurt herself in her crate. For the first several days she wouldn't even leave her crate. She was completely disinterested in food bribes. Furthermore, now that her energy was back, she displayed new vigor and even some aggression issues when playing with other dogs. I know what it looks like when dogs play fight, and I know what a small scrap over a toy looks like. This was not that. She displayed extreme resource guarding issues - she guarded my attention and would lunge at my family dog if I tried to pet him, she would take all the toys and put them in her crate, and would growl at him and take it if she forgot one and saw him playing with it.

After a few days I ran out of the joint supplements Gayle had given me. I went to order some more, but in the meantime, I observed how the dog did without them. After just three days off these joint supplements, she began to limp in her left foreleg. Also, she began to bunny-hop as she ran. When she got up from laying down it took visible effort for her. We experienced a cold snap and these symptoms got noticeably worse. A good friend of mine who has experience with German Shepherds came over and looked at her and told me - without me telling him my opinion - that she looked like she had hip dysplasia. This, combined with the fact that this dog could hardly navigate hardwood floors and couldn't navigate more than five stairs whatsoever, convinced me that the dog at the very least had hip problems if not full on dysplasia.

Oh, and did I mention, this dog was supposed to be three years old?

Of course, before posting here I contacted Gayle. I had paid a lot of money for this dog, and expected a lot from it. She talked me in circles, told me that she never did refunds, and that she'd be willing to take the dog back without a refund - but I'd have to wait two weeks. I'm no idiot, I'm not going to just give her this dog back. I'm not going to send this dog back to the place it contracted hookworms and back to a person who couldn't even notice that drastic of a change in a dog, especially for zero refund. I know she'd just turn around and sell the dog to some other hapless buyer with empty promises.

This dog is completely and totally unfit to be a service dog. The fact that this woman would take advantage of someone with debilitating PTSD and refuse to offer any compensation whatsoever is honestly horrifying.

I was sold a dog on completely empty promises. Now, I have to deal with having a bad tempered dog with degenerative health issues. This is something I can't afford - I still need a service dog! I certainly can't afford to pay for two dogs, and I certainly can't have a bad tempered dog around a service dog. So now I'm out a significant amount of money and I have to struggle with finding this dog a new home.

Mark as Useful [3 votes]
  • May 15, 2020

Recon

Just so everyone is aware- RECON, the male Dutch Shepherd that she is constantly breeding comes from the exact same litter as my super genetically fear aggressive puppy from 2017. Her first litter of pure dutch shepherds. So be warned.

Mark as Useful [1 vote]
  • Dec 16, 2019

Another unhappy customer

I too got a Vom Dreifke Shepherd. Puppy was dog aggressive and child aggressive. I spent alot of time and money on training classes. She no longer goes after kids or other dogs but I surely do not trust her with them either. Then when she was 2.5 years old we noticed her limping and bunny hopping. Vet X-rays indicated severe bilateral hip dysplasia. Now she’s three and she’s been to rehabilitation therapy, we’ve had her spayed because we certainly couldn’t breed her now, and she needs to go to therapy weekly or get a double hip replacement and still be on meds the rest of her life. How do you keep a 3 year old, basically still a puppy, active dog from running, playing, and going up and down steps?! Breeder’s response? Oh, this has never happened before. I’ll have to stop breeding that pair. Makes me very sad for my puppy and angry.

Mark as Useful [1 vote]
  • Apr 16, 2020

Baby x Drago?

Was this a Baby x Drago puppy? Cuz that's the breeding that caused a LOT of problems

Mark as Useful [1 vote]
  • May 3, 2020

I love my dog from Gayle.

I got a dog from Gayle. My dog is a shepherd mix. (Never make assumptions as to what breed I have. So far I have told you nothing about my dog/breeder.) Now comes the info about my dog and her breeder.

I wanted a dog with a stable temperament without paying an arm and a leg for it. I have done research on dogs for many many years. I watched Gayles kennel for a year before purchasing a pup. My girl is stable, has an excellent temperament around my family and friends. She is good around my other dog and cats. She lives indoors and is in training.

If you do not know what you are purchasing maybe it would be best to get help. I did. My trainer came out to evaluate the pup that I wanted. Not ALL puppies are alike. You need to know what you want and what you are looking at before making a purchase. I have owned dutch shepherds in the past. There are a LOT of really dumb ones with no drive. The shepherd dog that I got from Gayle is very very smart and the hardest part about her is me keeping up with what she is thinking next. She is not a couch potato but she is healthy and stable. (I still have not told you what breed I got and I will not do that because you can't judge a dog by it's breed unless you know what you are looking for in health and temperament.)

When the time comes for me to purchase my next dog, Gayle's breedings will be at the top of my list.

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