About Ironwood Shepherds

Ironwood Shepherds is a small working-line kennel on twenty acres outside Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We have trained in IGP since 2009 and bred German Shepherds since 2014. Every dog we breed has worked on a trial field in front of a judge before it is bred.

We came to the breed through the sport. Our first shepherd was a pet who taught us how much we did not know. Our second was a sable working-line female imported from the Czech Republic, and she changed what we expected from a dog: clear in the head, serious in the work, easy in the house. She became our foundation. Her daughter Dagny, from our D litter, is still here, retired at ten and asleep on the couch most afternoons.

We breed for a dog that can do the work and live in a home. That means full, calm grips, real hunt drive on the track, nerves that hold up under pressure from the helper and in a crowded parking lot, and an off switch. We do not breed for size, for extreme rear angulation, or for color. Our dogs are sable, black and tan, or solid black, medium in size, with firm, straight backs.

All of our breeding dogs have a BH-VT and at least one working title, most have passed the breed survey, and all have OFA hips and elbows or the SV a-stamp, plus a DNA result for degenerative myelopathy. We train three days a week with our club and trial under USCA rules.

We raise two litters in a typical year. Litters are named by letter, the way the breed has always done it, and we are on our S litter now. Puppies are whelped in the house, handled every day, tested at seven weeks, and matched to homes by what they show us. About a third go to sport, search and rescue and working homes. The rest go to active families who want a dog with a job, even if that job is hiking, obedience class and watching the driveway.