Our goal was and always will be to produce working dogs of the highest caliber. Combining strong nerve, excellent drive, beautiful conformation and of course health and longevity.

An honest breeder will tell you that breeding (ANYTHING) is a crap shoot! By the time a problem becomes a problem it's almost always too late to do anything about it. A conscientious breeder will perform the appropriate health tests according to the particular problems associated with the specific breed. The Dobermann in particular requires clearance for a bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand's Disease, this is a DNA screening that rates the animal clear, carrier or affected. We also perform hip x-rays to check for dysplasia, CERF testing to make sure the eyes are healthy and thyroid testing is another common one for Dobe breeders. Some breeders do Cardio screening to check for heart problems, however these tests will only tell you if something is wrong at that time. Bingo Germania (above) had a Clear Cardio screening, yet he apparently died of heart failure at 6 years of age.

All this aside, at any time the eyes, thyroid and heart can change. And dogs and bitches who themselves are clear of hip dysplasia can produce offspring who have it. Again, breeding is a crap shoot. If you have been unfortunate enough to receive a dog who develops one or more health conditions, please consider this before bad mouthing your breeder. If your breeder did perform the proper health evaluations then really they've done all they can do. As with humans, genetics and environment play mysterious roles in who will and will not become afflicted with a certain disease. Breeders can only control so much, and that really isn't much at all. The only real solution to this would be for everyone to stop breeding PERIOD. But, we humans like our breeds so we continue to buy them and breeders continue to produce them. Thus the gambling continues.

We loved our Dobermanns, they were good dogs, sadly they weren't healthy dogs. We did not know this until it was too late and three more litters had been produced. If you are the owner of an A, B, C or D von Leidenschaft Dobermann, hold them close and cherish the moments. They could be all too short.

Janna Blaydes owns a pup from our C-litter, she calls him Kheper, he has been diagnosed with "occult DCM" she has done a great deal of research and is sharing it on her own website. You can see it here. Thanks Janna for all your hard work, and our best wishes for Kheper's health and longevity.

Until such time as we are able to fully research the health and longevity of a working line, we will not be breeding any Dobermanns.