As the American Tundra Shepherd rises in popularity steps must be taken to ensure that the breed is not misrepresented by unscrupulous people and puppy mills. It can be disheartening and upsetting to put it mildly when you hear of some of the political intrigue and/or the mistreatment of some of your beloved animals. It is an unfortunate occurrence but one in which the American Tundra Shepherd Society Inc, is trying to monitor. By requiring any potential breeders to sign a Code of Ethics. Which was written to ensure that standards and certain goals would be maintained and followed, and to help eliminate the possibility of those individuals that would not have the best interest of the American Tundra Shepherd Dog at heart. It is hoped that with these and other requirements that we can preserve and maintain the quality of the ATS by seeing that all potential owners have a solid an informative background on the breed. And that only the very best specimens of the breed are used for breeding.
There are other , This unfortunately has resulted in an increasing number of unscrupulous breeders who advertise Tundra Shepherds with the sole purpose of making a quick profit (Beware as these are not American Tundra Shepherds). They use hyped up advertisements to sell their puppies and once the money is in their hands you and your new puppy are history. In other words you can forget ever getting any advice on the proper care and maintenance of your puppy or ever receiving the registration paperwork on your ATS, once the cash reaches these peoples hands. You should have received this information beforehand, as far as registration paperwork is concerned I suggest you make a photocopy of any registration application that you might receive! .

The American Tundra Shepherd Society Inc, does not condone the practices of these individuals, we can monitor the quality of the ATS's and membership that have been registered and certified with the ATSS, Inc., but as far as these unscrupulous and unethical breeders are concerned we can only attempt to warn the potential unsuspecting buyer. .
Interested individuals can follow the development of the breed by going to the ATS History".

My personal suggestion is if and this is a big IF, you have decided that an American Tundra Shepherd is the breed for you, and this is ONLY after you have researched the history, have an understanding of behavior associated with the breed, have proper facilities and enclosures and have been corresponding with a legitimate breeder who adheres to a Code of Ethics, who is willing to offer his/her assistance and experience whenever needed, in essence you must look for someone who truly cares for his/her ATS's and is concerned in how the breed is represented, of where the breed is going. The type of breeder you are looking for is truly concerned about maintaining the breeds desirable characteristics and strives to improve or maintain these characteristics. He/she can tell you what they plan on improving by pointing out the faults in there own ATS's and how the selected mate will help improve on this.

How do you know if someone is truly concerned with the health and well being of their ATS's? For one thing I would say How many do they have? What do they do with there animals? You have to take into consideration the time that must be spent with an ATS on an individual basis here. An ATS that is a permanent kennel dog with no socialization except with other kenneled dogs this animal is unfamiliar with the area outside of its kennel its life has been confined to this area and is only used for breeding. This is unethical treatment of the animal. An ATS can become a very good companion or working dog but not under these conditions. This type of breeder has limited the development physically and especially mentally of his/her ATS. The breeder that has to many animals to spend quality time with them on individual terms should not have them in the first place.

This is easily seen if this persons ATS's do not react well to them, lack of socialization can have devastating effect's on what could've been a good animal. The responsible owner has time for all his/her ATS's they have been raised and bonded to the family, they are part of the family they have been socialized around the family and know there place amongst it.

Table of Contents:

• Misrepresentation Who pays the Price?
  

  
  

  Misrepresentation Who pays the price?

  
  

  An Illinois couple had a hectic and discouraging experience with a misrepresented ATS purchased from an outlaw breeder. The following account is indicative of dealing with unprofessional and unethical breeders and trainers.
  

  "...We decided that we should have a dog for specific purposes. Inasmuch as I am gone a great deal in the evenings, my wife wanted a large dog as a companion and for personal protection. While we preferred a German Shepherd, I had noted, from owning them years before, that the breed appeared to be growing increasingly smaller. I had been reading advertisements for "Timber Shepherds" and "Tundra Shepherds" in some national magazines. These dogs were touted as very large and could be purchased "already trained."
  

  Having neither the time or desire to be a dog trainer, I began calling these advertisers. I received numerous printed slicks and promotional tapes from breeders all over the United States. After six months of asking what I thought were the correct questions, I began a specific search for a large male young adult, already trained in obedience and personal protection. The price range was unbelievable (from $700 pups to $8,500), with assurance that these dogs could do anything and everything.
  

  Dialogue on several occasions with a Florida ATS breeder at Paradise Kennel in Loxahatchee ended with a recommendation that I contact a young woman breeder in Kansas City by the name of Linda M. Kauffman, and that they had "just the dog you want." I contacted her and was assured that this adult male (16 months) would meet my needs. She sent pictures and, in follow-up conversation, stated that she could offer the dog to us trained in obedience and personal protection for $2,000. She said we could come to Kansas for a few days to "work with the dog". She agreed to have the dog ready in five weeks.. We sent a deposit and additional amounts after receiving a contract spelling out her guarantees of health and no "disorders", as well as the training level. (She asked for "at least a month for the aggression training" as part of the personal protection package, saying the obedience part was already done).
  

  We arrived in Kansas City on a Wednesday, having advised her of our schedule and that we could stay through Sunday, if necessary. This would allow her up to five days of work with the new owners. We called when we arrived Wednesday and she suggested we come over Thursday morning. We arrived at the kennel south of Kansas City, met the dog and worked for about a half hour. When we took him outside after an inside workout, he was very difficult to handle and did not do much better with the trainers. We were told "a half hour a day was all that is needed for training and that the dog would lose interest if worked too long." We were assured that the dog was trained but was excited and that we also needed experience and time to adjust to working the dog.
  

  The next day, (Friday was an afternoon work time), saw more of the same, with a particularly difficult effort on the part of my wife to hold the dog back while walking. He seemed determined to go where he pleased and would drag the trainer also, without a hard snap on his choker collar. We were given the same assurance as the day before.
  

  We both agreed that the dog would need daily work. (I assumed to adjust to new owners and fall into the obedience he had supposedly exhibited in prior training). We, therefor, agreed that the next day's training (Saturday a.m.) would be the last in Kansas City as "one more day (Sunday) would make little difference, and we could start back to IllInois on Saturday with the dog."
  

  We arrived Saturday a.m. and had one more session with him. During this session, the trainer and her assistant had to put an electric collar on him to get him to do what he did on previous days. He was distracted by other dogs and was very unruly. By this time, we had grown fond of the dog and naively hoped for improvement. We paid the last of the balance due on the dog, paid her $180 more for food and training/grooming items, and left for Illinois, with the assurance that his registration papers would be coming, and that the dog would adjust to us. (When these papers finally came after four phone calls, they were from a "Global Kennel Club", which I had never heard of. I assumed "papers" meant AKC, the only club I had ever heard of, and was not told differently by the breeder).
  

  The dog was housebroken and except for the constant pacing and looking out our ceiling to floor windows, seemed to adjust to our home interior. He slept in our bedroom on the floor and woke us up the first morning at 5 a.m. (and every morning to follow at 5 a.m.) We fed him and did training work for half an hour, as instructed. We did this routine every day, mostly by my wife. We took him on long walks two or more times each day. The first Monday we left him in the house, at noon my wife went home from work to check on him and he had done a great deal of damage to our home interior. She called me at work and I said to put him in the garage until I could make a cable run. We have a fenced yard but the dog could easily jump the fence (having demonstrated that early upon seeing a neighbor's cat). By the afternoon of the same Monday, we received a call from a neighbor saying that the dog was loose. He had actually managed to chew and pull open the side door to the garage. We found him a few yards away terrifying the neighbor's children and their dog. (He actually never harmed the dog or acted aggressive toward any of the neighbors). We built a run and there were still a series of escapes. This was the smartest dog I had ever seen. As soon as he was taken into an area of confinement, he would study the door, walls, ceiling, etc. He actually learned to open the electric garage door by jumping up and pushing the switch. During bad weather, we had to turn off the electricity to the garage before we could lock him in. (We finally built him a dog house).
  

  He had an ear infection from the first day, and we suspected ear mites. He constantly shook his head. After a week, we took him to the vet. He was treated for an ear infection (not mites). It would clear up and come back over a period of three months. Training problems continued. He would have good days on response to basic commands. Other days, he would actually drag my wife (and myself at 260lbs.) on walks. The constant urge to run away continued. Additionally, he began to urinate indoors (after coming in from the outside on one occasion)

  We had boarded him on one occasion with no problems. On a second occasion, he was boarded from Friday p.m. until Sunday p.m. The kennel was run by a couple that trained dogs through K-9 police work. They fell in love with him on first sight, but saw he was not trained and offered to work with him and evaluate him over the weekend. When we picked him up on Sunday, the owner demonstrated a considerable improvement in the dog but said he had received poor training and was at a very low level of obedience. Monday a.m. the dog took his a.m. walk at 6:00a.m. with my wife. He obeyed well but whimpered when his collar was high on his neck. I noticed that his glands were swollen when I came home that evening and the dog appeared to be in pain. I suspected the ear problem and called the vet. Being after hours, he requested I bring him in the next day.

  I was unable to get an appointment but that next evening he seemed normal and affectionate, but still sensitive. My wife was playing with him on the floor. She got him a rawhide bone and placed it on the blanket, which was the regular procedure. Earlier, when eating a bone, she spoke to him in an affectionate manner and he growled at her. This was the first time ever for this reaction. He seemed uninterested in the new bone after walking over and sniffing it. He laid back down off his blanket and my wife told him to go to his blanket. All this occurred within 60 seconds of her playing with him on the floor. he continuously ignored the command to move to his blanket. We were told by the K. C. trainer and the local kennel that we should not let him get away with not obeying a command once given. (The dog had a history of trying to wear us down in this area). My wife, using the regular procedure, then took hold of his collar chain with the intent of tightening as she commanded him to heel and walk with her to his blanket. At the instant she touched the collar (and without tightening it), the dog growled, rose quickly and attacked her. She moved back rapidly and the dog continued to back her up eight or nine feet as she retreated from his bared teeth and vicious growls and snaps. I jumped up immediately and grabbed the dog carefully by his collar, at which time he involuntarily urinated. He seemed to subside and laid back his ears and cowered in his customary submissive position (which he often exhibited with both of us). My wife was terrified. I tried to reassure her and calm the dog at the same time. hoping it was an isolated incident, I asked my wife to re-enter the area.

  He immediately responded to her in a more vicious manner than before and broke loose from my grip, chasing her into the kitchen. He had her cornered in the laundry room by the time I got there. And while he had not bitten her, he was snapping and extremely hostile. I got the dog and took him carefully outside to his run. I called the trainers at the kennel and they came over within ten minutes. The dog responded in a friendly manner to them. He suggested we try and see if the dog's reaction was temporary toward my wife. We brought him back inside on his leash. As soon as my wife came in sight, he lunged at her and was difficult to restrain, even on his choker chain.

  The dog was taken to the kennels and examined by a vet the next evening. The vet said his glands were swollen and his ear problems had returned. Nevertheless, the kennel owners and I had used the leash several times in handling the dog since the attack incident with no hostile reaction from the dog toward us. The vet wanted to see the dog's reaction to my wife after a night and a day. She went to the kennel with me. We both walked up and as soon as he heard her call his name in her usual affectionate manner, he went wild and restraint was necessary. Both the vet and the trainer said they had never seen such a reaction from a dog without provocation.

  We called the K.C. breeder and told her "we have had it with the dog, it was misrepresented from the first and was now apparently ruined." My wife and I loved this dog and were heartbroken. I told her I was bringing the dog back for a full refund. She suggested we have the dog destroyed here, and offered a replacement. I told her I did not ever want a dog and especially one bred and trained by her. I had my local trainer call her the next night and they got into an argument, he accusing her of improper training methods. He asked about who owned the dog prior, since she told us the dog was raised "for awhile in a home with children" The background was sketchy and she was evasive with my trainer friend here, as well. I finally wrote a registered letter, along with a copy to the kennels she operated out of and the vet in Kansas City who signed the dog off as healthy. I threatened to name them all in a suit unless she refunded>

  By this time, the dog had been observed by several professional trainers and I took him to Wolf Park in Indiana, where he was observed by a Ph.D. who specialized in raising wolves and had knowledge of what he called "hybrids". In all, over twenty persons observed the dog and said they need special handling and training methods, and that the dog was never trained correctly. They agreed he was a beautiful animal and should not be destroyed, but he could never adjust to our home and my wife without considerable work. We also learned that wolf-dog mixes, per se, are illegal in Illinois and are subject to impoundment.

  After several phone calls, The K.C. trainer reluctantly offered to return the $2000. By now, I had over $3000 in the dog and agreed to fly him as far as St. louis in a private aircraft. She agreed to pick up the dog at the airport.

  I cannot describe the grief and sorrow this whole incident has brought upon my wife and I. Prior to returning the dog, i was contacted through a referral from the Wolf Park student, by Earl Newland of the ATS Society. he expressed his concern, but declined to take him (if I could not get a refund) when he learned of the breeder. He did attempt to restore my faith in dogs, breeders and ATS's but, by now, we are totally disillusioned and never want another dog.

  Perhaps the last paragraph of my letter to the dog's breeder best sums up our feelings..."I cannot tell you how unhappy this incident has made us. Your responsibility and misrepresentations in breeding and training a domestic/wild animal mix breed, and selling them to inexperienced people is another question, and should be the matter for serious consideration on your part. This dog, and I suspect many of his kind, are totally unpredictable and could do serious harm in a moment's notice to loving and unsuspecting owners."

  Steve Foster, Danville Illinois

  Editorial comment by Earl Newland. President of the American Tundra Shepherd Society The ATSS does not condone, recommend or endorse the antiquated, obsolete and force training methods used and espoused by the Global Kennel Club's founder and membership. The breeder mentioned in the article is to be commended for returning the monies involved. I find her suggestion to destroy the animal to be reprehensible and disgusting, although possibly necassary. The animal is not responsible for the behavior mentioned. The breeder and training methods used an cruelty are at fault. These breeders are known for applying severe in-breeding practices to create aggressive and unstable animals. They purposely cull all puppies with a white mark on the chest, which my studies and observations indicate tractability and domestication. Anyone wishing to know more details about this incident should contact me at 816-757-1320.
  
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