Von Fenwald = Caveat Emptor!!!
I also feel that I was ripped off by Cindy Hiemenz. I purchased a 16 week old male GSD in February from her. She represented the animal as being the offspring from her dogs. Never ONCE did she bother to mention that she was selling the dog for KDM Kennels (Kenny Myers) out of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Ms. Himenz gave me the impression when I spoke to her that my dog was from her dogs. It was only after I received the full paperwork two months after purchase that I found out that he was actually just being sold by her and had not been whelped by one of her females or sired by one of her males. So the feeling I get is that from the start, we would not have been able to breed him, even if we had gotten credentials on him. This was one of the things I specifically mentioned to her about wanting to be able to do with him (breeding).
In addition, the AKC registration I received on this dog included the disclaimer statement "Offspring from this animal cannot be registered with the AKC".
Problems with the "Von Fenwald - KDM" animal include:
Dog cannot be show - Symmetry problems which include markings on one ear and not the other.
Dog cannot be used for breeding - Dog only has one testicle descended. (NOTE: Undescended testicle is an automatic DQ from any AKC show!!!) Cindy says both were down. I checked when he was a pup and it looked to me like only the sack was down. Vet said they would probably descend later. Vet didn't say anything more to me about it until his birthday checkup 6 months later, but then I wasn't really into looking at my dog's testicles every day.
The vet estimates that it will cost me about $1500 - $2000 to have him neutered and the undescended testicle removed to prevent any testicular cancer from the undescended testicle. The process to remove the undescended testicle requires microsurgery in order not to damage blood vessels and nerves.
I learned a lot more about these sort of "Bait and Switch" puppy operations when Kenny Myers of KDM Kennels in Knoxville, TN called me trying to dig up dirt on Von Fenwald after Cindy apparently ripped him off in this business venture as well. Apparently this is a standard practice among more unscrupulous breeders in order to get their dogs into a "name" line. I have reported this to the AKC already.
Cindy wouldn't honor the warranty on the Von Fenwald-KDM dog since no hip X-Ray had taken place within the first month that I had him, while Kenny from KDM said he warranties his dogs for 2 years in which you have to get them X-Rayed. IMHO, both of them are full of doggie doo (or male bovine droppings!) Breeders use this as a selling point, but in reality, hip X-Rays are next to worthless, because even an animal that has been X-rayed in the first year and shown clean can develop hip displasia at age 8. Given, the X-Rays will catch the odd whelp that already has it, but those are rare cases.
In comparison to my experience with Von Fenwald and KDM, I recently purchased another male AKC registered GSD from a LOCAL breeder for a fraction (1/7!!! One seventh!!!) of the price I paid for the one from Cindy. The 2nd dog has both testicles down and locked at 10 weeks. No extraneous markings. No disclaimer on his paperwork about offspring registration, etc. Beautiful animal! We can use him for show or breeding at our leisure without any worries.
I was pestered by Cindy to write a Testimonial for her website right after I purchased the first dog. After discovering the dog's problems, I asked Cindy very nicely to remove my Testimonial. I had to resort to threatening to post my own rebutal website about my problems with Von Fenwald to get her to "remember" to remove it from her website. It took her a month to get it off the website (lame excuse about overlooking it... Blah, blah, moo, moo...) Oh, by the way, she does almost DAILY updates on her site.
Now... Don't get me wrong! I wouldn't give up that first GSD for nothing! My wife and I love him dearly! But I don't want another animal from either Von Fenwald or KDM! I'm just here to express my displeasure at being ripped off by this unscrupulous breeder (or breeders...).
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