Beth and one of our 7 week old puppies from the February 15, 2003 Cassidy x Yelo vom Haus Miller litter. This is a very typical looking Katzel Kennel puppy.

About Us: We are Beth & Bill Hansen (and daughter, Amber) of Cambridge, Minnesota. We love our German Shepherds and are proud of the wonderful puppies that we have produced. Since we only produce one to three litters per year total, we take the time with our puppies and make sure they are very well socialized, happy and healthy. We also take the time to make sure and answer any questions that you might have to make sure you are as happy with the puppy as the puppy itself is.

Our Location: We are located on 20 acres near Cambridge, Minnesota and only 50 miles north of Minneapolis/St Paul. We have a huge yard for our dogs to get plenty of exercise and fresh air.

Our Name: Katzel is my grandfather's family name. My grandfather, Earl Katzel, loved dogs, but had a real passion for German Shepherd dogs. He was one of three children. His sister married and took on her husband's name and his brother and him each had one daughter, and no sons to carry on the family name. His brother passed away many, many years ago, and my grandfather passed away on March 11, 2002, when Cassidy's January 9, 2002 litter was 8 weeks old, so we decided to carry on his name as our kennel name. One of the puppies of that litter, Kellie von Katzel, visited him in the nursing home just a week prior to his death. My Grandmother, Doris Katzel, just passed away on December 17, 2005.

Our Goals: We make sure that the puppy and the family matches up perfectly, whether you are looking for a show dog, an agility dog, a tracking dog or a family companion around lots of kids. Since we are around these puppies from the time they take their first breath until the time they are going to their new homes, we have a very good sense of their personality, and we have had wonderful luck making great matches. These puppies are very much a part of us and we really want to hear follow-ups on how they are developing and how training is going after they go to their new homes. We love getting updated pictures and keeping up with these energetic babies.

Our Breeding: Under normal circumstances, we only breed our bitches once per year, and we certify the hips all of our bitches at 2 years old before breeding. These dogs that we have are part of our family and aren't just dollar signs with 4 legs running around that we replace every couple years. We breed to improve the breed.

Health Statistics: According to the Orthopedic Foundation of Animals (the "OFA"), the statistics for dogs in the German Shepherd breed that have been checked for hip dysplasia are 19.5% have abnormal hips and 19% have abnormal elbows. Their website is http://www.offa.org and is an excellent resouree for information on health problems in animals. I am thrilled with the fact that, as far as what we've been informed with, we only have 3 cases (or 4.6%) of our pups known to have elbow dysplasia and no known cases of hip dysplasia out of 65 pups. When looking at the pedigrees of our dogs, keep in mind a couple things about hip dysplasia that are sometimes not easy to understand. The European countries rates hips differently than the OFA. The OFA separates non-dysplastic hips into three categories, Excellent, Good and Fair. In the ratings in Germany, the SV, these three ratings are lumped into "HD-Normal" meaning non-dysplastic. Also, an "HD-Ausland (a6)" rating in Europe is not dysplastic, even though a4 and a5 are dysplastic. HD-Ausland (a6) means that it is a foreign dog (from outside Germany) that has NORMAL hips. Below is the OFA's table showing the various ratings and their equivalents.

One of the countries ratings that aren't on this table are Slovakia, which are the SUCHNO ratings that appear in our pedigrees. The best rating for a hip in Slovakia is 0 and each hip is given an individual rating. So there for 0/0 which means that the hip rating would be close to equivalent to an excellent OFA rating, 1/1 is good hips, and 2/2 is approximately fair hips. SO a 0/2 would be excellent on one side and fair on the other.

Our Lines: We started out our breeding program in 2000 with a Jerland bitch. We had plenty of hurdles to jump over and hoops to jump thru with how we started out. With hindsight being 20/20, we have learned huge lessons and have dramatically improved our breeding program and are eager to see what the future has in store. We have now completely changed our breeding lines. We now primarily concentrate on our beautiful Slovakia showlines.

U-GRCH Akim Vitmajk SVV1 (92-92-89) (Slovak Import) — STUD
Akim has an exceptional pedigree with beautiful conformation and gorgeous dark red pigment. Akim has a wonderful disposition and excellent with kids, cats and other dogs. He's a serious protection dog and is ready to escort and uninvited guests out the door. He is titled with his SVV1 title with awesome scores. He's available for stud to approved females.

V Irana Dlha Roven SVV1 (Slovak Import)
was imported in October of 2007. She was titled with her SVV1 working title and also achieve her "V" Rating for her excellent conformation in Slovakia. She has beautiful movement and a lot of drive. She's super sweet and very affectionate. She is a huge asset for our breeding program.

VP2 Cat vom Landstrasse AD (daughter of German Import)
Cat is a gorgeous, well muscled, stock coat black and red girl with German Import lines. She's super cute and happy. She LOVES to play and is very social. She earned her VP rating in the SV showring when she was younger and earned her AD title (Endurance Title). She has OFA GOOD hips.

U-GRCH Iris von Katzel is our homebred pup and daughter of Zora and Akim. Iris has gorgeous structure and even more gorgeous personality! She's a phenominal pup with spunk and zest that is contageous! Iris is doing exceptional in the showing and loves to show off. She has achieved her UKC Championship by winning 4 Best Females and 2 Best of Winners and just turned a year old until October 29th! She achieved her UKC GRAND Champion title at less than 18 months old by winning the Champion Class FIVE TIMES and beating at least 2 other Champion class competitors. She has won SEVEN Best of Breeds by 18 months old in the UKC and IABCA venues. She's very sweet and loves being around people. She is very social and shows her protective nature at the same time. I could not be more proud of this gorgeous girl. She's exactly what kind of dog we want to produce. Watch for updates on this girl! She has a very bright future!