Mercy (Celhaus Jubilee Year of Mercy)

Pope Francis called a Jubilee year of Mercy to challenge us to build a kinder, more compassionate world.  In honor of that, and as a reminder to myself to work on becoming ever more compassionate, I thought that would make a great name for the puppy I planned to keep from the JJ litter.  Her great-great-grandmother, Celhaus Jubilee, got her name from being born during the year’s preparation for the new millennium.   After preparing, we party to celebrate the changes we made, so Jubilee fit both her and this pup, who is a kind, thoughtful, very cheerful and happy girl.

whelped 12/20/15, one of the JJ Litter
She is the mother of the QQ, UU and ZZ litters

Shown here at 7 years 8 months, during a Nosework practice

Mercy carries the black recessive. She does not carry the long coat recessive.

OFA elbows normal:  GS-EL37971F27-VPI
OFA Cardiac:  GS-CA1886/36-VPI
OFA Thyroid:  GS-TH853/36F-VPI
OFA Eyes:  GS-EYE526/29F-VPI
OFA DM (spinal myelopathy) CLEAR:  GS-DM9372/24F-PI
OFA GOOD hips:  GS-99354G27F-VPI
PennHip at 1 year:  .33 left; .35 right
(PennHip no longer gives percentile ratings unless they’re in their excellent range, which is below .30)

UKC Nosework titles:  PTE (has all five of her pretest titles) as well as her Advanced Exterior, Advanced Interior and Superior Containers titles.  I was very pleased with her at her first nosework trial in October 2018.

NADAC Agility titles:   Mercy competed at a local NADAC trial in July, 2018 (the first one we’ve had here in years).  She wasn’t quite ready to compete and I entered her in all the intro level classes (except weavers) mainly for the experience.  She qualified in two Regular classes and one Tunnelers class.  She fell in love with the sport and was working at a nice distance and speed, but then I had quit agility after my feet began giving me heck.

 pedigree
see photos
photos at 21 months and 22 months`
see Mercy’s Search & Rescue and Police/Narcotics Temperament Test Results
see temperament test photos

Mercy was my pick for the best all-around breeding and competition prospect from the JJ litter.  She has an incredible nose and loves to use it.  She is super willing to please and is a joy to live with.  She’s a serious dog while at the same time loving to play and especially retrieve.  She’s very social and loves to visit nursing homes.  She is currently in training for nose work training and after only a few sessions is doing nearly as well as my adults.  I’m very excited about this dog!

The JJ litter is a favor from a puppy buyer who has become a good friend.  She told me, when she contacted me to be put on my waiting list, that she had been following my website for perhaps 15 years.  She admired what I was doing, trying to develop a line of German Shepherds that were noted for physical and mental soundness as well as working ability.  She knew that the only German Shepherd she wanted was one of mine, and she waited until the time was right and got one of my pups.  When she came to pick Soleil up, she told me she was willing to keep her intact in case I got to a point that I worried about losing my female line.  I was deeply moved by the offer since she wanted Soleil for an obedience competition dog, and heat cycles interfere with training and competition.  In January 2015, when Lively had trouble with her litter, had to have a c-section, and only had two pups survive, Chris and I began discussing the possibility of my breeding Soleil and keeping a pup to keep my line going.  In June, when the girls (Soleil and her sister, GloryToo, whom I had kept) turned two, I did GloryToo’s hip and elbow x-rays.  I was dismayed when OFA refused to pass her hips, saying they didn’t like what looked like a degenerative change in one of the hips from the “good” prelim she received at a year.  I was to re-x-ray her in six months, with no guarantee that OFA would pass her then.  Chris and I decided the time was right to take her up on her offer to breed Soleil, so Chris began doing all of Sol’s health certifications.  She passed everything, so I leased Soleil.  On her next heat, in October, Chris brought her to be bred to Quasi.  The JJ litter – and my beautiful girl, Mercy – are the result, and I am deeply grateful to Chris. Soleil went home with Chris when the JJ litter was weaned and got back into training/ competition. Before we bred her, she already had her AKC Beginner Novice and Companion Dog titles and Chris planned to compete all the way to an Obedience Trial Championship with her. However, Chris discovered that Search & Rescue was much more fun than obedience and has worked her in that since she returned home. Soleil has her Trailing 1 and Intermediate HRD (human remains detection) certifications and is working on advanced trailing certifications.

Soleil is from the fifth generation of my female line, a Chaos/Lively daughter from the GG litter of 2013.  She has her OFA hip (fair), thyroid, cardiac, eye and elbow certifications.  She is clear of the mutated genes for spinal myelopathy (DM), which means Mercy is DM clear!  She also tested free of EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) and of bleeding disorders (hemophilia & von Willebrand’s disease).  That’s all of the health problems in GSD’s that you can test for. 

Quasi is Mercy’s sire, and you can see all his health screenings (including OFA excellent & PennHip 90th percentile ratings on his hips, on his page!