A loving and loyal girl, training in both Agility and Schutzhund

Juno died on September 9, 2013 at age 3 (non-accidental)

Dearly loved and deeply missed

COI: 6.25% (source: working-dog.com)

Our home and property is located in Ashton, Ontario, a rural community of Canada's capital city, Ottawa. We are very proud of our country, which is why we include the Maple Leaf, the symbol of Canada, so prominently in our kennel emblem.

Goodwood Glen is the name of our quaint four acre property located south of the village of Ashton, on which our dogs grow, play and train. Bordering our property is the shallow Jock River, which was initially named the Goodwood River when this area was settled hundreds of years ago. The river's primary source is the headwaters of the Goodwood Marsh. Actually not much more than a large creek, the Jock attracts assorted wildlife such as deer, coyotes, beavers and blue herons to name a few. At the top of our property the river provides a deep swimming hole for our dogs to cool off from the summer heat. The river continues and becomes shallow alongside our property. The water levels are governed seasonally by precipitation and Beaver dams; both cause levels at our geographical location to vary significantly. In the winter the river is frozen. In the springtime it peaks as a fast water river. In the summertime it can have many different water levels similar to a shallow river, creek, babbling brook, or even at times a dry riverbed. But, always it remains a watercourse, which translates to German as "wasserlauf".

Welcome to Goodwood Glen, home of Riesenschnauzer vom Wasserlauf, owners, trainers and budding hobby breeders of working line Giant Schnauzers bred from the finest German blood-lines.

We train our wonderful dog, Panzer vom Klingsgarten, in the sport of schutzhund. Panzer came to us as a puppy from a highly respected and experienced German breeder, dog trainer and handler. As I learn the sport of schutzhund, I have found Panzer to be highly motivated, easy to train, forgiving, and at times it seems like he is correcting my mistakes. Panzer is a thrill to own and a pleasure to train. 

October 9-11, 2015 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial at Dickson, Tennessee, Panzer was awarded his IPO1 title by PSK Judge Matthias Hallerman of Germany. Score 91-77-94. We stumbled a bit in the obedience phase as both Panzer and I lost our focus a couple of times, but I am confident we will correct that for his IPO2. Nevertheless, Panzer took away three trophies, but I am especially proud of his High Protection award.

As of July 12, 2016 Panzer's status at our kennel was changed to non-breeding, but he will continue to train and compete.

October 6 to 9, 2016 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial at Greenville, South Carolina, Panzer was awarded his IPO2 title by DVG Judge Soren Roggenbau of Germany. Score 93-90-87. On the periphery of Hurricane Matthew, Panzer did an outstanding job dealing with the high winds during his tracking phase. Once again, Panzer brought home numerous trophies.

October 6 to 8, 2017 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial at Louisburg, North Carolina, Panzer attempted to obtain his IPO3. As a team we just didn't work well, 50-73-78. As a trainer I erred by taking some things for granted leading up to the trial. As a handler, I made some mistakes on trial day. Lessons learned. Panzer and I would rest, recover, make corrections, and try again in a month.

November 4 & 5, 2017 at the G.S.S.C.C. Capital City Schutzhund Club trial at Pickering, Ontario, Panzer was awarded his IPO3 title by SV Judge Raino Fluegge. Score  85-82-84. Cold windy day for tracking and a cold day with heavy rain for the obedience and protection phases. Panzer recovered from October, and once again excelled in the poor and difficult conditions in which the other competing breeds struggled. Panzer obtained High in Trial,  High IPO3, High in Protection, High in Tracking.

March 2015 we welcomed a new puppy to our kennel, Qodo vom Goldbergsee (pronounced Kodo). We think she is a beauty, from an established German breeder and great working bloodlines. Please use the Pedigree link to research Qodo's bloodlines for yourself. We know you will be impressed, and you will understand why we have great expectations for Qodo. In fact, we named this Q litter puppy in honour of her father, Bodo vom Hexenwald, two time ISPU IPO World Champion.

Working Qodo towards her IPO (schutzhund) titles and conducting the many varied health tests including PennHIP or OFA hip, OFA elbows, heart, eyes and thyroid, our hopes are that Qodo, from a carefully selected breeder and blood lines will eventually meet our stringent breeding requirements. Then, and only then, will we proceed with our desire to breed our own true working line Giant Schnauzers, of which there are so very few in Canada.

October 9 to 11, 2015 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial and conformation show at Dickson, Tennessee, Qodo earned a junior puppy V1 (excellent 1) rating from German Judge Birgit Bischoff.

October 7 to 9, 2016 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial and conformation show at Greenville, South Carolina, Qodo was awarded her BH by DVG Judge Soren Roggenbau of Germany and she earned a V2 (excellent 2) rating from German Judge Astrid Schon.

October 6 to 8, 2017 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial at Louisburg, North Carolina, PSK Judge Matthias Hallerman of Germany awarded Qodo her AD and FPr1. German Judge Birgit Bischoff awarded Qodo a V3 (excellent 3) rating in conformation.

For those who are not familiar with the sport of schutzhund, serious owners/handlers/trainers are very dedicated people. Raising a dog(s) and bringing it to the IPO3 level and beyond equates to thousands of hours of training, tens of thousands of kilometres traveled, and tens of thousands of dollars in expenses. But we love it. It's not about the financial cost. There is no financial profit. It is about the pure joy and privilege of training the working breeds so that they may realize their individual potential.

We obtained our non-breeding female Giant Schnauzer, Java, from an experienced Canadian breeder of European working Giant Schnauzers. She is the oldest and therefore the #1 dog at our kennel, so she enjoys all the perks of that position, such as the being first to receive her food bowl each day. She has an exceptional disposition and enjoys training and competing in the sport of agility. As of April 2017, Java holds the titles Agility Dog of Canada and Starters Games Dog of Canada.

Our new man at Goodwood Glen, who was welcomed in 2017, is Pharo vom kleinen Büffel. Another exceptional dog from an experienced German breeder. He is also the son of an ISPU IPO World Champion, Cedric vom Lindelbrunn. We have big plans for this guy, but in the mean-time he's busy being a puppy.

October 6 to 8, 2017 at the Working Riesenschnauzer Federation trial at Louisburg, North Carolina, Pharo was awarded a "very promising puppy" conformation rating, by German Judge Birgit Bischoff.  

October 27, 2018 at the G.S.S.C.C. Capital City Schutzhund Club trial at Pickering, Ontario, Pharo was awarded his BH by Canadian Judge Jim Chrisp. Pharo took away a trophy for High BH.

Ferghus and Company is the home training facility for all of our dogs, and the location of our new IPO/IGP training group which was established in 2018. Our members hope to grow the group and establish a DVG America member club in 2019.

The working line Giant Schnauzer is suitable for sport, service, guarding or protection roles, as well as police and military applications, and for the right person and situation they are loving loyal companions and exceptional family members. Some puppies from a litter may be better suited to be a companion dog or working in certain service dog roles, but this does not mean that these dogs need any less training, exercise, mental stimulation, grooming, loving and attention. Working Giant Schnauzers have to work, but at the end of the day their greatest reward is lying on the couch with their head on the lap of the leader of the pack.

All of our dogs are crate-trained. We apply minimal vaccinations, which we achieve by utilizing titer testing (we believe over-vaccinating to be unnecessary and a dangerous practice, and we encourage you to do your own research on this topic). We are also fortunate to have a veterinarian who balances modern veterinary medicine with holistic treatments where appropriate. 

Although surgical modification of the appearance of canines has been banned in many Canadian Provinces it is still legal in Ontario. We choose to adhere to the guidelines of the European Convention for Protection of Pet Animals. Therefore, under no circumstances will we crop the ears, dock the tail or remove the dew claws on our puppies. http://www.ispu-org.com/Standards/riesenschnauzer_181e.pdf

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2016/01/06/dog-ear-cropping.aspx?x_cid=20160106_lead_dog-ear-cropping_facebookpets

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/07/09/tail-docking-dogs.aspx?x_cid=20151211_ranart_tail-docking-dogs_facebookpetshttp://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/07/09/tail-docking-dogs.aspx?x_cid=20151211_ranart_tail-docking-dogs_facebookpets

We have been "pet" dog owners for decades, but that in no way compares to what we have learned over the last seven years from numerous serious working dog owners and trainers. Namely, that dogs, dog sport, and the interest in breeding to improve the breed is incredibly complex. We had no idea. There are countless opinions on every issue, some are quite emotional, some are quite unique, some are quite enlightening and educational. In fact, it can be somewhat overwhelming at times. But, we like to think that we have steadfastly maintained an open mind throughout our journey, and yes, we have made minor changes and tweaked our philosophy as we have grown. We certainly respect the decisions of other legitimate breeders, and we hope that we will be respected for our decisions. There is absolutely no shortage of contentious issues, and educating oneself never ends.

So, our only guarantee is this. We will continue in our journey to seek out the best bloodlines that we can access. We will love, train, title, and attempt to breed the best and the healthiest working-line Giant Schnauzers to the best of our abilities. It is heartbreaking to remove an outstanding dog from a breeding program because of one very minor issue, but, that must be done, otherwise we would be lowering the bar. We have set that bar high for many reasons, and we will remain steadfast in our philosophy to breed only those dogs that pass all relevant health tests and are titled to reflect their individual working abilities. Otherwise, we must be cognizant of the fact that we may be stealing a potential forever home from another Giant Schnauzer in need of rescue, just for the sake of breeding. Another contentious issue.

What we can't guarantee, is that a breeding will ever happen at Wasserlauf. It's a long road with lots of bumps, twists and turns. We have young dog(s) with more health tests yet to be done, and a world of training yet to complete.

All that said, we encourage you to do your research regarding this absolutely wonderful breed. There is extensive information on the internet and www.working-dog.eu is a good place to start. If you have questions for us, please contact us and we will respond to you as soon as we are able. We are not experts, and we do not intend to profess that we are, but we have surrounded ourselves with people who have extensive experience with working-line dogs, and we continue to learn every day. 

If you think that this breed may be right for you, but you don't necessarily require a "high drive" working-line Giant Schnauzer, please give some consideration to searching the various rescue organizations in Canada and the United States for a Giant Schnauzer that may be in need of new forever home.

We hope that you enjoy our website as we continue to build it, adding information and photos as we proceed.

Thank you.