Our dogs are familiar with the term "kennel" only because we have it in our breeder's name. However, they do not live in a kennel but are raised within our famly home. Essentially, we object to keeping dogs in a kennel! Our puppies enjoy a happy and carefree life during the first eight weeks of their lives. However, we believe that the conditioning of the puppies during their early stage of socialization to humans and their environment is also very important. Please see the page Working with the puppies" in our "vom Moehnesee" forum. We see it as our responsibility to breed healthy, intelligent, powerful and beautiful long coated German shepherd dogs. The dogs we use for breeding are in addition examined for HD (hip dysplasia) and ED (elbow dysplasia) by an independent expert, Dr. Kaspar, Nuernberg (Germany).When a puppy leaves our house at the age of 8 weeks, it will be chipped, vaccinated and several times dewormed.