Granville Kennels

AKC Registered German Shepherd Dogs

Owned & Operated By

Bonnie M. Wells

Although I raised German Shepherd Dogs for most of my adult life, it has been several years now since I have produced a litter.

The dogs were all AKC registered, and most were produced from bloodlines that were imported from Germany back in the early to mid 1960's.

A dog named Pedro Gitano was the actual foundation of my kennel. He was a 110 pound, solid black, gentle giant of a dog with an intelligence and understanding that I have yet to see matched. His father was Champion Baro Vom Goldammerweg, imported and owned by AKC Judge Lou Harris of West Virginia.

His mother was owned by Noel Barton of West Virginia and her name was Aria Gitano Of Betenbill.

"Pete" as he became affectionately known was first owned by Gary Sackett also of West Virginia, and came to live with me when he was about six and one half years of age. He remained with me until he was well past twelve years old. Gary and I went together the day we had him put down due to spine problems. It was a day I will never forget .... he was a dog I will never forget.

Pedro Gitano (Pete)

Well past ten years old in this picture.

Sheikonna & LaShanna

Sheikonna was bred to Pete and produced 9 bouncing beauties, most of which were solid black.

(1) Me with Pete & Sheikonna daughters Chi & Taboo, better known as "Boo."

(2) Chi & Taboo.

(3) Chi at about 1 year old.

'Boo' went to live with Jerry Bibbee of Coolville, Ohio when she was about 6 months of age. She remained his constant companion until her final day. Jerry came back and purchased more shepherds from me .... so many in fact, the last time he was here he said he'd bought enough 'black fur' from me to carpet his house! No doubt in my mind Jerry, no doubt!!

Me, holding Sheena and kneeling beside Major Bayard's White Erick.

My friend Michele and I rescued Erick from the local dog pound where he was scheduled to be put to sleep the next day. This photo was taken back about 1970.

A black & white picture of Baron, who was a true 'black and cream saddle-back.'

When LaShanna was bred to Baron, we produced 9 pups. One solid white (Lacee Lady), one solid black (Chocco) and 7 black and tan's.

Chocco & Lacee playing in the snow /

Lacee and her cat friend Critter

Inka & Charko with VooDoo watching from above!

All adult dogs and cats saw themselves as "protectors" of the puppies! In this photo VooDoo is ready to "pounce" on Inka if she tries to hurt the pup!

Regardless of what kind of animals I've had in my life, they all 'got along' just fine. I never tolerated any meanness, and still don't.

Even though I am no longer raising German Shepherds, I still have three Pedrossa, Shawnee and my youngest Karma.

I also have a little mixed-breed house dog that I found back in 1997; 7 cats; a dozen pigeons; 2 and sometimes 3 ferrets [when my daughters ferret comes to visit!] a guinea pig, a pet rooster and a spoiled rotten goat named Shoshone. It's not uncommon to see them all out in the yard together.

Granvilles' Pedra Von Gitano was the result of the heaviest 'line breeding' we ever done on Pete. She was absolutely brilliant, and had every quality possessed by both parents. She typified the 'standard of excellence' with nobility and an 'incorruptible character' until her dying day.

Granvilles' Pedra Von Gitano at the age of 6 weeks, and again at 12 weeks of age. The cat is Tiggi, who is still alive and resides with my friend Pat in Marietta.

Update: Tiggi passed away in 2003 from cancer. She is missed by all who knew and loved her:

Granvilles' Exacta Kaccki (3yrs old) &

Granvilles' Kolt Forty-Five (4 months old):

Kaccki was a niece to Pete, and Kolt was her brother Gandy's son.

Morgan was a cousin to Kolt

Some of the pack

Kier, Kolt, Pete, Kaccki & Zusha

Kier & Zusha were Kaccki's son and daughter.

Granvilles' Juscha Von Gitano & litter

Juscha was a sister to Kier. Their parents were Kaccki and Mutz Von Rheinlandsgold.

Kier was owned by Walt and Susan Frazer, and Juscha was owned by Terry and Diane Hook

Granvilles' Kaptan Von Gitano

Kaptan was one of Juscha's son's, and was owned by Bill and Sue Kelly.

Kaptan's brother - Granvilles' Barroom Buddy, was owned and handled by Parkersburg, West Virginia Police Officer George Fox, and resided with George throughout his working and retirement years.

I'm still told George wouldn't have taken ten thousand dollars for 'Silver' as they called him. And I know that no amount of money could have ever gotten Kaptan away from Bill.

Granvilles Kolt Forty-Five was produced by Dr. Gary Waters, and owned by me throughout his life. He died of gastric torsion when he was barely four years old.

"Kolt" was a grandson of Pete's on his mother's side, and a nephew on his father's side. He is shown here at an AKC dog show in Virginia where he took Reserve Winner's Dog in the conformation class. He was handled by his best buddy, Bill Shannon of Vienna, West Virginia.

Kolt, Kody and Pete 'waiting for Santa'

Kolt and Kody were cousins. Kody was owned by Bill Shannon - Kolt's confirmation handler.

Two Charko & Baron pups:

Granvilles' Lil' Toot-Toot & Granvilles' Baron Von Gitano

Granvilles' Heavy Metal, better known as "Zep" was a Charko son.

Zep was co-owned by Judith Schaad and lived all his life with her.

Three "Kolt & Kaccki" pups from the Granville "Double K" litter:

Granvilles Kikon Kongo with owner/handler Bill Shannon

Granvilles' Kajun King, 135 pounds of lovable lug!

Kajun was owned by Don Woollard:

Granvilles Karbon Kopy

After being re-possessed from the people who originally purchased Karbon [due to mistreatment] he spent the rest of his life with Randy Rogers.

Hedda is just dog tired!

Hedda is an Inka daughter, and was owned by Clara Sharp:

Granvilles' Basha Von Gitano

Basha was purchased by a lunatic from Parkersburg, West Virginia, who had her destroyed [in violation of his signed contract, I might add] when she was just a puppy. He said she 'looked' at someone strangely! I won't honor him by giving his name. He's not worth mentioning, but I will say that I would have given him back every penny of his purchase price if he'd just have brought her home instead of killing her.

Me & Justice

This boy was a great, great grandson of Pete. His mother was Granvilles' Pedra Von Gitano, and his father was VA rated, German imported Champion Vax VonDer Weinerau owned by George and Virginia Collins of Farmer City,IL.

Justice was purchased by Larry Miller and was headed for police work when he suddenly died of a heart attack just before his 3rd birthday.

The Beverly, Ohio Christmas Parade of 1987

I'm in the white fur outfit, right behind the float. I walked with Pete. What a trooper. He was past ten years old and out ahead of all those young punks!

There were 14 of my German Shepherds in the parade that day. What an impressive sight they were.

As I sit here tonight and look at these old pictures of all the above pictured dogs, dogs that I have loved ....and eventually lost .... as all of them are gone now, a cute story comes to my mind.

The breeding, raising, training, sales, etc of all dogs was "my hobby," and my husband Mike paid very little attention to any of it. However, one day he went out to mow the yard......which was his "hobby!" and after being outside for a short time he came back to the house. I was grooming one of the pups when he came around the front of the house. After looking at me for a long moment he calmly asked....

"Just exactly how many dogs am I feeding?"

I couldn't help but laugh. I only had 25 German Shepherds! I didn't see how that could be a problem for anyone, and if he had not gone out to the back yard he would never have known!!!

Today's 'Kids'

My grandson Joshua with Karma 2006

We produced all colors at Granville Kennel, but my specialty and favorite was the solid black.

This boy will be 2 years old on October 10th,[2007] and he is knock-down gorgeous -- and so's the brat with his arm around him!!!

Josh is in police training right now, and hopefully, someday Karma will be his partner. If not, I'm sure we'll bring forth another one!

The black and white critter in the background is my goat Shoshone -- who honestly believes she is a German Shepherd with horns!!! She also thinks her name is 'fuzzy-face'! She's a sweetheart.

My daughter has a German Shepherd named Hoss. He is from my old Pete lines, as well as from some police dog lines.

The following pictures are of some of Hoss' pups from the summer of 2005 .... Mother is Nikki. Of course they came to 'grandma's house' as soon as they could, and of course grandma spoiled them rotten -- just like all the others she's raised over the years.

Jake / renamed Sebastian at about 8 weeks of age:

Jake is owned by my second cousin Johnny Lubinski, and his wife Nancy in the Cleveland, Ohio area.

Shawnee at about 8 weeks of age.

Shawnee is owned by me, and resides with me. She has turned out to be a beautiful sable.

I will be adding more pictures to this page as time permits. Thanks for strolling down memory lane with me, and please come back soon for another trip.

Bonnie M. Wells

The following stories and poems come from my book .... Bonny Tails.

Some can also be found within the pages of Pure Coincidence.

** God's Friend

** Granvilles' Wells Fargo

** I Zeek