Update by user Feb 26, 2013 Puppy is now 2 years old. Still dealing with the issues listed but he is otherwise a wonderful dog. Very smart and loving toward my family. While I wouldn't give more business to this specific breeder, I won't deter any others from doing so. Perhaps her specific techniques have improved. We adore our dog and think he's perfect, aside from the fear aggression. The complaint listed here is no longer valid. I retract my statements. She probably has improved with the socialization. I'll be looking into having this removed; apparently it's a lengthy process. Update by user Oct 26, 2011 Below is an email I just received from Georgianna: "georgianna hornberger to me show details 4:07 PM (1 minute ago) I was not yelling at you but if that's what you want to believe then go ahead. I new I was dealing with a very sick person what are you by-polar ? A little funny isn't it that the 1st email today comes thru with the red X (suspicious) and I gets back to you on that and the next 2 emails comes right back from you normal ? ? I noticed all the emails you claimed you sent me that I did not get , I asked of you to go back into your computer and send them again you never did, I gather because they do not exist. You do what you have to do, I am not a bad person, I love each and every dog and puppies I ever had and if my only mistake was cause I lived alone while raising my babies then that may be but rest assure you new that from the get-go. My reason for offering a full refund and taking Dirk back is for the sole reason that I believe you are an enabler of Dirks problems, feeding into his insecurities and I know I can get him out of it by taking him on the road with me to the shows meeting dog people and other dogs and just being out all the time. You do what ever you want ( the return of Dirk & full cost back to you) but there will be no compensation back on training as this is a responsibility on not just you but all new puppy owners when they get a puppy, the cost of training is always on the new owners ! This was in a paper that I have here that YOU signed ! Dirk should have BEEN IN TRAINING back when he was 4 months and here he is passing 6 months and NOT in training yet ! Like I said you are an enabler, every month, later and later can make a big difference in his being turned around to the better. I don't know what you are waiting on, it makes me wonder if you really want him to get better ! just so you can be a problem to me ? If you are prepared to pursue futher then go ahead. I have said all there is to be said on this matter, there will be no more emails answered to you from my end." If this doesn't show a lack of customer service, I don't know what will. Like I said, NEVER ever use Von Hornberger Shepherds. Update by user Oct 26, 2011 We informed Georgianna that our puppy required socialization while she had him and she flipped out on us. Since, we have been met with nothing but rudeness. She even yelled at me because an email I sent said "Message cannot be found"--clearly her internet/mail provider's fault. Furthermore, our puppy has begun biting strangers!! So, we're forced to either spend hundreds of dollars to get this remedied--or send him to a pound! Since we refuse to sentence him to a likely death, we're shelling out big bucks to get this aggression fixed. Hopefully this can be repaired...Otherwise, Dirk has certain death in his future. If anyone has any idea on what to do, please reply on here! We're at a loss for ideas now. Update by user Sep 21, 2011 By the way, I'm definitely NOT implying that the puppies were abused. I know they weren't for a fact! They just didn't get the socialization they deserved at Von Hornberger Shepherds. Update by user Sep 21, 2011 So, we would like to enforce that the other two co-breeders of Von Hornberger shepherds seem decent. We haven't dealt with them personally, so I won't make a sweeping decision. We received a call today from the breeder we did deal with. My husband barely got a word in and it took a very long time to get her to understand that our initial email was to provide feedback about the lack of socialization. While we did appreciate her attempt at rectification, she clearly is unable to receive any kind of criticism--a big pitfall to anyone who provides a service to the public. A customer shouldn't feel afraid to offer constructive criticism--especially if it is to ensure that a dog does not get aggressive due to lack of proper socialization!! Original review posted by user Sep 21, 2011 We were initially pleased with Von Hornberger German Shepherds. Their correspondence was somewhat professional and done in a timely manner. My husband and I inquired about buying a puppy and they had one male left in a recent litter. Eager to have a companion for myself since I am disabled, we agreed and sent our deposit in for our new puppy. When it came time to pick him up, we noticed something odd about how the puppies were reacting to us being near their pen. They were frightened and shaking, definitely not what you would think of when you think of 8 week old puppies. They stopped playing with each other and did everything they could to get away from us even though we weren't in their pen yet. When we were in their pen, they went no where near us the half hour we were sitting in there. Georgianna, the breeder we used, informed us that it was just her with the dogs and that they hadn't ever met any new people. That seemed weird to us, but I was so eager to have a companion to cope with my disability that I didn't think anything of what she said. So, we brought our new little puppy home. It was not what we anticipated, however. He would hide from us and shake like crazy whenever we were near him. We just thought that this was because he was over-stimulated; we figured he would get used to everything soon. He didn't. It took him two whole weeks to be comfortable with us. Whenever we have visitors over, he will cower in a corner. Even if the visitor isn't paying any attention to him, he is panicking the entire time. He even refuses treats if there is a visitor anywhere in the house. He will not eat, drink, or move. We took him to the vet two days after we got him and he was absolutely certain that we had adopted an abused rescue dog from a pound. When we informed him that he was from a breeder, his jaw dropped. He informed us that this is a clear-cut case of the breeder not socializing the litter at all. He said that with his severe anxiety towards people, our puppy may never be okay with new people ever. We tried everything to help our puppy: positive reinforcement when a visitor arrives, very very short visits from new people, having the person hand him treats, having the person ignore him, having the person stay for an extended period of time. We never forced visitors on him. They would stay out of his space while they were here. He still takes weeks to even be able to sniff a new person. I had emailed the breeder a couple times about our puppy's progress and she replied once. So, I turned to a different breeder that was part of Von Hornberger Shepherds for help. The next morning, I get this ranting email from Georgianna: From: georgianna hornberger To: SierraGSD@********* Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 10:11 AM Subject: Re: My true responce on this MATTER ! "I only received 2 emails from this woman, pictures and all on how well this puppy was doing ? ? ? DA ! I even responded to her 1st email thanking her ! I will challenge her to go back to her data-base on her computer to fish out any other emails she would have suppose to have sent me having any problems with this puppy ? ? ? and she will come up with nothing ? I will forward all three to you so you can see for yourself. This is so un fair to not come to me first since I stressed to her that day if any problems, please do not hesitate to contact me for HELP ! And I said to her SOCIALIZE, SOCIALIZE, SOCIALIZE. He is only now at HIS BIGGEST SOCIALIZING PERIOD ! and she better stick with it or bring him back. She new every thing up front from me from the get go when they came out that day, I admitted they were backward because they were only use to me !" She even sent me a forged email response to one of my previous messages in order to make it look like she was in constant contact. Clearly, this breeder does not know when a puppy's key socializing period is. I contacted her a few times after we brought our puppy home, but received only one response (definitely not including the bogus email she made up to send to her co-breeder). We even paid her a 20 dollar "fee" that she told us about the night before we were to pick him up. It was some registration fee, but we still have yet to receive any paperwork at all about it. I know that buying puppies from breeders is not for everyone. It was my first time doing so. And I am definitely hesitant to approach another breeder again. I'm not sure about the other two co-breeders in this company, but if they are anything like Georgianna, you will receive nothing but rudeness if you even come close to criticizing or asking for help. We love our puppy dearly, but the damage done to him from this breeder is crystal clear. I emailed her only to provide some feedback regarding our puppy and judging by the email I provided, she completely blew up. After that clear display of lack of customer service skill, I will never be using anyone to do with Von Hornberger Shepherds again.