(click on name to view pedigree)

We are pleased to have imported a top breeding male into the United States. Sportwaffen K9 is the proud home of Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1!

Caine is as serious as they come with intense drives, rock solid nerves, extreme hardness, and extreme natural aggression. He demands a very strong handler and is not for everyone. Caine is a very dominant alpha male that is confident and controlling in any situation. His father is Bure vom Norbreeze SchH3, FH, Kkl2, WUSV who competed at the 2000 Worlds with impressive scores of 92-92-96=280. Bure was one of only twelve dogs to V the bitework! Caine’s grandfather is the great Troll von der bosen Nachbarschaft SchH3, Kkl1, BSP, and great grandfather is the legendary producer Fero vom Zeuterner Himmelreich SchH3, FH, Kkl1, BSP. Other notable dogs in Caine’s pedigree include Held Ritterberg SchH3, Askia vom Froschgraben SchH3, IP3, FH, BSP, Ingo Rudingen SchH3, Caro vom Allerswald SchH3, IP3, FH, V-BSP, and working lines such as Bungalow, Abfuhr, Haus Iris, and Gleisdreieck.

Caine is a substantial solid black male with a huge striking head piece, heavy bone, short coupled with beautiful structure and angulation. Very muscled and powerful. This is a very real dog that is no nonsense, with true aggression and hardness. Caine is the type of dog that owns whatever room he walks into.

Caine brings presence and intensity and sustained drive to his bitework.

In the obedience Caine is upbeat and flashy with great intensity.

Caine tracks with a slow and steady pace, working very independently.

Here’s a male in Canada from the stud breeding with Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1 and Cedra Donna Hof SVV1. This serious gaze is common in Caine progeny. Mike Simpson handles Diesel in Schutzhund.

Here’s a male also in Canada from a different breeding. This breeding with Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1 and Jenny von der Langerts SchH1 produced Exor von den Sportwaffen, who is handled by WUSV competitor and good friend Daryl Harringsma.

Here’s another look at the type of awesome head and bone that Caine has produced in his puppies. This is a female puppy from the breeding with Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1 and Jenny von der Langerts SchH1. She now serves as a protection dog for a family in Pennsylvania.

This is a picture of a young Caine son who trains for ringsport. This is a male from the breeding with Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1 and Borina Animals SchH3, IPO3, SVV2.

This is a picture of that same male at 14 months of age with now very strong natural aggression. Enno von den Sportwaffen is from the breeding with Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1 and Jenny von der Langerts SchH1.

June 27, 2010

I am very sorry to report that I have lost a very dear friend. My beautiful Sunshadow’s Caine has passed and gone to wait for me.

I knew this was coming. Caine was older but looked and acted very young, and I saw him changing before my eyes very rapidly to show his true age. I went to training on Saturday and sadly proclaimed to my training friends that “Caine was dying.” I knew it; I could just feel it. Unfortunately I was right because Caine did pass overnight. I think Caine had gotten cancer.

Caine came to me when he was around 4.5 years old. He was an extremely strong dog. I met the man I got him from in a parking lot at 3am on the way to an AWDF competition. I looked at him and really respected him right off the bat because he was pure power in a shiny black coat and a powerful frame. He was beautiful. Caine was not equally impressed with me however and wanted to kill me it seemed. Over the next weeks we had difficulties in getting through that. Caine needed no one and he tolerated very little. He was his own dog and feared nothing. When he walked into a room he owned it. I remember nights walking back into the house after an incident, bloody somewhere, with my wife crying asking me why I cared about that damn dog. I told her I was gonna try to tame him and that someday we were gonna be friends. It was hard for some people to see that then, but I knew I wouldn’t give up on Caine and someday it would happen. I had lots of experience with aggressive and powerful dogs and I was using every bit of knowledge and experience I had to deal with Caine, who seemed to teach me even so much more. In time with me working with him it got better and better. I always believed that Caine was a good dog that felt like he never had a true friend; and was strong enough to survive alone, but given the chance wanted someone he could trust and call his friend. So, I worked very hard to show Caine that I was not afraid of him either, but bigger than that, that I didn’t want to battle with him. He could trust me. We could be friends. I began to think hard about every single thing I did and constantly set up situations to avoid conflict and promote trust. I tried to create situations where he wanted to be with me and I would be important to him. That he could see good things come from me. I was patient and non-confrontational in all ways, while still projecting that I was not fearful of him. I knew patience was key; that in time he would reach out for me and when he did I needed to recognize it. I remember the day that finally came when this incredibly strong animal looked to me with these simple and softened eyes as if to say “You’re really not so bad. I’m starting to really trust you. You’re okay.” I was so happy. It had been well over a year and this dog was finally starting to want to have a friend.

Over the next months and years we built a stronger and stronger bond. Little things that seemed so easy with most dogs were sometimes hard with Caine, but he was not most dogs. You have to understand the power this dog had in him. He had extremely high hardness and seemingly feared nothing. His aggression was incredibly high. Caine didn’t pick a fight, but he wouldn’t tolerate a threatening posture toward him, an act of aggression his way, or a soul touching him in anyway. But in time I got to where he trusted me a little more each day. I could groom him and take equipment on and off, we trained together and spent time together. He would come to me and let me pet him all over, he’d wag his tail at my touch. He’d carry his food bowl to me when he was hungry and because he was a good dog, when I saw he was more hungry that day than normal he always got an extra bowl. Caine loved to play ball. We’d play ball several days a week. He’d do a bark and hold on me and then chase the ball. We’d do it over and over and I’d always have to stop before he killed himself because there were words in Caine’s vocabulary he didn’t use. Words like “quit”, or “fail”, or “give up.” He was a joy to work because for such a strong animal, he could be so flashy in the work. Caine lived to work and in time lived to be with me. He loved to be out with me, take rides with me, go for walks with me. We had become very good friends and he trusted me. I think we shared a bond that only comes with certain dogs….you look into each other and see some of the same qualities, you understand each other and what your experiences in life have been. You gain solace in feeling protected by your friend at times, and other times you feel good to look out for him, too. Together you feel you’re a team that can’t be stopped, the best of buds walking the earth as jolly green giants. When I would leave his kennel he’d be upset and not want me to go. He wanted to be with me so much.

I remember what it was like when I was a little boy and the feelings my dogs gave me. I felt that way with Caine very much. We had some of the best of times and I was so glad I was there to help him make his journey through life and learn to trust. I watched him grow old before my eyes and I saw the love that grew in him for me and the friends we’d become. It has been a very long time since we had any problems because I tamed him, as much as he tamed me, but not in the way I first thought because you don’t really tame dogs like Caine, you earn their trust. To everyone else, he was the infamous Sunshadow’s Caine, the intimidating dog that gave me multiple police dogs, protection dogs, sport dogs, and family friends. He was the dog they loved to talk about at training and the one people loved to watch. He was requested for several helper seminars and helper tryouts. He was something to everyone. But to me, he was my Cainey boy. I loved him very much and it hurts that he is gone. I miss the games we played and the times we shared. I miss seeing this powerhouse play with the smallest of puppies. I miss seeing the real intelligence in this dogs eyes. I miss seeing his unstoppable fight drive and determination. I miss the way he’d nuzzle into me. The last night we were together I knew he would go because our bond was so close, only through hard times are bonds like this formed. I laid him down in the air conditioning comfortably, with cold water by his side. I ran my fingers through his silken black hair and told him what a good dog he was and how much fun we’d had. He looked at me for the first time in his life with eyes that said “I feel old, Dad.” I kissed that old dog on the head and told him I loved him. He leaned into me, put his paw closer to me, and wagged his tail quietly back and forth. My last words to him were “You’re a good boy Cainey boy, and I love ya. I gotta go to work now. You be a good boy and get some rest. I’ll see you when I get home bubby.”

He was my friend.
And I was his.

Rest in Peace
Sunshadow’s Caine SchH1
March 31, 2001 – June 27, 2010

We Have A Secret

“We have a secret, you and I that no one else shall know.
For who but I can see you lie, each night in fire glow?
And who but I can reach my hand before we go to bed, and feel the living warmth of you and touch your silken head?
And only I walk woodland paths and see ahead of me, your agile form racing with the wind so young again, and free.
And only I can see you swim in every brook I pass, and when I call, no one but I can see the bending grass.”
~Pet Loss Poem, Author Unknown