About us

Gloria and George Sokolowski started Bark Away German Shepherds in the 1960's in Hackettstown NJ. They bred quality German Shepherds based on the GSDCA breed standard and Gloria and George were signers of the GSDCA's "Breeders' Code of Ethics", and went on to breed many champions in the USA and Canada. Gloria in particular had a love for all things German Shepherds and studied genetics and hip dysplasia at great length. She led talks and discussions on both topics to members of the German Shepherd community.

Today Bark Away German Shepherds aims to continue the long standing tradition of breeding for temperament, type, and trainability. We show and breed and do the necessary health testing on all of our breeding dogs. Breeding one to two litters per year allows us to breed the right dogs and do thorough pedigree research to know and understand what compliments our animals, to better the German Shepherd Dog.

I began working for Gloria and George in 1993 and Gloria gave me my first show dog, Gunther, by Esquire of Bark Away and Limelight of Bark Away. From there Gloria put me in touch with Henry Dancosse whom I worked for, for a few years before I went off to college. After a lengthy hiatus in dogs and living outside of the USA, I returned back in 2014 and bought my first German Shepherd as an adult, She-Rock's People Will Talk of Marathon "Shelby". After a few shows and moving from NJ to TX, I then purchased GCH Ch. Tripphill's the Rockets Red Glare of Bark Away "Tripper" from Mary Tripp. Tripper was my first Champion who went on to be a Grand Champion by the time he was two years old. Then came GCH Ch. Greenleaf's Firestarter Surigo Cross Timbers "Drew", followed by GCH Ch. Sunfarm George Creek's Forget Me Not "Envy who was the #15 German Shepherd and #6 German Shepherd bitch in 2019. In 2020, a very special girl, Aramist's Truth to Power v Marathon "Babushka", came to live at Bark Away.

In 2018 we had our first litter at Bark Away German Shepherds. This was a special breeding and the litter theme was "Glory" in honor of Gloria who got me started in German Shepherds. Out of that special litter I kept "Bruce", "Bark Away's Glory Days of George Creek and we are looking forward to what the future has in store for her and all the girls here at Bark Away German Shepherds.