I was recently asked, “What makes your protection dogs worth $70,000 and more?” We know what the industry has to offer and what our dogs are worth. Here’s why our Personal and Family Protection Guard Dogs are expensive:
1. Their pedigrees
Our dogs have outstanding pedigrees, and they’re imported from overseas. We didn’t pick these puppies up from an everyday ordinary breeder. Their breeder is one of the best in the business with 21 years experience breeding, training and titling top notch Czech German Shepherds at the international level. They specialize in Czech, Slovak and DDR German Shepherds, and they know their dogs like the back of their hand. Every single dog they breed is health tested, temperament tested and titled. Zero exceptions. Every single Czech German Shepherd puppy is hand-raised and selected for their job, whether that be military, law enforcement, search and rescue, protection sports or family protection. This kind of dedication to the breed and to top notch breeding comes with a price tag. Add to that the cost of shipping them from overseas, paying customs fees and picking them up in San Francisco, and already you have a puppy that’s worth far more than any puppy you’ll find here in the States.
2. Their upbringing
Our German Shepherd Protection Dogs are home-raised by professional dog trainers. Our team of trainers have the knowledge and experience to raise world class trained guard dogs. We pay close attention to every aspect of each dog’s growth and development to ensure we leave no stone un-turned. This kind of dedication takes time – over a thousand hours of time, in fact, over a 16-24 month period with training worth 5k and more per month. We work hard to ensure our dogs are a cut above the rest socially, environmentally and behaviorally.
3. Their health
We invest thousands of dollars into health testing and nutrition for our dogs. Health testing includes testing against over 200 genetic diseases and X-raying hips and elbows then sending those results to PennHIP and OFA for careful examination. Additionally we feed our dogs costly high quality food and provide top-of-the-line supplements to ensure they are receiving the best nutrition possible as they grow and develop into canine athletes. Learn more about what we feed our Czech German Shepherds. Our dogs are sold with a health guarantee to ensure their buyers have many happy and healthy years to come with their new personal protection dog.
4. Their training
In addition to investing 1000 hours or more into each dog’s obedience training, we also travel regionally for quality protection training. A good decoy is worth his or her weight in gold, and we believe good decoying makes or breaks the dog. We invest thousands of dollars and countless hours per trip into traveling outside of Idaho to bring our dogs to the best decoys in the field. Why do we work with the best decoys? Because our dogs are more than just run-of-the-mill protection dogs. We want dogs who can hang out with the family and lounge around the house, then kick it into gear and protect their loved ones at a moment’s notice. That type of mental clarity takes precise training by skilled decoys who know exactly how to utilize prey and defense drives correctly. We want only the most skilled decoys who will bring out our dogs’ fullest potential. Protection training is not a game; we want our dogs to take their jobs seriously through proper, age-appropriate training by the best in the decoy industry.
5. Our risk
We take a huge risk on every Czech German Shepherd puppy we import. There is no guarantee – no matter how good the genetics – that a dog will have what it takes to complete our program and become a top personal and family protection guard dog. These dogs are one in a million, truly. And with our standards being higher than most, we know there is no guarantee that the puppies we invest our time, energy and money into will make the cut and make it through our program. If a dog has a health issue, a temperament issue or any other issue, he or she is washed out of our program. And that’s what makes this business high-risk, high-reward. We know that because we are stacking the deck in our favor with good genetics and professional upbringing and training, our success rate will be high. Any dog that washes out of our protection dog program is a tremendous loss of the hundreds of hours and countless thousands of dollars we invested into him or her. Taking 9-week-old puppies and raising them to be mature Elite Protection Dogs that are the best dogs on the market is challenging and requires professionals to be involved every step of the way. It’s risky; a risk WE take so our buyers don’t have to.
6. Their beauty
And last but not least, our dogs are beautiful. They have thick bones, rich pigmentation and big blocky heads. We believe that in order for a dog to be the whole package he or she must have both brains AND beauty. Good looks have zero impact on working ability, but a good-looking dog sure is nice to look at.
Other protection dog companies
We know there are less expensive dogs on the market. And we also know this industry is plagued with dog brokers who buy adult dogs who washed out of other programs due to health, temperament or drive issues and flip them as protection dogs. For the lesser price tag, here is what you’re getting:
1. Dogs who typically aren’t health tested, or worse they failed health testing, which means if they have bad hips or elbows or genetic diseases their health problems become your problem, which is not only expensive but also certainly reduces your protection dog’s working abilities and lifespan. Additionally, most of these dogs have been fed a subpar diet which will catch up to them as they age and show signs of aging. Nutrition and optimal health are key aspects to longevity for working dogs.
2. Dogs who’ve been raised in a kennel environment and have little to no exposure to home life, children and other family pets. To us this is completely unacceptable. These dogs are being sold as family companions and home guard dogs, and as a mother myself I would absolutely never allow a dog who’s not been raised with kids to be around my child. I need to know that the dog is used to children and will not become agitated or unstable due to my child’s behavior.
3. Dogs who oftentimes lack the courage and confidence to take on a threat head-on like our dogs. Our dogs are genetically confident and more than that, we raise them to think they can take on the world. We know when push comes to shove, our dogs won’t run and hide in the closet. They’ll be out there fighting for you, no matter the cost.
4. Dogs whose training is lacking. Many protection dogs on the market today had little to no obedience training prior to being purchased by a broker to be sold as a protection dog. These “green” dogs are raised in a kennel environment and training starts after they’re a year old. Once sold as a protection dog prospect, they undergo a few weeks to a few months of training before being sold again as protection dogs. You can imagine the level of training they have compared to our dogs who’ve been home raised from day one and trained by professionals who train dogs for a living.
Good isn’t cheap and cheap isn’t good. Our dogs are one-in-a-million dogs who are the Total Package when it comes to safe and capable Family Protection Dogs. Are you in the market for a fully trained guard dog? Check out our Dogs For Sale.
