"I really like your Web - Site and I think your German Shepherds are some of the best looking I have ever seen, but they seem to cost more than I thought they would. Can you explain why?"
As you will see from our "Breeding Goal
Page"we are quite different in our approach to raising German Shepherds and
we feel that breeding dogs of high intelligence demand and deserve our level of
commitment and caring. Answering your question can best be done by using the
example of just one serious condition that needs to be considered by a really
conscientious breeder, Chronic Hip Dysplasia! It is our understanding that a
large number of GSD's in America are dysplastic. That statistic should make any
GSD breeder sit straight up in his chair appalled, but most just don't seem to
care. It is a genetic condition that can through very selectively breeding be
all, but eliminated. The cost of doing the trial breedings on Imports that cost
us upwards of $7,000 each plus ($1,000 shipping with NO guarantee from Germany)
is a cost that most breeders are forced by the sheer economics of it, simply
unable to ignore.
So they breed the first two imports that they can
afford to get and will quite probably ignore the bad results and justify their
actions by saying that "these are good dogs. They have Schh titles don't they?"
(Some imports have good hips but they throw puppies with
HD) So because of the incredible expense involved, they will probably be
bred over and over again no matter what they produce in an effort to re-coup
their initial investment. We have been through to date, over 20 German dogs that
have not produced well enough to be in our breeding program. They have been
given away as pets or sold as pets so that we could get to this level of correct
genetics bred to correct genetics. This equals 95% litters of truly "outstanding
pups" in all ways including virtually eliminating hip dysplasia. We would not
offer a guarantee of OFA certification to be free of hip dysplasia otherwise.
All of the other very important variables that go together to create a truly
great German Shepherd like temperament, structure, freedom from disease and on
and on require lots and lots of research and trial and time and money. To be
good at what you do is one thing...To strive for excellence is quite another. I
hope this gives you some more insight...
We know of breeders who sell pups sight unseen out of the East coast for $4,000
per pup - plus shipping. We also know first hand that we produce better overall
quality pups then they do. Sour grapes? No not really, some people think that if
you want the very best you need to pay the highest price. It's just not true
when it comes to animals. You should not buy a high price GSD because of it's
pedigree, you should talk to people who own dogs from those breeders and let
them tell you their experiences with the breeders and their dogs to see if they
are worth the expense. $4,000 plus dollars should equal about 4 times the dog
right? I'm afraid not!!! We charge only a fair price for our services so that we
can continue on producing our excellent large german shepherds genetic
representatives and improve where needed. For us proper breeding is more like an
art form and
a purposeful pursuit for the love of the breed, not a money making whim as it is
for those people who are simply interested in how
much money they can make.
Truly great German Shepherds are very
selectively bred for... not accidentally created. The bottom line as always has
to be the bottom line in any business and factors such as strong demand also
help us to determine our pricing structure. We never have any trouble selling
the very limited amount of large german shepherd puppies we produce in one year
for the price we ask.