Criteria for price of puppies.
When adopting a puppy, please read to avoid mistakes and overpaying.
1. Does the puppy come from quality bloodlines that have had excellent hip/elbow certifications for generations?
2. Are the parents of the puppy trained or come from well trained lines?
Not every dog is capable of training or competing on international or world levels. Although your intention might not be to go to international levels or advanced training, at least you can train your puppy to go potty in the right spot and basic commands :)
3. Are the puppy's parents imported or from imported lines? What does the puppy's ancestry look like?
American Kennel Club (AKC) will register non purebred dogs too. When someone is purchasing a puppy from parents that have been registered with AKC, this does not always mean that the puppy is purebred.
Some people sell German Shepherds as purebred and AKC registered. However, the puppy shows obvious signs of not being purebred. For example, we have come across 'purebred' GSD's that had blue eyes, wolf necks (where the head moves along with the neck, which is an unlike characteristic for a GSD), and other body traits that are not found in the German Shepherd breed. Nonetheless, such people will claim that the dog is purebred and shows AKC papers as proof.
Contradictive enough, when registering imported dogs with AKC, they will require pictures of the dog from every angle, ancestry proof, and DNA to confirm the dog is purebred. It would have been nice if AKC would mandate the same standards to backyard breeders.
Furthermore, German Shepherds are a highly intelligent breed. The West German line is the calmest and most intelligent of all lines.
These dogs do not require electric shock collars and are never sold for $200 on Craigslist.
Here is answer to the most common question about our pricing.
To import a PUREBRED, IPO trained and shown champion breeding male (up to 4 years of age at the time, older dogs are less $), you are looking to pay around:
$10,000 for IPO1
$20,000 for IPO2
$25-30,000 for IPO3
Additional titles and lineage also count towards the price and will therefore be more $ than what the average is.
Puppy from an IPO3 male will cost at least $1,900 nowadays.
Please do the math on price of puppies that come from non-trained/titled dogs.
If you are buying a dog for $800 with no knowledge on ancestry, no known titled/trained parents, that would be a rip off. It's easy to find backyard breeders who charge more than $1,000 for a puppy whose parents are dogs picked up on the streets with behavioral problems and health issues. Please check a puppy's bloodline before purchasing.
All dogs imported from Germany have been tested repeatedly according to the German standards. These dogs go through a series of blood tests, medical exams, health inspections, and such before they are allowed to breed. If a dog has even a minor health concern, they are not allowed to be bred. All of our Imported breeding males and females have gone through all of this to ensure the healthiest possible offsprings.
This all is not to convince you to buy from us, there are several good breeders out there, but to help you go with a quality German Shepherd puppy that will make you happy and not discourage you from getting another German shepherd puppy in the future or ruin the reputation of this beautiful breed.