When I was in the seventh grade, my two sisters and me kept bugging our parents about getting a dog. My father was adamant about buying a German Shepard. One day, when I came home from school, I was surprised to see a purebred German Shepard puppy running around our kitchen! We named him, “Max”. Max enjoyed going on my paper route with me every morning on the weekends, and occasionally in the afternoons during the week if it wasn’t real hot outside, and if I wasn’t running behind schedule. He sure had a personality. Sometimes we wondered if he was part human.
We got Max at a farm house close to town, for a real bargain. Several months before his second birthday, he developed epilepsy. Then one Saturday morning, Max had eight seizures within about a six hour period. Our vet told us that they could give medication, but that there were no guarantees, and that he would live a sedated life from then on. None of us felt that that was a fair life for a dog to live, not to mention financially impossible for my parents to take on. We based our decision of putting Max to sleep over the fact that we didn’t want a “doped up” dog. He became a huge part of our family, and losing him was like losing a member of the family. Since then, I have always been a firm believer in doing research on where you get a pet from, and that though an animal may be cheap to purchase, “cheap” may not be the best way to go. I would suggest saving up some money to buy a quality animal, from a respectable breeder.
Five years ago, my wife and three-step daughters decided that it was time to buy a dog. Every dog was mentioned. From poodles and other ankle bitter dogs, to a Shepard or a Husky. Like my father, I was pretty partial to German Shepards. I have always loved the black, tan mix of the animal. While on a camping trip up in Northern Wisconsin, I brought up the idea of getting a dog to my wife again, and mentioned that while looking through the classified ads in a local paper, I found a farm in Barron, WI where the breeder specializes in German Shepards. We agreed to take a couple of hours out of the day on a Saturday to drive out to the place and take a look around. When we got there, I was in pig heaven. German Shepards running around everywhere, several other people around looking at puppies, and a big ol’ male Shepard prancing up to me to sniff my out.
My wife and I were told to take a seat in the kitchen while the breeder was finishing up showing some puppies to other customers. He left us with several photo albums to look through to keep us entertained. After sitting for what felt like and hour, he finally came in to talk with us. He talked with us for about an hour and a half, and in between several phone calls, not even getting a chance to look at any puppies. My wife and I concluded that he was “analyzing” us, to get a feel of who we are, and what sort of lifestyle we lived. It was obvious to us that after breeding dogs for over 25 years, he wasn’t about to let just ANYONE take a dog, and not take care of them. Not only that, he knew his dogs well, and was trying to decide which dogs of the bunch would fit with our family. After our long talk, he suddenly yelled out to his wife to bring in a number of puppies he called out by litter. She came to the back door with five or six puppies, all black with floppy ears, sniffing everything they can. We walked outside to take a look, and I felt bad in a funny sort of way that none of the dogs came to me, but rather my wife. Could it be that they knew I already had my mind made up, but they needed to win over my wife? One puppy in particular was the only one that kept coming back to my wife. Let’s just say that we didn’t pick that one, but rather she picked us. I knew that that was the one we wanted.
The breeder sells the puppies anywhere from $500 to $5000 a puppy. It all depends on the parents and the quality of dog. The one that picked us was $1500. My wife almost had a fit, but after telling her about our first dog, I told her that I will not buy another “cheap dog”. But it helped too that the breeder guaranteed the dogs against hip and joint dysplasia, and epilepsy. He told us that if the puppy ever developed such a defect, he would replace the dog for another of equal value. I felt really good about that. We decided that the puppy that picked us was the one that we wanted, so we bought her. The breeder told us that we could breed her with his males to make some extra money. That way, he could keep track of the genetics, and bloodlines of the dogs that he sells.
Our breeder gets calls from all over the world, and delivers puppies and dogs to families like ours, and also to law enforcement agencies, and search and rescue agencies. It’s no wonder that there are always people at his home, and his phone rings off the hook!
If you are considering buying a German Shepard, please look at their website. www.jerland.com The site includes hundreds of pictures of puppies, and proud families with their new additions. I recommend Jerland to ANYONE! You’ll be glad you looked.
