I am looking to buy a German Shepherd for search and rescue. How much should one cost?

I am looking within the next two years to buy a German Shepherd for search and rescue purposes. How much should a full blooded GSD cost. I have been so sites where the dogs cost almost 9 thousand dollars. I think that's a bit crazy but I'm not a professional in the business. Thanks for the help.

a well bred GSD, from the right working lines...could be around that much, its not crazy

Not all german shepherds are good for search and rescue and there is no guarantee that the pup you purchase will be good at it. Your best bet is to do alot of research from different breeders and look for a pup that has already started training since he is one that the breeder had chosen. It mainly depends on where you live but i have seen prices from 2500 on up.

The training alone could run about that much. If you invest that much in training you should start with a quality dog, and that will not be cheap.

A working line GSD will set you back at least 1200-1900. 9000 is extreme, the only dogs I've ever seen for that much money are either pre-trained working dogs suitable for military and police work where the personal protection training alone cost roughly 10,000, or toy breed dogs sold online to stupid people with too much money.Search and Rescue training does not require personal protection training. Research breeders who actively work their dogs in search and rescue, therapy, schutzhund, etc. I can see a "military grade" GSD or Malinois setting you back 9 grand, but a search and rescue prospect? No way.

In my breed (the Belgian Malinois) well-bred purebreds start at about $1500-2000... that's for your average pup with decent but not stellar potential for canine sports at 8-12 weeks old. For a pup with exceptional potential, I would expect to pay up to $5000. For a pup older than six months old that has had some training and further evaluations, I would add the value of the training - a year-old dog with foundational training (obedience work, introduced to components of specific work) usually goes for $10,000 while a fully trained dog (generally between 18 months and 3 years old) can fetch $20,000. So... $9000 for an older pup with some training and a great pedigree is within the normal range. Note that you can sometimes find a dog in rescue who has what it takes - I've worked with Minnesota Border Collie Rescue before and they've successfully places several young Malinois into working homes, they have some available now: http://bcrofmn.org/available-border-collies.phpGood luck on your search!

A few days ago I met the the number one German shepherd in the world (this was a euro work dog not american show) and this dogs puppies were being sold for $2000 and recently one was sold to the search and rescue. these dogs were the very top of the line however i also know a breeder who has German shepherds for sale at $1000 although they were not the worlds best many of her dogs have also worked for search and rescue.

YOU can't get one yet.Why? Because obviously you have NOT yet trained any pooch to a high level, and so no breeder who works in an S&R group will sell you a pup (because almost everyone ruins their first pooch). And the people who will sell you one won't KNOW or care whether you and the pup they supply are REALLY suitable.Until YOU know how to train, even a pre-trained (which is the only way a $9000 price can be justified) S&R pooch would be wasted, as you wouldn't recognise & respond to its various body-language signals.• So your better course is to volunteer to be a "lost person" for the nearest S&R group, and use those trainers as sources from whom you can enquire about suitable pups, and get training advice.If you can't find an S&R group yourself, send me your e-address (click my photo to reach my e-mail link) or email [email protected] a couple of the experts on tap for that group operate S&R groups in the USofA.Name your state & nearest town - and if you're not a Yank, state which nation you are in.Suitable pups DO turn up in other litters, but you won't yet recognise the behaviours that indicate suitability.And you DO realise that you can kiss goodbye to free weekends, once you have such a pup?There is a HUGE amount of familiarisation-&-confidence-building needed before Pup is 13 weeks old (16 at the latest), followed by you getting coached on the basics of training in a proper training club's weekly classes for about a year starting when Pup is 18-22 weeks old. And you will need to teach your pet to "use its nose" - most training clubs will include identifying scent cloths, but in addition to that "finding a lost article" type of nose-work, for you & your pet to become an S&R team the pair of you also need to know to use air-scenting to check whether there are people buried under "rubble" or hiding behind a tree or in a culvert, and know to use ground-scenting to follow a trail.And although you need to practise every day, weekends are the only time the participants in S&R can get together for group training and for certification as USAR, WSAR dogs, whatever your dog is good at, with ARDA, NASAR, SARDI, TRUSAR, ASARTECH, whatever - depending on where you live.And if you are one of those "Texas Syndrome" Yanks who think that everything has to be BIGGER to be any good, change your mind - an S&R pooch needs to be SMALL. (1) YOU will need to carry it out of the wilderness area in which it becomes injured, a trek likely to be more than 2 miles in rugged terrain. (2) When the team is helicoptered or monoplaned to a search area, the pooch has to sit patiently between your legs for the whole trip - usually with its head & fore-paws on your lap - and there isn't much room for just you, let alone you and a BIG dog. So look for a litter whose parents are small - the dam about 51cm/20 inches, the sire about 61cm/24". Parents with S&R certificates are ideal, but definitely require those with training qualifications in addition to the hip & elbow certificates all medium-to-large breeds should have before being bred from .â—™ Add http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source to your browser's Bookmarks or Favorites so that you can easily look up such as rescue groups, feeding, vaccinations, worming, clubs, teething, neutering, size, diseases, genetics.â—™ To ask about a breed, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. If you don't know how, click on the hot-link below; then, near top-centre of the screen, type the breed's real name in the field that says[Search for other groups...]Each group's Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification by the SAME people. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.Poo Bah, recommending http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly"In GSDs" as of 1967