Price to value ratio of dogs
The price to value ratio of a protection dog for sale is highly subjective. What is valuable to one person could be totally useless to another and vice versa. When pricing individual family protection dogs we are looking at the dog as a commodity that we can sell. If a certain breed, sex or age range is selling quicker than others, then the price for that product will go up until supply reaches or exceeds demand. So, demand is a big factor in pricing.
Salability of Protection Dogs
Another big factor is salability. Some family guard dogs are awesome in themselves, but have a certain look or size that makes them harder to market. Often the opposite can be true also. Some protection dogs have less training than others, but sell for more because they have a type that is more popular than others. Non-shedding dogs are good example of this situation. Simply the mere fact that they don't shed and are capable of protection work will make them more valuable than other breeds that shed, but are perhaps better trained because of supply verses demand for non-shedding dogs.
Age
Age is another factor in pricing. Sometimes we will find ourselves in possession of an older dog due to a divorce or life change situation that forces the owner of a nice dog to have to part with the dog. We will price older dogs down in price simply because they have less service life ahead of them, not due to any lack of ability on their part. The opposite can also be true. We can price a young dog with extremely high potential higher because we can see the amazing potential that the young dog has verses their littermates. Behavioral Problems. Sometimes a individual dog will be priced lower due to a behavioral issue such as they are not good with cats or children or perhaps they don't like to ride in the car. These issues make the dog overall more difficult for us to market, but they might be perfectly suited to someone in the right situation.
Owning a Protection Dog
The primary thing for you, the consumer, to understand about pricing is that we know the value of our dogs. If one dog is priced at $45,000 and another is priced at $145,000 there is a reason for that decision. Sometimes the factors we put into that decision will not be related to you and the lower priced dog could be perfectly suitable for you or perhaps the higher priced dog has marketable skills that are of no particular value to you and thus would be over priced for your situation.
So, ask and we will tell you exactly our thinking when we priced the dog you are looking to purchase. Be honest with us about your needs, wants and desires. We are very good at helping our clients match the right dog to their needs and their budget. We will be honest with you too. If you tell us that you want a fully off leash trained powerful personal protection dog that is good with kids, cats and crowds, but only have a few thousand to spend we will tell you that such an animal cannot be purchased for that price and anyone that tells you that they have such a dog for that price is either not very knowledgeable or they are flat out lying about the dogs ability and you will be the one left holding the bag after that sale.
