Bill Fleischer-Are His Dogs Really All That? - Page 2

What Kczaja said.

I knew nothing of German S/L.

Did a lot of research and passed on Bill, The prices are for suckers only. Have shown my pup. (1/3 to half price to what he charges) 3 times so far., in the midwest, deep south, and east coast.

Have not seen one of his dogs in front of my "economical" priced pup yet. So, you decide.

Rik

I own a fleisherheim puppy that I bought a few months ago and I will say that she is a sweetheart. Why would Bill's competition feel that getting on the internet and saying crap about him is useful. If you want to know about a puppy you should ask the people who own a puppy from a kennel he represents. I got Athena from Leah in Southern California and she is a great dog. I may not know all about showing but what was important to me was the kennel that she came from and how they raised and treated their dogs. I WOULD reccomend a flesherheim puppy but what do I know I just own one. The price may be high but I paid it and do not regret one dollar spent on her. When I purchased her I was thinking long term. Look how much people pay for a stupid car. How could a few thousand dollars over 15 years of love and happiness be worth trying to get a economical price. I trusted the person I purchased my dog from and to this day have no reason to feel any differently about my decision. Whatever dog you purchase just hope they live a long and happy life with you.
I Think that a Fleisherheim puppy is all that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some of you people on this website are just to serious about showing and working your dogs. Are they not your best friend first? Is that not what is most important? 

start with the SMACKTALK.  I know some of you can't resist!!!!

well, well,
i must say i got a great deal  for 1000 for my guy.
and i have as good as his dogs, pedigree is great.
you start with a top breeder , you are going to have to pay for it.
i cant see paying much more than 1200 for  his dogs of anyone else.
what  are people thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Athena, I'm not passing judgement on any pup and no smack talk from me.
 
I will say that the same quality/pedigree is available from lesser advertised breeders at a much more reasonable price.

And, really how else can one judge a breeding program. How many of those $7500 "ultimate pups" are actually out there winning. For that price it should be every one sold and every show entered.

Price paid never has and never will equate quality.

JMHO,

Rik

AthenasMom -- I agree w/what you said.   Definitely, best friends is the most imporftant.

Rik is 100% correct. I will say that many outstanding studs have been made available in the US because of Bill Fleischer.  That is something that benefits every breeder.  The puppy prices are still through the roof.

Athenasmom, so are you saying a pup purchased for $1500 as opposed to $4500 is less capable of giving its owner a lifetime of love? You are your pup love each other more because you paid triple? What does that have to do with anything? So because a rescue GSD doesn't cost anything that must mean its ability to be a loving companion is lessened? Money and love are the only two things in the dog world that AREN'T connected!

And actually, I have a female I purchased from a breeder in Ohio. He bought several of his dogs, including the pregnant mother to my female, from Bill Fleischer. I'm sure had the mother not sold and the pups been born to Fleischerheim I would have paid double (actually I would not have bought her at all). I spoke to Bill once as I was getting into GSDs. I remember it vividly as I did not care for the impression he made. I paid $2500 for her, she actually DID win many puppy classes, but she has bad hips.

Now I'm sure some of the bleeding heart pet owners on this board would think a frigid "show" person such as myself would dump her immediately, but guess what, 7 years later she is still living her life happily with me, with many AKC titles to her credit. It set my breeding program back by years because my dogs live in my home and obviously I can only have so many. It didn't matter because we love her. She did not go to waste just because I couldn't breed her, and she is adored every day and treated like the family she is. Get off your high horse, your insinuations that people who trial and show their dogs don't really love them is preposterous.

Bill Fleisher is a hardcore business man, in my opinion. He's been doing this for years, focusing previously on the tri-state area (affluent). I'm not sure, but I think his previous wife, Barbie, may have gotten into it first, and Bill turned it into a business. He used to have the Grabner's near Allentown, PA doing this for him. They kept the dogs. Now, I think he will use whomever he can find to place some breeding stock and ship puppies for him. That's what he was doing years ago. Not sure what he's up to lately, but I got the impression he had nothing much to do with the dogs directly. He just did the buying of imports and promotion, I think.

I bought some dogs.. Two of them. And, I took others that he apparently just wanted to dump. They were either chronically ill or beyond their breeding years. One was too old to breed, anymore. Another one was just starting to drag a hind foot from spondylosis, and was completely non-ambulatory within six months. Another had pancreatic failure and was impossible to keep weight on. She finally died of pneumonia. That was sad to see. She was a granddaughter of Dolf vom Lierberg! I got one good male out of the bunch, and he was a pleasant surprise, a mature SchH1 male with old Fiemereck and Busecker Schloß breeding, who was not being used there. That was a nice dog! The rest were all down on their luck.

As I recall, I paid $2,500 for the nice male and the old brood bitch. The others I took along with me as excess baggage.

The worst part of it is that he refused to ship the dogs to me, after I paid him. I had to fly out to Philadelphia, rent a truck and travel to Allentown then go by night with dogs, returning via the PA Turnpike, which was under construction at the time, and difficult to navigate. It was a difficult trip. Had I known, I would not have gotten involved. And, if I didn't pick them up (the two I paid for), they'd have been running up a boarding bill with the Grabners, who also refused to ship them (Karl had work commitments, and Erica didn't drive). All in all, not a good experience. But, this was all many years ago.

By the way, Bill's background is in pneumatic equipment. He used to be an exec for a big pneumatic company. He later founded his own company, Upneumat. Don't know what happened with that, and I cannot remember the name of the previous employer, but it was the big name in the industry.

I started this thread for THIS kind of info! We haven't had pups in years. Our female is going to be 7yrs. old in Jan. and my Big Boy was 3.5 when he passed. He was my best friend! We paid 700.00 for the female as a pup, and 1200.00 for the male. They have been wonderful additions to our family. We never even thought about price when we got them. They chose us. Its just that there are so many breeders out  there and I don't know who is on the up and up and who's not. I appreciate all the input this thread has generated!