How to Get a Good German-Bred Pup for E600 (Maybe) - Page 1

1. Live in Germany 2. Have a neighbor who breeds good puppies 3. Form a long, friendly relationship with that neighbor (read: years, not days) 4. Wait till that neighbor breeds a litter you like. 5. Convince your good friend-neighbor to sell you his puppy for E600. 6. Walk across the street. 7. Pay the neighbor E600. 8. Walk back across the street with your puppy. Anything more than that and the cost of the puppy goes up FAST! Shelley

Hi Shelley, average puppy cost here in Germany anywhere between 600 & 900 €uros. Of course, some will charge more .... hey, if they find buyers who will pay that price, fine with me. For the price mentioned above you will definetly be able to find a pup out of stable & sound breeding, without ki**ing someones b*d ! What makes a pup out of Germany more expensive for US Citizen, is the added shipping cost, or even worse if you buy through a broker. But if you deal with a breeder directly this is the pricerange for a well bred pup. Regards Ulli Dresbach

Precisely! Not every German breeder lives near a major international airport and is willing to take time from work (most German breeders have jobs too, you know!) and buy fuel to transport the puppy to an airport either. Most everything in Europe costs a lot more than it does here: fuel, long-distance calls, crates... things we take for granted from breeders here. It only costs me $25-30. in fuel and tolls to deliver a puppy to one of the two major airports within 100 miles of me. A 400 crate can be purchased at Walmart for $59.95. Health certificate: $40-50. I do not add these charges to the price of the puppy as they are not prohibitive, but in Germany they are MUCH higher. Also, normal individuals cannot ship a puppy from Germany to US on their own. They must use a licensed shipping agent. Not all airlines allow live animals to be brought home as excess baggage anymore either, forcing us to ship our dogs as cargo now. (at 4x the cost) Continental used to let us bring 3 pups home in one crate for $120. Those days are gone forever. Now you can bring home 2 pups, or one adult in a 500 crate, as cargo, for about $750. The "gravy days" of importing dogs are OVER! SS

Shelley, I do not distinguish, between foreign buyer and local buyers. Once i set a price, that is the price - period. To give you a idear : pup =700 €uro (pink papers,tatoo,1st vacs and deworming,healthcert) Heck, if i am dealing with nice peopel even the AKC - Bescheinigung comes for free ! Frankfurt - Atlanta, GA ( including crate) = 370 €uros Pet Air (flying with Lufthansa) charges for pickup from my house 140 €uros, i will do it for 80€uros, thats to cover my costs. So total will be : 1150 €uros (roughly 1500US$) Many time i find pups in the US to cost more than that. What i also like to mention is the fact, that it is the buyers choice to import a pup or not. The breeder is not to blame for the added costs. I do not have experience with shipping agents sofar, but it seems it is with dogs just the same as with anything else, the more peopel that are involved, evry single one seems to make his cut - once again the dog was purchased for a set price ! Ulli

I have imported several working line pups from Germany, and 600 Euro was the average price, although I have paid 400-800 Euro, and the shipping is as Ulli described. Of course showline pups seem to run higher. But these were all good pups from well-established bloodlines and kennels. Petair has always been easy to deal with, and will take a credit card number by email for the transaction. Added costs jump when you want the pup shipped to a local airport not served by Lufthansa, and not having a customs port of entry. If the dog arrives at a major airport and you (or a friend) cannot be there to clear the paperwork through customs, you must have an licensed customs agent do this in your stead, which will cost (on average) $250 extra. Depending on your distance from such a major airport, it may well be worth the money to pay an agent, if the time and gas would cost you every bit as much.

I got a very nice pup from Kirschental Kennels recently for 800 Euros and 400 Euros shipping included everything else, such as crate, trip to airport, Bescheinigung,there was a small bank transfer fee also. Then a friend picked her up and reshipped her to me, it was $115 USD. Not the breeders fault for shipping costs. The total still fell way below what most US kennels are charging for the same quality and bloodlines. I doubt I would ever buy another dog/puppy here in the States. JMO!

I feel compelled to discuss this. We buyers, want German bred puppies because of the supposed fact that the Germans "do it right", as far as breeding, raising, trialing the parents, controlling the breeding, etc., etc. When I was shopping for a showline puppy, I could have purchased from a U.S. breeder and paid $1500.00 to $2000.00 USD or purchased an import for $1500.00 to $2000.00 USD. I am sure both pups would have had the "chance" of being equal, however, because of the SV, I felt that the chances of the pup being of "higher caliber" were better, than the chances of the AKC pup being of "higher caliber". I would add that because of U.S. laws, and the closer proximity of a U.S. breeder to us, it is "safer" to buy from a U.S. breeder. So, I guess it is a "wash", a "tie", when all things are considered. However, the unknown element is that humans always want the exotic, the less easily attained. We want a German Shepherd Dog actually from Germany, just because it is actually from Germany. Sort of like when an American women wants a boyfriend with an accent. Any accent. Because he is a little more exotic than her friends boyfriends.

Hi DO IT RIGHT..... No need to feel compelled, but i am getting a little tired of all the things like " oh , you will only get the pups that the german breeders dont like, that are of less quality, these pups are to expensive and so on &on" ! I can agree with you, that you might feel safer to buy in your own country, but with all the diffrerent laws in different States, deals can go haywire, and they do, as we can read in here nearby on a daily basis. Unfortnately, there are peopel all over the world, trying to make a buck and beeing a crook. Afterall, a pup is a crapshot - period. And that counts for the pup bought in the US or Germany or anywhere else in the world. Just my 2 cents. Ulli

I too feel compelled to put my two cents into this post...Because I have bought dogs from breeders/agents...All over the world...have gone overseas and picked out my own to having the pups...dogs...picked out for me...And have always been treated with honesty when buying from Europeans...If there's ever been a problem they take care of it for me...The only time that I've been taken was on a dog that I bought was from a breeder in the USA... This was a year old female that was not what they said it would be...and then I was told that they don't guarantee the "drives" in a dog...Also the dog was sick...and they made me jump thru hoops and they still weren't satisfied...

We had a fantastic experience buying a puppy from Germany. They took care of everything for us and we have a wonderful, , sweet, high drive, willing, happy female who is now 16 months old.