For the Executive With Everything, a $230,000 Dog to Protect It

[Liberal_in_LA]

For the Executive With Everything, a $230,000 Dog to Protect It



When she costs $230,000, as Julia did, the preferred title is “executive protection dog.” This 3-year-old German shepherd, who commutes by private jet between a Minnesota estate and a home in Arizona, belongs to a canine caste that combines exalted pedigree, child-friendly cuddliness and arm-lacerating ferocity.

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He and others in the high-end dog training business say prices have shot up thanks to the growing number of wealthy people around the world who like the security — and status — provided by a dog with the right credentials. Moguls and celebrities now routinely pay $40,000 to $60,000 for a well-bred German shepherd that is certified as an expert in the sport of Schutzhund, which means “protection dog.” The price can go much higher if a dog does well at an international championship, as Julia did.

“She’s a top deal,” Julia’s owner, John Johnson, said as she escorted him around the grounds of his 15-acre estate outside Minneapolis. “She’s won awards. She looks at you, she’s got the most beautiful face.”

But $230,000?

“It’s a lot of money,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s the speed, the smartness, the quickness — and you would not believe the roughness that she has inside. She’s like a little pit bull when she bites. She has that model face, and then opens the gums up and lets you have it.” .

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/us/12dogs.html

[aquart]

1. This woman is insufficiently taxed.

[get the red out]

3. Good looking GSD though

I adore dogs and she's a nice looking dog, but I'm ok sticking with taking my low-budget pound pooch to her Canine Good Citizen class.

[bbinacan]

5. Which woman? n/t

[Tesha]

8. Oh no! They couldn't possibly afford to pay more taxes!

If they were to do so, how could they keep the dog
in (gold-plated) kibble????

I especially liked that part of the article where
the trainer was talking about his typical customer:
an executive leaving his wife home alone in their
30,000 square-foot (sic!) house.

Tesha

[aquart]

10. House that big you don't even need a personal trainer.

Just walk from room to room.

[OhioChick]

2. The filthy rich have to protect that wealth n/t

[LeftofObama]

4. If the poor and middle class people decide to rise up

all the guard dogs in the world won't save those assholes!

[Drahthaardogs]

6. The joke is actually on them,

most (but not all) Schuzthund or French Ring dogs see it all as a big game. That dog in the picture likely only hits the sleeve or the suit and would never ever hit a limb without the sleeve. The real serious dogs, are rare, and they go to the military or to the police.

[Canuckistanian]

7. Impossible

They have a dog that will cause fatal harm AND be gentle 100% of the time with children?

Where did they FIND this magical animal?

[Motown_Johnny]

9. I assume she will be bred so as to create more of the 40-60 K versions

It is the same with any prize animal

[Tesha]

11. After you paid all that money for Bonzo, would you let some peasant buy the $60K "economy" version?

NT

[KurtNYC]

12. $230K is high but $40K for a highly trained animal is mostly for the

training. Seeing eye dogs and service dogs can cost $10-$20K to train.

But a dog for protection ? A $230,000 dog that could be taken out by a $5 baseball bat -- someone's kidding themself.

[Heywood J]

13. Raise the top tax rate back to 90%.

If anyone needed any more of a reason to do so, here it is. While this is going on, students are duct-taping textbooks back together and putting buckets under the leaks, people without medical insurance are dying from once-trivial problems, soldiers continue to die overseas, and banks continue to foreclose on people who own their homes outright.