FAQ

Yes.

Yes – in fact more than three quarters of all dogs we see have dog aggression/reactivity and/or human aggression/reactivity. The first step is determining what the cause of the problem is, and then creating a roadmap to fix the issues. 

Unfortunately, the German Shepherd (GSD) breed has been put through the ringer of bad breeding throughout the years. Due to its popularity, it has become a target for hip & elbow dysphasia, digestive problems, and a whole slew of other issues. As a FREE service to anyone, if you are in the market for a German Shepherd puppy, please give us a call. We will put you in touch with reputable breeders that have a history of producing quality GSD lines without health problems that are sociable, trainable and all around a good representation of the breed.

Definitely.

16 Weeks – but you can start earlier.  If you are going to pay us, it makes more sense to start at 16 weeks once the brain is more developed and they are a little less ADHD.

Its tough to get into the world of dog training.  My advice – read everything you can about it, volunteer your time with a pro, intern, ask questions, trial and error.

Cash, Checks, VISA, MasterCard, AMEX, Discover.  Most programs require a non-refundable deposit to secure your spot in our calendar. 

We are not open to the public on weekends, but do work with dogs in our Stay & Train program.

We start at 9am.  Last call for evening appointments is 5:30pm. 

Yes!  Our building meets all Department of Defense / Department of Agriculture standards.  We have state of the art kennels as well as monitored controlled access.  As of April 2018, we partnered with EPS Security for monitored fire protection and security.  We have 24/7 video of the facility and grounds!

Yes. $30/day ($35/day during holidays). To our knowledge – we are the least expensive boarding option in West Michigan where the dogs still get out of the kennels for playtime and fun.

We will need to find out.  We look at dozens of puppies for our protection program to find the perfect candidate.  Generally, most dogs are not capable of doing protection.  However, we can do an evaluation to find out!  If you haven’t purchased a puppy yet — let us help!

As of January 2019, we will no longer be training service dogs for persons with disabilities.

No – as of January 2019, we will no longer have service dogs available. We will continue to train on a case by case basis. We will continue our donation program of fully trained service dogs for veterans.

We wanted to partner with the best companies out there for K9 equipment – and LOF Defence produces some of the best products on the market. As of January 2018, we are the only distributor for LOF Defence products in the United States. 

The short answer is yes. Give us a call if you need products from their website – www.lofdefence.ca

Traditionally we have taken in surrenders for many reasons – trained/fixed them and then gave them away. We saw the number of surrenders skyrocket in 2017, and while we enjoy taking a problem dog, fixing it and finding a good home for it, we are also a business. We were spending a lot of payroll hours training dogs that were ultimately given away for free. Our policy for 2018 is this – if you need to surrender your dog, we will evaluate it (free of charge) to determine if it could be put into a working role. That job could be a detector dog (arson, narcotics, explosives, bed bugs, SAR). If the dog has potential for police work (and most do not), then we would take them into our police canine program. If the dog doesn’t have the drive to have a job, but they don’t have many issues, we will take them in to re-home them. If the dog has no potential to work, and has many many issues, then we will not take the dog. 

We are looking for untrained working line dogs that have the potential for a Specialized Search and Detection (SSD) role, Military Working Dog (MWD), and Police role. If you breed Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds, or German Shepherds, we should talk. We will buy your dogs, foster them and train them for these roles.

Absolutely. What we have in-stock is on our Available Dogs page. We get them from varying places – owner surrenders, puppies we raise out of our litters, shelter dogs, and dogs imported from Europe. If interested, please call or email us directly.

We offer a 10% discount on all training programs to First Responders (Police, Fire, EMS, Dispatch), and Active/Veteran Military Members.

The short answer is yes. However, we are not like the big box kennels that have hundreds of dogs on demand ready to be sold. Almost all of our dogs are raised by employees or foster families. This ensures a well-rounded confident/social dog with the right drives for the job. Check out our Available Dogs page to see what we have in the pipeline. If you’re department is looking for green dogs with a foundation of bite/grip work, tracking and narcotics detection, we offer that as well.