The $230,000 Dog

Not Julia...

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

Don’t call her a guard dog.

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.

Julia and her ilk have some of the same tracking and fighting skills as the dogs used in elite military units like Navy Seal Team 6, which took a dog on its successful raid of Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.

In fact, Julia was sold by a trainer, Harrison Prather, who used to supply dogs to Seal Team 6 and the British special forces. But then Mr. Prather switched to a more lucrative market.  “Either rich people discovered me or I discovered them — I can’t remember which happened first,” said Mr. Prather, the president of Harrison K-9 Security Services in Aiken, S.C...

$230,000 for a three year old dog?  I guess I can see that if you spent your whole professional life training the dog.   But for $230,000 it should find cute chicks, too.  Wait, nearly all dogs do that.

Julia’s was a controlled ferocity, which trainers distinguish from the anger manifested by ordinary dogs. When two dogs try to intimidate each other, they stiffen, growl, bare their teeth and stare intently. Protection dogs are trained to continue looking around and protecting their owners, not establish their own dominance.

And, when commanded, they are supposed to switch instantly from attack mode to pet mode.

“The dog has to get along with children,” Mr. Prather said. “The client is often a guy on his second family. He travels a lot, leaves his wife alone with the kids in a large house — maybe 30,000 square feet, so big you don’t even know what’s going on at the other side of the house. He wants peace of mind and a dog that his wife can handle. We don’t sell tank-stoppers.”

Also not Julia...

 Yes, it's better if they don't eat the new wife and kids.  Maybe...

“When you compare the costs of a full-time bodyguard versus a dog, the dog makes a lot of sense,” Mr. Curry said. “And the dog, unlike the bodyguard, can’t be bought off.”

Mr. Prather said one client, a well-known entertainer, came to him after first trying to ward off a stalker by hiring bodyguards.

“The stalker stabbed one of the bodyguards, got out of jail and started showing up again,” Mr. Prather said. “Then they got a canine, and they haven’t seen the stalker since. People just have an innate fear of animals with sharp teeth. We don’t want to be on the menu.”

Gimme a treat and I'll show you the good stuff!

So, just for reference, Siberian Huskies are lousy watch dogs.  They love people and don't have a suspicious bone in their bodies.  People who breed Siberians get other dogs to watch their kennels.  Basically, they're bred to pull sleds and not ask stupid questions about where they're going.  And to rest between trips...