Ray,
A few things to consider here:
1) If you are looking for a PPD, then perhaps a Sch 3 dog is not what you are looking for unless you have it looked at by some one who knows what they are doing. Remember that the work that these dogs do (Sch 3) is all in prey drive and not in defense drive and there are very big differences there.
2) Even Ed, once he gets a dog that has a title on it will goes through all of the foundation work for even a tittled dog. So do not think that just because the dog has a tittle that the dog will perform for you as he did for the handler that put the tittle on the dog in the first place.
3) Me personally, I would not consider getting a tittled dog with no personal experience, that could be real trouble for you in the future. You may get a very dominate dog and with out knowing how to handle the dog you could run into some real troubles down the road. Evan if the dog is not a domiante one, can you handle a dog with this much drive and focus?
4) If you are wanting to take a dog like this and make it a PPD dog, make sure you work with some one who knows how to do this and it will cost you some big $$$ along the way.
Have you been to a trail before and know just what these dogs are doing and in what drive they are in at the time they are doing it?
Yes I agree with you on the house and car thing, but remember a house and a car are not high drive dogs, in a car you control the amount of speed the car will go and a house is not going to bite you if you make an error.
I was like you at one time and wanted a tittled dog, then I read and studied this board and came to the mind set that if I wanted a dog of this nature it was best for me to get a puppy and raise it and watch it and train it myself so I knew how to handle a dog of this nature. Maybe you are an experienced handler, if you are not an experienced handler you might want to reconsider getting a dog of this nature, they can be a very big libility, after all if he ever did bite some one under your watch you would have a dog that the courts would look at as a dog that was trained to bite and your lack of experience can lead you into big time trouble.
Not to rain on you or anything like that but be very careful with getting a tittled dog, they more than likely have been with experienced handlers and they will know right away if you are or are not and will take every advantage they can along the way.
Jay

fantastic post jay,

i was wondering about the liability issue myself. the words "bite trained" and "attack trained" carry a lot of weight in a court room, especially if you can't prove yourself an experienced handler. titling the dog yourself would go a long way to establishing your experience.

Food for thought,and all very valid points.I will give some thought to them all

thanks
RAY

Ray,

I have a GSD I bought as a puppy. Good pedigree, titled parents. He was a birthday present for my son. The entire family loves him, the entire family takes care of him. I'm doing most of the training myself. He is a pet, we aren't interested in getting any titles, though we are leaving that open for the future.

We looked over this puppy. We met his parents. We brought him home and experienced that wonderful puppy energy. We went through house training him. Teaching him not to jump on people. All that stuff. We hired a professional trainer to work with us for 5 sessions, it was money well spent. He's almost a year old now, and as we continue to work with him, and see him beginning to mature, he just keeps getting better and better to have around and with the family.

But you know, he is my son's dog. And someday my son may leave home and take the dog with him. And my wife and I enjoy having him so much, that we will probably get another dog. But you know what? We're both in our 50's now, and I'm not sure we'll want to go through the house training, the manners, that kind of thing. So we're thinking maybe we'll want to go with a trained dog.

From where I am sitting, I don't see anything wrong with you wanting to purchase a trained dog. As you say, you don't have to build the house to enjoy it.

In our experience, we met our pups parents, and we watched his sch3 sire working out in the field. I would recommend that you try to evaluate the dog you purchase in person. If you can't do that, maybe ask for video.

Good luck.

 Quote: ray tallan

anyone know of a gsd sch3 for sale for a decent price

Hello Ray,

There is some good advice on here already. I think you need to start with your goals with the dog.

1. Do you want the dog as a personal protection dog only? If yes, there is the question of HOW MUCH protection you really want from the dog.
2. Do you intend to do sport work/Schutzhund competition with the dog? If so, at what level?

What you might want to do is to visit a few Schutzhund clubs/trainers to find someone who trains and works with the kind of dog you want. They often have contacts and would be able to find (and test to be sure) the dog that fits you best.

In any case, you will also want to keep up with the dog's training. If the dog is a "real" dog or a higher level sport dog, you need to keep them active and working and spend time keeping the dog in top shape for the work and obedience.

best of luck,

Alan

Jay, I couldn't have said it better.
We have a friend of my sisters that purchased a Schutz 3 dog for
$20,000 and this family had NO idea what that meant and how to handle a big dog.Any way , they bought it for personel protection and when I was at her house, and to say the least I could not wait to see a $20,000 dog! I wouldn't have paid 500 for him.But anyway they love this dog, when she walked me outside her dog was with us and running across the street to pee on their neighbors tree and she says to me , I give him the command "voraus" and he goes potty ,isn't it great the way they train their dogs in Germany? I thought to myself how in the h.ll do you make the money you make.And on top of that she said the breeder that sold her the dog came(for an extra $1,000) to show her how the dog would protect them and he wore a sleeve! I told her before I left,"don't cancel your Home Alartm System!

By the way, I had not meet/know her prior to her buying the dog ,I could have saved her thousands,and educate her onPPD dogs.

There are a lot of crap schIII adults come in from Germany & sold for copius amounts of money because the buyer does not have enough knowledge. There are also good ones, but do nothing in the hands of the inexperienced due to the dog having no respect. My advise is you should go to clubs & get to know exactly what is being done. You may also find someone at club with a schIII for sale. Be sure to have the dog vetted first.

eric great post