AlphaK9Kennels in South Carolina

[aje_762]

Hello DS Family,

I know this is an older thread but I felt compelled to post. I have an Alpha puppy from Bobby Fuller son of "Diablo" and "Lexi". I was told two brothers from his litter are in working programs (a PD in Virginia and MWD screening at Lackland). We are new to the breed and this is our first dog in many years. Alpha was not my first choice. We called other breeders, both starting with V, Mr. Flores wasn't advertising any breedings and we had zero chance of getting sought after CherCar pup. I didn't get any calls/emails returned and got a bit impatient. I talked to Mr. Fuller at length, discussed our concerns and he assured me he could find a puppy to fit in our family. We asked for a male, medium to high drive, environmentally stable and moderately social. I believe we got everything we asked for.

Our boy "Gunner" will be six months old this Thursday, we brought him home March 21st. We love him dearly and so far he has been amazing. Very smart, athletic and loves to please us. He is very people oriented and friendly to other dogs. I have not seen aggression of any kind from him. He's very much a puppy still and is over the top when meeting other dogs (HI! HI! Hi other dog! Let's! Go! Playyyy!) but he is learning to control himself. We keep introductions to dogs in public very short, 3-5 seconds. He wants to be friends with everyone, is very respectful to older dogs and is taking social cues well. He is very stable around loud noise in different environments: street fairs, downtown San Diego, desert camping and shooting guns, fireworks, none of this is a big deal to him. But if there is a siren nearby, look out, he will howl until it's gone. Kinda adorable I think.

Now in the last few weeks his protection drive has started leaking out. One night hanging out in the living room, he stares at the door and elicits a low volume "Brrroof". I look out the window and see a lady walking her three fuzzy little dogs. On a hike we can be trail side taking a water break and he will stop, stare up the trail and alert me to someone approaching. I expect and appreciate this kind of behavior from him because he is doing his job. He never, ever turns into a slathering, lunging, barking monster. Which is great because I think he will be huge. 6 months old nearly 23" tall at the whithers and 65 pounds already....

We just started IPO a month ago and our club trainer (who has titled 11 dogs) describes Gunner as a "stable, happy, healthy puppy". Not a high octane rock star, but that's not what I wanted anyway.

Would I buy from them again? Probably not, I would take my time, talk to breeders far in advance and place my deposit at a more well known program.