Charles trains protection dogs for rich and famous
ASMALL business based near Swansea has Arab politicians and Middle Eastern royalty as customers, clients in Moscow and Los Angeles, along with rock stars and sports legends.
It is also in a market that is constantly growing.
Charles Wall has been rearing, training and exporting personal protection dogs for more than two decades from his facility in Cwmdulais.
By his estimate A1K9 has sent more than 1,000 dogs to around 43 countries worldwide.
The dogs are trained to respond to a number of situations, including the use of firearms, in a controlled manner and to respond to their owners’ instructions even in the most heated situations.
Mr Wall imports his dogs from the Continent, the gene pool there is better he says. The country he most often gets the dogs from is the Czech Republic, the reason being it was not that long ago they were working as border patrol dogs.
“So in fairly recent times, if you like, they would have still had to have worked for a living, so they have a better work ethic,” explains Mr Wall.
“When we bring them over they are 14-16 months of age. That affords the ability to be fully health tested, hips and elbows, and evaluated prior to us buying them.
“To train the dogs they are going to be with us for a year or more, so it is a big investment in time and the clients’ money going forward.
“They want a dog that is going to be as fit and healthy as could be possible as it is a financial investment as well as an emotional one.”
Personal protection dogs often become part of the family and will be expected to interact with members of the family.
“My dogs are fairly famous in that they have the ability to be nice and soft for the vast majority of the time, but they can be devastating effective when they need to be,” Mr Wall says.
Mr Wall and his team will work with the dogs for around a year before they are sold. The price ranges from £14,000 to £31,000.
“At the moment have about 33 or 34 at the kennel,” he says.
“They are not all spoken for. We tend to get the training done first, then clients will come and look at the dogs.
“Through the training of the dogs we build a close bond with them and we know exactly what they are like, what they like and don’t like. They are the same as human beings, all dogs are different.
“In a sense we are almost playing cupid with potential owners and the dogs we already have in the kennels.”
Mr Wall has seen a rise in interest in his industry in recent years, a reaction to the rise of violent crime, real or perceived, in the UK and around the world.
“Sometimes the fear of crime is worse than crime itself,” he says.
A1K9 hit the headlines in 2009 when former Formula One driver Nigel Mansell acquired a dog from the company for £15,000.
After Mr Mansell was assaulted outside his own home on Jersey he came to A1K9.
His first dog, Geisha, was with him for almost 10 years before she died. He has since taken delivery of a second dog.
When he purchased his first dog the former F1 driver told The Express: “Geisha has been an absolute delight to have in our home.
“She is extremely intelligent, robust, loving and incredibly protective of the family.”
The headlines caused by the sale was both good and bad for Mr Wall’s business.
The good was obvious – the publicity– but the bad was that anyone with a bit of experience in dog training suddenly saw pound signs.
“The fact is I am possibly a little bit different from others in the industry,” says Mr Wall.
“I have been going longer than most and I am not money driven. I am not desperate to make a sale. My problem is getting good dogs not selling them.
“That is not true of some of my competition who pop across to Europe, spend a couple of weeks training and will then effectively tell clients they have been working with a dog for months. Then the dogs might have been in the country a couple of weeks.
“My concern is one of these dogs that hasn’t had time and effort might take a little girl or boy out and that would spell problems for the industry.”
Mr Wall is protective of his clients, but is willing to divulge the names of some customers – The Prodigy’s Keith Flint, the former Prime Minister of Jordan and the the daughter of the ruler of Dubai.
When Mr Wall makes a sale the dog is either handed over to the new owner at the Cwmdulais facility or he accompanies the animal to its new home.
This means Mr Wall can clock up a few fair air miles. He has delivered dogs to the Middle East, Russia and a few weeks ago Los Angeles.
“We get to see some nice places and meet interesting people,” he says.
“You get to see other parts of the world and how the reasonably affluent live, how life is for them. Sometimes it can be a little bit awestruck. Incredible it really is.”
For now though he is back out to the kennels to carry on training.