Zabron Rotich is reaping big after turning his passion for dog keeping into a thriving retirement business venture.
Based in Kericho County, Rotich is now a go-to person for companies seeking to lease dogs and clients wanting to buy properly bred puppies.
He mostly breeds German Shepherd which he argued are disciplined and easy to maintain.
The dog training venture comprises boarding kennels and a training ground for the furry animals located within his homestead situated along the Kericho-Kisumu highway.
Speaking to Kenya News Agency on Sunday November 5, Rotich stated that he retired after working for 36 years as an Agricultural Extension Officer.
However, his love for dogs began when he was three years old and his dad died leaving five dogs under his care.
“When my father passed on he left behind an old Peugeot 504 which was left parked for six months and I felt the urge to have a drive with it so that the engine would continue running without a hitch. When I was coming back the dogs started howling and came running towards the motor vehicle thinking this was their master. I felt the love they had for my late father and from that day I vowed to forever take care of dogs,” Rotich told Kenya News Agency.
German Shepherd Breed
Rotich owns six mature German Shepherds and they are all registered with the East African Kennel Club (EAKC).
“I like German Shepherds because they are all-round dogs. It can do all the work you can think of and it is ranked as an intelligent breed of dogs. During my years of breeding and training them I discovered that dogs are in two categories show line and work line. The dogs breed for just show line purposes are docile and hardly bark but I was interested in work line dogs which are good for personal protection, tracking, retrieval, and detection of narcotics and they act as aides for visually impaired people. All my dogs are registered with the East African Kennel Club (EAKC) and one of my dogs took position two during a contest held by EAKC in Nairobi last year,” added Rotich.
Having built a vast network, Rotich charges Ksh1,000 for hiring a dog for an assignment and sells puppies for Ksh60,000 each. At the moment, he has clients from all over East Africa.
“I teach people how to train and handle dogs be it security firms or dog lovers where I cover three units and each unit has a fee notably obedience classes at Ksh15,000, protection training at Ksh15,000, and tracking and rescue at Ksh20,000. I also sell puppies depending on their age and weight from Ksh60,000 but I always ensure they are fully vaccinated against Parvovirus twice and DHLP which consists of distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, and parainfluenza. Each of these diseases is very contagious and can be deadly to a young puppy. I currently sell one German Shepherd puppy for Ksh60,000. A client from Tanzania bought one of my German shepherd dogs for Ksh200,000 in 2021,” noted Rotich.
