Nine years ago, Alex Nkwanga’s passion for pet dogs led him to a dog show in Nairobi, Kenya, having failed to find a well-bred and trained pet for his family in Uganda.
He got there only to discover that the German shepherd he went shopping for was priced at 400 USD, beyond his abilities. On returning home, he sourced for one locally at 650,000 UShs.
Seeing this difficulty and backed by his passion, he hatched an idea that has turned him into a professional dog breeder, trainer and exporter. His company, Savannah Giant Dogs, has now branched out from the German shepherd, into several other species.
Nkwanga says that about 90 percent of his clients are the expatriate community in Uganda. He sells a pet at 350, 000UShs while security firms which want trained dogs pay over 400,000 UShs. On average, he sells about 5 dogs per month.
He has also so far sold about 50 dogs to Sudan, Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa and the U.S. Nkwanga says that dog lovers abroad find it cheaper to buy dogs over his website.
The Savannah Dog Centre at Kyaliwajara, Namugongo Road, has expanded to contain a dog food and accessories shop as well as a school to facilitate people who want their dogs trained or kept for a while.
Training depends on needs assessment, he explains.
The middle-aged dog breeder displays parental affection towards his dogs. He cuddles the puppies and rubs the older ones behind the ears as he showers them with compliments.
The dog centre, which is ran as a family business has a capacity of 200 dogs, but breeding is limited to about 100 at a time because of the costs involved in sanitation, feeding, grooming and treatment. The centre now employs eight people.
Nkwanga says that he had to take a 3-months course at the Rivon International Dog School in the UK, to practice his passion professionally.
He says that high feeding and training standards are his only selling point since most Ugandans could just acquire dogs locally, that are not necessarily healthy or trained. He adds that potential clients sometimes get dogs from the Uganda Police.
Steven Byarabaha, the officer in Charge of the Police Dog Unit says that individuals who seek for their dogs to be trained by police pay 10, 000 UShs per session. Sometimes, he adds, the police give away its excess dogs freely to individuals.
Source: https://ugandaradionetwork.net/story/dog-breeder-reaps-from-his-hobby-?districtId=478
