Complaint Review: Kraftwerk K-9 Wayne Curry

We were shopping for a family dog intended for protection, obedience and camaraderie for our large family, including 5 children ages 5 to 16.  As business owners of a sizable organization, we felt it was important to make an investment in a dog that would primarily serve as a protection asset for our home when we were away and our children when they were playing outside of our home. 

I reached out  to Kraftwerk K9 after reading an article about them, and was connected with Wayne Curry, the owner immediately.    Wayne spoke with me at length about his current inventory of highly trained German Sheppard's.   Mr. Curry recommended a female Shepherd named Tara that he stated was  his "prize asset."   He marveled over her physical appearance, her extraordinary achievements in training, Tracking, Obedience and Protection training, and insisted, in his words, “that Tara would be the dog by which all of our future dogs would be measured against.”  According to him he didn’t have another dog that could compare to her pedigree, training and overall physical perfections.  Here is the actual description, “Very rare and highly desirable. Large true black sable with flawless temperament and great looks.  Broad and powerful head with intelligent expression. Substantial build with strong bones and very good proportions. Highly accomplished at a very young age. Well trained, reacts quickly and without hesitation to all the commands. Rock-solid nerve base, self-confident and sure in everything she does. Reliable and social, adapts easily to any environment. Good manners inside the home and with children.  Able to transition easily from totally calm and relaxed to active on command. Excellent play drive shown by high anticipation for the ball, retrieves great and executes the obedience exercises quickly and with strong determination. Active drive level in the guarding exercises and hard grips on the sleeve in protection.  Comes from famous top working bloodlines known for health, vitality and high level performance abilities. Hips and elbows certified a1.”

After discussing all of the above in great detail about Tara, I agreed to move forward with her at a huge cost!  But I thought I was purchasing the best, therefore was ready to pay a premium for her.    We were told a credit card would be needed to hold the dog and that the purchase agreement would be forthcoming.  Much to our surprise payments were drafted immediately that day prior to receiving a formal contract laying out the terms of our agreement.  We  later received an electronic fully executed copy of an agreement that Wayne Curry’s staff at Kraftwerk K9 signed on our behalf.  I was a disturbed at the fact that we received a fraudulently signed agreement and attempted to call and discuss this with Mr. Curry immediately, but was told he was unavailable.   At this time, I was also informed that the tickets had been purchased for Tara to be flown to us.  At this time I informed the receptionist that I needed to speak to Mr. Curry because we were already progressing out of our verbal agreement and I also wanted pictures of the dog.  I never did receive any call back from Mr. Curry and the money was drafted from our accounts. 

Upon receiving the dog, she was visibly shaken and confused which I attributed to her long journey by herself.  I then noticed that Tara had a broken front K9 tooth!!    I immediately called and emailed Mr. Curry, knowing that this is first and foremost a protection dog that needs her most important weapon her front teeth.  He did not take my calls or respond to my emails.  The receptionist told me “The dog went out perfect, there was absolutely nothing broken and never had been.” 

At this point I was VERY nervous about our decision to do business with a man that was capable of forging a purchase agreement from his computer, sell a dog for a premium that potentially had a major tooth issue, and absolutely would not respond to emails or phone calls to discuss a problem a customer had with their brand new dog.  This is when I began to suspect that Kraftwerk K9 may not be what they put themselves out to be.  That’s when I started looking further and found these stories on Yelp, Ripoff Report etc., and was starting to realize this wasn’t an isolated incident and there was indeed cause for serious concern. I immediately took Tara to the vet, to examine her broken tooth,  to which he took one look at the tooth and said the tooth was a previously broken tooth that had been repaired before. 

In the meantime Tara’s obedience, mental stability and protection instincts are nonexistent.  She runs out of the house every time the door opens and does not respond to her commands.  She has severe separation anxiety when we leave the house and barks and whimpers for hours.    As far as real threats we have had strangers come right on our property without so much as a glance from Tara, as a matter of fact she just wants to play with them so she brings them a chew toy.  I expressed our frustration with this behavior with a phone call to the director of training at Kraftwerk and emails.  Mr. Curry has NEVER ONCE called me back since the day he endeavored on his hour long sales pitch. 

After further research into the background of the training documents supplied with Tara, we found that these documents were also forged.  The time frames to which the documents state she was  in Germany training, she was claerly in Wayne Curry's custody in Washington.  We contacted the trainer in Germany as well about Tara's training, to which she advised that Tara was not trained to the degree to which the paperwork supplied to us stated. 

After reviewing all of the other complaints, this seems to be Wayne Curry's way of business.  Do not make the same mistake we made!