Backyard breeders? Kraftwerk is hardly what they themselves would dismissively describe as “BYBs”: https://kraftwerkk9.com/
They are well known in the Euro/Schutzhund world.
7K for an older dog is not unusual, especially if that dog was highly bred and trained.
That said, I am not happy about Kraftwerk’s behavior - nor about most “reputable” breeders. Not that the customer was perfect - I don’t know the whole story either way. But most people will willingly go get the dog who’s left in a precarious situation just because they don’t want it “abandoned”, regardless of the BS “agreement” (paper or word?).
These “reputable” people have gotten too big for their britches in the last 20 years, and personally I think next time I will be going back to the local newspapers and “BYBs” like we did before I knew about dog shows. As long as *I* think it’s a pure GS and a good temperament and health, who really cares?
As for “who cares” about backyard breeding and whether an animal is purebred or not. Purity of the breeding isn't that important. But ethics of the breeder is VERY important.
Every breeder should do a few things, as a bare minimum:
1. Only breed if they are trying to improve the breed. Not breed just to make more puppies (we have too many already), and not breed solely to make money (again, we have too many animals dying in shelters already).
2. Do all appropriate breed-specific health and genetic testing on the sire and dam before breeding. Only breed those dogs who are clear of any genetic health issues. Each breed will have their own breed-specific tests that should be done (i.e., breeds who have higher incidence of hip dysplasia should be tested for that, etc.).
3. The lineage of both the sire and dam should be known, so that there can be a higher degree of confidence about what kind of puppies that particular mating will produce. For example, no one should breed two dogs who have a chance of producing deaf animals (the white gene in Boxers, for example). This scrutiny includes both health and temperament.
4. Only breed if they have a list of waiting puppy homes, so that they know they can place all potential puppies (for some breeds, this can be 14 or more puppies!) in loving, forever homes.
5. Screen all purchasers of puppies, to ensure the puppies are going to forever homes.
6. Provide health and temperament guarantees.
7. Either spay/neuter all puppies before they go to their forever homes, or sell them on spay/neuter contracts, to ensure that people aren't going to contribute to the overpopulation of pets by allowing those puppies to breed (this includes males and females).
8. Require that if a person or family cannot keep the dog in the future, the dog will be returned to the breeder. This prevents the dog from going to a shelter and being killed, or from being given away to fall into the hands of dog fighters (to be used for bait) or to be sold for medical research.
If a “backyard breeder” is not doing these things, as a minimum, then they are not breeding ethically, and they should not be breeding.