Lifestyle Branding Shoot in Photo and Video | featuring Palos Verdes K9

Palos Verdes • Los Angeles • California

Stephanie Ip Photography

Posted on April 11, 2024

Palos Verdes is one of the few cities I have a love-hate relationship. It is a relatively quiet and remotely located city centralized among all the beautiful beach cities in Southern California. When I moved from Hong Kong, Rancho Palos Verdes became my new home. Coming from a convenient and fast-paced city like Hong Kong, the switch was difficult and the complete opposite of what I was used to. Situated in the mountains and cliffside, Palos Verdes is known for its stunning views of the Pacific Ocean, peaceful nature preserves, and safe family neighborhoods. The downside to it is that there are only a handful of shops and restaurants, and traveling down to the closest city is usually a good 15 to 30-minute trip just to get to the nearest freeway.

My appreciation of Palos Verdes did not come around until I started doing more lifestyle photography outdoors, specifically the picturesque nature in Palos Verdes. There are pockets of scenery a regular person will easily overlook when a photographer sees them as hidden gems. Over the 20+ years, I have been seeing the city gaining more traffic and out-of-town visitors visiting the town to fulfill their hiking and vacation bucket lists.

When a city like Palos Verdes continues to be discovered, more out-of-town visitors arise. Residents and luxury homeowners in the neighborhoods become more alert and safety conscious. This past month, I had the pleasure of working with Mike McGowan at Palos Verdes K9 on a lifestyle brand photoshoot, creating a brand story in still images and video for online use and content sharing on social media.

Palos Verdes K9 provides a one-stop service with elite protection guard dogs that are hand-selected and trained by a professional training master. As you read on to enjoy the images we’ve created for the company, get to know Palos Verdes K9 in case you know of someone, or are interested in obtaining a family dog that will safeguard the sanctuary that you call home.

PALOS VERDES K9
Contact | Mike McGowan

What inspired you to start this business?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – I’ve been training, competing with and selling working dogs for close to 30 years. Over the last few years I’ve seen an increase in the number of families buying dogs but not getting quality dogs and not getting what they want. I’ve also seen a lack of training and or bad training. Coupled with the uptick in crime and violent crime in the area, I decided to do some market research and see if there was a demand for high quality, healthy, smart, stable, well trained family dogs that are ALSO capable of, and trained to protect their homes and families. As it turns out, there is a demand for just that kind of dog.

How did you come up with your business idea?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – As mentioned above, I saw a demand for elite dogs but not many companies that are able to provide them or not provide the types of dogs I’d recommend for this very specific type of family (like mine). I watched several friends and neighbors get dogs that (despite their best efforts) ended up not being an enjoyable addition to their families. I know from experience that I can get people what they really want.

What problem are you trying to solve with your product or service?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – Having a dog is (can be) one of the most enjoyable additions to the family. But all dogs are not created equal, all training is not the same and most people aren’t professional dog trainers. My mission is to get people exactly what they want and provide the training and support so the total experience is enjoyable

What is your company’s mission and vision?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – I want to provide our clients in the South Bay, a stress free, accident free, overwhelmingly positive experience buying a dog. I also want to give those families piece of mind in a sometimes dangerous world so they know their home and their families are safe.

What’s different about your company that we can’t find in other protection K9 companies?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – There are a few other companies that offer a similar product in Southern California and a few other great companies spread out across the United States. The main difference is the service. Most other companies deliver a dog with a few days of training for the families. After that they may have a few videos, an owners manual and an email address. When you buy a dog from PVK9, you get me. Just a text or a short drive (or walk) away. I bring the dog to its new family at least a dozen times (usually a lot more) before it’s delivered and I visit the dog at it’s new home dozens and dozens of times after it’s delivered to make sure the dog and the family are adjusting well. I also do regular visits and training sessions with the families and the dogs for the entire life of the dog. I’d make the case that we have hands down the most all inclusive training program in the business.

What Is The Difference Between A Guard Dog And A Protection Dog?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – The terminology gets messed up a lot but generally speaking, a protection dog (at least the ones we sell) are bread, selected and trained specifically to integrate with its family. They also have the ability and training to protect that family with their lives. The guard dog (typically) is more of an area protector. They ‘guard’ the house or yard or business but are not usually part of the family. Also the guard dog has (again typically) less training, they just have the drive and temperament to keep people away, the protection dog is very highly trained.

What Kind Of Training Do Protection Dogs Receive?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – Even before the training, protection dogs are selected for temperament, that’s the foundation. Dogs that have the right temperament first get a ton of socialization with people and other animals. Then they get another ton of basic and advanced obedience training. At a certain point, play and obedience are combined to teach bite work (biting a decoy with a sleeve) and that slowly transitions into biting on command and biting to defend the dog’s family.

What Is The Process Of Buying A Protection Dog?

Mike from Palos Verdes K9 – We meet the family and discuss what they are looking for, we offer suggestions, answer questions and then start the process of selecting the perfect dog for the client. Once we identify the ‘right dog’ we show it to the client and let them decide if it’s what they are looking for. Once we select the dog, we spend a month (or more) with that dog living in one of our trainers houses where their training is fine tuned and their temperament is observed with an eye to making sure it’s the perfect fit for its new home. At the same time we also conduct multiple training sessions with the family so they are comfortable handling and training their new dog. Then once the dog and the family are ready, we integrate the dog with its new family over the course of a few days. After that, we visit the home every day for the first week and then several times over the first month and first year to make sure everything is going as close to perfect as possible.

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