Lori Morell, from Columbus, Ohio, has just entered the Shark Tank. She is the owner of Priority One Canine, and is seeking $75,000 in exchange for 15% of her company. Training a dog takes a lot of time and patience, Lori starts, but your best friend is there when you need him the most.
Priority One Canine On Shark Tank
Lori entered into the Shark Tank with an obviously well-trained German Shepherd by her side, but as she speaks, a man in a puffy, protective jacket sneaks out the same door that Lori had entered through, a club-like weapon at the ready, but the clever German Shepherd detects the intruder and spins to immediately attack. The dog gives an impressive display of disarming the intruder and taking him down, and Lori commands in German for the German Shepherd to retreat back to her side.
Of course, all five of the Sharks are amazed by the level of discipline showed by the dog. Shark Lori and mark both comment that they want the dog, and the man takes off his hood and introduces himself as Wade Morrell, Lori’s husband and co-owner of Priority One Canine. Wade continues on about Priority One Canine, saying that they train some of the world’s most elite body-guards, or body-dogs rather. These dogs can be used for personal, home, and familial personality, and Lori explains that many people typically do not think of a canine as an effective bodyguard. However, the average police response time is 7 to 10 minutes, Lori says.
Each canine is hand-selected and trained to meet the individual’s needs, whether it be for protection, perimeter or even personal security while at home or in a new location. The German Shepherd punctuates Wade’s point by grabbing onto his arm one more time, before Lori yanks him down and commands him in German to sit. Robert immediately jokes that he needs to see the demonstration again, asking for Kevin to get into the big, puffy clothes, and then turns to more serious matters, asking Lori what language she was commanding the dog in. As it turns out, it was in fact German/Deutsch.
Robert then asks if the dog is so “tightly-wound,” or if the dog is able to be a family pet, but Lori reassures Robert that all Priority One Canines are also able to be pets. Shark Lori notices the German Shepherd staring intently at Wade, and Lori explains that the dog is actually in “protection mode,” and then demonstrates further. She loops around, the dog never stepping away more than 6 inches from Lori’s side, and then she takes the dog out of the Shark Tank to get some rest. Kevin asks about the animals that can be properly trained, joking if a chihuahua could be used, but Wade explains that they choose from three main breeds; the German Shepherd, which was brought into the Shark Tank, the Dutch Shepherd, and also the Belgian Shepherd.
Lori then reaffirms that each dog is chosen for the client’s individual needs; the Morells actually take a trip to the client’s house to see what type of environment the dog will live in, if the family has any kids, and what the dog will be used for. Robert then asks for numbers, insisting that he needs a dog; Lori explains there are three training packages from level 1 to level 3, and level 1 starts at $20,000 as the entry training package. This also includes the dog; the level 2 costs $30,000, and level 3 costs $40,000.
Each level of training includes more advanced and specific training – for example, a level one dog would be the type of dog that would go to the door upon hearing the doorbell ring and bark and look threatening. At level two, higher levels of training are brought to the dog, such as jogging or car-jacking scenarios, and at level three, the dog falls just short of military and police canine training.
Shark Lori admits she is curious about the background of Morells and accurately guesses a military background; Wade is a 14-year veteran of the United States Army, which includes tenure in the S.W.A.T force, the standard police beat, and he even has such valid certification that numerous police departments all over the United States actually look to Wade for instruction on how to train their dogs. Lori was more involved in corporate America, but she once told Wade that she really wanted to work with animals, and Priority One Canine was eventually born.
Robert asks about numbers, wanting to know “how many dogs were sold” before he stops himself and mulls on the appropriate language of the question. So far, 11 dogs have been trained and “placed” by Priority One Canine, all within the past year and a half. Revenues so far total up to around $150,000, with the Morells taking home about $70,000 in gross profit. However, Kevin admits that the inherent problem with Priority One Canine is scalability, and the best way to profit off of his investment in the business. Shark Lori feels differently, mentioning that Priority One Canine would be the perfect venture for Kevin, joking at his more savage side.
Wade then mentions if they were to perform 20 level 3 training and placings a year, an average of one every two weeks, they would be operating at $800,000 per year. Wade admits he isn’t a risk person and has never been one, but this money seems so high for a company that is just working out on getting started. Robert concedes that there is a fantastic living to be had, but even at $800,000 revenue per year, scaling that is incredibly difficult. He continues on, saying that the problem lies within the nature of the business – it is such a hands-on business and requires people like Lori or Wade. Unfortunately, Robert is a customer today and not an investor, and is the first Shark out of the deal.
Kevin says that even with a million dollars in revenue yearly, there is still little attractiveness to the average investor – an investor looking to invest in a company that makes millions has access to literally thousands of choices. As a venture capitalist, Kevin or any of the other Sharks could choose one of a thousand different directions to use their money, and there is just no scalability in Priority One Canine. Kevin is also out.
Lori and Wade Morrell are seen here with their six year old Dutch shepherd Alli. The Morrell’s are owners of Priority 1 Canine, a company that trains dogs for a variety of security work. Priority 1 Canine will be one of the exhibitors at this years Dispatch Home & Garden Show. The show will be on February 23- March 3 at the Ohio Expo Center.
Wade says that the two of them need business expertise to help bring the business into the mainstream, and even at two million dollars of gross revenue, they should have no problem scaling. Daymond agrees that with two million dollars of income, that would be a great living for just the two of them. Mark then explains that there are different types of investments – there are those who just need cash to fulfill inventory or bail themselves out of a situation, and the other type is a business who needs contacts, expertise, and other intangible things. Mark claims that these contacts and the expertise is expensive from the investor’s point of view, as time is money. When the Sharks talk about raising sales to $2 million, that simply isn’t enough because of all the time that will have to be invested in making the business successful, which isn’t worth it to the Sharks. Mark is the third Shark out.
Lori calls the husband and wife couple impressive, saying that she knew the second that the two stepped in she could immediately detect a military background. Lori then tries to sum up what the other Sharks are saying – the business is so viable and low risk, there really is no need to scale Priority One Canine to be making more money than they currently are. If there is a great living made off of Priority One Canine, sometimes that’s all you would need – it would be hard for the Sharks to make a profit or get overly invested in the business, so Lori is also out. However, she mentions that she sees the Morells as winners.
Daymond is the final Shark remaining, at which point Wade says that he knows Daymond is a dog guy. Daymond jokes if Wade could come over and teach his dogs, Blake and Spartan, to “pee on the wee-wee pad,” that would be more than enough, but Daymond ultimately agrees with what the other Sharks are saying. Daymond is more a manufacturing, distribution, and licensing guy, but he has no idea on how he can work on the scaling for Priority One Canine to generate a return on his investment.
Unfortunately, Lori and Wade Morell do not find an investment in Priority One Canine.
Priority One Canine Now in 2018 – After Shark Tank Update
Priority One Canine is still in operation, but due to the nature of the business, you can’t just go on Amazon to find a review to glance at the reviews and see how exactly the business is doing. Priority One is still in business, and must be doing quite well thanks to their appearance on Shark Tank. Priority One recently launched their revamped website, which includes a variety of different literature about the program. There are also a sample of dogs as well, as the visitor to the website can find more information about dogs that are for sale and placement. “Erie,” a Belgian Malinois, is currently the only canine available for sale – both Mikey and Eros, a Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd respectively, have been placed in homes to serve as faithful guardians and companions.
