Bravo
Well-Known Member
- Aug 27, 2004
- 5,822
- 15
On Friday afternoon and evening, I spent a lot of time on the phone with a neighbor who owns a Bichon and my veternarian. My vet was strict that I needed to examine both the parents of the puppy as well as the living environment of the dogs. Understand the breeding experience of seller. Get a female since you have large lab males in the house.
OK so I get up on Saturday morning and the pressure to get a new puppy is intense. My little one is asking about it incessantly and my wife is chiming in. The Progesterone is overwhelming the Testosterone by a mile...I start to cave.
Out comes the newspaper and I make a few calls. For one reason or the other, the sellers do not give me confidence or they have no females available.
I go to the Internet. A breeder in Macon, Georgia has good looking pictures of adult male and female which she has repeatedly bred. I call her and it sounds good. We face a 225 mile drive in each direction.
We drive to Macon and follow the directions off the Interstate and quickly find ourselves in a slum-ridden, poverty stricken area...by the time we find our destination street, I am uncomfortable with my wife and little one in the car....but we proceed anyway.
We drive up to the house...it is little more than a shack. These are poor people folks - a reminder about poverty. We go to the door and as they open it, we see a blur of white puffs barking and buzzing about the tiny front room of the house. We go inside.
The house is very clean and the dogs are beautifully kept. My vet's instructions are being played out to me...I check both mom and dad. They are very healthy, vigorous and playful dogs in very clean shape and their brood is running about the room...The woman shows me the paperwork and contract about buying the dog...I take a deep breath.
In the meantime, my little one has picked two females she likes. One is obviously the runt. My wife is able to steer her toward the larger dog. She is bursting with excitement.
OK here we go...I write a check for $800 (eight hundred dollars) for this tiny dog and we get in the car. We drive about 5-6 miles before finding a gas station in a good part of town with a decent bathroom and are homeward bound.
The dog is a joy. She is 12 weeks old and is very well socialized. The woman did a good job as the dog had never been in a kennel and lived in their house since birth. I liked the fact that the woman would not sell the dogs until they were 10 weeks old and pretty strong...
Of course the puppy yapped and moaned all night long on Saturday night. On Sunday night, we put her in the office with our female lab and she was quiet.
Off we go into the world of little toy dogs....God, the money...labs are big and cheap...this is like owning a Porche...
OK so I get up on Saturday morning and the pressure to get a new puppy is intense. My little one is asking about it incessantly and my wife is chiming in. The Progesterone is overwhelming the Testosterone by a mile...I start to cave.
Out comes the newspaper and I make a few calls. For one reason or the other, the sellers do not give me confidence or they have no females available.
I go to the Internet. A breeder in Macon, Georgia has good looking pictures of adult male and female which she has repeatedly bred. I call her and it sounds good. We face a 225 mile drive in each direction.
We drive to Macon and follow the directions off the Interstate and quickly find ourselves in a slum-ridden, poverty stricken area...by the time we find our destination street, I am uncomfortable with my wife and little one in the car....but we proceed anyway.
We drive up to the house...it is little more than a shack. These are poor people folks - a reminder about poverty. We go to the door and as they open it, we see a blur of white puffs barking and buzzing about the tiny front room of the house. We go inside.
The house is very clean and the dogs are beautifully kept. My vet's instructions are being played out to me...I check both mom and dad. They are very healthy, vigorous and playful dogs in very clean shape and their brood is running about the room...The woman shows me the paperwork and contract about buying the dog...I take a deep breath.
In the meantime, my little one has picked two females she likes. One is obviously the runt. My wife is able to steer her toward the larger dog. She is bursting with excitement.
OK here we go...I write a check for $800 (eight hundred dollars) for this tiny dog and we get in the car. We drive about 5-6 miles before finding a gas station in a good part of town with a decent bathroom and are homeward bound.
The dog is a joy. She is 12 weeks old and is very well socialized. The woman did a good job as the dog had never been in a kennel and lived in their house since birth. I liked the fact that the woman would not sell the dogs until they were 10 weeks old and pretty strong...
Of course the puppy yapped and moaned all night long on Saturday night. On Sunday night, we put her in the office with our female lab and she was quiet.
Off we go into the world of little toy dogs....God, the money...labs are big and cheap...this is like owning a Porche...