I know it has been a very long time since I've posted, so I'm very excited to get started again!
I thought it would be a good time to share how I found the love of my life - my fur-kid Pebbles. It was quite the process, but I've ended up with 6 years of a healthy, (most of the time) well-behaved, joy-filled little pooch that I couldn't be happier with; and hopefully many years still to come. So here's how it all started:
The first breeder I went to was on a farm about 2 hours north of the city. She seemed very nice, raised the puppies in her home, which was very clean, and she even had puppies available! I got there and went through all my questions, played with all the puppies and their mom and was honestly, quite impressed. All the puppies were beyond adorable, but I held to the promise I had made to myself and left to visit the other breeders before making a choice.
The second breeder I went to was not the same experience. She had all the dogs (and she had TONS) out in runs, no where near her home. She proudly told me that all her puppies were on a raw diet and I began to ask about the process she goes through to prepare the food. She gave me a massive list of ingredients, and all the steps it takes to create this masterpiece of raw deliciousness for dogs. I then asked if it would now be a problem if I wanted to change the puppy over to organic kibble and wet foods .... Her answer was more than concerning: "Oh that's no problem at all - at this age you can just switch it and they'll be fine". Ummmmmmm ... Last I checked, you don't do that to a dog at any age! A change in food must be gradual and going from raw food to kibble would have to be more gradual than most! Needless to say, I left without a puppy.
I called the third breeder and really liked her immediately. She told me she had two puppies available, and one in particular was really affectionate and cuddly - exactly what I wanted. The other was more out-going, not quite as affectionate, but had a huge personality - not quite what I wanted. She seemed to have no trouble spending time answering my questions on the phone, she was so passionate about the dogs, and she also had a lot of questions for me regarding the situation a dog would come home to.
I got to their awesome country home and was welcomed by a crew of 11 papillons happily jumping around the front lawn. She brought me inside to meet the two puppies and one of them was ALL over me! I didn't even get my shoes off before she was on my lap and licking my face - she followed me everywhere! We sat at their kitchen table and talked for quite a while about all things dog. The puppy was sure to get herself up onto my lap and promptly fell asleep. The breeder let me know that this was the dog she said was not as affectionate .... That was not the experience I was having with her!
The breeder looked at me near the end of our conversation and said "I normally never let someone take a dog after only one meeting, but I don't think that one is going to let you leave without her!" There was no doubt about it, my puppy picked me.
- her first day at home with very scraggly tail fur!
~Ash & Pebbles
