The wife informed me yesterday she has been in touch with a legitimate, AKC registered breeder who had three shelties up for adoption. She had three photos of the puppies and the guy wasn’t asking for any money up front. They were cute puppies, two females and one male. My wife was sure she would fall in love with one of the three, and take the one that liked her the most.
We got in the car and headed off to meet the breeder, who lived only two hours away. It was a relatively straight-forward drive, and we got there a little past noon. The GPS misdirected us to the guy’s neighbor first, and the neighbor was understanding and told us it happened a lot.
The breeder’s wife met us first and then she went inside to get the breeder. The couple was very friendly and accommodating.
We got to meet the puppies, along with the family dog and three cats. Unfortunately, the puppies were no longer puppies. They were at least 10 months old, possibly as much as a year old. They came over to meet us and were hesitant about coming to us. They would come up to us but shied away if we tried to pet them. The family dog had a toy or something so the puppies were more interested in running around after the family dog, trying to get the toy, instead of interacting with us. Ultimately the wife didn’t feel any of the dogs were interested in us and she wanted a puppy, not an older dog. We thanked the breeder for their time and took our leave.
On the way home, we stopped at the local animal shelter to see if there were any possible candidates for adoption. We looked through the binder of available dogs. The wife picked out a dog that was listed as being fostered. The shelter called the foster family to see if we could arrange a meet-and-greet but the foster said the dog was already adopted.
We found another possible candidate that was available. They brought the dog to us in a room to see if we were compatible. It was a female, about two years ago, but she was skittish and didn’t like being around people. The wife tried feeding the dog a teat, but the dog completely snubbed it. We think she may have been abused as she didn’t want to get close to us. I sat on the floor, and the dog came up behind me several times to sniff me. She would slink back in to a corner if I tried to slowly turn around and pet her. Ultimately we turned her down. We again thanked the shelter for their time and took our leave.
A large chunk of the day used up and no dog to show for it. Just as well. We don’t need another dog.
At least I got a chicken quesadilla for lunch out of the deal.
Side note: Sirocco hid under the bed all night and wouldn’t go on his walk this morning. He wouldn’t even come out for a piece of cheese. But before we left to go see about the new dog, he came running out from under the bed and was his usually chipper self. Crisis averted.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum
“My wife was sure she would fall in love with one of the three…”
See, I rather tend to think that falling in love is an event that happens to one, not a goal to be achieved. My limited experience suggests that people who treat it as a goal are usually unhappy. But what do I know?
Glad Sirocco is doing better.