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After the loss of our French Bulldog we decided to go without a dog for awhile. I’ve never been without a dog (with the exception of my move to Japan) and it was a hard decision but with 3 kids, a PhD to finish and working full time it felt like the right thing to do. But as time went by something felt like it was missing. There was this emptiness that none of us could explain. When we went camping at a state park in Washington, the missing element became clear. It became clearer when we took hikes and saw people with their dogs, watched dogs happily running up and down the beach and it hit us right in the face one day as we were walking and a pair of dogs walked by and Braewyn, out 16 month out reached out from her stroller with both hands, a huge smile on her face and yelled, “DOGGIE”! That missing element was a dog.
My husband and I had talked about it. We both owned different breeds in our life; Siberian Huskies, Border Collies, American Eskimos, French Bulldogs but the one breed that stood out above all was the Golden Retrievers I had owned. My first dog was a Golden Retriever and she was amazing and I took her far in both Obedience and Agility shows. We wanted a great family dog and a Golden was going to be it. We agreed to wait for awhile… at least, my husband did.
I came back from camping and kept asking him with puppy dog eyes myself, “Can we please start looking for a dog?” After awhile he agreed and I immediately started looking up breeders in the vicinity. The plan was to put feelers out, look at pedigrees, take visits to Kennels, and eventually see who had upcoming litters. We’d put a deposit down, and then spend the next few months puppy proofing the house and buying all the things we would need.
I found a breeder who had recently had a litter and still had two males left. She sent me her application and by the time I was done, I turned in a six page document bleeding my heart out on why I wanted to get a Golden Retriever and would make a great “dog mom”. The breeder (who I won’t mention out of privacy) called back shortly after reading my application with a few questions. She was first concerned (and I don’t blame her) about the fact we live in a Townhouse with no backyard. I adequately explained to her how we would handle that and we were active outdoors people. I thought that would be it. Boy oh boy was I wrong. She then went on about how she was extremely concerned about the fact I had three kids. How would I take care of a puppy with three kids?! She just kept talking and talking and talking circles about how I wouldn’t be able to take care of a dog with three kids. Geez…this women didn’t know me at all! I was flabbergasted at the end of the call even though she agreed to sell me a puppy. Are you kidding me?! You can’t find a better family dog (with kids) than a Golden Retriever. I really liked her dogs though and she obviously cared about placement so I went ahead and decided to purchase from her. I was going to send in my deposit when she emailed me two days later to let me know she had a sick male puppy. Because she didn’t know if he would make it and she still wasn’t convinced I’d be a good “dog person” with all the kids she told me to start looking elsewhere. I know breeders can be fickle but my lord…. my pessimistic side took over and I began to think we’d never find a puppy. However, I couldn’t be more wrong and it wouldn’t take long for doggie fate to drop something in my lap.
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