I don't often rant, but today I have to, so click off the page now if you're not interested.

I do breeder referral for my all breed kennel club. I enjoy doing this for the most part. People call and want referrals for reputable breeders of specific breeds, and I can usually pull up local breeders or a fairly local breed specific rescue for them if they prefer an older dog. It's rewarding to help people learn what they should be looking for in a breeder, what tests they should expect the sire and dam of their pup to have had, and answer general dog care questions. Sometimes they want information about specific breeds, and I can help them out with that, and refer them to breed experts if necessary. Most people are very happy to have someone to talk to and I'm happy to be able to help them.

Then there are people who are beyond stupid. I have spent hours with some, helping them find a breeder in the general area (the chances of finding a reputable breeder of a specific breed in one's hometown is slim to none), answering questions, often guiding them through the grief they have gone through having just lost a dog, etc...only to hear from them a week or two or three later to find out they just COULD NOT WAIT and ran to the nearest pet shop and bought a puppy!

Did nothing sink in or are they just beyond stupid? What galls me the most is when someone has already had a bad experience with a hastily bought pup and tells me they want to avoid having that happen again, then they can't wait two months or even two weeks for a well bred puppy from a breeder that will stand behind their pup and give them guidance through its lifetime, they go to a pet store or someone who is selling pups for Christmas money, and make the exact same mistake! What is wrong with people? Can't they control themselves? Is the instant gratification so overwhelming that they forgot all the heartbreak they just went through with the last poorly bred dog they bought?

Mind you, I am not speaking of shelter puppies which we know can be a gamble, but a pup that they have paid a minimum of a thousand dollars for from a commercial breeder in the Midwest...a pup that the middleman paid about $50 for when the pup was 5 weeks old and it was ripped away from its dam and littermates.

So I sit here and shake my head and know (because its happened before) that I'll get yet another call from these folks, crying and upset because their new puppy has either an infectious disease and it cost hundreds of dollars to save it; or it has seizures; or it has bad hips or knees or a heart problem....all these heartbreaks that could have been avoided had they simply WAITED and gotten a pup from a reputable breeder. Sometimes I just want to throw the phone through the wall!

Jenn sent me this photo of Nushi - she had slipped on the snow, and this is the view she had!

For some reason today, I was thinking about my first dog. Puggsey was a cute little mutt - I'd guess some kind of longhaired Dachshund cross. She had short stubby legs that were crooked, but was bigger than a standard Doxie would be. She lived to the ripe old age of 15...pretty darned good for a dog that didn't have a heck of a lot of medical care - I don't recall that she ever went for more than the required rabies vaccines after she was spayed as a puppy.

Puggsey came to me when a kid named Tommy in my second grade class announced that his dog had had puppies and they were "trying to get rid of them." I told him I'd take one, and after school we met at a prearranged spot and he brought me an adorable black and tan puppy. If I said that my parents were not pleased, that would be an understatement! I remember I cried for days, and I guess I finally convinced them I would take care of her.

I was so damned happy to have a dog - I had wanted one ever since I could remember, and Pugs was a great dog for a kid. She would follow us around the neighborhood off leash and never roam too far away. She put up with my not very expert grooming, and my attempts at training her. She was good natured and would go along with just about anything we did to her - dressing her in clothes, painting her nails, or teaching her to jump over the low gravestones at the cemetery across the street where we all hung out!

I guess I was dog crazy from a young age . Puggsey was a wonderful childhood companion and the best introduction to the fabulous world of dogs that a kid could have asked for.

I was awarded the Blog Friend Forever (BFF) award by Michelle! (see link for her blog at right).



Now I am supposed to award it to up to 5 of my blogging friends
. No cash award or anything like that - it reminds me a bit of that lovely mirror ball trophy that the winner gets on Dancing With the Stars!

I love this song, it cracks me up every time!