So close, but not this time……

The search for a new dog continues, and I found myself remembering that it was over two years before my Dad found a pup for my Mum. He was a tri-colour rough collie, and lived to be fifteen. This was the one I had to cut the crusts off the cheese sandwich before he’d touch it, let alone eat it!
Google image, not my parents dog who passed away in 1995.

None of the adverts I have responded to off the internet attracted a response, and two of the rescue centres we contacted have no dogs available but suggested we keep an eye on their website. One of those apparently isn’t being updated at the moment so there doesn’t seem much point really.
It is so frustrating that the ‘old ways’ of an advert in the local paper under Pets and Livestock are totally absent from the weekly printed matter, or papers online.

Hubby did some digging and found some rather interesting information…… like the emails quoted on these ‘websites’ are round robins and amass via various charities, some of which are nothing to do with dogs, and several are holding kennels for dogs from abroad. We have been put off that by having to pay up front, you are unlikely to get the dog in the photo you saw, and money is non refundable ‘under any circumstances’.
Mobile numbers are all premium rate, and even opening an account as I did does not give you any special preferences, unless you pay extra.
Our neighbour has also told us that there was a TV article about puppies sold on the internet and how they came with a long list of health problems having been inter and over bred. Not the dog’s fault of course, but many were being handed in to dog rescue centres.

He did find one site that was valid though, and the numbers he found were nothing like the ones in the advert.  I sent a text message, and got a reply the next day, even though it was a No and that all puppies were spoken for. I got a second message asking how I got her number. I replied saying how.
I got another message that her pups were all sold prior to birth, but she had a friend trying to sell older dogs and asked if I was interested.  I replied I was and she sent me the number.

I spoke to a lovely lady, and explained our circumstances. She said that the internet websites were not all what they seemed to be so she wasn’t surprised we were drawing blanks.
She did have an older pup for sale though and the price was within our budget. He was 6 months old, but not a collie as we’d thought. She sent pictures and he was cute, but not what we were looking for, although she was very accommodating as regards viewing etc. A cross breed I was not familiar with, we looked it up and there were some concerns on our part for potential health issues, so I thanked her and declined explaining why.  She came back and said both adult lines had no health issues, and the pup was clear, but perfectly understood, especially as this little guy was considerably smaller than we wanted.

We spent the rest of the day looking, but nothing turned up.
However, that evening, I had a text message from the breeder our local friend got her cocker spaniels from two years ago. She is now a registered cockapoo breeder, and all her current pups were sold, but she bred from 4 bitches and would have another litter available in December, March and May. I was interested until the punchline.
At £1650 to £1850 each, the price was way beyond us.

In the meantime, Hubby had found a fantastic website for GSDs. All dogs were specifically trained and over a year old. We enquired about one, which turned out to be sold, but they had several others and details were attached to their response. Their prices started at over £5000 plus VAT so that was definitely out of our league, though we could understand why they attracted such a high price tag.

So we shall continue to look. There is a pup out there for us, and we’ll find each other when the time is right, won’t we Maggie.
 
You know Mummy will always love you best Sweetheart. We miss you so much.

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