I have been thinking and thinking about getting puppy.
First I have to say, I had cats, and I loved my cats and really and truly miss them - especially Rascal. He was so special and loved us so much. Well, after Rascal left us with holes in our hearts after being with us for 14 years, I found out the M is allergic to cats (and horses). It took awhile after Rascal was gone, but lately oh, how I've wanted to get another kitty. But I knew I couldn't do that because of M. I have thought that another pet would be so good for her therapeutically. She was so close to the kitty at the end and he could calm her with her petting him. Finally I fully accepted that we cannot be a kitty household and still thought, but a pet would be so good for especially M. And of course all of us would love to have a pet. But I still didn't think that we could be a puppy family.
Well, I thought and thought some more, and the more I thought about it the more I wanted to get a puppy. I was a little apprehensive though, even about a dog with M's allergic reactions to cats. But her auntie has a 'haired' dog and it did not bother M to be around that dog. So half a year ago or so I started researching haired dogs, and then didn't think about it again. Then a week ago or so I was sitting at the computer and just thought I'm gonna key in Chinese dog and see what comes up. Well, lo and behold the first dog I saw pull up was 'Chinese Imperial'. Let me tell you, it was love at first sight. Then I researched those dogs with literally every spare minute I had (and some I didn't have). I found out everything I could about them and compared them to every other kind of dog that we might possibly want to get, and for how tiny they are, they were heads and shoulders above any other dog I looked at. Every review I saw of them was good - I mean I truly didn't see anything bad about them. They are not yippy, they love to be held on laps, they love to be around people but are not obnoxious, they don't need tons of grooming, they are easy trainers, and on and on.
So now I knew for sure this was my dog breed. I didn't know what G would think. First he said, "No! Not a small yippy dog!" I showed him what I had found and told him to just think about it. The next day, he asked about them and I told him a little more. He asked to see what they look like. Later he said, "Yes, I think we could." I think by that evening he was telling his family that we are getting a dog. :-)
So then started the research on finding a breeder. These dogs are pretty rare still, so hard to find, and they go fast. As soon as they are born (or even before they are born) they are snapped up. And I couldn't find a reputable breeder that was close. Alot of them are on the west coast or Arizona. In my research I found 2 really good websites - CIDRA (Chinese Imperial Dog Registry of America) and CIDCA (Chinese Imperial Dog Club of America). On the CIDRA site was an email if someone has questions, so I emailed the lady and she offered to help me. She told me that if I found breeders with puppies I liked she would tell me whether or not she knew them and if she knew if they were good or not. I emailed a bunch of breeders and next day got back responses from 3 with puppies available, one of which was Judy (who didn't have puppies listed on her site, but said to email for info on puppies). So I emailed the kind lady that had told me she would help me out and asked her about the 3 breeders. The nice lady emailed me back and said she didn't know the 2 very well, but she did know Judy and Judy was an amazing lady, very honest and moral and had really cute and awesome little dogs. She said if Judy has a puppy available, I would never go wrong getting one from her. To be honest, I don't even know why I had even checked with Judy. I had been just passing by any websites that said they don't have puppies available right now. Maybe it was because she had her website set up with a Chinese theme or maybe it was because she is in Illinois.
So I emailed the 3 back that had pups told them I would call them the next day (Thursday) or they could call me at work. One lady called me right in the morning and there were red flags that flew up with her. I knew I didn't want one of her pups, tho they were much cheaper than any others I had found. I did find through my searching that the lower price is a red flag.
I tried calling Judy, but didn't get an answer. Then I was in a meeting and she called and left me a message. I called her back right away and she told me she did have one little girl that was available. The little princess is 8 weeks old and she is gonna try get her to the vet that day and if she could get her in she would be ready to go to her new home this weekend! Aawk - wait a minute - all of a sudden it's going so fast! I did wonder right away, "Hmm...why is this puppy available at 8 weeks?" But before I could ask, she told me the story. This puppy had been bought and paid for at 3 days old. She was just waiting to get over 2 pounds and she could go join her new family. Well, Wednesday the buyer called in tears that her husband's company very suddenly was relocating and he would either lose his job or he would have to relocate. She didn't know at all where they would end up and just didn't feel it was fair to the puppy if she took it and put it in the middle of all that. So for the first time ever Judy refunded they lady her money, and the puppy came available for me asking about it Wednesday night. As I was talking to her she took a picture and emailed it to me. Of course I was in love! Oh, she was so cute! I had a lovely conversation with Judy and told her I would talk about it at home and call her later in the evening. I forwarded the picture home and showed G. He loved her even more than I did, if that was possible. So we talked and talked, should we, should we not. How would we get the money to her, how would we pick her up - yes Chicago is pretty close, but still a long drive even with her driving half way like she told me she would be happy to do. We also are going to be away from home Easter weekend and didn't know how the family we are going to would feel about us bringing a little pup. They have a New Foundland (100 lbs). So I called Judy and sked can we still think about it. She said, "Of course!" She does not want her puppies going to a home that does not know if they really want them. She said she for sure wouldn't list it that night and was going to be busy all day Friday so wouldn't get it listed then either.
I researched Judy and found that she has 12 kids, 10 of which were adopted. She home schools her kids. She is president of CIDCA. She won 'For All the Ways You Care' award in 2008. I watched a video of her and was very impressed with her. So I now felt totally comfortable getting a puppy from her.
Thursday evening I was on facebook and I sent the picture of the little princess to several family members and asked, "Should I say yes?" Jeff messaged back right away and said, "How could you say no? And by the way when does it grow up:-)" So we started chatting and after a bit I asked him just kiddingly, "So you aren't anywhere near Chicago, are you?" He laughed and said, "Well, actually I'm going through Chicago on Saturday and through the cities on Saturday or Sunday." I almost fell off my chair. I said, "I was just kidding, that would be too much of a bother for you." He said, "Do you think she would meet me somewhere?" I could easily pull off in one of 2 cities. And one of the cities he named was the city Judy lives in! I said that I know she would meet him in her town, as she was going to drive 4 hours to meet me. Again I told him that I think that would be too much. He said no that it would be kind of fun, but he might forget to stop in the cities.
Well, Friday I was home from work and by the time I woke up I pretty much knew I wanted the little gal. I talked with G and told him the story of Jeff and he couldn't believe it either. After the girls were off to school, we talked some more and decided we want her. I called Judy and didn't get an answer but left a message and said that we decided that we would like this puppy to be a part of our family. She called me right back. I asked her if it would be ok for Jeff to pick her up. She said that of course it would be ok. So I said we would love to have her.
We checked with G's sis to make sure it's ok for us to bring her with us, and she told us that city is only 3 hours from her house and she would go pick up the puppy for us. What a sweety. Of course I want the puppy here so we decided we would take Jeff up on his offer.
Judy told me she would email me the guarantee and the purchase agreement to look at and if I agreed I could have her. By the time I got the email with that info it was already toward noon Friday and I knew I had to get money to her by Saturday morning in order to get the puppy on the ride with Jeff. I looked through it and everything was ok so I told her yes. I had already checked out ways to get her the money quickly and found that wire transfer was the quickest and safest way. So I got her bank info and went to my bank and they wire transferred the money from my account to her bank and account and being as it was early enough I knew that it would be in her account same day. She emailed me later that she got the money and was already putting the puppy packet together. She emailed me 3 more pictures all of which were adorable.
I arranged with Jeff what time he would be in her city and where they would meet.
And now we wait for the puppy to come and we become a puppy family!
Our puppy with her mama.
