Sep 20 - a seller's market

When we "shopped" for Vickie and Abby, the Toronto Star was the best source of dogs-for-sale adds.  That's changed.  Kijiji, the Craigslist of Canada, is now the best source.  Breeders list there; breeders, that is, who aren't breeding show dogs.  The high-end breeders don't need to advertise.  They have long waitlists. 

I contacted Andrea Ferguson Jones, a member of our cycling club who is into dogs in a big way, agility mostly.  Her dogs aren't Golden Retrievers, but she has the contacts to find breeders.  She came back with breeders all over the map, Canada and USA.  I checked into a few and found that you'd have to put up a $500 non-refundable deposit (that's to stop you from being on multiple waitlists) and then wait for some future, yet to be conceived, litter. 

One that I contacted responding to their puppy questionnaire got back to me saying that they had two girls available.  The questionnaire was clearly meant to separate the wheat from the chaff, in buyers, asking all sorts of questions to determine if we were suitable for their puppies.  Yes, you understand that correctly, whether we're suitable.  I tried to setup an appointment to see them and their puppies but they weren't going to allow that until the first week of October and then, they got back to me that the two puppies had been spoken for.  Obviously they were in the process of checking with those who'd put down deposits and we're looking to firm up those commitments and we were at the end of a long line.

I didn't end up with any hope of getting a puppy from one of the high-end breeders, so I turned to Kijiji.

Only one of those high-end types was listed online and that's where I found the prices starting at 3-5-15k.  Frankly I wasn't surprised.  It is a seller's market if there are long waitlists.  Most, if not all, of the others had pure bred dogs without papers.  That's only an issue if you wanted to breed your dog and get papers in the future.  As we have no intention of doing that, we were only looking for a good family dog.  She'll be neutered when the time comes.

Health guarantees are another thing.  Many do come with guarantees but that only means that they'll either take the dog back and swap or give your money back in the first two years, neither of which is a good solution to a dog who has become a member of the family.  Nobody can really guarantee anything beyond that.  These are not widgets with manufacturing defects & recalls, they are living beings and things can go wrong.  I'm pretty certain that the lady who has the puppy that we've chosen would give money back and/or trade dogs in a heartbeat, if we wanted to do that, but who would ? who could ?

So, based on pictures on Kijiji and availability, I narrowed the choice down to 2-3.  Many have very blond dogs, which are more English, and not really what we want.  Why ?  I don't know.  I'm not as particular, but Sandy, who is really into colours whether decorating or dogs, is very particular.  One breeder had some females available but we didn't call early enough on Saturday morning to make the cut.  Those dogs would have been available September 28.  That was actually a late listing as most seem to list their dogs at 3 weeks old for 8 week pickup.  The dogs seem to last, i.e stay available, until the next Saturday a.m. at which point they are all spoken for.  Whew !

So choice number two (because of available date, nothing else) was the lady in Shelburne.  Sandy was talking to her and the connection went down.  We have problems, sometimes, with our land-line phone when we're getting heavy rain ... I should really talk to Bell at some point !  VOIP, i.e. Vonage, wasn't working as well with the new modem, so we gave up on that.  For a while we couldn't get a dial tone but eventually got through with the Bell line and said - "we're on our way" - "don't sell them all !".  She was good, holding off speaking to anyone until we'd made our choice.  By the end of the day she'd taken down the advert, all puppies sold.  Whew again.

So we're looking at October 22.  We'd planned on heading to Florida via Reading, but that's not really practical with a brand-new puppy.  We'll likely close up here after Thanksgiving, make a to/fro trip to Reading then pick up the puppy and make tracks straight to Florida.  September 28th pickup would have been better, as we'd be able to acclimatize the puppy to us, just a bit, before such a long trip, but we'll work it out.  

So that's our puppy story.  Sandy has already found a dog training school in Daytona Beach and will try and book something for when we're back down.

In the meantime, and since, life goes on, very quiet without Abby -- not that she made a lot of noise, but it's the little things that get you.  I was chopping some almonds and one fell on the floor.  It would have been inhaled before I got there but now I have to pick it up.  It sounds stupid but small things remind you of her having left our lives.  Yesterday made a week.  Too fresh.  Too fresh indeed.

We have been thinking about names.  Many have come to mind and been discarded ... Maddie (too close to what Matthew is called); Zoe (already taken); Lauren suggested Sadie -- a great suggestion, but I think that's what Jason had called a prior dog; I came up with Jessie (Jessica), but Sandy isn't keen on that one; Maggie seems to be her choice, but that one reminds me of Margaret Thatcher -- we don't want an "Iron Lady" for a dog ?  I named Abby and have a lesser vote this time.  We've chuckled over some other names -- Bonnie would be great ... would Ms Matthews be amused ?  ... Shelby was Arlene's suggestion (dog from Shelburne) -- actually that has a nice ring to it.  I suspect that we'll end up with Maggie, given my lesser vote.  You can tell that we are focused on traditional English girl's names. 

All suggestions are welcome. 

Other stuff -- a good sized maple fell on Osprey, not quite blocking the road.  I went over with my Stihl and cut some up, bringing the wood back home -- that was Saturday on our way back from Shelburne.  Yesterday, Sunday, I went back and cut up the rest and probably have what will be a cord or so, once its split. 

I made some of my seed bars (remember cutting almonds ?), so I'm well stocked there.  I added dates to my list of foods to bring to Florida.  We had chicken for dinner last night along with grilled veggies -- always good.

Sandy heads to the GTA today (Greater Toronto Area, as it's known).  She'll be having dinner with Kylie tonight and then getting her hair cut tomorrow.  I think that she'll also visit with Joyce today.  I don't have any big plans -- will likely ride today as it's going to rain tomorrow, or at least 30% chance. 

The nights have turned cool, which is actually a relief and will be cooler still later this week.  I resisted the urge to put on a fire this morning, but later in the week that will be a must.

Onward ...