The Daily Q: Puppy Love

The Pandemic seems to be creating a collective desire for puppies. I am fielding inquiries about puppies every day.

My goal in responding to people is not to sell a puppy — it is to help people understand what they should be looking for in a Berner and a Breeder. To do this, I have to be gracious and kind even when I feel insulted.

And yes — some of the inquiries are unintentionally insulting.

“Got pups? How much?” is #1 on my list. If availability and price are what matters most to a potential puppy home, we are definitely not compatible.

Further, people focused on price, availability and/or markings are the people who are unintentionally driving the misery of puppy mills and other unfortunate puppy producers. I know well those who do not know enough to care about health testing, pedigrees, longevity and so forth will find someone who can meet their superficial criterion for a puppy — and so demand is created.

I try. I answer every inquiry and I do it politely. Some people are indeed open to new ways of thinking about what it means to buy a purebred dog, and I am “fishing” for those people.

But it is not always easy on my heart, and it takes time, which is in short supply these days.

And speaking of puppies, I have ordered a Pandemic Canine Pregnancy Test — it arrives next Wednesday.

These are indeed strange times.

The Daily Q: The Value of Hopes & Dreams

Plans have changed — that is our new reality.

But it doesn’t mean we need to abandon hope.

When my uncle/Godfather was dying of pancreatic cancer, he shared with me that a good pitcher knows when to change up his/her game. He used that analogy to explain to me why he was changing his hopes in the face of new realities.

Uncle Bill stopped hoping and praying for “the miracle” and changed up his game to hoping for a peaceful death.

He got that. Goal achieved.

On my fridge - for perspective.

I had so many plans for this Spring and into the Summer. Covid-19 demanded I change my game.

And so I did.

I picked a different path.

New goals.

New things to hope for — until “normal” resumes.

My game changer: with social distancing guidelines intact, we hope for puppies.

How are you changing up your hopes and dreams?

Nope.

Sparkle is not pregnant. It is hard to say that knowing it will be disappointing news.

An empathic heart can be a liability as I carry my own sorrow for the news and cringe internally imagining how it will “land” on others.

At age 6.5+ years and with three “misses” Sparkle is officially done. She is an incredible dog — I so wanted a second litter from her.

Dogs are free to remove themselves from the attention of children — or anyone, for that matter. Sparkle enjoys the kids and their interactions are ALWAYS supervised to ensure the kids learn how to treat animals. Berkeley is enjoying my traveling pillow and her warm friend.

Resilience appears to be one of my Super Powers — and so yes, I am disappointed and sad but I am also okay. After all, I still have my amazing dog — and she is all that and more.

And so we close that chapter and open some new ones, rearranging plans for 2020 to accommodate for those new chapters.

We are planning to breed two Sparkle daughters in 2020: Jordan in April/May and Claire in June/July.

I am still pondering what to do about Daisy. I want a puppy from both Jordan and Claire, and so adding Daisy could be complicated. I do not breed my dogs to sell puppies — I breed them so that I can keep a carefully and thoughtfully bred puppy — and three young puppies, if all went according to plan, would not be fair to any of them.

On the other hand, when do things go exactly according to plan?!

Hmmmm…

And so there you go — more real Life with Dogs. Not all ribbons and awards and fun. But that is the nature of Life in General, right?

And it means that something amazing is up ahead because Life is like that — downs and ups. We ride the downs so we can have those exhilarating UPS — and they always come.