Wholly stress week from hell

On sunday we made the 1 hour trip to visit the breeder. We were there for about an hour. The kids were excited and sorta running around and would run from the very excited puppy. She said things are good and the puppies are ready to go home on Saturday. We set up a time. We actually named him. Later that night she e-mails me with "concerns". She's not sure on the kids. We were very up front with her from the beginning. She knew we had 4 kids their ages everything. She approved us weeks ago. She thinks I won't have enough time to devote to the proper training of the dog. He's suppose to be a stud dog, go through dog shows all the requirements for studding. Man was I mad! I know she's concerned and she's had puppies returned in the past. But we are the only ones who know how much time we are willing to devote to this pup. I was so mad that she would say in front of the kids puppies are ready to go on Saturday, then turn around later and say well I have concerns. Well if you have concerns fine but then don't say anything in front of the kids.

Now we find out that the sire failed his hip and elbow exam. The sire is not her dog and is actually the dog of a breeder friend of hers. In large breed dogs this is a very important exam and must be passed in order to breed sound healthy dogs. I think the sire was breed to early (less then 2 years old) and now she wants to sell the dog as pets only. Which means they will be neutered. I know Dustin wanted breeding rights. The question now becomes so what does this mean for the puppies and us? She is thinking of still showing the dogs but neutering them afterwards. I think if we still show him it's a good learning experience for us and nothing is lost. Then in a couple of years when we get a second dog, we'll just be that much more wiser.

I received an e-mail from her yesterday and this was the first time she actually mentioned the pup by name. Normally she calls him "our blue collar boy". I think it's too funny that we couldn't have a show dog but a pet dog is fine.

So hopefully on saturday we'll have a new bundle of joy. Keep your fingers crossed for us.