Even in the midst of all these animals, I wasn't a great animal lover. Don't get me wrong. I was the first to show compassion to the runt of the litter. But apart from my cat, I was not into cuddling and bestowing much attention on the animals. I was mostly quiet and in my room busy drawing and reading - not running around on the farm, working with the sheep.
So, having my fair share of sharing home and hearth with animals most of my childhood. It might have been the obvious thing (or not) to decide against having any pets when I moved into adulthood. I might have wanted a cat, but due to allergies from cat hair, resisted it. Thus, I came to a point where I did not want any animals in my house ever. I got married and had children. Since my daughter was a baby she would be so scared of dogs. They would frighten her just walking into a room. It escalated to everything with four legs, except for horses.
But then she turned 6 and my son turned 9 and they wanted to have a dog. Resisting it for a while, then we began to entertain the idea. What kind of dog? Where would it sleep? What kind of dog? What would we allow? What kind of dog? Should we adopt? What kind of dog? How could we afford it? And you guessed it.... what kind of dog?
We wanted a friendly dog - especially kid friendly. Not a barker (some dogs just goes on an on for no reason) And definitely no Jack Russel - as my husband does not like them, at all! But other things also made it to the forefront. Like shedding, and trainability, and size.
We looked at this very clinically in the beginning and began to say - well, this is for the kids.
Then, one day I got an email of a dog in need of a home. The cutest lady with ears like Dumbo! She looked like she could fit in with us. But, she already found her forever home with someone else.
So the search began!
However, we soon found that rescue centers was not the place to go for us. I wanted to cry just arriving. I hated the way the dogs were kept. And it proved too much to take even a "mild tempered dog" for a walk, even for my husband. It was just not going to work. We even considered cats, but after handling them at the shelter, we were all sneezing and coughing and it was not a pretty sight.
I was disappointed and so were everyone else. I couldn't believe how I was feeling. Plus it wasn't made any easier by the kids, who now really wanted a puppy.
Now if you knew me, you would know that I don't often go into things without checking out all the facts (and figures) before making a decision. My favourite place to go for info... the web!
It took me a couple of nights behind the screen. Slowly a picture of what we wanted started to form.
Finally we we came apon a breed we didn't know much of, never considered, but liked the instant we read the charactaristics. Seeing pictures of them was even a bigger treat. And, yeay! Does not shed!!
We found a breeder in a nearby town, about an hours drive from us. We went to have a visit. And there she was, the mommy - the cutest thing I've ever seen. And oh, the pups!! My scared little daugher took her time to warm up to them, but then she started picking them up and soon enough everyone was hooked. One thing though, all the girlies were taken and we were left with choosing a boy!... No, way! I wanted a girl. Too much testosterone to deal with as they grow up etc, etc,..
We ended up taking the pup after all! He melted our hearts in an instant. That is how we became Schnauzer people.
Here you'll have a glimpse into our lives with our dogs - Truffles and Lily.
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