We've been down to just one dog for a while now. My heart has had a chance to heal a bit since losing Tucker last year. Ty has no one to race around the yard and wrestle with. I keep bringing home 'project' dogs and fosters from work and have a great time with them, but it's not the same as having a dog of your own.
I've been looking... but haven't decided on a breed. Of course I thought about Shiloh Shepherd like Hunter and Tucker, but no... maybe I'm not quite ready yet.
I did internet searches for German Shepherds but they have so many problems... health, conformation, temperament. I adore the breed but not the baggage. I especially love the look of the DDR/Czech type dogs but this mid-50's lady can't handle that much drive anymore, maybe 25 years ago... but not now.
I kept looking, going back to the Czech lines and came across a name I'd never seen before... a Chodsky pes.
I did some research and nope, no breeders in the US, only a handful of the dogs even living in this country, and a rare breed even in the Czech Republic. So my chances are slim to none.
I kept looking at other breeds and breeders, but kept getting drawn back to the Chodsky pes. I loved the descriptions that included, "friendly, devoted, intelligent, alert..." the more I read, the more I liked the breed.
After many e-mails and communication I was able to find a club representative in Canada who put me in touch with a breeder in the Czech Republic. Make no mistake, it wasn't just a, "here's the cash, send me a puppy" kind of deal. I was thoroughly vetted and questioned, and the club rep also went out of his way to help answer my many questions, interpret between the English and Czech languages, and act as a liaison between breeder and buyer.
I must have done something right because the breeder decided that she was willing to sell me one of her precious puppies. And that's where my nerves really went into overdrive. What am I thinking?? Buying a puppy sight unseen, from a breeder across the Atlantic Ocean, who doesn't even speak the same language as me!
I received pedigrees with not only photos of the parents, but ancestors and all their health data too. I practically wore out my keyboard looking for any information I could find about the breed itself, and the parents of the litter that I was now approved to get a puppy from. And I sent more e-mails about the kind of puppy I was looking for and what I would like to do with him.
Then I got more information about the litter... Their date of birth, that there were 7 males, and that they'd be ready to ship to the USA in early September. If I was nervous before it was nothing compared to what I was feeling now!
I also got a photo of the litter, 10 precious, tiny butterballs all snuggled and sleeping... and it really hit me that this was real. That not only was I approved, but that in about 6 weeks one of those pups would be mine.
I'm still nervous that something is going to happen... that things may somehow go sideways at the last minute, so for now, I'm going to continue to write here, but I don't think I'm read for anyone to actually READ this yet. I'll type my thoughts, but I just can't actually make myself hit "SEND" yet. Soon maybe...
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