Had one of those days today where it began with me chatting with my new boss and he heard my dogs making dog noises near me and asked me what breeds they were - again (he's been working for the company since Nov and has asked me many times what my dogs are, never remembers LOLOL).
When he heard goldens - his immediately comments were he loves the breed, but could never get them because they shed too much.
I couldn't dispute that, so I was just yeah. They do shed.
But anyway.
Went to get my hair "did" and chatted a ton with my stylists. She was all tickled to show me a picture of her brother's new puppy - which is a pembroke corgi. He wanted a puppy, reserved a puppy with a breeder before Christmas, and brought pup home now. That's all it took. Done did. Period.
My stylist's parents had 3-4 dogs and they lost 2 of them last year and are in the waiting process for a blue heeler puppy. They've always had blue heelers + have land, so it's an ideal dog for them. Waiting process is simply they found a breeder with puppies, put a deposit, and are waiting for the pups to be old enough to go home. No stress, no length search/waiting times, and breeders were easy to deal with.
Then went home to pick up my sister and my dogs and went grocery shopping. I checked out first and went out to the car to hang out with my dogs - ended up meeting a nice lady out there in the parking lot who came over to visit with the dogs and chit chat.
She told me how she and her husband had just purchased a golden puppy for her daughter's birthday. I didn't recognize the breeder's name and did not ask questions, but it was very similar to other people of other breeds. They set out to look for a new golden puppy. They did careful research to make sure the breeder was conscientious and not overbreeding the dogs. Did not mention clearances or anything like that, so suspect those were not part of the research - but I really hate putting people on the spot, especially when they are so nice. Woman was clearly a golden person herself - the dogs knew it. They were all poking their heads out and giving her "whisker-kisses". She was so tickled and excited about getting the puppy for her daughter - and if her daughter was anything like her, I know that's going to be a good home. Daughter's golden was 12 when it passed.
Anyway.
I wondered a little if we all live in a weird vacuum. Other breeds do not seem to have the "breeder politics" that we do. But other breeds have more byb and puppy mill issues than goldens. There's more of those other breeds ending up in rescues and shelters - so I do know to an extent that the protective walls around this breeds are there for reason. But going from seeing the desperation in many posts here in this forum with people waiting up to 2 years just to have a chance at a puppy (no guarantees)..... and then talking to regular dog people around town who do not go through the same extraordinary distress in getting a pup.... it just makes me wonder a little if that is where the "you are elitists" opinion comes from.
The living in a weird vacuum thing.... I know the value of waiting to get a pup who had full clearances. And there's people out there who are more selective than I am. It's not just full clearances, but the dna stuff too. And so on.
Go outside of that vacuum, people have very different values. And it's not stuff that makes them bad owners. Many of these people I know and talk to... they are very experienced dog owners.
My stylist - she kinda chuckled when I flipped out about having 3-4 heelers. They seem like very difficult dogs to me, but she said that they are great dogs. She compared them to rottweilers in temperament. Which me as a golden person meant something completely different than she meant.
Just random thoughts for today....
Oh and here's a picture of a kissable dog for everyone to look at.
When he heard goldens - his immediately comments were he loves the breed, but could never get them because they shed too much.
I couldn't dispute that, so I was just yeah. They do shed.
But anyway.
Went to get my hair "did" and chatted a ton with my stylists. She was all tickled to show me a picture of her brother's new puppy - which is a pembroke corgi. He wanted a puppy, reserved a puppy with a breeder before Christmas, and brought pup home now. That's all it took. Done did. Period.
My stylist's parents had 3-4 dogs and they lost 2 of them last year and are in the waiting process for a blue heeler puppy. They've always had blue heelers + have land, so it's an ideal dog for them. Waiting process is simply they found a breeder with puppies, put a deposit, and are waiting for the pups to be old enough to go home. No stress, no length search/waiting times, and breeders were easy to deal with.
Then went home to pick up my sister and my dogs and went grocery shopping. I checked out first and went out to the car to hang out with my dogs - ended up meeting a nice lady out there in the parking lot who came over to visit with the dogs and chit chat.
She told me how she and her husband had just purchased a golden puppy for her daughter's birthday. I didn't recognize the breeder's name and did not ask questions, but it was very similar to other people of other breeds. They set out to look for a new golden puppy. They did careful research to make sure the breeder was conscientious and not overbreeding the dogs. Did not mention clearances or anything like that, so suspect those were not part of the research - but I really hate putting people on the spot, especially when they are so nice. Woman was clearly a golden person herself - the dogs knew it. They were all poking their heads out and giving her "whisker-kisses". She was so tickled and excited about getting the puppy for her daughter - and if her daughter was anything like her, I know that's going to be a good home. Daughter's golden was 12 when it passed.
Anyway.
I wondered a little if we all live in a weird vacuum. Other breeds do not seem to have the "breeder politics" that we do. But other breeds have more byb and puppy mill issues than goldens. There's more of those other breeds ending up in rescues and shelters - so I do know to an extent that the protective walls around this breeds are there for reason. But going from seeing the desperation in many posts here in this forum with people waiting up to 2 years just to have a chance at a puppy (no guarantees)..... and then talking to regular dog people around town who do not go through the same extraordinary distress in getting a pup.... it just makes me wonder a little if that is where the "you are elitists" opinion comes from.
The living in a weird vacuum thing.... I know the value of waiting to get a pup who had full clearances. And there's people out there who are more selective than I am. It's not just full clearances, but the dna stuff too. And so on.
Go outside of that vacuum, people have very different values. And it's not stuff that makes them bad owners. Many of these people I know and talk to... they are very experienced dog owners.
My stylist - she kinda chuckled when I flipped out about having 3-4 heelers. They seem like very difficult dogs to me, but she said that they are great dogs. She compared them to rottweilers in temperament. Which me as a golden person meant something completely different than she meant.
Just random thoughts for today....
Oh and here's a picture of a kissable dog for everyone to look at.