A few days ago I got a notice that a couple of people had read and “liked” a post I did from January 2015 titled, “I Love Dogs.”  After I got that notice, I went back and read the post.  OMG, talk about opening the water works and tears flowing.  Our little Cavaliers, Shawn and Maggie were just a little more than 3 at that time and I wrote in detail all about them and their little personalities.  We lost both dogs last year, Maggie in July and Shawn in November.  Cavaliers are prone to a genetic heart defect and that defect took both of my babies at just 8 and 9 years of age.  We have so missed them and reading that post opened up the wound again. 

We have been actively searching for a new fur baby, but not another Cavalier.  The heart defect is just too prominent in this breed and neither my husband nor I can do that again any time soon.  As I said in my last post, we had decided to change breeds to the Shih Tzu.  You know researching breeders is exhausting.  The other thing that is exhausting is we can find no puppies.  Most of the time, they just recently had puppies but they are all gone.  Most of them have a 6 month to 12 month waiting list.  Now I am a patient woman, but this has been a real test.  I’m just looking for a glimmer of hope here….

In carefully looking at breeders, I found one just about 75 miles from our home.  She had a dog who would have pups towards the end of January and be ready to go at 12 weeks, which would be in April.  OK, now we are getting somewhere.  These days you have to put your name on a list and then when puppies are born, the breeders go down that list.  We found the same thing with the Cavaliers.  I guess when you have the demand, you can do that.  So I put my name on the list.  She had a vet checkup date set for my birthday to see if the dog had conceived.  The appointment was on December 30 my birthday so that’s a good sign right?  Well a dagger got shot through our hearts.  Her dog had not conceived.  So our name on the list goes to the next set of dogs she has that she will breed.

The next batch of puppies from this breeder are due in late spring, not sure if that’s April, May … If we are lucky enough to be high enough on the list, we might have a baby in June or July…  My patience is waning and really, just makes me sad.  My husband suggested that we see if we can find another breeder in the meantime.  I really didn’t want to start over. 

I was coming home from work when I noticed my neighbor out in her front yard repotting a plant.  Her little dog was out in the yard with her and then I remembered, SHE HAS A SHIH TZU!  Maybe she would have a contact for me.  I walked over and we talked for a bit and she said she would check with a few people.  BAM, within an hour she had given me the names of 5 people to check with.  One of those had sold a puppy to her niece at Christmas.  This breeder had a private Facebook page.  I asked to join and was immediately accepted.  As soon as I got on the page she was showing two four week old females she had left in her current litter!  And there she was, this adorable little black and white baby.  I turned the phone to my husband to see her and he said, “When can we go get her? I love her already.” 

Well we can go get her in 3-4 weeks.  Can you believe it?  We are going to be parents again!