Cruft Dog-gy of The Year, You Are Not!
I got Doggy from the person responsible for the recognition of his breed (Spanish Water Dog), however, he’s not a “breeder” at least not as the breeders on the video I’ll post at the end (last night I decided to watch a few show, nice and interesting stuff). He doesn’t breed dogs for shows, and specially not inbreeding, he’s really passionate about the SWD. In order to get one of his dogs he interviews you and asks you to go a couple of times to his place to interact with the puppies and the older dogs and don’t even dream about taking your dog home with less than 3 months. I know many people are against getting dogs from breeders, I understand and agree with their point of view, rescuing a shelter dog is more “human”. I’ve always been a dog lover, my first pic when my mom brought me home is on the bed with 2 puppies, the 3 of us were still blind. However, after much thinking I decided to get a dog, a tailor made dog, I would have love a lab or a retriever, but shedding would be an issue, it was then when I discovered this breed, non shredders, herders (good for running) and hypoallergenic. I looked for places to adopt one, extremely hard since lately (after Obama got one water dog) they been on demand. Then I started looking for breeders, but all of them would ship your dog like if it was a piece of furniture, overnight mail, personally I think that’s crossing the line. One problem with the SWD is that are really shy, wary would be a more appropriated term and that can become an issue when living in the city, that is also part of the irresponsible breeding. Getting a dog from this guy seemed almost impossible (he often favors shepherds, the police department, fire department and therapy centers) is it wasn’t for the valuable contacts. I had no saying on choosing Doggy, at 4 month he was the last dog of his litter. He came home with the condition of not turning him into a toy dog, he had to work (he must learn to do my laundry). I probably got into subjects unknown to me, breeding and dog shows, but based on the little I’ve seen and read I could say I’m not a fan, nnd neither is Doggy, he loves to be dirty and to stink, can’t picture him winning Cruft cover on mud and with leaves stuck to his fur, he would also eat most of the dogs there.
It sounds like you found a really good person to get your dog from. This is a breed which interests me very much. I have always wanted to meet one, but have never had the opportunity. Now I have the next best thing – your blog.
So far I’m really happy with this furry beast, really smart and pick up things fairly easy, good and bad things, gotta pay extra attention. He follows me like a shadow, it annoys me when I’m cooking lol.
Thanks for the comment!
The thing is that with the less popular breeds, Chessies being one of them, pups are often shipped. If you want a dog with sound structure and genetics, that may be the best choice. There are ways to ship that are not traumatic to the pup, or sometimes people will fly in to pick up a pup and take them back in the cabin with them. Two of Thunder’s pups were shipped to Colorado in 2008 and one of Freighter’s litter mates when to Tennessee in a small crate in the cabin of the plane. It is not always a bad thing if you do your homework.
Glad you ended up with the dog you wanted and it was close to home.