Finding the Right Homes

This whole episode with Daca has really taught me a lot about who I am and what I want from the dogs in my life. I can't remember if I shared this with you or not, so you know, skip ahead if so: the day after I decided to place Moto on the east coast (through a referral from Daca's owner, actually), I found out Daca was coming back. Can you imagine what that feels like?

I initially had rejected Moto's owner because she was a first-time dog owner, but after having Moto an extra month, I decided that a first-timer was going to handle him well. Alina is a very conscientious person who assured me she knew what she was getting into and was up for the challenge, and so far she's proven to be right. He's going to a stockdog fun day this weekend - we'll see how that lazy baby dog does. :)

Heck, that happened with Emma, too. Laura's parents were begging for a puppy and I kept saying, "No, no no" because they were not Aussie-experienced. Now Emma's a therapy dog and just graduated as "Best Puppy in Class" in her puppy class. People are asking the Flowers where they can get a puppy just like her. :)

And then to find out that a puppy that I was totally sure had been placed in the right home, who had experience with Aussies (maybe not hard-line working lines, but Aussies) didn't even make it five weeks? I was terrorized that it was something I had produced.

Now, after having had her for about a month, I am quite sure it was just a bad match after all. Live and learn, right? All of the other homes make me ridiculously proud of the puppies I've made. Daca herself makes me proud.

So a couple days ago I sat on the couch all day grading papers and hanging out with her. Could/should I keep her? She is so fun, great to train, neat attitude, love her looks . . . but this is the same thing I went through with Moto, and it was hard letting him go, but I am so happy he's not here and he's somewhere so appropriate for him.

The same is going to be true of Daca - so I listed her for sale a couple days through some stockdog resources. And wow - the responses are the highest caliber I could ask for. But how to decide this time which is the best fit for her? I've spent so many years thinking about structure, theory, breeding, talent, etc, but not much about home placement. How do you screen a cattle rancher who just says he's been working with mixed breeds and wants an Aussie before he dies? He doesn't speak my crazy dog-fancy language - he just knows instinctually what he wants. How do I know that whatever home lands with her is going to be her forever home - and she won't get bounced around for whatever reason?

You do that by going to "dog fancy" homes - people for whom the dogs are pets. People like me. All three of my Aussies have had their flaws, but I was committed to them. With Fury, I wanted a possible conformation prospect along with a stockdog and the two things I couldn't have guessed at happened: she's way too small and her nose didn't fill in. Not such a successful combination. My prior dog didn't have stockdog instinct or drive to perform at all. My dog before that was actually pretty awesome all around - but he died too soon to get everything out of him, and I was so young that I didn't really know how to manage him.

But I did this breeding not for dog fancy homes. I did this to perpetuate talent in the stock arena. So that's either a trialling home or a ranch home as my priority. And both of those homes will send back a dog that doesn't fit.

I was talking to Yishai about the bites I got and he had a hard time imagining any dog living primarily in a kennel."But," he said, "I come from a different place in my heart." Which is true. You should see him with Rippa, "I schmove you, Ripples, I schmove you so much. Look Kristin, she's looking at us from the car!" Waving, "Hi Rips!"

It's hard not being a sap when you spend your life with that. :) Sap's pretty good. But it makes it hard to make realistic, healthy decisions sometimes.

What I do know is that what's supposed to happen will happen. Getting her back has taught me a lot about breeding, placement, what I do right and what I could improve upon, and if the right home doesn't come along (or if it does, and God forbid, it doesn't work out), then I'll have an awesome dog to work with in the future. Fury Two-Point-Oh.