Well, we've finally made our pick and it's Big Blue. I will not say that the decision has been easy nor will I say that we don't have second thoughts, but, in the end we weighed factors such as how they look now compared to each other, how we believe they will look at 2 or 3 years of age, their temperaments both in terms of how solid they are (and all 5 puppies are wonderfully stable) but also how well they handle change and stress and, finally, how well the pup we chose would fit into our household and how well the other puppies would fit into our other buyers' households. In the end, it was Big Blue for us and that decision was only solidified on Wednesday when we were paid a visit by our friend Cindy and her 4-month-old son, Cooper, and his older sister, Kailey.
In this picture, you can see the pure joy of a child with a pile of puppies in her lap.
Later, we watched in amazement as Lt. Blue Girl met her new owner's grandchild, Cooper, for the first time. At first, total curiosity.
And then the baby's first puppy kiss.
Meanwhile, Kailey had picked Big Blue as a playmate and he was more than up to the task
. And then of course, there was that ponytail.
But, at the end of the day, Kailey demonstrated why Big Blue is our new guy.
We also really love the Red Rascal and finally decided his calm, incredibly sweet demeanor was ideal for our buyer family with two small girls and 2 very chubby male Pugs. Nothing ruffles Mr. Red. He'll make a great pet and, if he turns out, will make a great show dog for one of the little girls in Jr. Showmanship. Regardless, he'll be living 10 minutes from us here in Orlando and I foresee lots of play dates for the boys.
The Plumster is heading to another wonderful home in KY where he'll show if he's worthy but will be this family's only dog and will have acres to roam. This particular family owned one of our puppies from Annie's first litter and that puppy became a champion and mothered 2 outstanding litters.
The girls are going to the best homes ever: Pinkie is going to VA to live with a woman who owns a girl from Annie's second litter who is now 10 years old, has earned 41 working titles and is still active in Herding. Pinkie will be living on a horse farm. Lt. Blue will be called CocoBear and she's going to a home in our old neighborhood to a family that owned an Annie daughter and currently own a Rowdy son. We expect to see a lot of her since we usually take care of the kids when these owners travel. And, of course, she'll get to grow up with Cooper.
So, the decision is finally made. We think
. Actually, the girls go to their new homes today and Red Rascal will be going to his new home on Sunday. We are just now trying to figure out how to get the Plumster to KY in the next week or so. Hope you enjoyed our journey. But don't think Big Blue will stop being the subject of my camera. Nope. He has to learn to be my next best model. Just like his granddad. And, yes, we're thinking of calling him RJ -- for Rowdy Jr.
Jim