Sunday We Are Having A Baby

Upon Morgan’s passing we have had several conversations as to how to best handle the empty space in the family. On one side, London has never had full attention from us. It was always shared. So, at first, we figured we’d spoil him in his remaining years as an only dog. While I think he does enjoy the focused attention he does appear to be somewhat lonely and bored.

When I first got London & Morgan I got them as a pair although I was in no way planning to. They were in the same kennel and I was looking for a sable & white sheltie. I spent some time with Morgan and chose her. After a little time, however, I spent some time with London which turned in to about 2 hours. I just couldn’t walk out without him, leaving him behind. It just didn’t feel right so I walked out with both of them. This was another reason why I wanted to wait for a new member of the family. I wanted to continue the tradition of buying a pair where they are all each other have ever known their entire lives.

But life doesn’t necessarily work that way. I think London needs the companionship. I think we need to fill the empty space that Morgan left us. The vet says London has a good few more years with us. Those years could be filled with the companionship of a little brother.

So we took to trying to find a sheltie puppy. It seems that any breeders with litters are never near us so it became evident very fast that we were going to have to work for this. I took to every online pet finding service I could find. I ended up settling mainly on puppyfind.com in that they were relatively easy to use and their breed search function actually worked–unlike many of them that are based upon apparently the same database. I received daily updates and would research their locations and it seemed that the closest we ever saw any near Florida was Georgia.

I decided to revert to Facebook and subscribed to every breeder group that I could find. One was selling a pair. A bi black and white and a blue merle–our original colors of choice. The location was at the exact opposite side of the States from us. Talked to the breeder who said they could ship everywhere but seemed to be very slow with coming up with any way to ship. So I started to weigh the fact that I’d have to somehow fly to Washington, take two carry-on puppies with me back and work with them over the period of a day or so of traveling which didn’t really sound like the greatest idea but I was willing to give it a shot. As an after thought we decided it is probably best to just get one and we can get another when the time comes. So that fell through. 

With all of the potential hassles of booking flights and trying to secure time frames and the logistics of making it all happen I started to research these pet transporters that she was talking about. Maybe if I could work that part out on my end it would make things easier the next time. I found a few “notable” companies reviewed online for this sort of thing and received one quote for $3500 and another $5000! Insert “wow” emoticon here. Granted these were for two puppies at the time but still!

So back to puppyfind.com I went. A few days later some new shelties came up in searches and one caught my eye. He wasn’t really a bi black and white but he had a very unique coat.

I wasn’t even really looking for a male at the time since Morgan’s spot would have theoretically been filled by a female but London has his cousin over once in awhile–a male–and they’ve begun to get pretty chummy so I’m open to two males in the house. So I reached out and got a response pretty quickly. Located in Ohio. For the first time I actually called the number given. Being the first time that I’ve bought a pet this way I had some questions and asked how they usually did long distance adoptions. He mentioned that one buyer had had them transported so I asked if he happened to know the person/company that did it. 10 minutes later I got a call back and was immediately able to get a reasonable quote to transport him from Ohio. When you’re buying this way there is a lot of fear involved. Am I being scammed? What happens if I send the money and don’t get the dog? How do I protect myself if that be the case? Is the transporter going to treat the dog well on the trip?

The breeder agreed very easily to a $500 deposit until the transporter showed up at their property. They also took credit card which, to my understanding, I can be covered for if the deal doesn’t go through and I get scammed. I researched the names, found addresses, geolocated them and looked at their property to see if they were a puppy mill and pretty much everything else I could think of to put my mind at peace on it. I also researched the transporter and found them on uShip.com with very good reviews.

Well, uship.com opened up a world of possibilities when it comes to future transporting needs when the time comes. Although having secured a transporter, I signed up and put out a request for quote and got several responses just to see how it all worked and what the quotes looked like. Some were actually quoted cheaper, at around $250, than the transporter I had lined up but the transporter has a relationship with the breeder and they’ve worked together before so I’m sticking with it to see how it goes. Yes, there is a tinge of “am I being scammed” in that this could be some sort of co-conspiracy? Yeah, a little, but general interaction with both the transporter and the breeder feels legit so I’m going with it.

So today I heard back from the transporter with a specific date and time of arrival. Sunday, September 6, 2020! We’re so excited! His crate is all ready and waiting, I’ve been researching modern dog training classes, bought toys, leashes, a call with the vet is coming up later this week to schedule his final shots and we’re ready & waiting.

And his name is…