Raving Amicks

Over a month ago, a local terrier breeder with which I’ve been in contact emailed me about six weeks ago and said “I have a female Wire Fox puppy. If you want her, let me know and send a deposit.” That was all I knew, and all I needed to know.

After close to 9 months of being dog-free, of being on the wait list for 7 different local rescue groups for terriers, of being told repeatedly by the city pound and the humane society and a number of different non-profit rescue groups that we suck because we live in an apartment and don’t have a fenced yard even though we are amazing people and will spoil any dog rotten with love and love and more love, I finally was close to getting a dog. Holy crap, a dog! Of course I want the dog. It’s a puppy from a reputable breeder, it’s 1.5 hours away, and it’s a female. Yes, I want the dog. Here is my deposit. Thank you, come again.

So last week, I get another email with some pictures of two cute puppies gnawing on each other and being all floppy and puppy-like. The only text is, “These are the two females of the litter. Which one do you want?”

You mean, I get to choose? I can have a hand in my fate of dog ownership? There isn’t just one female puppy that you’re dumping on me and charging an arm and a leg for?

With this sudden dilemma of having to make a choice, Tyler and I went to visit the breeder and puppies on Monday. We seriously spent an hour or more playing with the two to decide which one we liked the best. Originally, when going off just the pictures, we liked the one with the darker face. We nicknamed her “Stinkeye”, because when I showed the picture to Minerva she said “that dog is hilarious! She’s totally giving the camera the stink eye!” The other dog was nothing out of the ordinary for a Wire Fox puppy: She was fluffy and her face coloring was normal. But then when we met them in person, Stinkeye was more than just a giver of the eye of stink. She was apparently the “little shit” of the litter, according to the breeder. The dog that never stopped hopping from one foot to the other, never stopped snooping in random corners and crevices, never stopped causing trouble for the other litter mates.

As for the boring manila dog, she gave me a big wet kiss on the hand when the breeder handed her to me. She also did the same to Tyler when he held her. She even fell asleep on Tyler’s lap while I rubbed her ear—and while Stinkeye disappeared somewhere behind the rocking chair the breeder was sitting in. Yeah, boring manila dog knows how to please the crowd. Plus, she doesn’t have an under bite that may get better, may get worse. So yes, we ultimately picked boring manila dog. Her coloring may not be as erratic and interesting (and a major fault) as Stinkeye’s, but I think her personality will fit better with Tyler and me. I also think she will be less likely to tear up Tyler’s video game consoles (being floor-level and all), and hopefully less likely to eat his precious wool socks that he tosses on the floor as soon as he comes home from work.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 8:31 am and is filed under Animals, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.