It was a trip down memory lane today as I accompanied neighbour Carol to Derbyshire to pick up her Welsh Terrier puppy. Not only did I reconnect with some of my favourite places (The Pennines,Bakewell, Chatsworth, Buxton and Matlock, I caught up with a friend, the slightly eccentric Susan, who is a Welsh Terrier breeder of some National repute.
We bought all our terriers from Susan when we lived in Sheffield and after we moved to Wales,.which is no mean feat, I can tell you, as she interviews any prospective owner within an inch of their life.
If you don't cut the mustard with her, then you don't get the dog! Plain and simple!
I remember when we went to "view" our first Welsh Terrier Finlay, I made the mistake of scooping him up into my arms to cuddle him. Susan stopped what she was doing and said pointedly
"If you drop that puppy..you will leave here empty handed"
AND she meant it!......I have known people that might of got through the first round of "telephone interviews" with her fall at the second face-to-face interview for being late for a puppy viewing
"If they can't be on time for viewing a puppy..they don't deserve owning one" I remember her saying
I thank goodness , Chris and I passed her interviews with flying colours.
I love people like Susan. They are bright, passionate and dedicated to their animals. Making a quick "buck" from selling a puppy is the last thing on her mind,after all, to her, it is the matching up of right dog to the right owner which is her sole challenge in business.
In this day and age of a quick buck, where scumbag breeders are banging out poor bloodline dogs in puppyfarm conditions, Susan's "if you are not right for my dog then fuck you" attitude, remains as refreshing and vital as the puppies themselves, and seeing her and experiencing that "say it like it is", no nonsense pragmatism, made me wish that I too was bringing another puppy home with me.
Does that make me a potential animal hoarder?
I don't think so.... I just think,( and I believe this quite honestly)
that I just have a big, needy, animal biased heart