If you breed dogs in the manner which we breed dogs you have a great big piece of your heart invested in each litter. We take each litter seriously – we don’t produce many puppies and we spend a lot of our time with each one. Puppies generally remain with us at least three months before going to their new owners. We remain in close contact with them whenever possible and consider the owners family. To date, in almost 15 years, there is only one owner we do not hear from and that’s not because we don’t try. (there is a blog about it about Madoc).
Every puppy who leaves us takes a part of our hearts with them. Now, normally when we have a full litter and they leave us at 12 weeks old we may cry or be sad a little bit but mainly we are excited for the future and wish them well – then we get a tad bit more quiet and sleep with each one leaving so its kind of a trade off. HOWEVER – sometimes a puppy may remain with us longer. There could be many reasons for this. Sometimes the new owner is not ready for the puppy just yet, sometimes we run one on a while, sometimes we have other reasons…but inevitably when those puppies leave us its very difficult.
Our last litter, as you know if you follow my blog, we had a single survivor. We worked so hard with this guy in so many ways. Firstly just to keep him alive and secondly to make sure his singleton life was well rounded. Its difficult not to get very attached sometimes. He was promised out prior to his birth, as all of ours are, to a very special home and a wonderful person who will spoil him forever. She has been on our wait list for some time and we know he will live the very best life possible with her….all the way across this huge country.
Smithy (Wavemaker This Charming Man) is indeed so very charming as his name suggests. He has worked his way into our hearts. He is a special boy who works so hard to please and is always so very joyous and full of enthusiasm. In a few weeks we will travel with him (and the girls) to meet with his new owner who is also traveling far to meet him for the first time. In my heart I know this is the best possible scenario for this guy but it never gets easier.
Tears will be shed. Hugs will be had. More tears will follow.
We cant keep them all and the best we can do is work hard to produce and raise the best Staffordshire Bull Terriers we possibly can. Smithy will go on to represent all of our hard work. He will make us so proud and we will look forward to seeing him again next Spring hopefully. Until then we will follow his adventures from afar. Tears will turn to smiles.
