We have been lurking on here for ages, soaking up advice and information. We have recently decided to go ahead and start looking in earnest for a pup.
I had a number of contact phone numbers, and as explained in a previous post have looked at some litters. Trev is due to have surgery on a problem on his hand on April 2nd, and will be at home for 6 weeks afterwards. We discussed the possibiilty of getting a pup at about that time (during the Easter break). We phoned a lady today, and went to view her pups. She had a litter that is currently 3 weeks old. I was a bit anxious because she had 4 bitches available and was worried about whether we would be able to choose just the one! Trev and Dominic came too, and we got hopelessly lost so arrived much later than planned.
The breeder was fabulous and talked us through the last twists and turns of the countryside and even stood outside with a torch to light our way to her gate!
She was encouragingly paranoid about us washing our hands before being allowed to meet mum and pups and all of a sudden, there we were. Confronted by the most beautiful mum and her equally beautiful pups.
We had not discussed how to choose a puppy - we just said we would know when we found the right one. And we did!
We all fell for the same little girl - who had the same facial markings as her mum.
The breeder "ticked all the boxes" as far as I was concerned, and certainly asked us all the right questions! She was lovely and her husband and son were too. (Her house was also out of this world, but that's another story)
Anyway, we have tentatively booked the little girl we chose. We have left a deposit and arranged to go back in 2 weeks (we are at Crufts this weekend) By then she will be 5 weeks old, so running around a lot more and we can see them all during the day instead of when they were out for the count after their dinner!
Unless we change our minds, we are going to call her BUFFY and will be collecting her in early April when she will be 8 weeks old!