[Dailydrool] Breeding

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

> Even very nice people who wnat a puppy and seem to love the puppy  
> sometimes get worn out with it after a few weeeks and start looking  
> for shelters to take them in.

This is how our young Charlie wound up in the rescue system. His  
first family bought him as a puppy from a breeder (judging from his  
unhealthy conformation, breeding for structural integrity was this  
breeder's last priority). They wanted, in their words, a "docile  
dog." So why they chose a puppy, I don't know. The only docile puppy  
I know is a sick puppy.

This family really wanted Charlie and loved him, but he was a right  
little handful as a puppy. His normal puppy behavior was exacerbated  
by being left in a crate for hours on end and then not being given  
attention and play when his family was home. He learned early that  
misbehaving would get him attention, and negative attention is better  
than no attention at all.

Finally, the husband had enough of the disruption and destructiveness  
of an unhappy puppy (the last straw was when Charlie hopped up on  
their bed and peed on the new Ralph Lauren comforter) and told his  
wife that if she couldn't find another home for Charlie, then he was  
going to take the puppy to animal control, our city's kill shelter.

Fortunately, the wife and my friend Jennifer work in the same place,  
and Jennifer heard about it and got the wife connected with Bluegrass  
Basset Rescue and me. Ken and I fostered young Charlie until we  
failed at it and had to adopt him. Despite his naughtiness, he fit in  
well with our family, and I hated the idea of separating him from our  
Elsinore, with whom he bonded quickly. Especially after having  
watched him spend a heartbreaking week actively grieving for his  
first family. I didn't want any more grief in his life than  
necessary. He has a lighthearted spirit, but his happiness is easily  
crushed, so I guard it carefully.

We took Charlie in at the age of 11 months. He was (and still is at  
age four) very puppy. He was destructive and very active  
all...day...long. For six months I had to keep him in the same room  
as I to minimize the damage he was doing while I was trying to work.  
I was constantly taking things out of his mouth and telling him what  
not to do. He never took naps. From the moment he woke up in the  
morning until bedtime that night he was all play and look for things  
to do, without ceasing. Some days the only thing that kept him from  
being murdered in cold blood with yet another cherished item in his  
mouth was just how darned cute he looked and how sweet and soft and  
warm he was when he was falling asleep in my arms after dinner. Much  
of what I read on the Drool of Conley's activities is familiar stuff,  
only young Charlie doesn't have as much dexterity, thank goodness.

It's really funny reading about puppy misbehavior when it's someone  
else's puppy and written as well as Conley's reported activities are.  
But it's quite another to live with that kind of puppy nonsense for  
the two or more years it takes a puppy to stop thinking of everything  
as a game or a toy. A lot of people don't have what it takes to deal  
with a puppy, and too many of those young souls aren't as lucky as  
Charlie was to get into a rescue system and find a home that can  
appreciate them in spite of their busy, exhausting puppy ways.

Speaking of which, I hear a magazine being cheerfully torn up in the  
other room. Time to go get a treat and play Trading Post again with  
my eternal buppy. I swear, young Charlie's the last, the absolute  
last buppy I'll ever have!

Elizabeth