I've been married to my wife for 21+ years. Getting a new puppy to replace our Border Collie who we had to put down in July was probably the biggest divide over an issue we've had that entire time. Seriously.
I am 110% firmly in the camp about adopting dogs from pounds/rescues as there are so many out there that need homes. I've never had a dog/cat that wasn't adopted this way (our other dog was adopted from an animal shelter). My wife absolutely decided she wanted a (way too much $$$) Australian Sheppard (Merle colored), and there wasn't/isn't any of that particular dog available outside of dedicated Australian Sheppard breeders. The breeder does seem like a good breeder with years and years of glowing reviews and not the irresponsible "puppy mill" kind.
I fought the good fight for a month and half trying to get her to change her mind, but of course "happy wife, happy life" prevailed as she would not budge on her decision AT ALL. We usually can "meet in the middle" on almost every other decision we have ever faced, but not this time. Honestly, it almost felt like we were debating/arguing politics with our unwillingness to alter our stances at all.
So in three weeks, we get to drive 3 hours (6 hours roundtrip) to pick up the new puppy. The video quality isn't the best since it was sent by text message and compressed all to hell, but here's a video the breeder sent my wife this evening of our new dog.
Once we get it, I'll post some better pics/video of him.
I am 110% firmly in the camp about adopting dogs from pounds/rescues as there are so many out there that need homes. I've never had a dog/cat that wasn't adopted this way (our other dog was adopted from an animal shelter). My wife absolutely decided she wanted a (way too much $$$) Australian Sheppard (Merle colored), and there wasn't/isn't any of that particular dog available outside of dedicated Australian Sheppard breeders. The breeder does seem like a good breeder with years and years of glowing reviews and not the irresponsible "puppy mill" kind.
I fought the good fight for a month and half trying to get her to change her mind, but of course "happy wife, happy life" prevailed as she would not budge on her decision AT ALL. We usually can "meet in the middle" on almost every other decision we have ever faced, but not this time. Honestly, it almost felt like we were debating/arguing politics with our unwillingness to alter our stances at all.
So in three weeks, we get to drive 3 hours (6 hours roundtrip) to pick up the new puppy. The video quality isn't the best since it was sent by text message and compressed all to hell, but here's a video the breeder sent my wife this evening of our new dog.
Once we get it, I'll post some better pics/video of him.