The Desperate Search for a Golden

Well, it all s tarted with our new house... with enough rooms inside and a sizable yard outside, people (my two girls to be specific) started to have ideas. It just happened that previous owner of the house had a beautiful, sweet and tame golden and lab mix Sidknee, so putting 1+1 together, those two little devilish minds start to tick....


"Mommy can we have a puppy? I promise I will take care of it". I mumbled yes while I wasn't thinking or even paying attention to my younger one's usual whining. I mean look at the time she asked -- I was busy with chores and I thought she was grouching about the usual stuff... Before long I realized with a chill on my back of what I have done, wait a minute, a PUPPY? A four-legged one that can't talk in either English or Chinese?


What can you do, a promise is a promise. Even after my husband and I have listed all the pros and cons of raising, it did not matter -- the girls drove me crazy every day with their "we are going to get a puppy, wright? WRIGHT?". If you think it is easy to say no to kids, you don't know my girls -- the sweetest, cutest, wittiest, and the most mischievous ones who are as good as professional guilt makers!


To make a long story short, we (more like I) started to dig around for a puppy. I did not know exactly where to start so I called the shelters first. Obviously nobody would abandon a cute golden puppy to a shelter, so I moved on the breeders on the internet with the suggestions from a friend but did not had much luck there either. No only those puppies are expensive ($2k to $3k+), you will also have to wait. Most of the puppies are long booked before they reach the 8 week mark to be separated from their mommies, and the ones that are left often have defects like allergies. The only one available was from Missouri! After 2 weeks of digging, I became desperate, so I started to drive around and sniff thru the puppy stores near my neighbourhood.


The 1st one did not have any goldens. I got startled by some active puppies jumping up and down to "greet" me in their bin and I had to quickly hide behind someone's back. The 2nd store had a 3-month old female yellow lab, who acted like she had waaaay too much coffee in the morning. The puppy chased my younger one Caitlin around till she almost cried and wished she could dig a hole in the ground and hide there. It also scratched my older one Claire's finger and made it bleed.


I seriously started to have 2nd thought about this puppy thing. Can you blame me? I am already having just 4 hours of sleep on average each day. They say a pet will add years to your life but I am sure a puppy like that yellow lab will sure send me the graveyard... QUICK!