Here We Go…

I would like to start by acknowledging that there are a lot of strong feelings on the internet about dog breeders. There’s the “Adopt, Don’t Shop” crowd, which I strongly agree with most of the time. There are people who believe that if you’re willing to pay for a purebred dog, you should be willing to wait years on a waiting list and pay an arm and a leg. And then there are people like me, with a ‘live and let live’ attitude, for the most part.  I know that there is a lot of hate for so-called “Backyard Breeders,” and while I do understand the risks of dealing with BYBs, as some call them, I also think it really depends on what your goals are for the dog you’re getting, how much money you have to put into the dog if any issues arise, and, of course, how many questions you’re willing to ask. Although I will admit that sometimes, when looking at pictures of all of those beautiful little fuzzballs, it’s hard to remember some of those questions. 

Also, for a bit of context, this was summer 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

Anyway, here we go…

I started out by looking into border collie rescues. It just seemed like the right idea to start with, considering that the last two dogs we had gotten were rescues, of a sort, if you consider taking in, feeding, and providing medical care for a dog that just showed up in your yard, rescuing it. Also, I really respect border collie rescues. The truth is that a lot of people hear about how smart border collies are, how easy it is to train them, and they see how beautiful and athletic they are. And border collies are honestly kind of everywhere in advertisements. But an unfortunately significant number of people also don’t do any research. They just want a beautiful dog that they can train to do yoga with them. (I’m not crazy. Social media is a wild place. Although I think that might have been an Australian Shepherd. But I digress.) They take these puppies home with no clue that an unemployed border collie is a menace. And then a lot of the puppies end up with rescues (if they’re lucky). Unfortunately, there just weren’t any available dogs near us. I had put in applications with a couple, only to be notified that they were already adopted.

So I pivoted from border collie rescues to puppies. I was only willing to go a certain distance, and I wasn’t interested in any puppies that were coming from breeders that seemed to have a large variety of breeds of puppies at the same time (a whole other terrible kind of breeder, which rhymes with ‘yuppy till,’ and I’m not touching that topic with a ten-foot pole), which at that particular time eliminated most of the state we were in. And then I saw him.

He had the most adorable little black and white face. And he was only 3 hours away! I was so nervous when I called. I was afraid they were going to say he was already taken. But instead, he was the only one left. I asked some of those questions I mentioned before and found out the breeders were actually a farm couple who were experienced with breeding Anatolian shepherds, and that the sire was right then being trained to herd. I had a really good feeling about them, so we made arrangements for us to travel there the next day and pick him up. I was so excited that I could barely sleep.

The next morning, I gathered some supplies (puppy collar, blanket, food, and water bowls) and we all (except my daughter, who had to work) crowded into the car and headed off to Missouri. When we first got there, we were greeted by a couple of beautiful Anatolian Shepherds. Their owner warned us not to try to pet them—they were trained livestock guardians and not stranger-friendly. But that was fine, I was there for Marvin, as they were calling him.

I would like to pause here to say that To. This. Day. I still love and miss Nanners (and Asti. And Brownie. And don’t even get me started on Dusty or any of the others). I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea here. But when I walked into that barn and was handed that pup, he and I both immediately fell in love.

And that was just the beginning.