We've been tagged!

I have been tagged by Winnie the Corgi to share how my pups came to live with me.

Lance is the first dog of my adult life. It was hard spending 4 years of college away from all of my childhood pets so I knew that I would be getting a dog as soon as I possibly could. I love big breeds like Newfies, Berners, and mastifs, but I also love dogs with high drive. Unfortunately Newfies aren't exactly known for being high energy dogs, so I knew I would have to look smaller. At the time, my fiance wanted a dog who would cuddle with him and sit on his lap. At the daycare I had worked at I had completely fallen in love with "Little Dog" a pembroke who was extremely cute and very naughty so I thought a corgi would fit us perfectly. Corgis may be small, but they have definetly have drive.

So I started looking at breeders and rescues and went to a couple dog shows to talk to corgi owners. I thought I had found a great breeder who cared about her dogs, and of course did health testing, but in hindsight I shouldn't have been so eager and did a little more research. Apparently she doesn't really care what happens to them afterwards as she never responded to one of my email updates.

Anyway, after our "honeymoon" to Lutsen, my new husband and I picked up baby Lance on the way home. Lance was the perfect puppy, he was basically a mature adult even at 11wks.

And he never grew into those ears!

With my 2nd puppy I debated a long time (ever since we got Lance!) on what breed to get. I decided that I wanted a little bit bigger dog who was even higher in energy. I know that Lance is much more laid back than most corgis, and wanted a dog that would have loads of drive! But border collies still scare me with how much energy they have :) so I started looking at tollers. I did tons of research and everything I read made me more intrigued with their drive, intelligence, and stubbornness! The description of "a border collie with an off switch" also made me excited :P Since tollers are a much less common breed there aren't a ton of crappy breeders out there, so this made it much easier to find several I KNEW that I would be very happy with. The decision was sealed as I was invited to visit and even spent the night at one breeders house.

When the litter was seven weeks I again drove down for temperament testing and was given the pick of 2 puppies who fit my criteria for a performance dog and was pet quality. "Lime" was a great dog who was passed everything on the test with flying colors, especially the retrieving, and was extremely attentive when I did one on one training. I knew he would be the perfect family dog and would excel at obedience. "Red" was a little devil, he didn't bring the toy back, just wanted to "kill it," and was very jumpy and bitey in individual training. He seemed to have a ton of energy and was definitely a spitfire. I of course chose "Red" as my new puppy.

2nd on the leftVito settled in nicely, although he still isn't sure what to think of the ferrets

Our next dog won't come until Vito is at least 1.5yrs and we have a house. The breed is still up in the air. Right now the contenders, in no particular order, are a cardigan corgi, pembroke corgi, toller, border collie, austrailian shepherd, bernese mountain dog, or a random mix!