Mom, Garrett, and I went to the Northwest English Shepherd gathering with absolutely no intention of getting another dog. I had found out August 7 that my female, Quincy's hips were scored too low to breed again, so I was sort of on the look out for another female, but in the back of my mind I didn't think I would get one until Spring. In the breeder line up, one of the breeders introduced herself and her dogs, then she said "If any of you are interested, I know someone who has pups right now and they will be ready to go at the beginning of October." I was interested, so I talked to her about them, and then we took a detour to go look at pups. Now I had no intention on getting a black and white pup, as I like the other colors that English Shepherds have to offer, and I didn't want to have to answer the "is this a Border Collie?" question a million time. The ideal color that I wanted was clear Sable and White, imagine my excitement when we got there and there was a Clear Sable and White female, among mostly black and white pups (there were two tri, but black and white far out numbered the lot). I was so sure that this little girl was the one God wanted for me that I said ok I will take the pup, if she fits the temperament that I want. I talked with Jaiaen (the breeder of the litter) for quite some time about the pedigree, by then it was dark and we had a long way to go still. Jaiaen very generously offered us a cabin in the back of her property for us to spend the night in. The biggest problem with that was we had 3 dogs with us that are not inside dogs, but we gave it a shot, and they did really well...until about 5:30am. When I went outside to let them go to the bathroom I saw that Jaiaen was up and taking care of the puppies, so I went over to help. That's when I first started to notice this little black and white pup who wandered up to me and sat in my lap for a good half hour and cuddled.
Anyway when the pups were 6 weeks old I heard from Jaiaen and she said that the best pup all around for breeding was the little black and white girl that cuddled with me. I almost said "well never mind then." But I felt bad because I kind-of jumped in with both feet, so come the first week of October we headed out to go get her. And I am so glad I did. She is exactly what I wanted all the way around for a female.
I had the name Fiona (meaning Fair haired and heart) all picked out for my next female, but it didn't exactly fit so all the way home we were trying to find another name for her. We came up with Brenna, meaning beautiful with hair black as a Raven, it fit a little better.
I am so pleased with this girl, and am looking forward to watching her grow!
