Going to the Breeder

Today, we (meaning Me, dad, mom and jerkatronic - I mean brother!) went to see a Golden Retriever Breeder somewhere in Detroit. The car ride took forever, Jerkatronic was being a Jerkatronic, and I was bored. The High Way was making me nervous. The passing was making me twitchy. Because of my gender, I was (and am) increasingly annoyed and irritated. We turned off the free way and in to a small, quiet suburb, far too small for the ranch I was thinking we where going to. We stopped in front of a very small blue house, walking in with another family that was looking for a dog. At the door, we where greeted by a friendly man who welcomed us and pushed a few happy goldens (golden retrievers) out of the way so we could all come in. The room was quite large, taken up mostly by 7 Goldens and about 8 tiny puppies. I was astounded that -none- of the dogs barked or jumped at us, simply wagging their tails and rubbing their heads in to our hands. Very friendly, laid back dogs.

The breeder talked at us for a while, going over how she bred her dogs, what she looked for in her dogs, etc. Slightly boring, but good information. While she spoke, I contented myself by petting the dogs, who discovered quickly that if they wanted pets they should croud around me. At one point I was sitting on the floor with two old goldens, a mother golden, and the only male of the dogs, all trying to get pets at the same time. It was heaven. After she told us about the litter of puppies, she told us that they actually had two litters, one in a different room. We went in there and saw another litter of at least 9 pups. Where we in heaven? I think we where.

Anyway. Getting to the point of this so-far pointless post. After going over Puppy information, we (meaning Dad and Mom) decided that we where not going to take a chance and go to see other breeders. These dogs where amazing, they had no diseases in their bloodlines, and the puppies where still for sale. So. In two weeks, we are going to see which of the pups is best for us. Dad already decided that we needed another Male dog, and there are two males. And, two weeks after that, we are going to take home a dog.

On the way home, we brainstormed pet names. The Jerkatronic suggested Kirk, Scotty, and Arthas, all WoW and Star-Trek related names. We already have a cat named Spock, and the Jerkatronic -tried- to name Summer (other cat) 709 or whatever that girl in Star-trek is. Yes, I did hit him. Hard. Mom suggested Sam, Binky and Mort, all of which we turned down. I suggested Sky, Skypaw and Willow. Dad thought about it for a moment, first suggesting Fetch and then, after much thought, Echo. All of us liked Echo, just for the sound of it. Mom said that Echo was good because it was pretty. Dad liked the meaning of the word. Jerkatronic said it was fine and shut up, he was listening to the radio.

My reason for liking the name Echo? Simple. An echo is a sound that bounces back at you. A sound that regenerates. We just lost Jamie, and getting a puppy shows that we bounced back from something hard. Just like an Echo, we bounced back form losing our dog and we are getting another. Starting again.

Too poetic for you? I thought so.