Jeff and I got a puppy on Saturday!  I want to tell you what happened- because a puppy is not necessarily what we were looking for...

 We've been talking about getting a dog for some time now and had decided on a breed- German Wirehair.  My parents have a Wirehair named Max and he's an awesome dog!  Plus, Jeff is allergic to pet dander so we needed to get a hair dog.  A puppy is A TON of work so we thought if we could find a dog that was a little older- it would be perfect.  This breed of dog is often used for hunting.  Since we're not going to hunt with ours, we thought we could get one that hadn't sold because it didn't have the characteristics of a good hunter.  You know, a dog that's easy going and NOT aggressive.

 We thought we'd found the perfect dog. (this is the part that's terribly sad).  A breeder we'd been talking to didn't have any pups or dogs for sale, but knew a guy who had a year old Wirehair he was looking to "get rid of".  He said the dog was playful and social.  We arranged a time to drive up and see him on Saturday.  It was terrible!  The kennel was filthy.  The dog was not only filthy, but had a huge sore on his ear.  The saddest part- he was TERRIFIED of people.  When the owner walked up to him, the dog cowered in fear peeing all over the place (a sign of submission and possibly worse- but I'm not going to make accusations) and would barley allow anyone to touch him.  After almost a year, the guy hadn't even bothered to give him a name.  When we left, I had a huge lump in my throat and was holding back tears.  We obviously didn't take him home, but we are reporting the conditions to the proper authorities. 

I didn't tell this part of the story for any other reason then to remind people that we all need to make sure to take care of the animals that can't take care of themselves.  The idea of that guy trying to sell us a dog that, in all honesty, I think needs to be rescued is asinine! 

 ...on to the happier part!

 As we were on our way home, Jeff and I were talking about what we needed to do about that poor dog and realized, we just we missed our exit. 

Suddenly there was a sign that read "Game Fair".  At this point it was 4:50pm.  Jeff said, "I think breeders bring their pups to game fairs, let's check it out".  We turned off the main road and headed to the game fair. 

 Once we paid $4 to park in someone's yard, we headed toward the main gates.  People were walking the other way in flocks and it was clear- if the Game Fair wasn't wrapping up for the day- it was about to.  Along the road, there were puppies for sale EVERYWHERE.  Black labs, yellow labs, chocolate labs, golden retrievers- as we got to the (now closed) main gate- there it was- a sign that read "GERMAN WIREHAIRS".  I ran to the pen, they had two males left!  It was fate!  We had to get one.  Little Tuffy woke up, gave us the "pick me" look and that was it- we went home with a Wirehair!  The ride home was interesting to say the least.  I'll save that part of the story until tomorrow!