The Tale of The Two HAVANESE by Connie Parker
M y husband and I haven’t had dogs since our sons left our home over 20 years ago for their own homes. With the number of hours we worked, we did not think it was fair to the dog to be alone so much. We finally retired, but initially we wanted to travel. Two and a half years after retiring I went online and searched for hypoallergenic dogs and Havanese breed popped up. I hadn’t heard of Havanese so started investigating the breed. Once I exhausted the Internet I started contacting different breed- ers. Selah Havanese responded first and since we were going to be in Traverse City area we made arrangements to visit Lisa. We fell in love with the breed and put our name on the waiting list. We wanted a female, but found out you can usually get a male sooner. On Novem- ber 25, 2013 four puppies were born and when they were six weeks old they were evaluated for show quality. Pep- percorn, later renamed to Pepper, was the one for us. We puppy-proofed our house by dressing all the cables and get- ting house plants out of puppy reach,
used my potty pad right away and that seemed to make Mom very happy. Right then I figured it was going to be easy to make them happy. Mom and Dad said I was their sweetheart. I had a great time. All kinds of people came to visit me and I loved them all. Back then I was too little to jump on the sofa or chairs, so Dad got a bean bag and stayed on the floor with me. Mom is too old to get down on the floor, but would pick me up and hold me in her lap once in a while. I amazed them when one day I dragged the bean bag close to the sofa and then ran up the bag to the sofa. I was pretty proud of myself. Because I was their first baby in long time, Mom was very protective of me—think helicopter parent—so she wouldn’t leave me home alone and fed me the same food my first human mom fed me. She wouldn’t let me eat the food she and Dad ate. After a few weeks, they took me to a big building with other dogs. I had to “sit,” “down,” and other things, but I also got to play with other pup- pies. I was a little nervous around the other puppies, but Mom and Dad said I
then picked Pepper up the first week in February 2014. But, I should let the dogs tell their own stories. “PePPer” Hi! I’m Pepper. I’m the mostly-black furred little guy. In my first home there were several other dogs, nine human sisters and brothers and a human mom and dad. They were the greatest. One day some new people came to my home and my human mom hugged and kissed me, then handed me to them. She looked very sad. Turns out these new people were to be my new human mom and dad. My new mom and dad were excited to have me come live with them. They are old people and aren’t as fast as my first family, but they have only me and can spend lots of time with me. My new human mom talked to me a lot on our way to my new home, but I didn’t understand people-talk back then so I decided to take a nap. When I woke up, I was at my new home. Inside I found an exercise pen, crate, potty pad, food and water dish, also a huge basket of toys for me. I went and
“MoM and dad said i was Their sweeThearT. i had a greaT TiMe.”
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