How one deals with grief and loss varies from person to person but in our family we all knew that an empty house made us very uncomfortable. I knew that I wanted another Aussie and thanks to Diva I had so many great connections in the Aussie community. I also had a good idea of the lines I wanted to go with this time as my priority with the new pup would be working livestock and trailing. So began the process of looking for a puppy. As I searched some websites of breeders I respected there were 3 litters that stood out. I have always been a fan of W Lazy J dogs and so a dear friend suggested that I reach out to Pam Watson of Sagecreek Aussies in MO to see if any of her current litter were available. There were pictures of the puppies at a young age on her website and my heart skipped a beat when I looked at the black tri female. Something about her kept me coming back and so I sent out an email to connect with Pam. I received a call the next morning and we discussed that the litter was spoken for but there was one female that might be available because the family interested in her was still on the fence. Now let me interject here that there is no 'right' color for a good dog but in a breed where the colors vary and can be wildly unique it stands to reason that people will have preferences. Personally I have always been partial to blue merles and black tri's. I truly believe that when something is ment to be it will just work out so when Pam told me that the puppy in question was the black tri I had this overwhelming feeling that she was going to be the one. No promises were made but Pam said she would reach out to the other buyer and see if they were still not 100% they didn't want to wait for a red female. I must have looked at her puppy picture a dozen times that day and all the while I told myself to not get over attached. When Pam called me the next afternoon and said that the other family agreed that they wanted to wait I was over the top excited. Sometime while waiting I had looked at her photo and the name Rein came to me. No hesitation, no second thoughts, she had a name and she was going to be ours!
My experience with Diva's breeder, and Pausha's before her, was something of a hollow one. Money changed hands and that was it. No matter how many pictures and successes I shared I never got a response back and after a while I stopped sending emails. I don't know that I suffered for a lack of that relationship but I can say that my conversations with Pam have left me very excited to finally be working with a breeder that genuinely cares about the puppies she is producing.
My plans for Rein are many and at the tender young age of just 12 weeks she is blank slate full of possibilities. For now we are just developing our bond and figuring out what our new family normal is. We are learning who she is and enjoying the puppy antics. There is always a temptation to compare a new dog to a previous one but I am trying hard to not place expectations on Rein based on who Diva was. I will admit though that I was delighted when out of the blue Rein lifted her hind leg for a belly rub without flopping down. This was a signature Diva move and it made me smile to see they had something in common, even something that really has no bearing on anything. It's the little things in life that bring us the most joy!
