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Present & Future
Many knew me when I lived in Georgia and even more before then. Finanical circumstances led me back to my family in Arizona and since then we have continued to moved every few months while we tried to follow work. The country's financial problems have, I am sure, displaced many families like mine and I can only hope that any other familes will be as blessed as we have. We moved to Leadville, Colorado and are renting a beautiful and surprisingly large home (trust me, there were few rentals available and we were blessed to be so fortunate). We do not live far from many ski resorts, but enjoy the quieter and less exhorbant, if also harder to reach, area of the mountains. My children have settled into their new schools which prove to be challenging though most of the population does not take advantage of its programs and education. After having to find homes for all my animals, save my son's therapy cat, we are now blessed to be welcoming back Sweetie and Hermione now their last owner is away too often to care for them. And lastly we are welcoming in a new member. She is a full silver persian abondoned by her family after a messy divorce. We met her while my son was completing volunteer hours, necessary for 8th grade completion, at the local animal shelter. For now work is steady and we feel more stable then we have in years. If all our stress and trials have lead to this I would happily endure it all again.
As always, I have hopes of returning to breeding, though I am not sure how long that may take. With two of my girls back home I am asked regulary if I will breed them. My current situation poses two problems: I do not own a male nor do I have any access to a breeder I trust and I am living in a fairly remote area. Though I live within an hour of four world renowned resorts and only an hour and a half from the metro Denver area I am uncertain of the popularity of the breed here and the willingness of buyers to travel through the mountains to me when it is heavy winter 9 months of the year. For now I am simply happy to have my girls back and will revisit the possibility of breeding again when I am more familiar with my area and the market. I will not breed until I am sure there are homes available to my puppies. I am also considering going back to school for my music degree and classes in animal husbandry and beginning to look into possibilities for interning with dog trainers and a future of training hospital visiting pets and animals raised for the use of the mentally disabled. It may be some time before any of my hopes become reality as the courses needed are not available in my area and my children still need my presence at home. I continue to work for a friend in Georgia and enjoy the comfort of working from home and watching my children walk through the door after school.
My History
I am a native born Arizonan in my early 30s. I think some probably figure me to be older (for some reason!) and funnily enough I still consider myself in my early 20s. My husband laughs at me when someone asks how old I am and I have to stop myself from answering with the age I think I am, then I have to count to find my real age! I was born in the southern part of the Phoenix metro area and moved a few times around the state before I was married in 1996. I lived in the same home for 7 yrs. and had three children. Our first pet is Amy, a persian, and we bought her just weeks after our marriage. She is, and will be until the day she dies, my most understanding companion. Just before the birth of our first child my husband surprised me with a pet store bought Poodle/Lhasa Ahpso mix named Winnie the Pooh. He was a sweet puppy that cost us a small fortune, but did not live very happily with our life style. I was in my 2nd trimester and my husband was working nights so we had a very backwards schedule. Needless, to say I had trouble training Winnie and within four months we had to find him a new home. It took us a year to pay him off.
I stayed happy with our cat until I started to feel lonely again after the birth of my second child and a hard surgery. Throughout this site I mention a wonderful woman named Rachel of whom I have known since elementary school. I knew she had adopted two very young Shih Tzu puppies, King Wickett Rakar and Dolly Madison, raising them herself. Admittedly, I was very jealous. About a year or so after she brought them home she brought home an adult, Leeoshough Davge or Leesy. She told me that this new dog was not getting along well with her two babies and she would have to find her a new home. She was also very reluctant as she had decided to breed and this adult was considered a wonderful breeding dog. I spoke up very quickly, as I really wanted a dog, and asked her if I could take her with the understanding that Rachel could still breed her. She then offered to teach me and we would co- own her. Thanks to that very wonderful friend of mine I have found an art, a breed, and a life that I love with all my heart. When I realized how much I loved breeding and how happy the new owners were with these sweet little puppies I started thinking about the future. I had figured that I could probably handle 10 dogs at once. Well, it turns out that 8 is a more realistic number, at least until my children are older. I knew I did not want to have to hire help, which would take away the closeness I had with my kennel and the home quality I was hoping to maintain. I also do not like groomers, for my own reasons, and I can only keep so many dogs clean and happy as well as loved. So what to do when my dogs can no longer breed? This was very hard for me. Every time a dog required spaying/neutering I would need to buy a puppy to breed in their place. I could either stop breeding altogether when all my dogs retired and keep them until they die or I can find them new homes among those who have so much love to offer and cannot have a puppy and continue to do what I love. I know, through experience, that finding purebred, healthy and happy Shih Tzu adults is extremely difficult if not impossible in many areas. I grew up on a farm so I know how to make difficult decisions and I know that I can do more good and be able to continue doing what I love if I found new homes for my dogs when they cannot breed. The four retired dogs that I have placed have brought tremendous blessings to their new homes and I cannot help, but be grateful that I had been brave and strong enough to let my dogs go so that others can have the same joy and experiences as my dogs have given me. It is still hard, but I am not sorry.
That was in 2000. Gratefully, my husband was also very much in love with Missy (I did not want to keep calling her Leesy) and for his birthday the next year I brought home Bambi (Princess Bambette), also an adult. I was really excited to have two females that would supply at least one litter a year. Unfortunately, Missy was not as healthy as we had originally thought and Rachel and I realized in March of 2001, with the birth of her last litter, that Missy should no longer be bred and that I would have to find her a new home. It was very difficult for me, but I had already made my decision. Missy's last litter was already sold when I resigned myself to losing her, but someone else's misfortune was my blessing. The family who had originally purchased the pick of her litter could no longer have a puppy and I found the way to ease my suffering. I named my new puppy Missy Belle Kissimee, after her mother. Two months later I brought home Belle's half sister Annie Molasses. It was obvious to me that this would be more than a hobby and that I would eventually pay a fortune in stud fees so I went in search for a stud dog. I was pregnant with my third child. At this time, the AKC announced it's new law for certifying frequent sires with DNA testing. I was determined to stay true to the breed and started hunting for a male puppy with a DNA certified sire. It was not easy as DNA was a very new idea. I brought home my first male in June of 2001, and named him Toto Nostradamous. A word of caution to any ladies who breed currently or are planning to breed; never buy a dog when you are pregnant and impatient. I knew he was what is referred to as an Imperial Shih Tzu when I bought him and I brought him home at 12 weeks, weighing less than a pound. Imperials were a fairly new concept and no one had really had anything to say in their defense or against them. Two weeks later he was outside playing with my other dogs in the mud. As most puppies generally do when bathed, he struggled with me. I managed to keep him from getting water in his face and from hurting himself but as I was drying him he started to breathe funny and then went limp. A few minutes more and blood came out of his nose. I begged a neighbor to help me get to my vet, down the street. He was dead before we got there. I could not afford to have an autopsy, at the time, but the vet was pretty sure that one of his ribs had punctured a lung during his bath. I am sure many of you know how I felt at the time. I went back to the breeder, but without a contract I could not get my money back.
It only took a few weeks for my grieving to turn to anger and I set out to find a puppy whose parents fit the exact AKC standard. In late October of 2001, I brought home Toto Happiness. I had really suffered over the first Toto but in my anger I wanted to prove something, I don't know what at the time, and so I kept the name Toto and changed the last name. Toto Happiness has turned out to be everything his name says he is and he is a treasure to have in my home. Soon we started suffering under the massive layoffs of the many power houses that controlled the Arizonan economy in 2002, and 2003. By September of 2003, my husband had been out of work for three months and we realized it was time to move. We were blessed with a job offer in New Mexico and, two days after the offer was accepted, we were packed up and on our way. We lived in Farmington for one year and in that time I was, again, planning with Rachel. She had wanted a red female as much as I had wanted a black female. At the age of two, Annie was turning strawberry and in heat. I had the brilliant idea to find a red stud whom I could mate her to in the hopes of having a red litter and traveled back to Arizona to mate her with a red stud located in Phoenix. She had three puppies, two female and one male. Rachel fell in love with the little solid and named her Brown Sugar and, after the loss of Missy, I knew that one day I would have to say goodbye to Annie so I kept the other female, naming her Annie Autumn Melody after her mother. At the same time, another friend of mine had teamed up with Rachel to breed a black female for me. I brought home Hermione Brilliance in September 2004.
In July 2004, my husband learned that his company was being sold and we started to worry about finding ourselves out of work again. As great a place as Farmington is, it is not the greatest job market so my husband sent out resumes for any state that would allow him room to grow in the market and we moved to Walton County, Georgia in September 2004. All my life I dreamed of living in the east. I am always proud to be from Arizona but I am Georgian at heart. Autumn and Hermione grew into sweet dogs. In, I think, July 2005, I learned that Hermione's sire had been siring puppies with a defect. The one who owned the sire had sold him shortly after the birth of Hermione because she felt she did not have the time and energy to care for all her dogs. A year later she was calling breeders to find a stud when she happened on the gentleman who had bought Hermione's sire. While talking he revealed to her that many of the litters, sired by this stud, had brought one puppy with a missing eye into the world and each litter coming from a different dam. She called me immediately, before Hermione went into heat, and I was faced with losing another beloved pet. It helped enormously that her new family loves her dearly and she has been a joy in their household. Autumn is still with me and has been a wonderful dog and loves every puppy that is born in this house. She seems to have more interest in playing with the puppies than any of my other dogs and to watch them play is a definite pleasure.
In July 2006, I purchased My Sweet Chamonix and in January 2007, I brought home Hermione Paddington. As with Toto, I could not part with a name that I love and so renamed my new baby since my other Hermione had been renamed by her new family. The beginning of 2007, found a new home for Annie. Her last litter was a near disaster and I realized that if this kept up I would be putting her health in danger. Not an option with me. Gratefully, I knew two years previously that I would not be able to breed Annie for long and I had Autumn to fall back on when I said goodbye to Annie. She has a wonderful home with a young woman who has a yorkie with a personality to suit Annie. The minute this woman walked in the door Annie loved her and I knew that I had found a good home for her. Belle retired in late 2009 finding a home with an elderly couple after a late litter and financial circumstances preparing our remove from Georgia. Moving was difficult and we moved in with family willing and able to help. Unfortunately, the move required the removal of all my kennel since I was moving in with one whose allergies would cause a stroke if too much time was spent with any animal. Family and friends came to my rescue and all my furry family were loved and cared for until Autumn died in 2010 from an infection in her uterus.
Time, obviously, passes and though I have dealt with an over-amount of bad decisions and loss, I am not sorry to have gained the knowledge I am now blessed with. At this time in my life I am unable to breed, but have not given up on what I love. I continue to help and plan for a future that is not entirely out of my reach. I have even decided that I would enjoy learning how to train small breed animals as visiting pets and for therapy use. I have posted my history so that you have the chance to know what kind of person has the opinions I have spent many years developing and what would cause me to say "no" to some and "yes" to many others. I never presume myself to be perfect, nor do I ever expect to be. I have been called an expert in my field; to those I say "thank you for your compliment", but I also want you to know that knowledge has endless possibilities and I doubt that the next 20 years will be enough to learn everything I could ever need to know about my dogs, their breed and caring for them. Should I ever become so vain as to think I know everything and am always right, I hope someone will be around to slap me back into reality! For now, if you don't agree with me, I am pleased you have taken the time to create an informed opinion and I hope you strive to always follow your heart.
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