Introducing the newest member of the Evans clan, Sadie Get Your Shine On!
#chesapeakebayretriever #puppylove#familyof5 #notachristmaspresent#followingmyarrow
We recently added a new member to our family! Sadie, our Chesapeake Bay Retriever is nearly 5 months old now and full of energy. She loves visiting the neighbors and finding new doggy friends, sometimes without asking. But she is super smart, silly a lot of the time, and has just the right amount of attitude that it’s cute still. Funny story on how we came to have her, well maybe not funny but typical of what happens when I set my mind on something. We were recently at Great Lakes Crossing Outlet Mall’s Bass Pro Shop and if you are not familiar, they allow dogs in their store. So we are doing our usual perusing around the store and what catches my eye, you guessed it, a Chessie.
A little back story, we had (well I had originally) a miniature Dashound named Bailey and while we loved her she was a yippy yappy, very unsocial dog that ended up with incontinence issues for the last three years of her life (ugh). She suffered from epilepsy, back problems (both just part of the breed) and had her spleen removed because of a tumor. Nothing slowed her down it seemed until we were on vacation in Disney World. She got very sick shortly after we got there and continued to get worse so we had to make the decision to have her put down. We would be getting home the night before Thanksgiving so we couldn’t even wait until we got home to say goodbye.
Well, that whole situation did me in. I was anti-dog for more than two years. I knew everyone was getting to the point of being ready to start over again but I was determined to find the perfect breed. It had to be allergy-friendly, low shedding, no slobbering, not yippy yappy, but still a hunting dog. I know right, not a big deal at all. Well, the only dog that really met all of my requirements was a Vizsla. I even found a breeder less than 30 minutes from our home. I didn’t realize the problem until I contacted them and it was an $1800 problem! Yeah, that’s what the going rate is for this perfect breed. Umm no. Not going to happen so back to the drawing board.
Fast forward back to our visit to Bass Pro Shop, a breed I had never considered was standing in front of me. Definitely not meeting all of my “must-haves” but dang it was unique and I do unique! By the time we got back home, I had researched and found one breeder in Michigan and she just happened to have a litter available. Totally meant to be in my mind! The next day we drove about two hours to meet them and ended up putting a deposit on our Sadie girl that night.
Today we have a puppy that sheds (not terribly), slobbers a bit, hasn’t caused any allergy issues, has a bark that is getting deeper every day, and very possibly gun shy. So that hits 1.5 on my list of “must-haves” and we won’t trade her for the world. Moral of the story, perfect isn’t always better!
