When we moved to Van Isle in 2018 we decided to wait before getting a dog in order to give our senior 18 year old tabby Miko some prime time attention and love. To get our dog fix we started a pet walk/sit business and joined the local SPCA as volunteers. Now 3 years on and our beautiful Miko is gone – time for another dog.
We talked in circles for a while about what breed, what age, rescue dog or not, do we get another husky – our favourite breed. After a lot of discussion, and research we decided to get a puppy from a breeder. Because we both had rescues dogs all our lives and the youngest having been 4 months old, we decided that being retired we now have time (and hopefully the patience and energy) for a 9 week old puppy. We hope to train our new dog to be a Therapy dog, so starting with a young puppy seemed a better choice.
Now, what breed? Hmmmm. One other factor came into play. Our lifestyle since retiring has changed and we will be doing a lot of travelling in our camper van, so we decided medium size breed may be best (not to mention easier on our bodies). We eventually chose the Nova Scotia Duck Toller. A good size, loves water (since we live on an island, kind of makes sense), and there just happens to be a breeder nearby.
What a crazy process it is getting a dog from a breeder: 2 lengthy written applications – 2 phone calls – a home visit that didn’t take place because of bad weather and then the pandemic. We were eventually accepted and put on a wait list with a timeframe of about a year away.
We got an email 5 months earlier than expected. The breeder has a puppy that they think fits our criteria. YAY!!!
