Go to Farmers for Food–Not Jewels

Now that you know the details of the puppy himself, you might be wondering about the groups helping me with him. In this post, I’m going to go explain a bit about the breeder I am getting him from.

The answer to that… well, the short answer is Figz Poodles, which some of you may have already guessed due to some comments in my previous posts. There is, however, a longer answer, and, for that, we need to go back a few months. Early July, to be specific. 

That was when the possibility of Yahaloam washing out of the service dog program was brought up for the first time. 

It was a complete shock to my system and I literally cried the entire way home. Which was, like, half an hour. If you have known me at any point, you know I don’t cry easily. Especially not in front of people, even if those people are my family. Especially for a long period of time.

Miss Amanda told us to give it about a month, and that we’d all give it a second look at that point. 

Well, you all know what happened, and we turned in Yaha’s vest in September.

Some of my first questions going forward was can we try to rehome him before you start looking, what breed do you suggest for his successor, and will you help us find the breeder.

Well, she said yes to the first, and Yaha’s new people reached out to ask if he was still available back in November–no kidding–just as I was preparing to reach out to Miss Amanda and ask her if she could start looking, as we had failed to find the right home for him. God’s timing, right?

On a side note, we were able to go visit him two days ago (2/28/2020, for reference,) in his new home on the one year anniversary of the day we brought Ozzy home. Ozzy. Numero uno. 

As a refresher:

This-a one.

Yahaloam recognized me and I was able to say hi and see him happy and very clearly thriving in his new home.

And then his new human picked him up and plopped him in my lap like a baby! I wasn’t expecting that, and I certainly wasn’t expecting him to stay there!

He’s grown so much now I can’t even!

God didn’t let him leave my life on a fail. I’m able to visit and have gotten numerous updates; I can’t begin to express my gratitude for, and, best of all, he loves his new family.

I don’t know what would’ve happened to my heart had we had Miss Amanda step in to rehome him, but I’m glad God granted me the mercy that we were able to do so.

Anyway. Backtracking from that rabbit trail…

Miss Amanda gave us the names of four breeders she knew personally and would recommend. 

We chose a breeder that was scheduled to have a litter October 8th. It was looking great.

Unfortunately… things that look great aren’t always. If you’ve been keeping up with the timeline, here, you’ll know that couldn’t have worked out, as we still had Yaha in early October.

Also, there was a complication with the pregnancy in that the Mama ended up absorbing the litter (think miscarriage).

So we started looking into the breeders again. (To be honest, I hadn’t really looked hard the first time. Miss Amanda recommended all of them, and I trust Miss Amanda implicitly.)

That’s when Mom, also researching the breeders Miss Amanda suggested, found it.

The most laid back introduction one could hope to find on a Poodle breeder’s site. Far beyond anything I was expecting. And right up a Wisconsinite’s lane.

“It all started at a dog park over a beer… Yes, in Austin, Texas we are lucky enough to have a dog park that serves beer.”

–Figz Website

Mom was in love, and, after some research (I actually did, this time!), I fell, too.

Figz heavily socializes their puppies in the critical time period in which they have the dogs. As I’ve stated before, during this time they are little sponges, soaking in everything, from new experiences out of the house to emotional ranges and how to properly handle them. They are handled, exercised, and introduced to new and maybe even startling things–noises, stores, other animals, water, and other strange phenomena. In this critical time period the puppies will never again be in, they take this in as ‘part of their world’. After a few weeks in this stage with their new owners as well, the chemicals in their brain change, and it’s no longer socialization with their world, but desensitization to new things. Figz–just like all good breeders–seizes this chance and prepares their pups for anything the puppies might come into contact with.

Fitz’s Poodles also compete in shows and competitions for well-rounded mamas and daddies.

They also don’t let people take puppies home until–at least–that eight-week-old mark, another sign of a responsible breeder. Until this point, taking the puppies away from Mama is cruel and inhumane.

Ms. Kerry and Ms. Tanya, the breeders of Figz, have both adopted several rescues throughout their lives, and their dogs boast several titles each. And, most of their dogs are service and/or therapy dogs. Raffi, who started it all out, is both! These dogs live full, active, and happy lives. The human equivalent of all those titles and therapy/service dog training completed is years, quite possibly decades of college! In other words, their expertise is like asking Michael Phelps about breaststroke or a gardener about produce. It just makes sense to go to people who have fruit on the tree you are looking to pick.

As a responsible breeder, the ladies from Figz are also on-call throughout the puppy’s life for questions about the puppy. They also regularly keep up with their previous puppy’s current lives. The puppies are always part of their family, and purchasing one isn’t unlike marrying into a family–you are now part of the family, also.

Personally, I was impressed. We reached out to Figz Poodles, found out some more, and I filled out a six-page application asking questions from if I had been previously convicted of animal abuse and what my family’s work/school/home balance was like, to what I was planning on doing with the puppy and what color I was hoping for.

All that was left was to wait for nature to come a’ calling and Mama to go into heat.

So we waited. And waited.

And I saved money.

And we waited some more.

From October until late February.

Four to five months. I don’t know how people do it for nine! All I can say is that mothers are miracles!

While we were still waiting two weeks ago, I came across a puppy video on Instagram posted by Figz Poodles of a litter one of their boys had sired.

Who isn’t going to watch a video of puppies playing? Not me. I must’ve watched that video a dozen times, so excited for my own little one.

Less than a week later–eight days ago as I write this–we received a text from one of the ladies we had been in contact with in Figz saying that Newt (Mama Apparent) still hadn’t gone into heat, BUT their boy Blue had recently sired a litter with one Duchess of Pure Southern Poodles. Two of the pups passed the temperament test, and they were going to get one of the little ones to train as a service dog when they rechecked my application and saw I wanted a male. They said if the timing was right, I could get this little one from them–with the same arrangement as Newt’s little one would’ve been. 

Here’s why I was okay getting my puppy from Pure Southern, too. Recommendations from responsible breeders are a big vote of confidence, and Pure Southern was given that when Figz agreed to let Blue breed with Duchess. I also reached out to Miss Amanda to get her opinion, and she gave her approval of them as well. That’s two responsible breeders that gave the thumbs up. Also, as I did my research, I found that their dogs had titles as well, and that they, too, applied Puppy Culture ideology. (See: the heavy socialization paragraph.)

I’m not kidding when I say that, when my literal shock–I swear, I’ve never been in shock before that moment–wore off, everything–and I do mean everything–fell into place within an hour or two.

AND, here’s a little bonus that no one could’ve made happen on their own.

I’ve been preparing for, praying for, and trying to get a service dog for about two years now. CLEARLY, color of the coat isn’t going to be a deal breaker for me at this point, right? Here’s a hint, the answer is ‘right’.

All the same, and I don’t know why, I didn’t really care about color except that I didn’t want cream or white. Again, I don’t know why. Maybe because it’d be so much easier to see dirt on white hair and to see the white hair on the darker clothing I tend to lean toward. Maybe it’s because of what I think of when the term ‘Poodle’ comes up. I don’t know. But I didn’t want white or cream. I didn’t say anything, because, again, my goal is a fully trained service dog. Aside from that, everything pales in comparison.

…no pun intended.

Of the two puppies that passed the temperament test, one was cream, and the other was a black that will likely turn to what is officially called ‘blue’, but isn’t really blue.

That would’ve been cool had I been picking the puppy, but I wasn’t. It wasn’t even the ladies from Figz choosing which one they wanted, because I wasn’t the only one on the waiting list. Pure Southern Poodles had someone else ahead of us who picked the cream-colored Baron. And I got my non-cream, black, Cor!

How amazing is that? Totally out of my hands and I still got what I wanted!

Because, sometimes, it’s better out of our hands that can’t control it, and in the hands of the One who can!

You were not born to fail!

Lauryn

Figz website: https://www.figzservicedogs.com/

Pure Southern Poodles website: https://puresouthernpoodles.com/