I know I haven't been around much lately. Frankly, I've been trying to avoid political arguments -- I have too many things going on in Real Life to get sucked into that. I've been working on projects and raising a litter of Belgian Sheepdog puppies. The latter is like having quadruplets, only you can't diaper them. Most of my time presently is spent working with them, cleaning up after them, playing with them, and recovering from the same.
One reason I bred my Violet is because of her temperament. She is unbelievably sweet, especially for this breed. I've had people who know this breed well tell me repeatedly that she needed to be bred, just to get that temperament into the gene pool. She also made a fabulous therapy dog after my spine surgery a few years back. Some of you may remember all of that mess. I'm delighted that all of her puppies have turned out to be this sweet.
But another reason why I bred her is because I thought I could produce pups that would make good therapy and assistance prospects. And I promised FloridaSNMom that she and her family could have one of the puppies from the first litter, the one best suited to this work. It's been pretty tough figuring out which pup would be best, because all of them are terrific. But one is particularly well-suited: sweet, snuggly, a true Velcro pup, gentle with the cats, unfazed by wheelchairs, very attentive, and extremely smart and agile.
There's just one problem: getting her from Maryland to them in Florida.
Why is this a problem? Three things: FloridaSNMom and spouse cannot drive. We could not find an alternative transport arrangement. And I spent a small fortune getting one of the puppies properly vetted for a worrisome gait and tail set issue. He's probably going to be okay, but it cost $600 to find that out, wiping out the slack in my budget.
I have my bills taken care of. I have a friend I can crash with along the way down and back, and I can crash at FloridaSNMom's overnight. I estimate that I need to scrape up $300 in gas money for this trip, and it's not in the budget for the next two weeks.
It is not in the puppy's or the family's best interest to wait another couple of weeks. The puppies are nearly ten weeks old now. This is the prime bonding time, the height of the fear period when they really need to get into their new homes and get used to their new lives. I need to get this girl down there this coming week. I've given them all their first shots, and will give the second set of DAPP shots over the weekend. Then they will all be fully protected from the contagious canine diseases that can kill them. (This part is covered, I have the vaccines in the fridge.)
I have a Paypal account. It uses my email address, summer.queen.esh@gmail.com. If anyone feels so inclined, FloridaSNMom and I would be very grateful.
1:10 PM PT: My internet connection is being really screwy since I posted this. I can't guarantee it'll keep working steadily. I'll keep trying to check in as I can. I did just check PayPal, and we're already nearly halfway to the goal. Thank you for helping me help a friend.
1:28 PM PT: Finally, the ISP has settled down. And we're just over $200! You guys rock!
6:41 PM PT: Holy crap!!! STOP!!! We went waaaaaay over the amount requested! I have more than enough to make the trip. There's even enough to help the FloridaSNMom family pick up a few necessities for their puppy, and even kick in some cash towards a puppy kindergarten class at their local kennel club. At this time, we're at $479 and change. Thank you, everyone -- I'll get this transferred so I can head south mid-week.