For the next three weeks on Tuesday and Thursday we are going to give you a bit of a look back on our year, mainly the three big things that happened in our life this year. First up this week is the Spring Dog, aka Elleanore. Our search for a dog goes back close to three years. You could say that back then it was more that Alyssa was searching for a dog that she called her own, but would stay with me since she couldn’t have one in her apartment. There were a couple times that I was awfully close to coming home with a basset hound puppy from the pet store in Racine, but both times I came up with excuses to get out of it no matter how cute they were. Living in a small apartment and having 30 credits worth of class a trimester, I knew a dog wasn’t in the plans for me while we were in Davenport. The day we bought our house though, I couldn’t use the excuse of no room any longer and a puppy moved to the top of the to-do list that Alyssa and I made for the summer. Next up was coming up with what kind of puppy to get. Alyssa would have probably taken any dog with four legs and a tail, but I was a little more picky. I said no ankle biters, poodles, or guard dog types. Our dog would have to be an active dog that could go skiing and snow-shoeing with us and not have to be carried in a backpack. I love Bernese Mountain Dogs and Bloodhounds, but we both decided our house didn’t have enough room for a 100 pound dog. For our next choices we turned to hunting dogs. Obviously this group would be capable of being outdoors with us and there were many options that weigh less than 100 pounds. Immediately we ruled out Beagles, Labs, and Goldens because they are too popular; we wanted a breed that was a little more unique. We tossed around ideas of Wire-Haired Pointers, Basset Hounds, Cocker Spaniels, English, Irish, and Gordon Setters, Brittany Spaniels, and finally Welsh or English Springer Spaniels. Growing up we had a mixed breed dog, who was mostly Springer Spaniel, and two Basset Hounds; so I was partial to either of those breeds. Like I said Alyssa would have taken just about any dog with a heartbeat, but she really wanted one that was kind of shaggy (think the Traveler’s Insurance “Worry, worry, worry” dog) and that she could cuddle with on the couch. It took a little convincing but I finally brought Alyssa around to Springer Spaniels.
Katie, my first dog growing up, was a great dog. She was loyal, playful, and loved being outside. Everyone who has a Springer Spaniel raves about them. I have many fond memories of Katie while I was growing up and those thoughts came flooding back when we decided to make Springers the top choice for our first dog together. Next up was to decide which type of Springer we wanted. Springers are made up of three close but fairly distinct types. Two of the three bear the English name and one Welsh. It’s easy to guess that the Welsh is the most different of the three. They are slightly smaller and are red and white in color rather than liver or black. The two English types are the field and the show; they are separated by their desired uses. Show types are thicker bodied and have longer, flowing coats. Field Springers are agile, have shorter coats, and are generally smaller. My top choice was the Welsh Springer. There was a major kink in the plans though. Welsh Springers are fairly rare in the United States. There are roughly 60 litters in the US each year so finding one when we were ready could have proven tough. Along with making it tough to find a litter close by, rarity makes Welsh Springers expensive; most breeders charge well over $1000. This fact led us to choose a field type Springer instead.
So after that was settled we had to find a puppy. We searched the internet for weeks trying to find a litter that would be ready in June so that we would have enough time to train it over the summer. We found a few in western Minnesota, western Iowa, South Dakota, or Ohio but that was a long way to travel for a puppy. There were numerous litters in Wisconsin and Northern Michigan, but they were either ready in late April or late July. These w0uld not fit with our plans so we were getting discouraged. One day we found a mixed breed Springer puppy in a humane society about 30 miles from Davenport where Alyssa was still living. I called and emailed multiple times and a week later when they finally got back to me the puppy was long gone. Finally in late April we found a litter that was 4 weeks old, would be ready at the end of May, and was only 75 miles from here. They had two female liver and white field type Springers left from a litter. There were also males available, but we wanted a female. Renee, the breeder, sent us pictures and we could not decide which one we wanted. They were both adorable and it was a tough choice. I liked one and Alyssa liked the other and our families were split as well. In the end, and I don’t know how, we decided on the one I liked best. At the time they called her GraceLynn, but we soon decided on Elleanore. We paid our deposit and it was set. We could bring her home in 4 weeks, which happened to be Memorial Day weekend so Alyssa could pick her up. In the meantime, I would be going to Davenport for Alyssa’s graduation, so we arranged so that I could stop and see her on the way. I’ll leave you with my first picture with the Spring Dog, little did I know what I was in for. Check back on Thursday to read about her life since she moved to Kingsford.
Spring Dog This! 