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Feeling sad and hoping we can still get pup

3K views 41 replies 11 participants last post by  Caroline5 
#1 ·
A few weeks ago Morton Goldfarb messaged me about a dog I was interested in. He suggested that instead of buying her I consider getting a pup from a Nino litter that he was very impressed with.
Since then I've been busting my butt to save up the money to buy her. A friend who works for an airline said that she could fly down to Atlanta to pick her up and bring her back to Seattle.
Dr Goldfarb picked out the pup for me, a stunning little female who has a lot of Nino's qualities. I've been so excited! Then things started going wrong. First my friend was unable to fly down to ger her last weekend and now she is saying she "might" be able to go next weekend. Then yesterday, while out running errands my truck would not start. The starter was shot.
I had it towed home and my husband took a look at it, but the starter is hidden in the bowels of the engine and he can't get to it. He said we will have to have it towed to a shop and it may cost $1000 to fix it. Plus my daughter is getting married next week and I've got to pay board for my horses.
My heart is sinking. I'm hoping that I can sell more product to raise more money asap. I make and sell wooden chewsticks for bunnies, Chinchillas and other small rodents.
As I'm writing this I'm shaking my head and thinking "first world problems". I do have a lot to be grateful for. Looking back to the days when I was a divorced young mother with 3 little ones and shaking my head when people who had good incomes would complain about not having enough money and now I'm that person who is complaining. But I do still really want that puppy.
 
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#5 ·
Caroline, one thing to think seriously about is what happens after the puppy comes home. I know it's hard to confront when it's something you want so badly now. However, it's not just the cost to buy (and maybe transport) one. The real costs come later: they can't always be predicted, and they can be massive.

In the first year, you could easily have a thousand dollars of random vet bills. If money is tight right now, it's worth having a long hard think about what you would do if, say, the pup got into something causing an obstruction requiring major surgery to save its life (or one of the thousand other things that could go wrong).
 
#7 ·
I was thinking this too.

I've spent a lot of money on toys, bowls, food, leashes, training treats, supplementary diet foods (I add goats milk, raw hamburger, and other various foods to my dog's dry food to supplement), plus there's the cost of vaccinating and unexpected vet bills. My dog eats SOCKS. Whole SOCKS. And poop. Who knows when I will have an unexpected vet bill? Something to keep in mind.
 
#6 ·
Isn't that the truth. Big things have been coming up all summer, starting May 1st when my 89 year old mother was hit by a car crossing a parking lot crosswalk in a crowd of people. She is a tough one and has made incredible progress. However it required me flying up to Winnipeg from Seattle to help her. KACHING.Then June 1st my first grandchild was born up in Edmonton which required 2 trips up to help my daughter, first when he was born and then a few weeks later after her husband had to go back to work. KACHING KACHING! Now the truck KACHING and next week my middle daughter is getting married KACHING.
Everything was pretty much under control until the truck issue.
 
#9 ·
I know how disappointed you are. Money is a reason why people rescue rather than buy a puppy. A quality dog is expensive and puppy expenses are very high. If I wanted a dog that badly and couldn't afford a new puppy, I would contact local breeders about rescues. They get dogs returned to them, even puppies, that people have to give up. It's not the same thing as a newborn, but we have to be practical, too. Life often interferes with hopes and plans.
 
#11 ·
There is more to it than just getting a german shepherd. My mother and Dr Goldfarb are friends, he is very fond of her and has a lot of respect for her. She is an amazing woman. Anyhow, this past spring she and a friend had bred her friend's female to Nino. Sadly the breeding did not take, leaving my mother very disappointed.
With her being 89 there is no telling how much longer we will have her around. It would make her so happy if the dog we got was a Nino puppy. She is very excited about us getting her.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Yes it seems when ever there is extra money in hands -the universe need to balance finances out- not fair. Breeders may often have dogs for adoption that they are looking to find homes for as may be washed out of their breeding program. If you have your heart set on this pup - where there is will there is always a way. Also Possibly the breeder can hold on to the pup a little more.
 
#24 ·
Yep...me being the eternal party pooper... do you have credit you can use in case of emergency for pup? I easily dropped 500+ one day for x ray s and blood work when mine was sick and I panicked that he had eaten a toy (he hadn't). He also had some allergic reactions requiring care ect. (He is allergic to metronidazole, note: I have told him he can never get diarrhea again),

Good care is not cheap. I was lulled into a false sense of security when nothing went wrong for a couple of years. Both my dogs were youngish and healthy and we coasted for awhile. So I took in a rescue from a bad situation.

Then things started to pile on, one shattered a tooth and had to have it removed....then began having stomach problems that have probably cost me at least a couple grand in the last year (old dogs but still)....


I used to have an emergency vet fund but it got spent when both the foster rescue and the old male gsd died within 6 months of each other. By the time that was over with the fund was gone and I was a couple grand in debt on credit. Paid that off before bringing the pup home. Now if we have vet bills I can't pay I charge it and then pay it off over the next few months. We are ok. The old gal is stable so hopefully no big whoppers from her soon.

Anyway. I wish I could bring in another rescue but I know I can't afford it. I'd be WAY better off without this pup financially....but we can swing it and call me codependent but there has to be someone young waiting in the wings for me to survive it when the old ones pass.
 
#26 ·
I've already been asked that and answered it.
First off, I'm 55 and started breeding gsd when I was 20. I have horses, cats and parrots and am no stranger to emergency vet bills.
My husband is a Boeing software engineer, in other words, we are not poor, but we not rich. I had saved up the money myself to buy the pup so as to not use our family finances for the pup. Then this happened and I feel that it would be responsible to contribute to the cost of paying for the repair of my trip considering all the other extra expenses we've incurred this summer, ie 3 trips, new baby, wedding.
 
#25 ·
Thank you, yes she is amazing. Want to know what she is doing now?
She is writing an article about the poor quality of food being served to people on the hospitals in Winnipeg. Plus also all the waste of packaged food that could have been donated to a food bank. A lot of the patients went hungry because the food was so unpalatable.
 
#27 ·
Ok well...I am not trying to get you grumpy. I guess I am just trying to say my position is to air extremely on the side of caution especially when you have so many animals.

Two weeks after we brought my puppy home, my husband lost his job unexpectedly. Very scary. I actually asked him if he wanted to talk about returning the puppy to the breeder because we didn't know how bad things might get. His response was that the puppy was already the happiest part of his day and he couldn't bear to lose him (um...he didn't even want the puppy, who was for me...but turns out they have a major bro-mance)

We all survived the rough patch. Husband back to work. Everything ok.

it is hard to be objective when there is something you want so bad...that's all. I wasn't trying to imply that you are inexperienced or anything like that.
 
#29 ·
Hopefully you can make this work, and the truck won't cost so much to fix. I've had to use my smooth collie fund for other things around here, but at least I don't have a puppy picked out! Fingers crossed for you. :)
 
#30 ·
let the truck sit for now, and get the pup....you can use your SUV to gather branches and when the weather is cooler and you need hay, then have the truck repaired or have the hay delivered. Do you haul horses often?
 
#34 ·
If the breeder really wants you to have the puppy, he could make accommodations for you to make him payments without going through paypal. It seems that he has a relationship with you or your mom?
 
#38 ·
F150, not sure what year, but it shouldn't be too bad of a job to replace the starter :grin2: if that's what is causing the problem. $1k sounds like Tundra kind of money as some have the starter under the intake manifold. Do you have any mechanic friends who can help you tackle it?
 
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