Adopting a Puppers

I’ve temporarily stolen this image, as my future pup is only a few weeks old right now! But, she will be close to looking identical to this little guy! In fact, she’s a perfectly amber, honey colored pup, and part of the inspiration to call this blog, Fresh Honey. I’m going to name her, Honey.

No, this blog isn’t about her, but I do imagine she’ll be making many appearances here along the way!

I’ve been waiting for years to be able to adopt a dog. So many circumstances have piled against me, and I’ve never felt it’s been absolutely the right time to adopt.

I imagine there will be several people out there that will be very against the idea that I am adopting not from a pet shelter. And believe me, if I could I truly would! In fact, I have gone to several shelters to meet pups, both young and old, been on shelter’s wait lists, and have gone digging through hundreds of posts and online forums to find a shelter pup that I could adopt.

My history with dogs, and allergies…

Even though I grew up with dogs, (Labradors mostly), and never had a problem before, after I graduated college and spent that time, nearly four years, away from any contact with dogs, I returned to visit my family dogs and realized my body had developed an intense allergy towards them.

No, allergies towards animals are not bullshit. I was totally confused at first, my first reaction after petting a dog was a rash. It looked like I was bitten by small flees, and it felt like that too! In fact, for a while that’s what I thought it was. I kept thinking everyone needs to bath their dogs! What’s wrong with these terrible owners!? These dogs must be suffering!

Then my reaction began to intensify. I wouldn’t just become terribly itchy with little red bumps, I started to feel it in my lungs. My throat would begin to itch, on the outside, and then on the inside. Then it felt like I had little flee bites all inside of my chest, itching with such intensity. After minimal exposure, my skin would then inflame with full blown hives, my eyelids, my chin, lips, and neck would swell, and I felt like someone was cutting off my airways.

So, yes. That is when I finally realized, it’s not the dogs themselves, it’s just me. This was devastating. It meant that I could not be around just any dog. I couldn’t play with a dog in the park that ran up to me. I couldn’t be kind to my friend’s dogs and play with them when I was in their homes. Frankly, it makes me look like a jerk at most times. Nothing is harder for a true dog lover than entering someone’s home and having them see you be fearful of their little fluffer greeting you, and then them saying, “Down Sparky - No!”. When all you want to do it pet the pup with open arms.

Fun fact, when you have allergies like mine, the only place your body will not expose the allergic reaction is your palms! So many times I’ll give a sweet puppers a little pat on the head with my palms, and then immediately ask, “Where’s your bathroom?”, and wash my hands for 20 seconds before I accidentally touch any other part of my body.

Choosing a dog…

Thank goodness for hypoallergenic dogs. It took a while for me to realize I could, for the most part, touch, play with, and love on a dog if it was classified as hypoallergenic. No, that’s not bullshit either. They lack a certain protein in their fur and saliva that most other dogs have. Take it from an extremely allergic person, it makes a huge difference.

So, when looking for my own pup to adopt, it was vitally important the dog be hypoallergenic. The biggest issue in a shelter is, there’s often times no way to know who the pups parents were/are, and if they were/are a hundred percent hypoallergenic. For several years (roughly nine), I have been on the wait list for shelters, waiting for the time they would get in a hypoallergenic dog, and also be able to prove the dog’s parents were hypoallergenic, or mostly hypoallergenic.

Finding Honey…

Quarantine seemed like the right time for me to cave and look for a family that was willing to part with a perfect pup for my needs. I knew I wanted to find a Cavapoo, a mix between a King Charles Cavalier (not hypoallergenic) and a Poodle (hypoallergenic). I knew I needed what is classified as an F1b dog. A dog who has one parent that is a Cavapoo, and the other parent would be a Poodle. Giving them the temperament of a well mannered, quiet and sweet Cavalier, and a smart as a whip Poodle, but a guaranteed 75% hypoallergenic coat. I feel so lucky to have been up, late one night, on facebook, messaging every family breeder I could find, all across the country, when a very sweet woman, 10:30pm at night, began to message me back. She said her daughter raises Cavapoos, and the evening before had two litters with her family pets of F1b Cavapoos.

The very next day, her daughter and I spoke. We chatted about how the pups are reared, what their home life is like, what they eat, how they are treated, etc. It was the perfect match. She kept an eye on the pups as they grew to see which one would have the curliest coat, meaning it inherited the most poodle, and offered me the pup she called, Cottontail.

There she was, my perfect pup. The one I’ve been waiting years for. I am over the moon. I can’t wait to bring her on adventures, to cuddle her, and watch her grow old.

Yes, I am still worried about my allergies, but my hope is that over time my body will adjust. If not, well, I’m living with the consequences regardless, as there is no way I can imagine her not being in my life.