As you know, a few weeks ago I had to have my beautiful boy Lemmy put to sleep. He'd been stricken with cancer, had gone downhill very quickly, and it had reached the point where I had to MTFU for his sake and make a very difficult decision.
I was, and still am, bereft. Even thinking about it now I can feel the tears prickling the back of my eyes.
I was going to wait a few months for my emotuons to settle down and then find another Lab. However, it quickly became apparent thet Lemmy's passing has had quite a profound effect on Mini D.
Mini D is high functioning autistic, and Lemmy somehow knew this. He was the perfect mix of friend, comforter, playmate and protector. At night he would sleep in her doorway and if I got up for a wee in the night I'd hear his big-boy growl as I walked past Mini D's room. I can need a wee 1 to 4 times a night (my prostate is fine, im just an elderly beer drinker) so he bloody well knew it was me, but still would never leave it to chance. Good boy.
Since Lemmy's passing Mini D's anxiety levels have risen, and she now has to sleep with her light on, that sort of thing.
The only thing I could think of was to remedy the situation with 10CC's of Labrador, stat!
So I've spent the last few days combing the Kennel Club pages for suitable candidates. Must be pure-bred lab, low interbreeding scores, mum and dad with good eye and hip scores, 5 gens pedigree, and from working lines as I think they make better companions than show stock.
The nice thing about the Kennel club is that one gets to investigate the lineage, right down to individual animals from 5 generations ago.
I narrowed it down to two, each fairly close to one another, so fired up the old Volvo and spent yesterday visiting breeders.
The breeder that had Bruce (nicknamed Olaf by the breeder so he had something to call him) had 2 left, Bruce and his brother Gru. The litter is from working stock, 5 generations pedigree littered with field trials champions, just like Lemmy had been. Indeed, Brice's Dad is himself a field trials champion, and despite being only 5 has sired nearly 200 puppies for different breeders, so is clearly in high demand and well thought as breeding stock.
I'm not trying to duplicate Lemmy as such, but those attributes had made Lemmy a fine animal and a wonderful pet, and Im hoping my best chance for an equally fine dog is a similar lineage.
Both fine dogs, but Bruce in particular had the classic head shape, nicely shaped eyes, a good set to his ears, and already well developed biceps femoris - he's going to be a big, well developed, shapely dog, just like my Lemmy had been.
Having caught my eye he seemed to then know that he had to impress me and Mini D. I made a fuss of both and took the opportunity to pick them up, make a fuss and examine them at close quarters. Bruce's tail didn't stop, lots of eye contact with me, and he clearly loves human contact. He was great with Mini D, and once he'd fussed her he gell asleep on her lap. Perfect.
So a large amount of money has changed hands - you could buy a decent car for what i paid, but if you want the best... - and he comes gome to me in 2 weeks when hes old enough to leave his Mum. He's KC registered, and will be chipped, health checked and have had his first jab when I get him.
Being a Bassist I insist that all my does are also named for Bassists. Mrs D would not go for Flea, but Geddy (Lee) and Phil (Lynott) were in the running, but in the end we plumped on Bruce after Jack Bruce.
Ladies and gentleman, and Accy, I give you Bruce!
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