The jet-set puppy: buying a puppy via the Internet

Last Friday I was lying on my bed, trying to calm my throbbing head and resting my feet against Rosie. Then it occurred to me that it was 25 February. Two years to the day that Rosie had landed – quite literally – in our lives. And I thought about how it all began, and  how far we had come since then.

It all started at the beginning of February 2009. We had recently lost our much loved Staffie (Staffordshire Bull Terrier), Jessie, and were finding it way too quiet in the house without a dog. Even the Lucy, the cat, seemed to be feeling lost. She and Jessie had been close. So we decided to start looking for another Staffie. It’s not that we are “pedigree snobs”. Lucy, as most of the cats before her, is a SPCA “moggie”. But when it comes to dogs, we really like the Staffie breed. They’re medium-sized, tough dogs with wonderful personalities. Very there kind of dogs.

I was fairly discouraged at first. After contacting just about every breeder in South Africa, I discovered that there was a waiting list of around 9 – 12 months. We were putting our name down for a puppy that had yet to be conceived. So I kept looking at the newspaper ads every morning. The South African newspapers have their classified ads online, so you get to see the new ads as soon as they are loaded each morning. I also put ads in the “puppy wanted” sections. Which resulted in a couple of really funny responses. One gentleman from the Eastern Cape emailed me that he had Staffie puppies available for immediate collection. When I asked him for photographs, I received photos of a mixture of puppies of different breeds and ages (obviously obtained on the Internet), with one fully-grown English Bulldog thrown in. A very big puppy indeed!

One day, about 3 weeks into the search, a new ad appeared for 8 week-old Staffies, ready to go to new homes. It almost seemed too good to be true. This was the breeder’s first litter, which is why they hadn’t been snapped up already. It also later turned out to be the only litter she bred. She found the process of sending the puppies to new homes, after caring for them and watching them grow for 8 weeks, too traumatic. There was just one problem – the pups were some 1200 kilometers (745 miles) away. The ideal in selecting a new dog is obviously to see the puppies, play with them and pick the one you bond with. Or in the case of cats, it is more a matter of seeing and playing with the kittens – and taking home the one that picks you! This was going to be the first time either of us had selected a puppy via the Internet. The breeder tried to be as helpful as possible. She sent us the most beautiful photos of the puppies. Some in groups playing together in the garden, some individual photographs of each puppy. She also sent us a description of each of the puppies – their personalities and individual quirks. We fell in love with Rosalie (too long a name for such a little pup) who was described as a chunky pup with plenty of energy. The pup that picked the games she wanted to play. The pup that “defended” her food and toys. Not the biggest puppy, but certainly one with a dominant personality. After a telephonic “interview” with us – she wanted to make sure her puppies went to good homes – we started to make arrangements for Rosie’s delivery.

We live in the Southern Cape. The breeder and the puppies were in Pretoria (close to Johannesburg). The breeder, not being experienced in dispatching puppies to far off locations and having a busy day-job, was quite happy when I volunteered to find out how this was done. It turned out to be quite easy. Something which dog breeders routinely do – with the help of a pet travel agent. Yes, such people exist and they are wonderful! The one we finally went with was the one most concerned about the welfare of the animal. Their offices are close to the airport in Johannesburg, where they also have kennels. A veterinary surgeon checks out the animal on the morning of the flight, to make sure it is in good health. They keep the animal there until the plane is being loaded, and then take it to the airport as late as possible, to minimize the stress on the animal. And they handle all the paperwork. It turns out that booking a little puppy onto a flight, is far more complicated than doing the same for a person.

Rosie fresh off her flight from Johannesburg - 25 Feb 2009

Like adoptive parents, we were so excited once we had a flight number and arrival time. I could think of little else that day than how Rosie was going to handle the 2-hour flight. She was still so young and little.

Rosie did great. She didn’t much like being in a crate though, and whined until she was finally released in our garden. We thought that she’d be traumatized and exhausted. Instead she hit the ground running, and we were soon the ones who were in need of a nap! So Rosie raced around in the garden and played until the evening, when she finally got tired and hungry and came indoors. And in those first couple of hours with our new puppy, we realized that the breeder had been 100% accurate in her description of Rosie – she was a chunky pup, with plenty of energy and a dominant personality!

A jet-lagged puppy - Rosie the day after she arrived

To be continued . . .

The jet-set puppy series:

• Buying a puppy via the Internet (this post)
• A year of chaos
• How to win over your new family