Doggedly Determined by Nancy Cole Silverman
After a year of being pet-less, my husband and I agreed it was time to adopt a new dog. Last year, at Christmas time, we lost both our standard poodles to different cancers. It was a devastating blow. But, we figured we had been lucky with them for as long as we had – nearly fifteen years – and we did our best to respect their memory and move forward. However, as the holidays approached, I was determined to bring a little joy back into our lives. Something in the form of a wet nose, padded paws, and furry tail. And, because I do believe fate interceded, we found a breeder with pups available post-holiday. Yea! The pups were born November 5 th , ten in all, and like I said, available for adoption between Christmas and New Years. However, there were problems. While the pups were fine, Ali, their mom, a three-year-old standard poodle show dog, was not. The breeder was faced with some tough choices. Ali couldn’t be bred again and would have to...