The Lord is good and provides, even when it hurts.

However, this is a post of good report and joy. (so keep reading)


We loved Titan, but hindsight and compare/contrast brought us 20/20 vision and we see some flaws that he had. 1) he was aggressive/nippy when it came time to feed him 2) he was mouthy/nippy in his play 3) he had some visual impairment 4) he had badly done ears 5) he was aggressive, growling some strangers and dogs. 6) he wasn't our first choice of color, although we were willing to accept and love him 7) and he came from a breeder of shall we say "questionable" standards of cleanliness which manifest itself in smelly pups.

However, we have found a wonderful, God-ordained, blessed alternative in a puppy for which we have put a deposit down. He is through Paradise Cane Corsos; he comes from a breeder in Allyn, Wa. They have 9 acres of streamside, quaint retired-farm setting land to include a well-maintained 1940's rustic cabin like home, cherry trees, apple trees with adjacent woodpile, grass galore to be romped and played in and old unused nostalgic barn. The puppies are kept in an outbuilding, meaning not the barn, not the home and not the garage, but a separate puppy residence that is puppy-proofed. They have 2 wonderful areas; an inside heated pen with wood shavings similar to that of a lamb's stall, and an outdoor, covered pen also with wood shavings but also partly grass. Thus no icky kennel smell. Also, because of the indoor pen where they are kept, when they are not being crate trained, the puppies have smoother, softer, and shiner smell-free coats. All of the puppies are some version of brindle, the color which we preferred above all others. And of the 5 male pups that had their ears already cropped (those were the only ones we really were interested in) only 1 mouthed at all, and even that was only once to Mike and once to Caleb, then he was told to stop and did. Agression is not tolerated by the Paradise Cane Corso breeder. All of the others were completely non-agressive and only interested in licking and sniffing... even of Josh, they had to check him out. They were even non-aggressive when it came to their food; aggression during mealtime is something that the breeders specifically say they would NEVER allow. They were all cute little (or not so little) bundles of energy and curiousity. And given that they had just had their ears cropped the previous day, we were shocked at how good they were looking, feeling and acting. They all wore the satellite dish collars and a bandage that looked like a white fez hat, they looked like members of a weird religious sect. But their collars didn't stop them from licking and sniffing everything. There were 11 puppies in the litter, 7 males, 4 females. Of the males, 5 had had their ears cropped, and just one of those had been spoken for, leaving 4 to really choose from. Because there were so many, they were color coded, the 4 were: a camoflauge collar aka Rambo, a green collar aka Feisty, Blue and Purple. After extensive discussion with the breeders, much debate between Mike and I (and an attempt to get Caleb's thoughts) and 2 hours of observation, we decided to go with puppy Purple. Rambo and Fiesty were just more than we wanted to handle. Which left the decision between Blue and Purple. Purple was going to be easy to train but not a lazy mush dog in temperment, he was gentle, he was loving and curled up with me and let me hold him for a long time. He has the most beautiful brindle coat; some of the others were quite dark with just a hit of a brindle to come. He is estimated to be about 115 as an adult, still quite bit, although smaller than the other puppy, Blue who was estimated at 130ish and who had a darker only hint of brindle, slightly longer/courser coat, and was a little more of a push over in temperment in their estimation. So Purple is our pup. If you visit the website, you can see our pup in the picture of them all nursing, and also he is the one sitting on the father, Sarg. Coincidentally, puppy Blue is in the picture to the right of the picture with Purple and Sarg.
Also, it is important to note that Sarg is the son of the dog(and his bloodline) that Mike fell in love with 4 years ago! Our puppy is the grandson of the best dog Mike could find in all of his research! Sarg is beautiful, powerful, BIG, and obedient. Raya, the mother, is EXTREMELY OBEDIENT and EXTREMELY MELLOW/GENTLE. We thought that Titan's parents were mellow, NOT in comparasion. When asked which dog he wanted, Caleb said "Mommy dog". She followed and doted on him while we were there.
I could keep gushing, but I won't bore you all. Bottomline, the Lord is good and will provide. We are going to get a better temperment, better bloodline, a prettier coat, healthier puppy than what we were before. It is all to the Lord's will and provision and we give him praise and credit. We are now just waiting for the rest of the Lord's provision to tie up the loose ends on the financial side of things. At it stands we have now paid for two dogs, vet bills and an autopsy without any reimburesment. I refuse to believe that the Lord would take care of us and make sure we got the better dog for our family without making a way for the financial... So I'm keeping the subject in prayer, my faith and hopes high, and giving the Lord time to work the rest of the miracle.

Caleb will recover from this situation I'm sure. But it was sad when we went to visit the puppies that he was poorly behaved and when Mike finally asked him what was upsetting him... he said "no me Titan here". He had actually thought that this was where that puppy had gone and we were there to get him. I know that once we have a puppy in our arms, he will be ok. Following this subject, we had thought that we would used the name Titan again... and we still may if that is what Caleb insists on, however we are thinking that a new name is in order. I don't have pictures yet to assist in the decision, but on name alone you can all decide:

a) tank b) tigger c) taz d) triton

Mike and I have a preferrence, but let's see what you think. Again, check out the website if you need help. Purple looks VERY similar to the puppy standing in the grass with the green collar, and keep in mind that our puppy's ears are cropped.

Ok, well, that's the good news about a new family member on it's way. If he is mending well, it is possible we are picking him up as early as Friday. Or at the latest the following weekend.
Wish us luck on puppy parenting...up during the nights and lots of impromptu potty trips.