The search for a puppy starts a bit like entering a secret society. Alex made a list of breeders and we joined the puppy list with Lynn Wassall through the SCWT club. When we started talking to Wheaten breeders, they were all very enthusiastic, but also wanted to know a lot about our situation, where we lived, if we were prepared, had the right time and perception of the commitment we were making. It did feel a bit like an interview at times, but what else would you expect, wheaten’s aren’t just a pet, they are a member of the family and it’s like rehoming one of your children, so they want to know you’ll give them the love and time they deserve.

After a short wait, we were very lucky to find a lady only half an hour away from where we live with a litter. I should say this process usually takes about 6 months and often you have to travel to the other end of the country…both of which we were prepared to do.

After a long conversation with our Breeder (Jo), we established the heritage of the puppies’ mum and dad and couldn’t wait to meet Willow (Archie’s mum) and pups (1 girl, 4 boys). Archie's KC name is Starcadia Willow Traddles . Mum is Wheatawaite Golden Willow / Dad - Starcadia Golden Dream.

Jo told us that people usually view the puppies at around 4 weeks to make their choice and that the pups were only 7 days old at the moment. So…of course we went to see them 3 days later! Although we couldn’t really make a choice from the litter, we really wanted to see what they looked like at that age and also meet the family. We couldn’t have wished for a better breeder as Jo was happy for us to visit any time, gave us great advice and was raising the pups in such a lovely family environment. Willow, the wheaten mum also won our hearts the moment we arrived, with such an affable personality.

What's in a Name?

We had 3 weeks to wait until we were due to go back and pick a puppy from the litter. With 2 months to wait until A-day as we later called it (Archie Day), we had plenty of time to contemplate, discuss and sometimes worry about how it would change our life. Over the next week I probably woke Alex 5 times in the middle of the night with name suggestions until we settled on one at 3am on a Friday morning. Alex’s came up with the most inappropriate name suggestions, none of which you could shout across a park without being arrested. We went through Biggles, Barney, Alfie, Max, Harry, Teddy, Biggles and Dudley before settling on Archie.