Pre-Puppy
A big decision
2 years ago I was desperate to find a canine companion, but lived in a rented house with no garden and the timing just wasn’t right. I just knew I didn’t have the time or right home to offer to a new puppy. A few months later, I moved to beautiful Hampshire countryside, bought a house with a large garden and moved my boyfriend in 6 months later. It took us another 6 months to prepare for our new arrival and choose a breed. Initially we visited rescue centres to view different breeds of dog and also looked at breeds like the labradoodle as I have an allergy to cat and dog hair. No breed was particularly winning our hearts over entirely until I heard about the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier from a colleague and did further research. After scouring the internet, we decided to visited a wheaten fun day. Every dog we met had a fun character and each one was different, although it did look like a mass cloning of the same dog at times! The breeders were friendly, offered great advice and none of what we were being told about the breed, including the grooming and maintenance put us off, our hearts were set. If you are in any doubt after meeting a wheaten, this isn’t the breed for you.
Finding Archie
The search for a puppy starts a bit like entering a secret society. We started looking at wheaten websites and googled images of wheatens in the varying stages of life and looked at how their coats change. We bought a book on the breed and decided to go for the English coat as it was thicker and fluffy looking. We knew we wanted a dog as opposed to a bitch, for no other reason than gut instinct.Alex made a list of breeders and we joined the puppy list with Lynn Wassall through the SCW 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 I suppose, so they want to know you’ll give them the love and time they deserve.
Like wild fire the phone calls spread and we had 2 or 3 phone calls from random wheaten breeders and owners saying they might know of a prospective litter. Finally we got very lucky and a lady only half an hour away from where we live contacted us to say she had just had 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, but luckily didn’t have to.
We had found our boy!