Why raise a puppy when you can get a uh a rescue dog who is mature and who already somewhat
trained because sometimes ignorance is bliss uh I didn't know what I was doing I just knew
I wanted a dog like Max and I went around looking for shelter dogs but I couldn't find
another Miniature Schnauzer I went online found a brother and sister in the mid-atlantic
states who no one wanted 'cause they had to come as a team I said I'll take them I did
the phone interview for an hour they thought I was a great candidate and at the end they
this is going to be fantastic you're going to be wonderful with these dogs and I said
they'll love Newburyport if they behave like Max did they'll love the woods and the beach
and they'll love the swamps and they'll get to run off leash if they behave and the woman
said you'd let 'em off leash I said well if they're good with it and she said then you
don't deserve a dog oh no so I ended up getting a puppy that's why I did not rescue again
and I ended up getting Atticus and I found a breeder online oh she found me I entered
a data base and all these breeders responded and uh there was one down south in Louisiana
named Paige Foster who kept sending me dogs pictures of these micro mini schnauzers that
looked too perfect as big as they get is five pounds and I kept saying no no no she said
well what are you looking for so I finally told her it wasn't a look so much as a feel
and I told her what Max meant to me and how he changed my life and eventually she sent
back a picture and she said well I have this one last dog and uh he's a little different
and he wasn't posed like the others he was looking sort of bored uh by the whole picture
taking process and he could care less about the camera and uh the picture I saw I said
that's the one I want uh and so she gave me the advice of carry him everywhere you go
the first month or two don't let anyone else hold him you know create a bond ya'll bond
that way she said a nice southern woman and it is the basis of our relationship uh the
set of trusts you see Atticus is off leash he hasn't had a leash on for years he's atypical
for most Schnauzers who can be hyperactive very smart dogs very smart breed but he doesn't
bark like a lot of them do he's very quite and on our blog you can see pictures of him
with bears and moose where he's really relaxed I saw those the moose in the background and
he's just looking at it my dogs would be barking like crazy I'm very fortunate in our relationship
he's the calm one yeah it's just the opposite and it's not to often you can find a breeder
who is going to not only do buy their dog and they give you advice the first week or
two but whenever I needed something any of the people who purchased a dog from Paige
Foster could go back to her at any time and ask her things twenty four hours a day you
could call and they were her babies she put them out there and she'd been doing it for
years and it meant a lot that they had good homes and she becomes a sounding board for
you through the years when you have questions you do just that I do you contact and you
know Paige will give you her advice I trusted her as so funny as a newspaper man writing
about villains and would be villains and shady characters and an occasional hero I would
usually look for what a person was lacking and pick up on that but with Paige because
I so loved what Max had brought into my life I looked at her in a different way I looked
at her with willingness to learn and she was willing to teach and uh she would later tell
me I've sold tons of dogs through the years you're the only one who carried out my advice
to a T and it's because I knew I didn't know anything and I wanted him to turn out well
in some ways I wanted him to have the life that Max never had and in other ways I wanted
uh him to have the childhood I didn't have and I wish I had had so that's why I followed
her and seemed to know what she was talking about you know it's interesting I think my
dogs have a great life but I come here and I say there's one up ok Atticus has even a
better life than they do look around at this beautiful location you don't see him on a
leash he listens to what you say and he's totally devoted it's really truly wonderful
I'm very fortunate he uh turned out the way he did that's some of that has to do with
Paige's advice nd some of it has to do with her opinion that he was a little bit different
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