Al Hansen
Well-known member
About 12 days ago, Bev and I had two yellow male pups that we still hadn’t been able to sell. First of all let me tell you that the reason for them being still with us was most likely because we had saturated our local market area. Two of our females had pups just 14 hours apart. By the time it was all over with we had 9 yellows (8 males and 1female), 4 blacks (1 male and 3 females) and 7 chocolates (4 males and 3 females). Secondly, this marked the very first time we had ever had a pup that was over 8 weeks old and not sold. As is typical with me, I began to fret.
Almost two weeks ago I had just finished placing a new ad in the Albuquerque Journal when I received a call from Bev. She had a phone call from a customer who definitely wanted the two pups because “they looked like they were meant for each other”, he said. This was on a Wednesday morning and I hurried to call the newspaper and ask if we could cancel our ad, which they did with no problems what so ever. Bev had the gentleman’s name and phone number and when his appointed time to pick up the pups arrived and left she attempted to call. She tried twice that day to get in touch with him but to no avail. He did not answer his cell phone and never got back in touch with us. He just seemed to have vanished into cyber space.
I guess every once in a while a person gets “burned” and we felt as if we had been. Someone seemed to be playing games with us. I guess with both of us being raised from the early 1940s and on, we have always trusted people and continue to do so. Now the two of us sat in our living room, each with a pup in our arms, asking ourselves why anyone would do such a thing and then wondering when these cute little tykes might sell. We knew that we had to wait until Monday to put our ad back in the classifieds, so we just decided to bide our time and see what would happen.
On Tuesday, our new ad hit the classified sections and we then began to wonder when and if these little guys would ever be leaving us. Then it happened the next day on Wednesday. We had to run to Albuquerque so I could see my ophthalmologist and have my surgically corrected eye looked at. While we were walking into the Eye Associates building, my phone rang. It was a young man who was looking for a “companion”. I told him that I would call right back as soon as my appointment was completed.
Well, once back in the car, I called Michael back and we began to talk. I found out that he was confined to a wheel chair and was looking for a dog that would be his buddy. I then told him of Tuck and Finn, the 2 males that we had left. Of those two, I strongly recommended Tuck because of his personality. I then found out that Michael and his family knew one of our former customers and their dog, Rio. So I had Michael get on the internet and look up our website so that he could see what Tuck looked like. Michael, who is in his mid 20s, said to me, “Mr. Hansen, Tuck looks like just the dog I would love to have. When could we get him?” With that I found out that his dad had just gotten home from work and they were willing to drive down to Socorro to pick up Michael’s new dog right away.
I guess we had enough of a head start, to get home, give Tuck a bath, and just in time as we watched a car come up our driveway. In a short time Tuck was washing the face of Michael’s mother with his soft tongue and we knew right away that this yellow lab had a specific duty in his life and it was already beginning. We had learned that Michael was involved in a terrible accident and would never again use his legs. As his folks told us a little bit about this we then understood.
They looked at us when Bev had finished all the paperwork and said, “Thank you so much for what you have done. We have a young man at home that is eagerly waiting for this young pup to be in his arms. We really need to run.” With that they got into their car and headed back home.
We both felt so good just knowing what one of our pups will be doing. As we talked, Bev’s phone rang. It was a lady from Truth or Consequences, NM, looking for a yellow male pup. We told her all about Finn. I sent her pictures via email and she called Bev right back and told us she wanted him.
So yesterday afternoon when we had finished cleaning up the kitchen after our Thanksgiving meal, I went out to the kennel and got Finn. Bev thought it might be fun to hold him for a while as we watched the Packer/Lion game on TV.
If I forgot to mention this—we are both extremely grateful that we had to go through sort of a struggle when the one guy backed out from buying the pups. By him doing what he did, it then allowed us to meet and know a little bit about Michael and his family and what Tuck will be doing. We also know that Finn will have two young kids to grow up with. Now isn’t that what life is for?
Al
[/URL]
[/URL]
Almost two weeks ago I had just finished placing a new ad in the Albuquerque Journal when I received a call from Bev. She had a phone call from a customer who definitely wanted the two pups because “they looked like they were meant for each other”, he said. This was on a Wednesday morning and I hurried to call the newspaper and ask if we could cancel our ad, which they did with no problems what so ever. Bev had the gentleman’s name and phone number and when his appointed time to pick up the pups arrived and left she attempted to call. She tried twice that day to get in touch with him but to no avail. He did not answer his cell phone and never got back in touch with us. He just seemed to have vanished into cyber space.
I guess every once in a while a person gets “burned” and we felt as if we had been. Someone seemed to be playing games with us. I guess with both of us being raised from the early 1940s and on, we have always trusted people and continue to do so. Now the two of us sat in our living room, each with a pup in our arms, asking ourselves why anyone would do such a thing and then wondering when these cute little tykes might sell. We knew that we had to wait until Monday to put our ad back in the classifieds, so we just decided to bide our time and see what would happen.
On Tuesday, our new ad hit the classified sections and we then began to wonder when and if these little guys would ever be leaving us. Then it happened the next day on Wednesday. We had to run to Albuquerque so I could see my ophthalmologist and have my surgically corrected eye looked at. While we were walking into the Eye Associates building, my phone rang. It was a young man who was looking for a “companion”. I told him that I would call right back as soon as my appointment was completed.
Well, once back in the car, I called Michael back and we began to talk. I found out that he was confined to a wheel chair and was looking for a dog that would be his buddy. I then told him of Tuck and Finn, the 2 males that we had left. Of those two, I strongly recommended Tuck because of his personality. I then found out that Michael and his family knew one of our former customers and their dog, Rio. So I had Michael get on the internet and look up our website so that he could see what Tuck looked like. Michael, who is in his mid 20s, said to me, “Mr. Hansen, Tuck looks like just the dog I would love to have. When could we get him?” With that I found out that his dad had just gotten home from work and they were willing to drive down to Socorro to pick up Michael’s new dog right away.
I guess we had enough of a head start, to get home, give Tuck a bath, and just in time as we watched a car come up our driveway. In a short time Tuck was washing the face of Michael’s mother with his soft tongue and we knew right away that this yellow lab had a specific duty in his life and it was already beginning. We had learned that Michael was involved in a terrible accident and would never again use his legs. As his folks told us a little bit about this we then understood.
They looked at us when Bev had finished all the paperwork and said, “Thank you so much for what you have done. We have a young man at home that is eagerly waiting for this young pup to be in his arms. We really need to run.” With that they got into their car and headed back home.
We both felt so good just knowing what one of our pups will be doing. As we talked, Bev’s phone rang. It was a lady from Truth or Consequences, NM, looking for a yellow male pup. We told her all about Finn. I sent her pictures via email and she called Bev right back and told us she wanted him.
So yesterday afternoon when we had finished cleaning up the kitchen after our Thanksgiving meal, I went out to the kennel and got Finn. Bev thought it might be fun to hold him for a while as we watched the Packer/Lion game on TV.
If I forgot to mention this—we are both extremely grateful that we had to go through sort of a struggle when the one guy backed out from buying the pups. By him doing what he did, it then allowed us to meet and know a little bit about Michael and his family and what Tuck will be doing. We also know that Finn will have two young kids to grow up with. Now isn’t that what life is for?
Al
