Our Jazzmin went to the Rainbow Bridge in December 98. She owns a special place in my heart, but when I reached "The Fourth Day", I knew the time was right to open our lives to another dog. I started by researching mid-West breeders, hoping to find "The One" before the anniversary of Jazzmin's leaving us. There were some wonderful dogs, but prices were quite out of my range, so I waited until...

I found what I thought would be my new pup. Both parents OFA'd, CERF'ed, VWd, and SA clear, obedience titles and conformation points. Perfect! I was there when the ELEVEN pups were less than 24 hours old, got to bottle feed them, weigh them, worm and assist with vaccinations. What fun, seeing the various personalities emerging from these little black lumps :) I even got to do their first grooms! Although the breeder and I couldn't come to terms on a fair price reduction based on the work I'd done, working with those babies was a great experience for me! Raising clean and healthy puppies is hard work and I admire the keepers of the breed who dedicate so much of their time to it!

Less than a week later, I learned about Chance and his littermates through a PSG posting. The letter told of several 4-month old standard poodle puppies which were in the Dodge City, Kansas shelter. I called the shelter and left my information with them. On October 7th, the following letter posted to PSG:

Poodle Club of Tulsa is taking possession of seven, yes seven, standard poodles from the Dodge City Shelter. Most of them are black males, but there is one older cream male. The black males are all pups, 4 to 5 months. I believe there is one older black male. The apricot female is going to (name deleted)in Dallas if she still wants her and the rest are up for adoption. They are scheduled for sterilization on Monday, and then a few days of recovery and grooming and will be ready to go. If you know of anyone looking, send them our way.
I would like to take a moment and say a huge THANK YOU to Sharon Smith for all of her help. Sharon is helping with the transportation of these guys to Wichita and then we will take it from there. The drive was just too far for any of us to go alone, and without Sharon and another rescue person, I can't recall her name, we couldn't have done it. So, big thanks and poodle hugs Sharon.

Sally
Poodle Club of Tulsa Rescue Chairman

I emailed Sally, and also Caren from Tulsa (who I had known from the Groomers List) and it was decided that "Doogie" would be a good match for the home we could provide. We scheduled a CUR run for October 23. Doogie left Tulsa early that morning, and thanx to Caren and 2 additional CUR runners, "Doogie" was withing driving distance for us to pick up!

Nicole wanted to name our new puppy, since both Misty and Jazzmin were adult dogs by the time she was born. She had several names picked out. Blitzen and Magic were two that were really sticking. The night before we were to drive to meet our new addition, we rented Disney's "Homeward Bound". If you've seen the movie, you must remember Chance, the silly English bulldog pup who had been abandoned and rescued from a shelter by a family who would love him. Nicole loved the name, and I did too! It really fit, because it was purely by Chance that he was the puppy that came to us!

Chance turned out to be a sweet and beautiful jet-black puppy who must have had some bad life experiences. Men, brooms (actually any long handled tool), cars, and stairs are a few of the things that really frighten him. One of my neighbors walked by with her stroller, and he went totally ballistic :( One problem is that if my adult son or husband approaches him (or if he approaches either of them) he squirts submissively all the way. Quite funny to see grown men back away from a scared poodle so that the linolium will get wet on the approach instead of the carpets! LOL! Other that that he is just a sweetie and just wants to do the right thing. He keeps old Misty busy, and doesn't let her lay around very much when they are out in the back yard! I'll be posting more pictures of him here when I get them developed.

I want to thank the Tulsa Poodle Club's Rescue Team, Sharon in Kansas, the CUR runners, and everybody else involved in this and other rescue efforts. Without people like them, who knows where Chance and his littermates may have ended up.....