My story….

Some of my friends from Twitter already know this, but I wanted to share it with everyone – I was born on a puppy farm in Essex.

I’ll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). In January 2014 my Human Beans decided they wanted to get a companion for Kizzy, who was then 13, as they thought it would rejuvenate her and that she would help to train the pup by sharing her wisdom. They wanted ‘a portable model’ which would be suitable as they get (even) older, so decided on a small crossbreed. They were also keen to have a puppy, rather than an older rescue dog (as Kizzy had been), as they felt, being both 70+, that  it was their last chance to be puppy parents. Unfortunately there is no reputable breeder network for crossbreeds, so it is difficult to know where to start….when it comes down to it, unless you happen to know someone who has puppies available, it relies on careful searching on the internet.

They did, they thought, all the right things. They Googled the phone number given to make sure it didn’t crop up multiple times. They didn’t say which ad they were referring to but just to “your ad on………” (if he’d admitted to having more than one ad, they would have run a mile). They even copied chunks of the ad’s text & Googled it to see if the ad was ‘copy & paste’. They asked if they could see the Mum and were told they could.  It all seemed fine. What they now know, however, is that these people use cheap or free SIM cards so they can keep changing phone numbers, and that the ‘Mum’ you see isn’t necessarily related to the puppies you’re looking at.

They went to a house on the East London/Essex border and were shown me, my Brother & Sister and ‘Mum’, and we all looked clean & well cared for. We were in a playpen in what appeared to be a family living room – the TV was on and there were two small children there. My Beans were at first interested in my tri-colour Sister, but I fixed them with ‘the look’ and got their attention.  They collected me a couple of days later.

When they looked at my vaccination certificate, they noticed that I had been vaccinated at a vet about 15-20 miles from where I was bought and much nearer my present home, which seemed odd. However, this week we met another Cavachon with his Humans and got talking & comparing notes, as you do, only to find that he was born in November 2013 like me, but bought from a pet shop half a mile from that same vets…….almost certainly my Brother! We have the theory that the puppies were vaccinated there as it was conveniently on the pet shop delivery run. The pet shop in question seems to have a regular supply of Cavachons, Cockerpoos, Puggles etc…..the plot thickens!

I’m delighted to say that the people who ran this evil puppy farm business were caught by the Police a year or two back, and my Beans shared all the information they had to help with the prosecution. That makes them feel a little better about the whole thing as they feel awful and embarrassed that, despite being so careful, they still got caught out.

Of course, this whole thing has turned out brilliantly for me. I now have a loving home and a Mum & Dad who are putty in my paws. Luckily, I was fairly healthy but my Beans always wonder if some of my fears and foibles are related to my bad start in life. We shall never know, and they tell me that they have absolutely NO regrets as they ended up with the cutest, most wonderful, well behaved……oh, apparently I’m not allowed to put that last bit. Oh well, you can’t win ’em all.