The Right Breed

Living in an apartment we had more of a challenge in picking a breed that we liked and was suitable for our current lifestyle. One day I was doing some research on different breeds and found one that had everything we were looking for! I promptly sent and email to Glen to look up the breed and get his thoughts. Later in the day he called me asking about the breed, the best part was he hadn't received my email yet. We both saw the same breed on the same day. It was fate.

We decided on a Brittany. Formerly known as a Brittany Spaniel. The Brittany originates from France and is a hunting dog, a pointer.

Here is a little background information about the breed:

 



The next step was finding a breeder as Brittany's aren't your run of the mill pet store dog. Actually it is very hard to find a pet store that will sell dogs of any kind anymore depending on your municipality.

Neither of us had experience with breeders. We found a few Brittany breeders in Ontario, one of which was recommended by a colleague of mine. We hit a dead end with the recommended breeder who did not return emails or phone calls. Which was sort of shocking to us. We soon moved on to the next breeder who did answer our emails and phone calls: Downwind Kennel.

Towards London Ontario (worth the drive from Etobicoke) Downwind kennel is a small family operation in a small town called Vienna. The Breeders Mary Lou and Lorne have been in the business for 30+ years. They live in a small bungalow on a big piece of land and they have a kennel out back with the dogs.

We decided to make the drive up there to put down our deposit. We chatted for a long time discussing the dogs and talking a bit about ourselves. We met all the adult dogs, a few of which hung out in the kitchen with us. We were very impressed with how well behaved the dogs were, they did jump up a bit, but calmed down almost immediately. We went out back and met the mothers and the Sire's (doggy daddies) and saw their facilities. There was fresh snow on the ground so we didn't get to take in the full experience. We did get to meet some 5 weekers and a litter of 11 puppies that were born only 3 days before! We put our deposit down and we have been waiting ever since.