World, Meet Toby and Ronin!

We began the puppy search officially on July 4, 2010. And we ended the puppy search officially on July 4, 2010. We both fell in love with a sheltie and a shiba inu we found together through Breeders Pick Puppies, a store with a location in Orlando that sells puppies for breeders. We had been planning on getting a puppy when we came back from Europe. I knew that I wanted a Sheltie. I grew up with them, and I have always wanted to have one to call my own some day and to be able to see it grow up. Chris was interested in both an Alaskan Klee Kai and a Shiba Inu (more specifically the latter becase the Klee Kai's are extremely rare for this area). It was the type of thing where if he found the dog he wanted, fine, but if not no big deal. It seemed that we would be hard pressed to find a dog for Chris as there is only one breeder listing for the state of Florida, and the ones we encountered occasionally at Petland had been there so long they weren't interested in new people, just the employees that trained them. When we actually began looking up places to visit, Chris stumbled upon the Breeders Pick website which coincidentally had both a Sheltie and a Shiba Inu in the gender we wanted (male) and the colors we wanted (sheltie-tri color tan/white/black, shiba-'orange' with a bit of white). Their pictures were even side by side. We decided to stop by there along with a few other stops at Petland and a dog rescue group. We went to Breeder's Pick first to see these two cuties. Their cages were side by side and we noticed them immediately. We brought back the sheltie first who was very active and bouncing around, but also liked to be held. We then tried out the shiba who had a similar personality and was very playful. When Chris went to hold him, he immediately showered his face in puppy kisses which I think sealed the deal on his part. As they were both at one location we even got to put them in a room together to see how they interacted. The sheltie was hesitant at first and gave a few warning growls when the shiba inu attempted to shower him in a wet lick fest. Eventually, they both warmed up and were pouncing and prancing around each other eagerly baiting and waiting for the other to respond. We asked about their birthdays and coincidentally they were born five days apart. The Shiba Inu was born April 18, and the Sheltie was born April 13- which just happens to be my birthday. I was definitley sold, but I still had to keep my poker face on as they did come with a price tag. We did leave afterwards not leaving a guarantee of any kind which was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Chris wanted to do some more looking and see if he could get them to come down on their price. After a few more hours of looking and visiting another uninterested Shiba at Petland I called back Breeder's Pick and struck a deal with them which they accepted. We then put down our deposit and were told we could pick them up tomorrow (July 5) at three o'clock. We were thrilled, and so far it has been one of the best decisions we have ever made.

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