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As Published on the ClumberSpaniel Web Site
It started with a simple request to help others learn through open discussion. Over the next few months it grew into an idea and leapt from the realm of the imagination to that of reality.
They were some of the first to join, and they participated in many interesting discussions. One day they wrote of the sadness in their lives from the loss of a loved one. I tried to console them and through reaching out to help, a friendship was born.
We wept together over our losses along the way, congratulated each other on brief accomplishments as each of us continued to strive to enhance the breed. They volunteered their time and energy in producing a newsletter and serving their local club. I assisted as I could with articles and photos to help fill their publication. Our friendship grew.
One day another friend sent a puppy to live with them. My heart went out to the owner, knowing just how hard it was to part with one so loved. A simple act of friendship had beget another and now one more in the chain had developed.
Later, as the whelping date grew closer, the owner flew in to see her puppy and help with the whelping. E-mails and telephone calls flew across the miles, as complications appeared to develop. We were on the phone as the first few were born. Feeling as if I was one with the litter, I willed each of them to live.
She was the rabble-rouser, the terrorist and ringleader of the crew. Always leading the others in a game of search and destroy, stealing dad's shoes or nipping mom on the rear. Yes, she was the one. I watched her grow though hundreds of e-mail descriptions telephone calls and photos.
This week we both left our homes to meet for the first
time. Hundreds of miles later, we met and for a few
brief hours talked of our hopes and plans. With a final
hug, she was placed into my care, thus adding
another link into the chain.After only a day or so, she is adjusting to our home and carrying on as expected, leading the younger puppies into devious games and teaching them her naughty activities. She is Braden's 'Deed I Do At Epic or Dee Dee for short. I can only say thanks to John and Judy Darling for allowing me the privilege of working with this girl and to June Warren for loaning them Miss Dolly!
It started with a simple request, and soon a list was born. A list unlike any other. A list about the King of Dogs and the Dog of Kings that now spans the globe and encompasses breeders, owners and wantabees in over seventeen countries. A list that has spawned benevolence, acts of kindness and a growing chain of friendships like the one that has brought Dee Dee from her Canadian home, to Texas.
© 2003-1996 - Ed Presnall - All Rights Reserved