Thank you in advance for reading this story. This has taken me a while to do. 2009 was a rough year for me... a separation and divorce... and Spice, my heart dog, passing away in August. I wanted to give myself time to decide if I wanted to share this story and I didn't want to make a rash decision. I definitely want people to know.

My favorite litter that I bred is when I took Zut (Ch. After All Zut Alors) to Camden (WTCH Ch. Malpaso's Chaps 'n Spurs) in 2005 resulting in 9 lovely puppies. By the time the litter was 4 years old, three of those puppies were dead. Two by tragic accidents... but the other one... Morgan... for no reason at all.

I sold Morgan to Al Della Rocca of Good Time Aussies, against other Aussie people's recommendation. I thought I knew Al. I thought he'd breed Morgan and I hoped Joan would put obedience titles on her.

I wrote to Al last summer, in July of 2009. I have decided the best way to tell this story is simply to copy Al's emails to me, after I asked about Morgan's well being. I will cull the emails, but I will not put anything out of context.

From Al, July 20, 2009: "Well I found a forever home for Morgan. I haven't seen her since last fall and probably won't ever see her again. We are still looking for something to breed to Tad. A woman who bought ducks from us has a 3 yr old blk tri female, she would like to breed to him. We are waiting to see how it works out. I just had a woman call the other day looking for a puppy. She has had 3 of our dogs, still has a couple of those and wants a puppy to get started. I have more people that have had our dogs that want puppies, and are waiting for them, I almost can't believe it. They just don't wany any puppy, they want ours."

I wrote back and asked to know where Morgan was. I asked for her new owners' name and phone number so I could make contact. This was Al's response on July 21, 2009: "I was being kind, where she is there is no phone. Last fall I put down the almost 40 yr old horse. I didn't want him to go alone. She is keeping him company."

I wrote back and pointedly asked if Al had put Morgan down. Here is his response: "Yes, we gave her 2 years. I would hve sent her back to you, since you know the litter. I wouldn't give her to anyone else, with her problems. She would hve been a very happy house dog. Outside of the house, she couldn't be trusted. I wouldn't do that to anyone, and we didn't need that. We kept her in a fenced barn yard for exercise, and she found ways to escape one time to many. I got tired of chasing her around the neighborhood. She was just lucky I caught her before she got in trouble. Sorry about that, but that is the way it is. As far as breeding her, the next thing was $1,000 with no guarantee. She was bought with the idea of breeding her at some point. Even with the vet's help we got nothing but bills. I found out in the horse business, to cut your losses early or you will have a pile of them.

I know it seems cruel, but after her and then trying to deal with pther people and their bitches, no problem with the bitches, it was the people that were a pain in the ass. Our male is 3 yrs older and is 9 going on 10, when he could had sired litters the last couple of years. At this point I am getting pissed and may not breed him at all, and let our line die, unless I breed Ted at some point. Maybe we'll just keep our dogs and enjoy them and forget it all.


Al "

From what I can gather, Morgan's "problems" were that she escaped and she didn't get pregnant. Al did offer her back to me, but at the time I couldn't take her due to the divorce. Had I known he was going to put her down, I certainly would have. Mirjam Walter or Mel Gann could have taken her... and I have several friends in New York who could have picked her up. Al never said to me he wanted her gone, he just asked if I could take her back.

What amazed me, too, was that the rest of Al's emails from which I cut the first two paragraphs about Morgan were chatty and pleasant, as though everything in life was peachy keen.

Another lesson learned ... and it's so very sad.

Thank you for letting me share,

Janet