I'm convinced that dogs influence human behavior.  One of the things that I have found breeding dogs is that dogs teach us to trust each other.

Buying a puppy on-line from someone you don't know,. can't meet and don't even know anyone that knows them is really about trust.  You trust me to speak truthfully to you on the phone.  You trust that I will take care for the puppies; that I will do everything that I know how to do to give each puppy the best "puppy hood" so that it will grow up to be a happy, healthy dog.

You send me money and trust that I will ship your pup and that you will get the pup that you chose.

In return I must trust you.  Trust you to complete the financial transaction before the puppy ships. Be there to pick up the puppy at the airport or meet with the ground dog transporter.  Most importantly, I trust that you will give my puppy the best life that you can.  That you will care for him. Provide love and attention. And a healthy diet.

Sometimes the trust spreads out around a puppy.  Tomorrow a gal from Wisconsin is arriving to pick up her puppy.  Yes, quite a drive.  In addition she is picking up another puppy for a young couple that live in Chicago.   Now we have trust between two more strangers.  The young couple has to trust that this nice couple for Wisconsin will deliver their pup on their way home to them in Chicago.      

I had a interesting conversation with Sherry (the gal from WI).  Turns out her husband works in the prison system and, as you can imagine, trust does not come easy to him.  Sherry was a bit taken back when she realized that the young couple  from Chicago worried that she might not deliver their pup.  She mentioned that to her husband and asked him if he had thought about the other couple being apprehensive about this transport arrangement. 

"Of course," he replied, "I am not sure that I could have do it.  Look here we have sent money to a person in Arkansas that we don't know and now another person is supposed to deliver that puppy."  That's a lot of trust in todays world.

Actually, I have had this scenario play out several times before.  Once a couple from Washington state flew into Houston, Texas and drove to Arkansas to pick out their English Shepherd puppy.  In that same litter, 2 other families from WA also wanted pups.  The couple ended taking 3 English Shepherd puppies into their rental car, driving back to Houston, spending the night and boarding a jet home with 1 pup in the cabin and 2 pups in a crate in cargo.  Another happy ending to the story: new friendships between people who love English Shepherds.  I get pictures of their get-togethers with the dogs and their families.   

Right before Christmas I shipped a little beagle for a surprise birthday party for a policeman's little girl.  Going with my dog transporter to the exact same pick-up location was one of our English Shepherd puppy.  Both families lived about 2 hours from the pick-up point.  About an hour before the puppies  were scheduled to arrive, the policeman called me on my cell phone to check on the shipment.  Turns out he thought it was a different day.

I called the English Shepherd family and they willingly  agreed to transport the beagle pup.  This was a little bitty beagle guy.  I heard that the dad craddled the puppy in his arms all the way home and they delivered the pup to the policeman's door.

If only everyone had a dog....