Kindness Can Make the Difference!

Over the past few days I have realized just how important it is to be kind to others and more importantly, to surround yourself with kind people.

After working at a restaurant and other customer service jobs for the past 5 years, I've learned how to speak to people. I know the things that are okay to say over the phone and how to make a person feel like they are always your first priority. I guess one thing I wasn't prepared for are people who didn't learn this at all.

Last week as part of my dog search, I was supposed to have a phone interview with a breeder. I'd read everything on her website, passed an application round and had we had exchanged a few emails back and forth, no problem right? Not until I called her! It was one night around 7pm that I called for the phone interview, hoping to have some questions answered and learn the prices of the dogs, something that she wouldn't release until she had approved my application and spoke to me. What I got was a whole lot more. I have never felt so insulted in my entire life. There was no "phone interview." The call consisted of my asking some of the questions that I had prepared and her answering so rudely that it took all I had to hold back tears. It was so hard for me to believe that someone I was thinking about investing months of time into, as well as $1500 of my money was speaking to me the way that she did.

Needless to say, I won't be working with her anytime soon, or ever.

After this call, I was ready to give up on my search. I felt that I had exhausted all my resources and that maybe a dog just wasn't in my cards right now. I'm sorry to bore all you non-dog owners, but for people that have gone through looking for a pure bred dog, I'm sure you feel my pain. That night I just sat in my room crying over the things that that woman said to me. She honestly made me feel like an unfit parent that didn't deserve her time, let alone one of her puppies.

I visited my boyfriend's family on Friday, who has a Goldendoodle, the reason I fell in love with the breed in the first place. I talked to them about her breeder and they luckily still had the bill of sale from buying her three years ago! I hadn't tried this route before because I assumed it was out of my price range. I actually found out it was one of the lowest prices I'd seen anywhere. Feeling completely defeated, I had my Mom try to call this lady and see if she was 1. rude and belittling, like the last breeder I spoke to 2. still bred Doodles. This breeder turned out to be so nice over the phone, she went out of her way to help my mom and was so excited to speak to me. I spent twenty minutes talking to her myself and immediately felt like I'd known her for years!

I'm calling her back in a month to see if she will have a puppy for me this summer! 

I understand the first breeder is particular about who gets her dogs, but I feel so bad for the people after me who continue to call and try to work with her. This experience made me realize just how important kindness is. Kindness to people you know, to those you have yet to meet, to everyone. Being polite and welcoming to someone can change any situation! For me, it meant choosing someone else to work with, to buy a dog from, to invest my time and money into their business. It was her loss.

Photos courtesy of Pinterest