This photo is of Garnett, the mother (I don’t like using the word bitch) of the puppy Maria and I hope to buy from Lenore Severni, a veteran, award-winning and highly regarded breeder of Labrador Retrievers.

I love the mix of dogs we will have – Fate, a loving but deranged border collie from Wales, Bud, a fierce and affectionate Boston Terrier rescue from Arkansas, and hopefully Zinnia “Zin,” a female Lab puppy we hope will come out of Garnett’s litter.

She is a handsome, healthy dog and is said to have an excellent temperament. She’s due to give birth on or around September 20, which would mean we could pick up a puppy around Thanksgiving.

Lenore Severni has been breeding for 35 years and like all of the best breeders, breeds for health, temperament, and healthy bone structure. Good breeders keep the best traits of dogs alive.

I’m hoping “Zin,” if we get her, can go into therapy dog training early on and do the kind of work that  Red did.

Nothing about this is set in stone. Lots of things can happen with litters.

Some puppies might get sick or die, there might not be any females, and if there are, they might not be the dog we hoped want. I have a good feeling about Lenore and Garnett. I’m optimistic. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try again.

I sent a $500 deposit off to Lenore right after our conversation Friday; I’ll owe $2,000 more. People are always shocked that well-bred dogs cost money; there is this idea embedded in the culture that great dogs ought to be free, or close to it.

But dogs like Red or Garnett cost a fortune to breed and test and feed; they don’t grow out of the ground. A good breeder can study temperament and health over generations, which is how you make sure.

Garnett and the father all have health certificates. No mistakes, no risks in my therapy dog work. I am very proud of that record, it has lasted more than 10 years.

I will have all kinds of options for working with a dog like Garnett, or hopefully, one in her litter.

There are wonderful dogs in shelters and in rescue organizations. There are good breeders and bad breeders, good shelters and bad shelters, good rescue groups, and bad ones.

Nobody has a lock on righteousness and purity in the animal world.

There is little that I know of that is crueler fate for dogs than to spend their lives in crates in supposedly humane “no-kill” shelters so humans can feel good about themselves. For too many dogs, “no-kill” means no life, an unnatural and unhealthy kind of imprisonment.

Very few good breeders make any profits at all. This caricature of breeds as greedy and uncaring is false in my experience, and not good for dogs.

Good breeding is a labor of love for the good ones.

To me, $2,500 is a very reasonable price to pay for a calm, healthy working dog who can do so many things with me and for me, as Red did and Rose and Izzy and Lenore did.

And who can be trusted with children, the sick and dying, the elderly.

My dogs are not in the background; they don’t spent the days hanging out at home;  are in the center of my life and work.

They lead public lives, very much in the open, photographed and followed on my blog. They move about in the world with me.  I take care to be a responsible and affectionate steward.

A great dog is worth as much as a new refrigerator or stove or two crowns worth of dental work. I do often get what I pay for. I love to work with my dogs, and I’m keen on resuming my hospice and elder care therapy work.

Temperament is everything; there must be no surprises or mistakes.

I will, of course,  have to start scrambling to get that money lined up.  Lenore’s kennel is in Connecticut, several hours from Bedlam Farm.

Bud will love having another dog to play with; Fate will ignore her and try to steal her treats but will settle down and accept her.

Garnett had her ultra-sound the other day, and she is expected to have at least seven puppies, possibly more.  I wish her, and me, and Maria, the best of luck.