The Sweet & Wild Kitaco Connection to Our Puppies' New Owners

We are often asked if we are sad when our puppies leave for their new homes, to which we invariably answer no, because we take such care picking their homes, that we are actually excited for the fabulous life awaiting our babies. It’s impossible to feel bad when you know they are going to be loved and living their best lives with their new families.

Only twice have we ever shed a tear when a puppy left us. One pup we were, thankfully, able to get back and she now lives her best life with us. The other, tragically, died at a suspiciously young age. We have never been told the reason (we have our suspicions), but probably wouldn’t get the truth anyway, but the lesson we learned was “trust your instincts”, so when we say “yes” now to a potential forever home, we are 1000% satisfied that our precious babies are going to the best homes we can find.

Which brings us to Archie and Bailey from our latest litter, the homes we found for them and the amazing coincidences surrounding their owners and their connection to Kitaco.

Elfie

If you follow our blog, you might remember the story of Elfie, a dog that was returned to us when his owner died of breast cancer at the tragically young age of 42. This was the first and only time anyone has invoked our rehoming guarantee. Elfie’s mum had a 16-year-old daughter who adored Elfie but was unable to keep him, so he was sent back to us. We put out a call to our wider Kitaco family and found him a home with his actual doggie mum, and 2 of his siblings, where he happily remains to this day.

Jump forward seven years, and a puppy enquiry pops up on the website which we followed up, as we do, with a phone call. It was during this call that the potential owner mentioned her mum had once owned one of our dogs. It was then that the penny dropped and we recognised the surname (not a common one). This was the daughter who had been unable to keep her beloved Elfie, all grown up and ready for her own Chihuahua. Turns out, that other than knowing Elfie had been returned to us, she had no idea what had happened to him so we are now going to put her in touch with his new owner. She was thrilled to find out he was with such a great family, and no longer had to wonder what fate had befallen him, which she had been low-key fretting over for years.

Of course, she was instantly approved, as we considered her absolutely Kitaco Family and it was with great joy that we were able to hand over little Archie on the weekend. The two of them are utterly besotted with each other and we were so delighted to be able to close that circle, both by reassuring her about Elfie’s great life and giving her a gorgeous boy of her own to love.

The story of Bailey’s new owners is even more random. We received an email from a man looking for a puppy for his parents whose beloved Chihuahua had recently died and they were missing him desperately. He’d emailed every breeder he could find and we were the only breeder who responded.

Again, during the phone call, a weird connection came to light.

Versace

Ian and Liz mentioned that their beloved boy, Kenzie, who had passed away at 15, was bred by a breeder named Tracy Pearce, and been sired by a beautiful dog named Versace. They had tried to contact her to see if she was still breeding, but her number was disconnected, hence the reason her son had sent out the email, looking for another breeder.

Well, that turned out to be the most amazing coincidence of all. Tracy Pearce (now Gannaway), was the breeder of our very first Chihuahua, Loki, who we still have at 15, and also Freddie, Nikita and Mexico. She was our mentor when we first began to breed and when she retired, she passed the torch to us.

Loki

Freddie

Nikita

Mexico

Ironically, had they been able to contact Tracy, she would have referred them to Kitaco, anyway.

But it gets better. We went back through Bailey’s pedigree and he is, believe or not, also a descendant of Versace!

We organised a kennel visit and arranged for Tracy Gannaway to be there so they could catch up. Tracy was so pleased to see Liz and Ian, learn Kenzie had lived a long and happy life, and that their new puppy was also one of Versace’s descendants.

But the coincidences don’t end there. While we were still marvelling about that coincidence, it came to light that Ian, who spent years as a sailor in the merchant navy, was actually taught by Tracy’s father (also a sailor) at the National Sea Training School in Kent in the UK in the 1960s!

If that isn’t the most bizarre set of coincidences, I don’t what is! Or as Tracy put it

"It is so weird! I mean, what are the chances of running into somebody my father taught who was actually from Scotland! And them both now living on South Island of New Zealand, buying their first Chihuahua from me and then to contact you guys and find out that the new chi is actually related to the first chi! I mean OMG!"

Anyway, Bailey also went to his new home on the weekend. Liz’s son warned us they had already bought Bailey every dog toy in town, and also awaiting him at home was a very excited granddaughter. Again, we were delighted to see him go to such a great family, see that sweet little pup heal some grieving souls and know that he will have the best life a dog could hope for.