how it all began...

i found beef online one day in august 2007 from a breeder as i was looking for a boston terrier puppy to call our own. i wanted a male puppy & one with a specific look, a good muzzle, something original in his colorings that would make him stand out from the crowd. I wasn't interested in breeding or showing, so the deviation from the "standard" colourings were what i was after.
these are the first few photos i saw of beef, who was called 'speckles' by his breeder:



i called the breeder, interested also in beef's brother, who had beautiful markings, too. Satisfied after a few conversations, they sent me more updated photos of beef in early september 2007 & i was sure this was the puppy i was going to actually put down the money for & commit to.
after discussing & confirming this with mackenzie, i made the purchase. beef would soon be put on a plane & shipped to us from Missouri. unfortunately, at that time, there was a heat wave happening in the Texas area and beef was delayed week after week because it was too hot for us to put him in the cargo hold of the plane. week after week the breeder called apologetically explaining they'd try again in a few days, but it was still just too hot to send him. While i understood, almost a month was passing since my decision & i was getting impatient.
i joked with mack one day that i should just fly out to Missouri one day & bring him back myself. shortly after making that joke, my mother (who was excited to have a grandpup) suggested i do the very same thing and i began to realize that wasn't the worst of ideas, especially as i continued to check the weather forecasts.
before i knew it, i was on a jet from san francisco, ca to springfield, mo. at the airport, i met the breeder who introduced me to beef. i brought beef's collar & leash & some toys for the flight home. there was some time to kill before the return leg of the journey, so beef & i spent some time in the grassy areas of each airport we stopped at. he was such a good boy the entire trip. apprehensive & scared at some things, including me, we warmed up right away. beef slept in his carrier the majority of the flight, tucked under the seat in front of me. it was during our layover in dallas before boarding that i realized beef snored when he slept...it was so darn cute.
when we landed, mack picked us up at the airport. it was raining & apparently was a rainy day in the bay while i was gone. mack was impressed at how well behaved he was while riding in the car. we put him in the crate after playing with him, walking him & showing him his new apartment & he slept thru the night with no potty mistakes.
this blew our collective minds that beef was instantly crate trained with nothing for us to do except pay attention to his eating & drinking & work on the housetraining part.

-gabby