Tom Wettlaufer
Tom and his wife Susan live next to the beach in Palm Coast, Florida. Over their 50+ collective years they have been Mom and Dad to a wide variety of “animals”, from birds to cats, from kids to dogs. They do not participate in showing dogs but can be found in the stands at regional shows. A Yorkshire Terrier named Princess Tiger Lily (Lily) was the leader of their pack for almost fifteen years until recently. In the early-oughts, Tom and Susan started seeking a second dog to be a companion to Lily as she aged. At first a Norfolk Terrier and a Norwich Terrier were under serious consideration when they saw a Havanese on one of the televised national dog shows.
After that evening, Susan religiously scanned the local paper for an available Havanese and was lucky enough to notice a two-line ad one Sunday evening about eight months later. After three weeks and a plane trip they were Mom and Dad to a Havanese puppy. By this time Tom had read everything he could find regarding the Havanese breed including books and the Internet. “She sure is a big difference from Lily” Susan later admitted.
Tom and Susan have emailed, visited or talked to many Havanese breeders all over the United States and Canada. They even met a true native Havanese one Saturday afternoon in Florida. As the sayings go: “You can’t have just one Havanese” or “Havanese are like chocolates, you can’t have enough” so Tom began a search for another ‘playmate’. At the present time, almost seven years later, their pack has four Havanese trying to live up to the reputation of Princess Tiger Lily, the great lizard hunter.
Tom and Susan will be entertaining the readers of Havanese Breed Magazine with a series of articles titled “Tails From the Beach” in which they will recount their Havanese experiences, good and bad, from the point of view of pet parents. From the new one not eating, the jealous older one, trips, vet visits, medical issues, schools; all of the owner experiences rather than the show experiences. The stuff that happens once a breeder releases a dog into the hands of the forever family. Tom is also, it should be said, a member of the Dog Writers Association of America.
Website: comingsoon
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