I met a lady at a pekingese speciality show in Texas one year who had previously asked if she could show my male peke at that show. I had agreed and so met her there. She seemed pleasant and nice and our friendship began. She showed my boy and he took Reserve Winners Dog at the speciality and I was very pleased.

We continued to be e-mail friends over time and one day she called me to say that she had been inspected and was told to lessen the number of dogs she had.

She asked if I would take two of them but believing I could not handle two more agreed to only take one, Tassie. She had said that I could show Tassie and could even use her in breeding if I wanted to.

I paid the shipping fee in order to help out my friend and Tassie was shipped to me from Califronia. I was pleased to receive such a pretty little girl. Tassie did have protruding eyes but I thought I could show her anyway. I showed her at a couple of shows but was not able to get any points on her. The second time I showed her, the judge gave me a look as if to say, "Why in the world are you showing this google-eyed peke to me?"

That was when I called her breeder to say that I didn't want to show her anymore. She agreed with that but wanted me to keep Tassie as she still couldn't keep her.

It was very soon after that, she called me to ask if I would take one of her champion males, Ike, as she still needed to cut down on the number of dogs she had. I told her several times that I couldn't do this. In the end she talked me into taking him anyway just to help her out for a while and she promised to take them both back as soon as she could. This time I did not pay the shipping fees as I just didn't have the money at the time and told her this. When I received Ike he had a bad case of ear mites and I had to have him treated as well as all of my other dogs and I absorbed the cost of this vet bill.

I kept both dogs for several months. At one time she asked me to ship her crates back to her as she needed them. That was another cost to me.

Eventually I simply could not keep her dogs for her any more and told her she would have to take them back. She then made arrangements with another lady in Texas to take them.

So, absorbing yet even more cost to drive them to Texas, I did so and delivered them to this lady.

Since this time, she has told this story quite a bit differently, claiming that I owe her money. Since I did not get paid for boarding, feeding, vetting and caring for her two dogs for several months, I determined that if any money was owed, it was to me. However, I was not paid anything for doing this favor for a friend. What I did gain was a person who told lies about me.

But it's all ok now. I just look at it as the fact that I did help out a friend and that is the end of this story.

It was definately a lesson learned.