Back in the 80s, those wonderful days when we had BIG hair, wore colors never seen in nature, and almost nothing was tabu. At least not in Dallas in the 80s. At that time I was repping a clothing line, Multiples by Jerell. AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange Services) and Navresso (Navy Exchange Service Command) were my clients. I traveled literally oll over the world, but that is another story! It's relative because I had a Rottie/Dobie cross, Conan, who I doted upon. To be able to travel I needed dog watching help I could depend on!
I had met two young women who danced at one of Dallas' most popular Gentlemen's Clubs. We always laughed that none of us met a lot of gentlemen there! They needed a third roommate and promised to care for Conan on my trips. I returned from a trip and Cindi, one of my roomies, was sitting in the living room with a Shar-Pei puppy in her lap. She held him up and said, "Merry Christmas." I remember snatching him out of her hands and squealing with glee! She said a client had tipped her with the puppy! Her client's brother bred and showed Shar-Pei and he got the puppy from him. Gullible as always, I was just thrilled!
Fast forward a few months. I went to a few local dog shows and introduced myself to anyone beside the Cinese Shar-Pei dog show ring. Soon, I had joined the DFW Chinese Shar-Pei club and was making new friends and having a blast!
Fast forward a couple of years or so. By now, I had a Chinese Shar-Pei to show and was fully besotted with dogs shows! One night, after a show, a group of Shar-Pei owners went to dinner. A friend of mine asked me to tell the story of how I got Krinkle Dog (I was so far ahead of a certain family in spelling everything with a K).
There may have been adult beverages involved, as my telling of the story was embellished a wee bit. I'm sure everyone there thought this guy tucked a puppy in my roomie's G-String with my version.
I noticed a couple of my new friends were staring at me, with dropped jaws. The husband, Sam, asked a few questions, such as dates, her name, etc. Then he and his wife, Kim, burst out laughing. Kim said, "I know the breeder of your dog." I was so excited and begged her to tell me. "It's Sam" she blurted out! He grinned and nodded.
The story tumbled out and we were all blown away! Sam had bred this litter, sired by Bang, one of the early influential stud dog. There were several puppies and just as they were ready to go to their new homes...the unthinkable happened and they were stolen. It didn't take Sam long to realize it was his own brother. After he took the puppies. The brother quickly realized he was not going to get the mega-bucks he envisioned without AKC papers. He had already tipped Cindi with my Krinkle Dog and he begrudgingly returned the others to his brother. Disclaimer; This was a looong time ago, I may be murky on some details. But that is the gist of it.
Sam gave me a hug and said he could not have imagined a better home for Krinkle Dog and that was that!
Believe it or not...there is more to this story! Another BIG fast forward to 1998. I had moved to St. Paul Minnesota to work as a graphic designer for a dog show magazine publisher. Steve did a lot of work for them as a one-guy contractor and we connected. A year or so later a buddy of his and his wife, Paul and Michele, were coming to St. Paul from Duluth and he wanted me to meet them.
We met for dinner and began the process of getting to know each other. When I told them I showed French Bulldogs (that's another story), but used to have Shar-Pei. Michele shared she had a cousin in Dallas who showed Chinese Shar-Pei. Of course, I asked who it was and wait for it...it was Kim, Sam's wife! We were all gobsmacked by the odds of THAT happening!
Talk about a small world coincidence!