Lula's death left a void that can't simply be filled...anyone who has loved a dog knows that one can't be simply replaced by another - they aren't interchangeable. There haven't been many days since she died that I haven't shed tears over her. I think though that one of Lula's great legacies to me is that loving her has made me love her breed, and I know that if she could tell me so, she would want me to welcome another bullie into my life. So I started searching.
If you know anything about MBTs, you know that they are pretty rare...I think that the AKC only registers about 150-200 new puppies each year, total, in the United States. Getting your hands onto one of those pups isn't easy...once you find a breeder who will actually speak to you (and some won't), you will start by filling out a long application. The breeder will want to know everything about you...and rightly so. They will ask about everything from your family structure, whether or not you have kids, how many, what ages, what type of home you live in, whether you have a fenced yard, a pool, other pets, whether or not said pets are spayed/neutered, your feelings on crate training, your attitude toward obedience training, who will feed/train/exercise the dog, will you allow a home inspection, what would you do if you couldn't keep the dog...and that's just scratching the surface. If your application is approved, you will very likely be placed on the breeder's waiting list, because the scarcity of pups makes it unusual for the breeder to have a puppies available all the time. And then you wait.
Now, don't think that your place on the waiting list is a first come/first served situation...not in the least. Your placement on the list will be determined by how much your application coincides with the breeders idea of the ideal MBT owner. Again, rightly so. It will also be determined by whether you are looking for a bullie of "pet" quality or "show" quality. More on that later. MBT breeders can afford to be selective on where they place their puppies because there aren't that many pups to go around...the advantage here is that the pups typically get placed in quality homes with people that are determined to care for them properly. Don't think for a minute that a good breeder will let a puppy go to just anyone who can come up with the sizable cost of the pup...in fact, for a good breeder (meaning dedicated to the breed and trying to improve MBT bloodlines), whether or not you can produce the cash is the last consideration they look at when deciding if they will trust you with a puppy.
Knowing all of this, I began my search for another MBT not long after Lula died. Over the three years that I had Lula, I have become very close friends with her breeder (we'll call her K), and since we are in frequent contact, I knew that she did not have any pups currently available. A quick survey of the stateside breeders she trusts (there are some really bad ones out there) showed that none had a puppy for me at the time. There were some pups available, but I had already decided that I wanted a female. Also after talking extensively with K, I'd decided that I'd like to get more involved with the breed, first by showing and then even possibly venturing into breeding someday. So with K's help I started looking overseas, to see if I could find a puppy to fit the bill.
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