"F" is for FORBES: Goodbye Doggies

When I got home from San Francisco my children were at a friend's house, Drew was at work, and the doggies were in the back yard. They spotted me through the door, and after not seeing them for 3 weeks I had hoped to feel excited to see them again. But I did not. The thought of opening the door and having them jump all over me and bark and pee on the floor filled me with dread, so I turned around and went right upstairs to take a nap before my shift.

One of the nights the following week, Drew and I ended up on a blanket in the backyard, talking while we star-gazed, and we discussed the dogs. It came up because of the boarding situation while we were on vacation. Right before we left for Utah, Bo spent all day throwing up, hadn't pooped, and wouldn't eat or drink anything. I took him to the ER vet (which cost us about $400) so we could rule out anything crazy before we dropped him off at the boarding place. Then when I called the boarding place to run the situation by them, I discovered the cost of keeping our dogs there for 2 weeks.

We knew we had pretty fundamental differences in our opinions of how pets should be kept before we ever got Pip, but I thought I could maybe live with his line of thinking, and I really think I might have been able to if our kids were a little bit bigger. But they aren't. They are little, and they require so much training right now, at this critical stage in their development where they actually believe we know what we're talking about and we have a chance to shape their characters. And while I know that dogs can help children develop excellent character traits (and having dogs did help our kids a lot--none of them are afraid of dogs now, and some of them had significant fears before), they were taking so much out of me, emotionally and physically, that I didn't feel like there was enough left over for me to do a good job as a mother. The dogs were not trained well enough to live peaceably in the house, to add to the family instead of taking away, and I didn't have the time, energy, or inclination to do that training, and neither did Drew. And since Drew is morally opposed to keeping dogs in kennels, we decided it was probably the best thing for everyone if we found new homes for them. Our dog ownership turned into a dog fostership!

I used rehome.com to find a place for Bo.

I was brutally honest in his profile about his history and all his bad behaviors and how much training he would need.

He looked very handsome in his profile pictures.

I had a bite on his profile a couple days after I put it up. I met the whole family at the park so they could see what he was like and how he'd get along with them, then we went to their house to see how he'd do. They knew they wanted him before we left the park. They're an Air Force family, just moved in across town, have 3 boys and a brain damaged Aussie that needed someone to run and play with. Their oldest son has autism and they wanted to send him and Bo to a joint training program for children with disabilities and dogs to become companion animals. It was really fun to watch Bo and Bella run together with their matching shepherd strides. The husband was going out of town that day, so they asked if I'd hold Bo until the weekend for them, which was fine with me.

I asked around at work to see if anyone was looking for a dog. One of the daytime techs has a Blue Heeler named Aria that had a bad run-in with two aggressive pit bulls at a dog park about 6 months ago and has since been very skittish around other dogs. My coworker was looking for a dog that would be a good companion for Aria and help her come out of her shell a little bit. She really liked the pictures I showed her of Pip.

My description of his reserved personality seemed to fit what she was looking for.

And his preference for laying around was also appealing.

We met her and her dogs at the dog park. Pip and Aria got along very well. It was fun to see all his Australian Cattle Dog characteristics stand out when he was next to a purebred. They decided they wanted to take him. I told them we'd bring him by with all his gear later that day.

The kids reaction to all of this was, "If we get rid of the dogs, can we get a turtle??" You could say they were pretty unfazed. I was relieved. But Drew; Drew was very sad. He asked if he could take Pip to his new house by himself. I asked him if he wanted to take some pictures with his dog before he left and with tears in his eyes he said no. But we did it anyway.

I had in mind some sweet pictures showing their deep bond, and it started out well...

...but Pip is just crazy.

He wants to be loved, but he also doesn't.

He could never relax when you were petting him.

It always seemed like it was going to be a snuggly experience, because he was so excited to see you with his 270 degree tail wag, but he's all stiff legs and teeth and squirminess.

Silly beast.

We got a goodbye pic with each of the kids as well.

Annie loved the doggies best. I was a little worried she would be more sad.

Merrick was...

...until Pip licked his sticky face.

Then he didn't care much for any more dog time.

Drew dropped Pip off, then stopped at the store on his way home. He texted me this picture that of course would be there, hanging on the wall to rub it in.

When Drew left with Pip, Bo stretched himself dejectedly on the rug and didn't move till he got back.

He knew something was up all week, and seemed a little out of sorts. Drew took him over to his new home while I was working. We just got one goodbye picture of him with little Annie.

Pip is doing really well in his new place. Kaylie will send me updates now and again. He fit right into their family and he and Aria are inseparable.

I think Bo is doing well enough. I did get a call from a vet asking if I was looking for him a day or two after we dropped him off. He'd jumped the fence and someone had taken him in and they called me because we hadn't switched the microchip over yet. I touched bases with his new mommy a week or so ago and she said, "Bo is settling beautifully-he has brought a lot of joy to the house already, and while the cats are still freaked out, everyone else is getting along great! He is such a cuddle bug!"

The decrease in dog hair around the house, yard destruction, and barking noise has significantly lowered my stress level. And we didn't have to spend $1,000 on dogs this month! My kids can pop over to the Sextons to play with their dogs when they need some canine love, and now we know so many more things about ourselves and our family. Drew will be sad when we go out of town and leave him alone, and I do miss those silly beasts every now and again, but overall I feel good about how things worked out.

I shall now dump all the pictures of the dogs I hadn't blogged.