Our Dog Tale...

So... we have spent the last three weeks looking at puppies online, finding one that would be great for our family. We found an adorable little 4 month old black lab from a lab rescue in Tulsa, about an hour and a half drive away. We contacted them, and filled out the adoption application paperwork. Sent pictures of our fenced back yard, and got approved to adopt her. The lab rescue had named her Regina, for their records mainly- they generally called her puppy and girld so that she would easily adapt to a new name. We bought a large crate (she would get big!) and food bowls and a collar, leash and tag for her and on Saturday we drove to Tulsa to pick her up.

The lab rescue was doing an adoption fair, so they had all the dogs they were trying to adopt out at a Petsmart and we meet them there. We got there around 1pm. As I was walking over there were a few people asking about a cute little puppy, and I overheard that it was Regina, and she was being adopted... I then said that I was Julie and had come to adopt her. She was adorable, friendly and the kids took to her immediately. Alyssa was upset for a little while- she had thought that the puppy would still be very small- that she would be able to pick her up still, but Regina was already pretty big. I signed the paperwork, we transferred our collar and leash for the one they had on her and put her new tag on her. Her name was going to be Zoey. The kids all choose a toy for her, and we bought her some food and snacks and loaded everyone up into the van to drive home.


As we were driving home Rich noticed that his eyes were starting to itch. We got home and the kids played with her all afternoon. It was soo easy to get them to go outside and play with her as a playmate! Alyssa is who we were worried would still be afraid of her, but within minutes of being home she was tossing her toy to Zoey and running around in the backyard with her. We spent a great afternoon playing with her. We were a little worred with Alex and Ashley's allergies if they would have problems, but we decided bedrooms would stay closed so she didn't go in them and we would try to keep her in the main living areas of the house- so hopefully they would be fine and there wouldn't be any reactions to her.

She was so docile and nice, and we commented that she hadn't really made a peep all day- no barking or whining. She tried to climb up on all the couches and chairs and we decided that she would be allowed up on the recliner, but not other seats. After just a few times of her climbing on other chairs and seats she understood that the recliner was the seat she could climb up on and curl up in.

When it was the kids bedtime we put her in her crate as we went to lay down with the kids. Then she whinned a little bit, but mainly because the kids kept running past her and she wanted to be out with them! :) After the kids went to sleep, we let her out to sit up with Rich and I while we watched some TV, and she fell asleep on the recliner... I had to nudge her awake to get her to go back to her crate where she promptly fell asleep.

By that time Rich was starting to sneeze... and we were worried about his reactions to her. He had actually spent most of the day not in the same room as her, and only occasionally had petted her and stuff- immediately washing his hands afterwards. If he was having this much of a reaction to her already after only 8-10 hours of being around her, it wasn't a good sign. After a lot of thought and prayer and some tears, we came to the conclusion that while Zoey was a wonderful beautiful and sweet little girl, it would not be good for the health of Rich to have her in our home.

The next morning Zoey was awake at 5am and needed to go out. Once she was up from that, she didn't want to go back in the crate and go to sleep. I emailed the lady that we had been in contact with from the lab rescue agency, and told her that we had an allergy problem we hadn't anticipated and we would not be able to keep her. A few hours later she replied and we made arrangements to meet up in Tulsa around 2pm to hand Zoey back to her.

Rich woke up with tightening in his chest, which reaffirmed our decision that we just couldn't keep her. I broke the news to Ashley and Alex and they took it surprisingly well. They were very dissapointed, but we didn't have any tantrums from them- just sadness. Alyssa started crying, she bonded with Zoey so much- much more than I realized she would in less than 24 hours. She and Ashley asked if they could go with me to take her back. Alex didn't want to- he said he was too sad to go and drive back with us. Rich took Alex and Angela to church, and I took Alyssa and Angela and Zoey with me and we went to Tulsa.

When we meet the lady from the lab rescue and gave Zoey to her, the girls were pretty dissapointed. They asked if we were going to get a new puppy... and I told them that we weren't going to be getting one anytime soon. With Rich reacting so quickly with allergies to Zoey, we don't have a lot of options of a dog that may word for us. There's always a chance that in the future we may get one, but not for a while.

The girls and I stopped for some milkshakes as we drove home, to sweeten the day a little bit after the dissapointment of having to give her back. Turns out the vanilla milkshake the girls got tasted like strawberries... so I was driving along wondering what else could cause tears from my girls... Alyssa was content to trade and have my chocolate milkshake, and Ashley luckily likes Strawberry too, so we were able to quickly prevent a full blown meltdown.

We got home and it was a little odd seeing the crate in the corner and not having Zoey walking around. It's odd how attached you can become to something in less than 24 hours. I hope that Zoey is able to find a loving home quickly and this will just be a little "field trip" in her memory, of going and spending an night with a family of 4 excited kids.