change of plans

circumstances sometimes force us to make decisions and change plans even though it may be very difficult and disappointing. this is what happened to ed and me. a lot of things that we had planned for early this year had to be postponed, disappointing both of us. one of those things was getting another rescue. after spending christmas with me crying over our postponements and being incredibly sad, ed agreed to get another rescue, even though he knew it wasn't the best time for us to do it and that it would stress him to no end. sometimes i don't recognize the sacrifices he makes for me and so under appreciate him.

i had looked on petfinder and found the dog i thought would be perfect for us. he was already neutered, young, about 50 lbs, and in desperate need of a home. he was living in the elbert county shelter - a small, rural shelter on the ga/sc border. i called them and they said he was still there, but very urgent. so...i drove to elberton and picked him up.

he is definitely a lovely dog - a lab mix that is sort of a seal color. his fur is very soft and he has these huge brown eyes that almost blend into his face. he's on the skinny side, but nothing like lily was! we'll see how he fits in.

Epilogue

On Sunday evening, we dropped off Lily at her new home. Her new family was excited to see her as was her new canine brother. He immediately started playing with her in the living room, although Lily seemed a little nervous about being in a strange place with strange people. Soon they were tearing around the house, down the back stairs, around the yard, back up the stairs and back into the house. It was clear they were going to get along.

Walking out their door and leaving Lily behind was the hardest thing I've had to do in a long time. Lily didn't understand why we were leaving but she wasn't. And even though I knew this was the perfect family for her -- even better than staying with us -- we couldn't make Lily understand that. All we could do was give her one last hug and kiss and make sure she didn't slip out the front door as we left.

We got a couple emails from her new mom:

Lily and her brother played some serious tug of war this morning and are chasing each other in the back yard right now. She has followed his lead with going to the bathroom outside and finally came into our bedroom this morning. She is definitely relaxing and becoming more and more comfortable.

and the next day:

She had a good day today. I think she's gone into all the rooms, but hasn't stayed long in any but the front rooms and our bedroom. The dogs and kids are outside playing in the yard now.

Meanwhile, our house is quieter than usual. Calvin seems a little sad and depressed. I have tried to play with him more in the evenings to cheer him up but he probably won't return to his old self until we bring another playful rescue home.

After talking on the way home, we decided we are going to wait a couple months to take in another rescue dog. With the stress of the holidays, relatives visiting in January and some very important personal events coming up, we think its best to wait a little bit before bringing another one home. But even when we have another dog in our house, we will never forget Lily and how 3 months with her brought us such happiness and joy.

good news for lily

it's been a while since we posted anything in the blog. lily has been such a joy!! we decided on wednesday to list her on petfinder. it was one of the hardest decisions ed and i have had to make as we were considering keeping her and waiting to foster another dog. but, we both know and understand (ed more than me) that lily needs to have a different forever home so that we can save another dog from a shelter or the street. i was hoping it would take some time before anyone contacted us, but we got an email on friday!!!

we met with lily's prospective adopters today at the dog park and they are perfect. :-) lily is going to a home with another dog who loves to play and is almost as submissive as she is! he reminded both ed and me of calvin. lily will love her new brother. her new human family couldn't be more perfect for her. she will have children to sleep and play with and parents who will love her and make sure she is well taken care of. she will be going to her new home tomorrow.

it's hard to say goodbye to lily. she has been such a wonderful addition to our home. knowing she will be in a home that will love her even more than we do is making it easier though. we will miss her. she has made a lasting impression on our home and will always have a special place in our hearts.