Bye Clover

We rescued a stray puppy 1 year ago.  How do you NOT take a puppy, under the circumstances?  Give it a go.  But here we are, a year later, and I realize that the family is not too keen on this dog.  No one walks the dog, or loves on the dog.  The dog stays in the crate, our out in the yard alone.  THEN, in her boredom, she barks incessantly at random nothing...irritating the neighbors who subsequently call the cops!!  

I've been conditioned to immediately respond when the dog starts barking.  And back into the crate she goes!!  

Maybe because of the type of dog she is...or maybe because the lack of family interaction...the dog doesn't even come to us when we call her.  She sits and acts like she doesn't know who we are.  I took her to a dog park, out running, out the gate, and she just fails to even acknowledge the person calling for her.  

She's not aggressive at all.  And she's actually a great dog.  

Just not for our family.  

And they all know it.

So I found another family for her.  Not a shelter, or the humane society...or released into a park.  But a person who wants her.  

Ian was sad initially, but he's a reasonable guy and realized that I'm right.  

"Ian, every time I ask you to even feed the dog, you moan and groan...."

"True."  He responds, sniffing, wiping tears from his cheeks.

So we meet a seemingly nice, single young woman wanted her.  Really wanted her.  I interacted with this woman for an entire a week.  There were quite a few other interested people, however, this girl was very persistent and explained her case well.

So we get all the stuff together.  Clover gets a bath (that she hated!!  HATED!!)  Cleaned the crate (that I agreed to send with her, which is a big deal because crates like this one run about $20-$50 depending on how fancy it is).  Packed up food, leash, collar, vaccination records....everything necessary!!

This girl drives for over an hour to meet us in a parking lot.  Girl puts dog in crate and drives way across town home.  Dog has nausea/vomiting and poops in her apartment.  She freaks out.  Dog starts whining.  She emails/texts that she "can't handle" the dog.  

I email her, and give her coping (and de-escalation) suggestions.  She has to keep the dog at least overnight.  We agree to take the dog back the next day.  

Next day comes, and the kids have an extension on their activities due to Easter and Spring break make-ups.  So can't do it.  AND besides, I explain to the girl that it is kinda cruel to my young children to say bye to a dog (Ian spent time actually shedding tears over Clover) only to reintroduce the dog...only to have her leave again...

...emotional torture for the little guy!

So she agrees to keep the dog.  Which makes me happy.  Hopefully...she's giving Clover a good home.