On Saturday morning, long before sunrise, we were awake and getting Laila ready for the long trip to her new and final home. At about the same time, John and Mary were getting ready to leave Minneapolis to meet us half way, in Kansas City. After some early morning play time with Dixie and Jax, we loaded up, coffees in hand, and headed North. It rained hard for quite a while, through most of Arkansas. (I thought it was kind of weird because it was also raining really hard when we first picked her up from the shelter back in July.) The rain slowed us down a bit, but Laila slept soundly from the minute we pulled out of the driveway.
We got to Kansas city shortly after noon and the weather there was awesome. We met at a beautiful park, and actually both pulled in at exactly the same time. Re-introductions went perfectly. Although their initial time together last month was brief, I could tell that Laila remembered them both right away. We talked for a while as Laila got showered with affection...and presents! Then John and Jonathon went to get lunch...BBQ of course, it was KC! Mary, Laila and I found a nice spot in the shade to hang out while we waited. Lunch was soooo good. With great weather and great company, I would have stayed all day, but we had other dogs to get home to, so we had to get on the road.
I can't actually say that it was a bitter-sweet good bye. There really wasn't a bitter part. Of course, I shed a few tears, as she has been my constant companion (I called her my shadow) for the last 2 months, but I couldn't be happier about how this whole thing turned out. Some people even seem to think that I had it planned the entire time...
Here are some pictures from her big day
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| Group hug! |
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| Saying good bye. |
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| Modeling her new coat for those MN winters! |
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| First Family Photo! |
It has been a long road for Laila to get to where she deserves to be in life...HOME.
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I already have my 1st dog-sitting date!!! Can you believe I'm more excited to hang out with Laila than Mary is to go see DMB?
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures - especially the First Family Photo! Everyone looks so happy :) And the pink coat & hat are super adorable on her.
I'm so glad Laila's story has such a happy ending! If only ALL of your foster dogs could be so lucky...
We love our girl and she loves us! We went to the vet today and they went crazy for her but she is very afraid around strangers. She's not wild about the neighbors either but we're going to work on that. The vet said to keep exposing her to people who are kind to her and she'll start to eventually trust that no one is going to hurt her anymore. It will be over my bloody corpse if anyone ever tries.
ReplyDeleteHow lucky are we to have a Bonni-sitter? I seriously would not be going to DMB if not for Bonni.
We haven't seen the cats since Saturday. Apparently we're not all happy to have a dog.;)
Hurray, Hurray! What a great day for all y'all.
ReplyDeleteFamily photo....she was born to be a Beerling. Love the coat (pretty in pink). I can't wait to meet her. I'm one more human she can trust and love. I've also bought her a welcome present.The cats will adjust when they figure out who she is and that she means no harm. I predict they end up loving her to her eventual loving annoyance!
Good job Les & Jonathon. All dogs should be so lucky as to foster with you.