Seika was a good girl. She learned well and I loved going on walks with her and the kids. I invested a lot of time, love and care into her and found it rewarding. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do to keep her as originally planned and she deserved another chance to be loved and raised.
I dropped the kids off at grandma's and drove down to the shelter. I tried to get her to go to the bathroom before we got in the car, but she just didn't feel like it. She ended up pooping in her crate during the ride which got me pretty angry with her since she hadn't done it ever before. I pulled over to take her out and clean her paws as well as clean out her crate from her little bathroom session. Needless to say, sadly, it made it easier for me to hand her over after that episode, but as I arrived at the shelter, I felt bad again for having to surrender her when it wasn't her fault. I felt like a bad mother having to hand her over.
There were a couple other people there doing the same. One man acted as if he didn't care as he handed his dog over. Another woman there, was scolding her dog saying, "See...This is why you have to go. This is why I can't take care of you anymore." She was referring to the dog not listening to her commands. I also found out that she had back surgery and couldn't control the dog with her own weight or give it the attention needed while recovering.
Another man had a little dog in a crate that he was carrying and a irish setter, I believe, that he was pulling along on a leash behind him. He was yelling at his dog on the leash to cut it out and cooperate. There were a couple others there too, but I genuinely believed that I was the only owner in that room that didn't want to give up their dog and loved their dog, which upset me even more. I took my time filling out the paperwork, said my good byes and got back in line.
As I took her leash off and let her go with one of the workers, I teared up inside knowing I had failed her and felt really bad, but felt good that we were able to give her 6 great months full of love and understanding and attention. I will never know what has become of her, but I wanted to record this for my own sake to remember her properly.
I bawled on the way back to pick up the kids and every time the kids ask where the dog is, I tell them that it was time for her to be loved by another family and to be happy we were able to love her while we could. Lots of people want to spend time with dogs and so we need to let other people take a turn getting to know and love her as well.
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