"We now return to our regularly scheduled 2 canine household programing."
I found myself breathing a deep sigh of relief Saturday morning after I wrapped myself in my pink fuzzy robe, helped Matt gather all of "puppy's" things (leash, raw hides, hamster toy, food bowl, rabies tag & conjunctivitis medications), gave him one last vigorous ear scratch ("puppy" not Matt), and watched them through the front window as they drove away to the auction.
It was fun, albeit a lot of work, to have a puppy in the house, and I will admit that we had a couple "what if we kept him" conversations. All 3 dogs were even playing and snuggling together by the time Friday rolled around. However, in the end I decided it just would not be a very smart and responsible choice for us to make. #1 We don't have room for such a lg dog as he will be. #2 We don't have a fence and really no good way to let 3 dogs out for potty breaks. #3 We don't have the expendable finances for the extra dog food, vet costs and classes he would need AND #4 Matt won't let me replace my cat so I can't see how him having a second hunting dog is in any way fair or acceptable. lol Friday night over dinner I reached over and took Matt's hands into mine, looked deep into his eyes and in my most heartfelt, loving voice said, "Please promise me you are not going to bid on this dog. If you care for me at all please don't do this to me." We both laughed, I gave him the "I may be laughing, but I'm dead serious" look and he promised he wouldn't.
Later Saturday afternoon the kids and I decided to head down to the auction to see how everything went and the closer we got the sadder Breannah became. She was quite downhearted that morning when they said goodbye to "puppy" (Wes said "I'm not sad "puppy" is leaving because now he won't chew on all our stuff). Bre had been talking about how sad she was that "puppy" was gone all morning, but I think it just became that much more real on the drive as we talked about "puppy" going home with his forever family. By the time we pulled into the parking lot of the Stewartville gun club she was truly and honesty sobbing. I felt so bad for her. I told her that it fine to feel sad but that if she wanted to go inside she needed to take some deep breaths and find some self control. She calmed herself down and we went inside but as soon as she saw "puppy" with his forever family the sobs returned with fervor. She knelt down, wrapped him up in her arms and we had to practically peel her away from him. Oh the drama! We were finally able to distract her with some food, then she started helping put chairs away (she loves to help) and THEN someone handed her a live microphone and she serenaded the clean up crew with The Star Spangled Banner. She received a roaring round of applause and has been beaming about it ever since. lol I'm pretty sure she will be ok. Wes also got a chance with the mic and sang a song of his own making in which he repeated over and over, in multiple keys and volume levels "We need to practice hunting."
Unfortunately, "Puppy" didn't bring in nearly the money for the youth hunts that we were hoping he would. His forever family took him home for $87.50. It cost $170 in gas to go pick him up and $112 in vet fees to have his shots finished and the meds for his little puppy cold. So, the guys actually lost money on him. I have no doubt "puppy" will have a good home and be well loved and well taken care of which is of course the most important thing, but his forever family are not even real big hunters and it just feels like somewhat of a waste for a dog specifically bred for hunting. Oh well.
Here's a fun video I caught of "puppy" chasing Wes around the dining room table, trying to grab the tail of his cape. I had tears streaming down my face from listening to the laughter.
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