Emotional Roller Coaster Ride

The last few days have been emotionally exhausting. I had three potential adopters for Kira, but it seems they have all fallen through.

The first one was a woman I met at the dog park. I had never seen her there before, but she was playing frisbee with a German shepherd mix, so I made a beeline over to her. I spoke to her for a while, and she showed a lot of interest in Kira, who got along great with her 4-year old male shepherd mix. The woman lives with her husband and works from home as a graphic designer. What could be better for Kira?! A human that is around most of the day, has experience with the breed, and has a friendly, mature dog! She said she'd talk to her husband about adopting Kira, saying they had wanted a second dog for some time now.

A couple days later, the woman emailed me and asked if Kira could come over for a couple hours, to meet her husband and to see how she responded in their home. I said of course. When I went to pick Kira up, the woman said Kira behaved wonderfully. I had worried that Kira would be fearful in a new place and revert to her tentative ways and nervous barking. But no, Kira had made herself comfortable there and did well with their dog. However, her husband was worried about Kira's hips and said he didn't want a pure bred dog. Bummer!

I had already arranged to take Kira to a local adoption fair that day. So, I left the woman's house and dashed over to the adoption fair. Kira was exhausted, after a busy morning at the woman's house, so she mostly laid in the grass, napping. Everyone was very impressed with this mellow puppy. She is very mellow, although not quite THIS mellow.

At the fair, a single man and a young family with two kids were very interested in Kira. The young family was divided, though, with the mom and daughter wanting Kira and the dad and son wanting a different dog there. While they were trying to make up their minds, the single man said he was ready to adopt Kira. He was an active guy, seemed very nice and responsible, and said that he'd take Kira to work with him everyday. Although he doesn't have a dog at home, he'd grown up with dogs and said there are other dogs at his office, so I felt that might be nice for Kira--access to dog pals, but also the benefits of being an only dog at home.

I had my reservations about Kira going to a family with kids. She seems absolutely fine with children, but I just know how busy life is when there are young kids involved (ages 5 and 7). So I opted for the single guy, telling the family that I hoped I was making their split decision a bit easier. The little girl, who had wanted Kira, broke into tears. I felt awful! Wow, it's hard playing God with people's and dogs' lives.

I arranged to meet the single guy at the shelter to fill out the paperwork and pay the fee. I hurried home to pack up Kira's crate, bed, food, dish, toys, everything. I waited for what seemed like eternity for the guy to show up at the shelter, kicking myself for not having asked for his cell phone number. Finally, he arrived, filled out the paperwork--only to find that he rents his home and didn't have landlord approval to get a dog.

WHY anyone would even look at a dog when they don't know if they can have one is beyond me. And I hadn't even thought to ask him that question--I will never make that mistake again!

I came back home, completely deflated, and unpacked my car, bringing all of Kira's things back into our house. This morning, I got an email from the single guy, saying that the landlord had given an official "no", which was no surprise to me and was actually a bit of a relief after all that rigmarole. Meanwhile, the family with the two kids had already agreed on another dog, which, in truth, may have been for the best anyway.

So, here we are, back to the drawing board. I just have to believe that things work out for the best, and the best person is still yet to be found. In the meantime, Kira can continue to learn from Cabana. They are finally playing some spirited games of tug.

And Kira is enjoying the baby pool.

And eating Kibblesicles. It's all fine, it's all good. So why do I feel so discouraged?