Bye Bye WonderDog :( :(

Well, I took WonderDog back to the Humane Society this afternoon. It is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

The children were bawling and wailing as I pulled out of the driveway to take her back. My oldest was crying "I don't want to give up on her! I don't want to give up on her!" [This from the child who'd gotten bitten just last night so hard that it broke the skin].

I cried the whole way there. We got there and I got her out and she got all excited - she remembered the shelter and was glad to be back! She eagerly walked right up to the door, wagging her tail all happy.

We walked in and I started to talk to the Director. She tells me that she knows the family that turned this dog in and they had small children and that the dog does not bite. ??!!! I'm just sitting there sobbing and looking at her [yes, I was embarrassed but I couldn't help myself]. I was just kind of stunned too - after everything we've been through with WonderDog, it was surreal to have this woman who doesn't even KNOW the dog arguing with me about whether the dog bites. [Maybe I should have brought pictures?!]. This was also the third story I'd been told about where this dog came from, so I'm a little doubtful I must say.

Anyway, finally the Shelter Director walks away for a couple of minutes and then comes back with a different attitude. She was much more compassionate and apologized that it didn't work out. [I think she realized that I absolutely loved the dog and it was killing me to bring her back. ] She said she wanted me to get another dog to replace WonderDog and that I could go home and think about it and watch their website and come back in when I'm ready. When I continued to cry I think she realized I was crying over the dog and NOT the money we lost on her and she said "Don't worry about the dog. We will take good care of her. Now that we know she has this problem we have people who will work with her. She is going to be just fine". That made me feel better because I was so afraid they would just put her down. I think she will be highly adoptable to someone who doesn't have children - she'd be a great companion and she's already very well trained.

So the guy came to get her to take her back to the dog pen room where all the dogs live while they wait for adoption and WonderDog was SO excited to go with him. It was surreal. I had visions of her giving me "the look" and crying and digging in her toes as she was dragged away... no, she went with him with her tail wagging so hard her bottom was shaking and ran right to the door of the room. I watched him take her in and she was SO excited to be "home". It was opposite what I expected in every way. She never even looked back.

And there I was crying like a 2 year old over this dog who has been such a monumental whirlwind of love and heartbreak over the last 4 weeks.

I cried all the way home. It definitely helped that she was so happy to be back at the Shelter, but I miss her so much already.