My Sweet Little Friend

As most of you probably know from my Facebook page, Mircea and I brought a dog home last Saturday. She's a lab mix, and I'm sure some of the mix includes pit, but she had the best little personality. Her favorite thing to do was cover me in kisses, but right behind that was biting my arm and humping me, not quite as satisfying as the kisses. We had her for a day a half when her activity level frustrated the heck out of us. She would just run laps around the house, even after I'd take her on long walks in the neighborhood. It didn't help that it rained the majority of the time she was at our house. So on Sunday night I called the lady at the Humane Society and said that I needed to return Peyton (whom they had named Nutmeg) because she wasn't a good fit. Of course, she must have known she was in trouble because she spent the evening sleeping between us on the couch, resting peacefully. So I called the next day and said we'd try to finish out the week. By Tuesday night I was crying to Mircea to take her back because I couldn't handle the biting (mouthing) and humping. She had so much energy! And she wasn't housebroken, she was crate trained, but she believed that the dining room was a place for poopers and peepers. I called the local pet training place, AppleJack, and the cost for the obedience training was $750, which although insane, seemed reasonable for the service they were providing. I don't have a ton of disposable income right now as we just paid a contractor to finish up the other house, so that seemed like quite an expense. But we kept her and I enjoyed the end of the week with her quite a bit. She was really starting to calm down a bit, and stopped the biting and humping with the help of a spray bottle. On Friday morning I talked to Mircea and we decided that we needed to take her back because the cats were going crazy, we were going a little crazy, and we wondered if we decide to have a child in the future how we could manage the menagerie. So I drove her back to the kennel, and she was great in the car (as usual) and was so loving. She didn't get upset when we got back to the place, she just seemed like "oh, ok, this is my house" as she's been living there for 3 months.

I've been crying pretty much since I dropped her off. I hugged her and hugged her goodbye and sobbed my eyes out with her licking my kisses. I'm sitting her 24 hours later, still sobbing and Mircea telling me that it's for the best. I keep telling myself its for the best too, as she probably could have enjoyed life a little better with a fenced in yard, a 10 year old kid, and much more patient doggie parents. I feel like such a fool-I mean, it's been 5 days since I cried to take her back. I think the reality is that she is a great dog, but I think our situation with all the crazy cats doesn't help the situation. She's the kind of pup that deserves to be in bed with her family, farting under the covers and kicking our legs...not locked up in a crate.

I want to get back in the car right now and get her, but I'm afraid if I did it I would regret it, plus I want her to be able to find that fence and that kid. I know I'm acting like a 5 year old, but I got myself all backwards with this. I wanted this magically well trained dog to just appear, and I got so frustrated before even bonding with her. By the time I'd bonded with her, I was so frustrated and Mircea was at his wits ends, so we made this decision. I think I was wrong. I hope I was right and she got adopted today. That sweet little girl deserves a home.

So Peyton, I love you. My impatience got in the way of realizing what a sweet little dog you were, and my inexperience with dogs stopped me from understanding your behavior when I first brought you home. I'm sorry I got your little hopes up, you deserve better than the impatience that Mircea and I had for you. Good luck my beautiful buddy! You have no idea how much you affected me.