Why We Are {Temporarily} Abandoning Our First Child

I am ashamed to admit this, really I am.  But we are about to temporarily abandon our first child.

You know, the one that I always swore we’d never “get rid of” no matter what the situation? 

“Dogs are a commitment!  They are a member of the family!  Like a child!  You don’t just get rid of them!”

We finally sold our house and we’re moving out at the end of this month.  And Derek and I are moving in with our parents.  Parents who do not want a semi-crazy Brittany dog living with them, possibly destroying their wood floors with his nails, and at the very least, leaving behind a trail of white fur and poop wherever he goes. 

Since Cooper has been banned from living with us at our parents’ homes, we have to find him someplace to live.  An easy task it is not.  (Since when did I become Yoda?  Since when Yoda did I become?)

Cooper, in his heart of hearts, is a very, very, nice, sweet, loving dog.  But he’s a very young hunting dog that we never trained well.  He should be out running in fields chasing birds for 10 hours a day, not cooped up inside our house all day, getting a serious lack of attention now that we have Benjamin.  So obviously, he has some behavior issues, and the whole fur/occasional poop-in-the-house issue really puts people over the edge.

We’ve been talking very abstractly about where we can send him for 5-6 months while our house is being built.  Now that we’re 4 weeks away from moving out, the situation is actually REAL, and picturing my poor little Cooper, my first baby, being in a kennel cage and not in a loving home, for months on end, is just the saddest thing I can imagine. 

He’s generally more of a hassle (vs. a companion) during my days – kind of an interruption to whatever I’m doing.  I was almost looking forward to not having to deal with a dog for a few months, until it set in that I’m actually going to be sending him away for months, quite possibly to a kennel – a.k.a., a cage. 

Oh lordy help me.  That sweet face behind a cage, all alone, needing love, wondering why his family abandoned him, wondering what he did wrong? 

I can hear Sarah McLachlan singing now.

This week, I’m tasked with finding Cooper a suitable home for our time apart.  Suitable meaning: safe (he’s a flight risk, so in the rare case I find him an actual home, I can’t worry about him slipping out the front door, escaping into oblivion), loving, affordable, and nearby for visits. 

Friends, wish me luck.  I think we’re going to need it!

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Link up with us!  Have you left behind your pets before?  Children?  (tee hee)  Share your confessions now!

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