Sleepover Fail

Well, some of you may already know how my week has gone. For those of you that do not, let me update you.

We kept Shannon. My Brindle Retriever. 

I guess this is why I haven't updated my blog in over a week. I've been busy.

She was not actually "well behaved" at the vet's office. The first thing she did after her spay was chew her wound open.

I found this out when I went to pick her up. The vet suggested that she NOT go back to PACC overnight and totally unsupervised. If she broke open her cone of shame, she could possibly go after her wound again, pulling out her intestines and well, you know.  I was mortified.

Because of her reputation as "possibly aggressive" and "prefers women" I could not find an emergency foster for her for the night.

I had no choice but to make the phone call to Erik to ask if we could keep her for the night. I almost had the vet get on the phone to confirm that this was NOT a set up and that he really did think she wouldn't be safe overnight alone.

After explaining the situation, he said, "FINE!" and hung up on me.

If he was pissed, he got over it quickly.

 

There was no aggression from Shannon. Sure she was drugged up pretty well, but still. The dogs liked her and even she liked the dogs. She lifted her tail up a little higher to make it easier for them to smell her butt. Is that love or what?

I slept with her in Kat's room. She jumped up on the twin mattress and we snuggled together. It was a nice relief from Erik because SHE didn't snore. 

Wednesday, the next afternoon, I took her back to PACC.  It was awful. It was so hard and I did the ugly cry like I did during the last episode of Lost.

Thursday, I went back to PACC to check on her and walk other dogs. Every time she heard my voice she would do this screechy bark. I didn't even realize it was her until I walked around the corner and saw/heard her barking all while pressing her body as hard as she could against the kennel door. Some time that morning, she broke her cone of shame. I couldn't get it back on her and needed help. The vet tech and I finally got it wrapped around her and I insisted that it be taped together.

Friday, I went back to check on her and walk her and some other dogs. She heard my voice, did her screechy bark and broke her cone of shame. Again. I had to get help and we taped it back together. Again.

Erik and Trent were going to be gone for the weekend and I had a swell idea:

I'm going to ask if I can bring her home for the night and return her on Saturday for adoptions. Then, I'm going to ask if I can bring her home again Saturday night and return her on Monday am because they'll be closed all day Sunday for deep cleaning.

My request was granted from the shelter manager.

I was thrilled! And I was a little nervous because when I dropped her off the first time on Wednesday afternoon, I did the ugly cry. I didn't want to do that again but I figured Shannon was worth it. I had to make sure she didn't open that wound again and I wanted to try to socialize her a bit since she had been there for a couple months.

Saturday came and Ms. Screechy Barker never got adopted. I took her home Saturday evening.

Sunday came and Erik and Trent came home earlier than expected. Don't worry. I had already asked Erik if it was cool Shannon stayed here.

We were out of food so I took the kids with me to Costco. I was gone an hour.

That's all it took. An hour.

By the time I got back, Erik had seen how much Shannon loved me. She had stood at the door where I had left and cried for 20 minutes. He tried to console her and eventually she did end up on the couch with him.

Erik and Shannon cuddling in bed

Some people say that I'm a "Foster Fail". Erik would never agree to fostering an animal. I like to say we are a "Sleepover Fail". 

We were not looking for another dog. Shannon totally adopted US before we even knew it. We are one lucky family.