Visiting My Baby Boo

Have you seen this clip before?

(Yes, I know I start most posts with a youtube video. WHATEVER)

It is such a cute, heart warming story!

Well, today the same thing happened to me, only vastly different... House Bunny anyone?

As you may or may not know, my family sold our house a few months ago so they could move to Chile. Because my family sold our house, I had to give my puppy away. I wasn't able to keep him since I live in an apartment closer to school, work, etc. Giving Kodah away was probably one of the saddest things I have ever had to do. I kept telling myself that if giving a pet away has been one of the hardest things to happen in my life up to this point, then that just means I have been lucky to not have too many adversities in my life. But regardless, IT WAS HARD!!! I cried and cried and cried about having to give Kodah away. He is my baby.

Look how cute he is!

When I was a junior in high school, I decided that I wanted a dog. Not a big dog, but not a tiny dog either. Nothing to frilly of fuffy, but not a meany dog either. So I decided I should get a Miniature Pinscher! I showed my parents countless pictures like these...

Note to reader... these two are not my puppy... mine is even cuter!

and assured them that I would take care of everything(buy the dog, pay for shots, train him, etc). Despite all my efforts, my dad still said no. My mom was a little more open to the idea. Then one day, a lady came in to the fitness center, where I worked at the time, with a cute little MinPin in her arms. After talking to her for a while, I found out that a friend of hers had two MinPins and that their female was expecting a litter of puppies very soon. I convinced my mom to come with me to talk to them about their litter of puppies and to meet their dogs. After the puppies were born, I convinced my dad to come with me to actually SEE the puppies. Everyone knows that if you can just get your parents to LOOK at the puppies, then you have practically won the battle! Puppy power is just too strong to resist. No one can say no to a puppy once they have seen and held them!

Two months after visiting the new born puppies and making a down payment, (yes I made a down payment on a dog, no I did not make a down payment on my car) we got to come back to visit the puppies again. This time I got to pick which of the puppies was going to be mine! I had already told them I wanted one of the male puppies with the traditional black and rust coloring, they also had some of the more ‘chocolate’ colored pups. These little dogs had more energy than I could have ever imagined! They were in a wire pen and when they saw us come into the garage, they did everything imaginable to try to get out. They wanted to play!!! One howled, one jumped, one tried to climb the fence. It was so funny! Once we had them all out of the cage they got even more excited. I remember the puppy my dad was holding climbed up his arm onto his shoulder and attempted to get up to the top of his head.

Before coming to choose a puppy I had researched how to pick the best puppy. Everything I had read suggested you pick one that had a medium temperament. Not the most energetic playful in the bunch, but not the most docile either. I wasn’t sure how I would pick because ALL of these puppies were EXTREAMLY energetic! There was one, however, that was slightly less excitable than the others. And that lucky puppy was the one I chose!We still needed to wait another few weeks before we could bring him home, so I went home and started preparing. The first thing I did was buy him a blinged out collar from PetSmart!

The week that I was able to bring my puppy home also happened to be the week of the Stake Pioneer Trek. I told my mom that I didn’t want her to go get him until I was back, because I wanted to be the first one to play with him…he was MY puppy after all. She didn’t listen to me! Ha. Which I am glad of, because after getting off the bus, I was greeted by Nathan, Josh, and the CUTEST PUPPY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

He was such a cute little bug!

Isn't he so handsom!!

(Back when both my boys were still little!)

I love him so much! From day 1 he knew who his mommy was, ME.
 He is my baby!

So, like I said before, when I found out I had to give him away I cried and cried and cried! I tried to think of every possible alternative. My BFF Brittany even offered to have her family ‘babysit’ him for a year or so, until I was in a position that I could take care of him myself. I looked into getting an apartment that allowed pets, but it just wouldn’t have worked out. I would have had to work so much to pay for the apartment, that he would have ended up being home alone all day. Because none of my other options worked out, I decided that I better find him a new, permanent home.

My mom sent an email to everyone in our neighborhood asking if anyone would want to adopt a dog. An older couple in our ward expressed interest, and Kodah even spent a few days at their house, but it turned out that one of them was allergic to pet dander, so he couldn’t stay. Then Brittany’s mother sent out an email to their ward asking if anyone would be interested in adopting a 4 year old MinPin. Soon after, she received an email from a lady in the neighborhood who told her that they already had a MinPin who was getting old and that they had been thinking about getting another fairly soon.

I was so relieved to have finally found a family for him, but I was also very apprehensive. What if they didn’t love him as much as I did? What if he misbehaved and they got too mad at him? What if they decided that they didn’t really want him? It was all WAY too much for me. My mother stepped in and did what I couldn’t; she took him over to meet them. Everything went so well, that he ended up staying that night, and that is where he has been ever since.

Up until today I have been too much of a chicken to go visit Kodah. I have driven by many times and seen him in their back yard playing, but never stopped to say hi. Today I finally got up the courage to visit him, partly because I am leaving in a week and this would be my last chance to see him for quite a while. Brittany, being the great friend that she is, called the ‘S’ Family and asked if it would be ok if we stopped by to visit Kodah and drop off his coat.

I was SO nervous! While we were standing on the front porch my heart started to pound and my eyes welled up with tears. What if he was mad at me for giving him away? Or worse, What if he didn’t remember me?

When we got into the house, Kodah was outside. One of the boys (The ‘S’ Family are a family with a mom, a dad, and 4 sons) opened the back door to let him in. He stood at the doorway for a few seconds looking around, and then slowly walked into the house. It took him about thirty seconds to realize what was going on, but as soon as he recognized me he was a complete crazy ball of energy! He jumped into my lap, and licked my face, and ran a few laps around me, and licked Brittanys face, and then came back and jumped up on me some more. and gave me kisses, then ran over to his new little boy and gave him some kisses … This went on and on and on for about 5 minutes, then he settled down on my lap and just sat there while I chatted with Mrs. S and 3 of her sons. Every few seconds Kodah would turn his head and look back up at me. He looked so health and happy. It made me feel much better about where he is, and made me wish I had gone to visit sooner so I could have had this peace of mind. It is obviously apparent that his new little boy(12) is the perfect owner for him. He is old enough to be responsible for a dog, yet young enough to still want to play with him.

We didn’t stay long, because I didn’t want to intrude too much on their families Sunday afternoon, so while one of the boys distracted Kodah, Brittany and I slipped out the door. I hope my leaving went mostly unnoticed by Kodah, because when I have left him places before, he has sat at the door crying for hours. He is a momma’s boy! I promised that I would come back one more time before I left and that I would bring him a Christmas present.

I miss my baby! We tried to get some pictures while I was visiting, but he was so excited that he wouldn’t hold still, so they are a little fuzzy and not super cute, but whatever.

So, as you can see, my day was much like the second half of that youtube clip about Christian the Lion. His old owners got to go visit him and see his new home and family. I got to go visit my Kodah and see his new home and family, which by the way includes another much older MinPin named Ozzy, who I hear he gets along with very well.

I love my baby!