For The Best

I have been meaning to post about this for sometime now, but I have not had the chance.  A few weeks ago we had to find our dog Sydney a new home.  The decision to do so came with a lot of heartache, and discussion, but we knew it was best for her. 

I do not know if you all recall, but in November Sydney escaped from our backyard and was hit by a car.  We basically wiped out our savings with vet bills in order to heal her broken legs, and she was forced to live indoors during the time.  Let me just begin by saying Sydney has always been a very very high energy dog, and indoor living and her do not mesh well together.  Shedding and the fact that Caleb is allergic to dog dander indoors is also not a good combination.  Anyway, we were so excited to let her be free in our backyard again once her leg healed. 

Unfortunately, Sydney was not satisfied with our very spacious backyard once she was better and she just kept finding a way out of the fence.  Hubby would repair one part, and then she would dig another hole, and another etc etc.  Basically, there were a few nights when she got out where we could not find her, and we were certain that she was gone for good.  Thankfully she would always return home, but we could not shake the fear that something was going to happen to her. 

Once Mckinlee arrived I did not want Sydney in our house. We have all hard woods, so the dog hair would overtake everything, and Sydney was just way to hyper for me to deal with at the time.  Basically it came down to the fact that she could not stay inside due to the new baby, and she could not stay in the backyard because she would escape and possibly get herself killed.  Therefore, she literally spent almost 90% of her day in our laundry room.  It was so sad because that was no kind of life for her.  It was then that we decided that we needed to find her a new home with lots of land to run on, and a place where she could be as hyper as she wanted without any problems.

We listed her on craigslist, and we had a lot of people call, but none that we felt comfortable with. Finally, a US Marshall called, and he wanted Sydney.  He had tons of land, other bird dogs, and he also wanted to train her to be his narcotics dog.  So after a discussion, and a few tears we took Sydney to her new home.  It wasn't without pain, but we knew that she was in a better place where she could thrive, and be the dog she was meant to be. 

My heartstrings were pulled the day after we gave her up.  It was a beautiful day and I took Caleb in the backyard to play.  His favorite game was always throwing the ball to Sydney.  He found her tennis ball that day and started looking around saying "Sis. Sis", and then he held up his arms like "where is she".  My heart was very sad at that moment. I honestly did not think he would notice she was gone.  :(

The man who adopted her gives us updates every now and then.  She has passed 7 of the 10 tests so far to become a narcotics dog, and everyone was so impressed with how smart she is.  She is also doing wonderful with his kids and family, and is very happy.

I have to admit I wonder sometimes how she is, or what she is doing, but I really feel as though we made the best decision for her and our family.  We will just stick with our little spoiled yorkie and two children for the time being...trust me that is enough.  We will still always love and think of our wild and crazy Syd though (or Sis as she was called 90% of the time). 

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