Carmel, the dog

Meet Carmel

Our dog for a week.

The dog that got us ready for a dog.

The "warm up" dog.

This was the first night with Carmel,

a wild night of running around and tears...

in the order of dog and child.

It was just the first night and we were hopeful

things would calm down.

I loved this...the three of them watching Carmel.  All of us just

wondering, what is our life going to look like? 

I told Andrew before bed, this dog could be with us for the next 19 years,

that is a daunting thought!

Carmel, lively, energetic, fun, sweet, and smart.

I look at this picture and feel a bit sad.

 My favorite was walking her in the neighborhood at night,

although there was also a pressure to get in her two walks.

We just were not ready.  Once Dev is a bit older, it will help.

Drew and I did not have it in us to put in the work of training and basically most

of the responsibility.  Deveraux really wanted a dog, but one that was a bit more

cuddly and mellow.  She also was not playing with her toys

because Carmel would get to them. The space I am in right now is a lot of care

taking and energy output....Carmel was at the bottom of the chain and

the energy just was not there.  It was just overwhelming.

Deveraux and I had several talks...trying to work

through what we should do...of course I did not

want to bear the weight of "taking away" my daughter's first

dog.  I finally said, I think we should take her back. 

Deveraux's first response was, "Can we get a bunny?"

Then I knew she would be okay.

And I do believe Deveraux will have a dog one day.

However, it was not a fun ride to the shelter.

Lots of tears.  It was also the morning we were

taking Drew to the airport for his training trip, not fun!

We arrived at the shelter and due to tears and frankly

a lot of mucous because Dev had been pretty sick,

she threw up in the car in the parking lot.  Not fun.

But alas, we survived and it helped to head to

Savors for some new clothes.

 So we thank you Carmel, for being the dog

that will get us ready for....a cat.

Stay tuned.......

P.S.  Carmel (really Phyllis Diller) was adopted 3 days

later to a family in Kula ( a beautiful area).