Our anniversary present didn’t turn out quite like we had hoped. We were so excited to collect Patton last Friday. He sure seemed happy to see us! He was good in the car, although he thought he was a lap dog.  I had to work to convince him not to try and sit in my lap to look out my window. He gave me kisses and sat as close to me as he could, as a compromise. Clearly, he was a cuddle bug.  This was looking good. When we got home, things weren’t quite as rosy.

It was pretty evident upon entering the house that we’d made a mistake. Annie was very vocal about her dislike. It was a reaction that we didn’t anticipate.  She has a particular tone to her bark that clearly states she doesn’t like something, she’s not going to get over it and she’s going to protest vociferously until the situation is changed to her liking. When she barked like that at Patton, Matt & I looked at each other and said, “Uh oh.”

Things did not go smoothly all night.  We decided to keep them separate for the time being, which while it made things a bit easier for us, it was stressful for the three dogs. Patton ate first as he appeared to be really hungry, and that was a good call. He was ravenous having not eaten much since his surgery two days before. How he was able to eat through the ruckus Annie was making, I’ll never know.  She wasn’t going to let up. We took him outside to do his business and he explored our back yard, then he came back inside, content to be with us. Unfortunately, it was time for the other two to eat. That meant Patton had to go to his crate.

It broke my heart. He so clearly wanted to be with us. He whined a bit, but it was nothing like the cacophony of noise Annie had made during his dinner.  While we expected some territorial issues, this was beyond anything we could have foreseen.  She didn’t just bark when she saw him; she barked because she knew he was there. That was not acceptable to her. Coal, for once, was amazingly non-vocal.

After dinners were done and business taken care of, we sat down to figure this out.  Patton is a very loving, very sweet boy. He wants to please his people.  We really did want to be his people, but as the night wore on, we had to admit that maybe this wasn’t best for anybody, least of all, him.  It didn’t feel right to us.  We’d made a mistake.   As hard as that was to admit, it wasn’t about us.  We needed to do what was right for Patton, Coal and Annie.  After much discussion and quite a few tears, we decided he’d have to go back to our friend’s house. There were other people interested in giving Patton a home.  We could stick it out and really try, but what if it still didn’t end up working? What then? It seemed better to give him an opportunity now, while there were other people interested, to give him that chance.

Fortunately, our decision was the right one.  Patton is now part of a home where he is the only dog.  He has two teenage girls who adore him and love on him and play with him.  His new owners report that he is very happy and content. Patton deserves to be loved and to be able to give the love that he has an abundance to give.  It wasn’t that he was a bad dog. He just wasn’t the right dog for us.  I’m very happy for him and his new furever family. I know he will flourish and be loved as a dog deserves – as fully and as completely as they love their humans.

So that is how our 10^th anniversary present to each other was more about love than anything else.  Sometimes, when you love, you have to let go.