And away she goes . . .

Say goodbye to California, Daca-baby.

 

So, after a weekend away in the mountains . . .

Yishai and I met James Sibley in Burlingame (ten minutes from SFO’s airport) at what was ostensibly a dog park. I googled it and assumed that if we met at 8 pm, it would be both dark and vacant of activity. What I did not plan on was how stinkin’ hard it would be to find it – and the dumb bit is, we literally parked right in front of it the first time before we did laps around the area and I figured it out.

The plan was to meet up there with “the family” and see Daca off. Both Yishai and I wanted to see her again (I especially wanted to from an academic standpoint – how she was doing, etc), but also to help the Sibleys get her off to the Meyers. Flying a dog is no easy task, especially when you really don’t want to do it, but you know it’s good for her.

Yishai and I cooed to her in the car, he head tilting back and forth and she got increasingly excited to see us. Jim got her out of the car and she was at first sort of excited and sort of reserved about the whole thing until . . . she decided Yishai was still aces and fell all over him, licking and snuggling into him. The guys laughed that “breeder mom” was getting shunned, but whatever. She took a bit longer to remember me and then it was ON. It’s nice to be loved.

So, once that was done, we reintroduced her to Fury and Rippa. Was a little worried about Rips and she, but that turned out to be groundless:

She had learned, while she was away, the importance of sucking up to her betters and she was very submissive to Fury and respectful to Rippa. We got out the glow-ball and they all had a good round of fetch for an hour or so:

And then Yishai held Fury back, because she is the Fun Police and dogs are not allowed to play on her watch:

Yeah, it looks vicious, but that’s just puppy ballet.

Then I got to hold her.

By now it was about 9 and she had to be in the Cargo Depot by 9:30 to make the red eye. So, we all trucked off and ended up there.

I had warned Jim that the depot was not usually a “romantic’ place to be. They usually just take the dog, ship it off into another room, and that is that. Yishai is still sad he didn’t get a formal goodbye to Moto.

But not at SFO’s Delta cargo. Noooooo, these people were awesome. They made all of us, including Daca, happy campers.

I also really loved what the Sibleys had their daughter do:

It says: “My name is Daca. I am a puppy. I get scared around strangers. Please don’t take me out.”

I’m sorry, but that’s excellent parenting. I have been feeling really bad about taking Daca away from The Family. I have talked plenty to Lisa and Jim about their feelings and tried to make sure they felt good about everything and had good feelings about where she was going, but I never said anything about their kids, though it was on my mind. What a nice way to give her some ownership and some closure on the episode.

Here is the woman that helped us load her up. She was awesome with Daca. She even asked me about a puppy for her family. That’s how good the little beastie was.

Okay, I go to Ohio now!

And with that, I must tell you about her new home. As I said before, I was contacted by Stephanie two days after I placed Daca with the Sibleys. Stephanie is one of those people that has really reinforced my vision about what I was trying to do when breeding – and she asked to be put on a wait list for a repeat litter because no one was breeding exactly what she wanted except me. She’s also the author of the previous post about how a dog like Daca can end up being the best dog you have ever had.

The Meyers family (two boys, a patient husband Bill, and Stephanie) does rescue. From what I get about Stephanie, she’s about as close to a “rescue professional” as you get. And she gets these dogs. All through our conversations she kept saying that Daca just sounded like she was being an Aussie and the fear aggression thing was something she had no qualms about turning around: “Make no mistake, I don’t want her to be friends with everyone. I want her to work in my family, and no one else matters.”

Knowing Daca as I did, this was perfect. I keep saying it, and I still believe it: Daca is fundamentally a pretty friendly little thing, she just had that reserve instinct pushed too far. It was really hard to simply KNOW that she wasn’t wired incorrectly, but that she really needed someone who got that and had a program to work with her on. I kind of got the feeling that as the Sibleys discovered what they had on their hands, they took a more avoidance route with her – but Stephanie is going to be very involved, and so is her husband – that was something she asked of him if she took her in.

Stephanie has a frisbee dog troop in Ohio that’s “staffed” by other Aussies out of her rescue experiences. She has been telling me from the videos the Sibleys posted that Daca’s jumping form is akin to rockstar frisbee dogs and she is excited. I guess I am going to learn something about that as Daca grows. She’s also interested in putting her on livestock, which is excellent because I thought Daca had some good things in her.

Well, I got NO sleep last night between driving four hours from SFO at 10:00 at night and by being nervous about Daca flying and her reception at home, but I needn’t have worried. I knew she would transition rather easily, and she did. Stephanie had bet her husband that she’d be lying in his lap by the end of two days and I upped the ante by promising half a day. Guess who won?

While Daca was understandably afraid at the Ohio end of the flight, she came out of it rather quickly and completely. She, like the night before, went from reserved to lovepuppy on her husband and then followed suit with Stephanie. As she reported to me: “It’s love!” I guess they were moved to tears by her ready accepting of the family. See! Daquiri – breaking hearts in a good way.

Stephanie says she loves everything about her so far and can’t wait to see the full extent of her personality: she’s already been performing tricks for her without snacks (that’s a Tara specialty), tug of war, fetching etc. She likes how she is observant and reserved and comments: “Oh she is such an Aussie . . . I LOVE IT!” On top of that: “She is GORGEOUS!!!  I love her size, her color and color pattern, everything!” Yup, looks like Daca has found her forever home!

Of course, I don’t forget that it took breaking the hearts of two other homes to get her there. It’s been a learning experience for us all. It’s been kind of a heavy gravity day for me – not just over the dog stuff, but that’s definitely part of it. I wish for everyone’s sake it had gone differently. But honestly, given the situation, it could not have gone better if you ask me. From the happy dog park times to the supportive Delta cargo people to Daca deciding that humid ol’ Ohio was not so bad . . . she is a well-travelled dog these days – which is good: she needs to log plenty of air time if she’s gonna be a frisbee champ. And I could not feel better about where she’s landed this time.

I cannot tell you how much love for the people that have been involved with her I have. In a world full of escapism and blame-laying, there was none of that. Just open hearts and minds and all wanting the best for a loveable fuzzybutt. I thank myself lucky to know them all.