One tough decision we have been tossing around is whether or not we should keep our dog Diesel. She is a great dog and we have trained her to handle our life, kids and travel. She has been our sense of security (even though she welcomes anyone to pet her) and a companion among all our changes and moving. She loves to go on hikes with us and runs along on bike rides. We feel bad that she has to live in the back of the trailer or on a leash at all times. The day before we left Spokane to head to Missoula then to Colorado I mentioned to my friend that we were pretty sure Diesel would be better with another family. My friend has a friend who is looking for a dog:) and she has kids:)…perfect. We knew that if we were going to find her a new home it had to be to someone we know or someone recommend. We couldn’t do a stranger off Craigslist. We thought it was perfect but just wrong timing because we were leaving and going to be gone for over a year. Well my friend’s friend was super interested and her daughter really wanted Diesel. We were in Missoula getting ready to start our drive that day to Colorado when we talked to Stephanie on the phone. She said they definitely want her and could leave Spokane at noon if we. Hold meet them half way. Shucks. We wanted to be on the road headed east by noon not headed the opposite direction for another 3 hours of driving;but we knew we wouldn’t find her a better family and we knew we couldn’t really do the next year of traveling with her. So we got our stuff ready , found all of her stuff and records and loaded the truck up to drive and meet Stephanie and her kids.
It was such a bittersweet drive. We all talked about our times with her and what we love about her. We talked about responsibilities of having her and what her life is like with us traveling. We talked to the boys about sometimes hard decisions have to be made for the better of others not ourselves. We all knew that going to be with this new family who were so excited for her, had a yard and 2 acres, who would take her to the lake and camping was better for her then always being in a leash. Our biggest concern was her attaching and adjusting.
Stephanie has since then sent us many pictures and we can tell that she is super loved and attaching to them great. She even has a pool and got a haircut!!