My little Ollie

I failed. I swore this time that we would be good pet owners and that this time Ollie was part of our family. But two days ago I put him on Craig's list and yesterday he went to live with another family.

 

I hate to make this comparison because I know I have no idea how hard the decision to give a baby up for adoption is, but I kinda feel like I gave him up for adoption. Its been a couple of days since he left and I'm still having a hard time with it.  We love Ollie.  He is cute and soft and fun and loves us. But we didn't take care of him like we should.  He spent too much time  not being played with.  My kids are so busy and most of the care was falling to me. I didn't even want a dog. I got him for Maddox and Maddox spent the least amount of time with him. And I haven't been good about potty training him.  He didn't go in his crate or when we blocked of the laundry room and hallway with a baby gate, but if he had to go and he was out, he hardly hesitated before going on the carpet.  I don't think he had much of a chance.  The people who lived here before us had 3 dogs so I'm sure he smelled their pee all over an thought that was acceptable.  I kept saying "after (fill in the blank) I will have time to take a week off and do nothing but potty train him" but it never happened.  My life is crazy busy. So I put him on Craig'slist and eBay classifieds.  That same night I had an email from a lady wanting to come meet him the next day.  The next afternoon she came to our house to meet him.  She thought it was meant to be. She refinishes furniture and was looking for furniture on Craig'slist when Ollie's picture popped up ( I didn't know I put him in the furniture section- oops- or was it?) Her kids are highly sensitive to fur and have asthma so she needs a specific kind of dog.  She has had many interviews and play dates trying to find the right dog for their family, but nothing worked out.  She wasn't planning to take Ollie home that day even if she loved him, but once she met him, she felt really good about it and called her husband to tell him she wanted to bring him home then.  He agreed (after asking me many questions).  The kids were still at school and I knew they were going to be traumatized enough just by giving Ollie up- they had to be able to say goodbye.  So the nice Lady followed me to school; I checked them out and told them the news.  Ellie bawled, Reagan cried, Tess bawled, Maddox looked a little sad for about 2 seconds. So that was it.  He lived with us for 6 months of his 8 months of life.  I hope he is so happy with his new family.  She said we can come visit him anytime we want, but I think it would be too hard.