Life is good | Beth's blog

Continued from: Sandy the LabraDoodle

We were dog-less for the first time in 27 years and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves.

On Monday 5-2-22, just 4 days after Sandy passed, I took John and Jordan back to Macomb County Animal Control (MCAC) hoping for another miracle dog, and I thought we found one.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dingo-mcac-5-2-22.jpg — We brought home an Australian Cattle Dog named “Squirt” and we changed his name to “Dingo”. (5-2-22)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_9177.jpeg — Dingo reminded me a lot of Mandi, mischievous and full of energy.
Jordan captured this calm moment that first evening with me and John (5-2-22).

Dingo’s favorite activity was picking up pinecones in the backyard, throwing them to himself and catching them.
He was quite entertaining. (5-4-22)

So alert. Always listening. May the 4th be with you! (5-4-22)

Dingo broke off a toenail on the 4th day we had him. Jordan and I rushed the poor baby to the vet. (5-5-22)
My sweatshirt was covered in blood from that broken toenail, but I’ll spare you that picture. 😦

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_1435.jpeg — Not how he wanted to spend Cinco de Mayo. 😦 At home with a “cone of shame.”
I ended up buying him a neck pillow the next day. It didn’t keep him from licking his bandages, but did calm him down and was much more comfortable. (5-5-22)

Once we got the bandages off, we thought the worst was over, but things went downhill from there. The more he bonded with me, the more aggressive he got with everyone else. I should have done research on his breed before I took him home. Turns out he needed much more than we were able to give. (5-10-22)

A rare calm moment (5-13-22).
We contacted dog trainers for some help, but it was too little too late.
We ended up taking Dingo back to MCAC on 5-17-22, just 15 days after we had gotten him. We were so distraught, as we had never imagined returning a dog, but it was for the best.

We had been emailing a group of friends throughout this whole process and, after we returned Dingo, we were referred to Michigan Doodle Rescue Connect (MDRC). We read all of the information on the rescue’s website and started the process of applying for our “match”. We applied for dog after dog, as they were posted, waited and trusted the process. About a week into the process, we were approved as Members of MDRC and had access to the Members Only Facebook page where dogs were posted first.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is piper.jpg — On 5-26-22, a GoldenDoodle named Piper came up on the Member’s Only page and we immediately applied, thinking it would be like the other dogs we had already applied for.
But it wasn’t. 🙂 That night we got an email saying to call the next day about Piper.

The next day, I called Nana, who runs the MDRC. As Nana read the details from Piper’s surrender form, Piper sounded so much like Sandy, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up yet. Nana read that Piper liked to have her head rubbed before she ate and I told her that Sandy wouldn’t eat until we prayed for her. Nana stopped and said, “I just got chills. I have to tell you something. Piper is owned by a Pastor and his wife. They are moving and they can’t take her with them. I’m not taking any more applications on her. She is yours.” And that was that. 🙂 That was May 27th. Piper wouldn’t be surrendered to MDRC until June 8th. So, we waited.

That was hard. But it was worth it. We made plans to meet Nana close to the MDRC ranch on 6-9-22. We were so excited! We knew Joshua was working all day, but that we could take Jordan out of school a little early to come with us.

Piper’s Gotcha Day (6-9-22), at the vet with Nana, waiting for her clean bill of health. Nana called to prepare us that Piper may have bonded to her overnight and may be hesitant to come to us.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is piper-gotcha-day.jpg — Nana brought Piper over to meet the 3 of us. When she went back to her van to get Piper’s things, Piper didn’t want to go, but wanted to stay with us. 🙂 She laid down in the grass next to John, happy as a clam. (6-9-22)

It was a long car ride home, as Piper was uncertain about another car ride to yet another new place. (6-9-22)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is piper-head-tilt.jpg — Is this whole yard really for me?? (6-9-22)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_9747.jpeg — Finally at home, settling in and meeting Joshua for the first time. (6-9-22)

Piper wasn’t allowed on the furniture with her previous owners.
But for some reason she’ll jump right up on our ottoman. 🙂 (6-11-22)

We can occasionally coax her up on the couch, long enough to take a picture before she jumps off. (6-12-22)

Piper ended up sleeping in the bed with me and John for the first 2 weeks, which seemed really odd because she was crate trained (and they said she loved her crate), but she didn’t want to go in ours and she had no problem jumping up on our bed. Jordan went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and left at 3am on Tuesday, June 21st. The next night (6/22), Piper was antsy and didn’t want to stay in our bed. That’s when I realized that I needed to move the crate from Jordan’s room (where Sandy slept) to our room. On 6/23 I got up, moved furniture and got the crate moved to our room. That’s exactly what Piper needed. She had sufficiently bonded with us and it was time for her to sleep in the crate, but to still be close by at the foot of our bed. And that’s where she’s slept ever since.

I have more pictures of Piper to share, but the Dingo story isn’t over yet. I had been writing to MCAC periodically to check on Dingo. On June 13th, MCAC sent me this 36 second TikTok video. Click below to see “Squirt” (who we called “Dingo”), who is now “Stryker”:

@rescue_tails
#Adopted #NotHomelessAnymore #ForeverFamily #AustralianCattleDog #BlueHeeler #Stryker #ImHome #MCACAlumn
♬ Life Is Good – Kenny Chesney

For me, this is 36 seconds of pure joy watching this gorgeous little dog frolic exuberantly with his 2 Cattle Dog siblings, soaking up his new life. He is exactly where he needs to be. I’m so happy for him, I could cry every time I watch it. 🙂 I call it “The Dingo Movie”. 🙂

As I think about the timing of everything, I don’t know if Dingo’s new owner would have him now if we hadn’t “fostered” him for 2 weeks. And I don’t know if we would have Piper right now if we didn’t take that 2 week “break”. But I do know that Piper was meant to be with us. We’ve had her for 3 months today, and they say that it takes a full 3 months for a rescue dog to really settle in. She is so at home here. She’s laying next to me right now, gently smacking her lips with satisfaction. Sandy used to do that when she was contented. Lip-smacking good. 🙂

Having Dingo was like running a marathon non-stop. Having Piper is like taking a relaxing walk, then sitting on a park bench, then continuing the relaxing walk, then sitting on a park bench, repeat. 🙂 Our whole family adores her and I think she’s pretty happy with us too.

And there’s more to the story. On 5-21-22, our next door neighbor Joe went home to be with Jesus. I spent hours and hours out in the backyard with energetic little Dingo from 5/2 to 5/17 and had many conversations with Joe’s wife, Ronda. She wrote to me on 5/23:

“I know why God had you get a dog. It was so you could be out in the back yard to talk to me, giving me strength, hope and love♥️♥️♥️. I hope you know that you really helped me out a lot. I love you, Beth. Thank you for being who you are.”

Ronda, thank you for being who you are. 🙂 I felt exactly the same way. If that was the only reason we had Dingo, it was worth it. I’m so glad that I could be there for you when you needed me. Know that I’m still here. 😊 Love you too!

And Ronda loves Piper too. God has given us wonderful neighbors. Here are a few more pictures of Piper continuing to settle into the Bacarella household. Enjoy!