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| Sunday, March 4, 2012 12:41 PM |
| (Last updated on Sunday, March 4, 2012 01:44 PM) | | Floyd |
 by Fëanor |
True story: when I pulled up to the kennel where I was going to hand over Floyd to his new owners, Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train" came on the radio. You know, the one with the video about lost children? I was like, you've gotta be kidding me.
As you may remember from previous posts, for a long time now (wow, those posts are from over three years ago!) we've had trouble with our greyhound Floyd peeing in the house. Well, lately he's just been getting worse and worse. Every day, multiple times a day, we'd come into his room and find puddles, or - even better! - piles, of waste. He even took to laying in his pee and... well, I won't go into further detail, but suffice it to say, Floyd and his room were both continually a smelly mess. There was just no way to keep them clean. Besides being just plain disgusting, it was not a healthy environment in which to live, and to raise a child. And ever since our son was born, we've had a lot less time for the dog. It had basically become an untenable situation for all of us.
Thankfully the organization we adopted Floyd from is serious about taking care of these animals and asks that if you ever think of giving up your dog, you please contact them first so they can take him back, find a foster home for him, and hopefully get him adopted again by someone else. We'd considered doing this a number of times over the years, but never got up the nerve. It's hard to give up a dog you've had for so long, even one as weird and gross as Floyd. But recently, for whatever reason, we just hit a point where we couldn't deal with it any longer, and poppy and I agreed it was time for Floyd to go. I called the place, and they called me a few days later to let me know they'd found a foster home for him. I dropped him off this morning.
It was hard to do, and we can't help feeling a bit guilty about it, but I think it was the right thing for all of us. Griffin liked the dog, but he never really developed a relationship with him. After all, he wasn't able to pet the dog or play with him, partly because Floyd was usually too disgusting to touch, and partly because Floyd would run away from him whenever he got close. So Griff might be upset for a little while that the dog is missing, but I think he'll get over it quickly. As for Floyd, we had some good times with him, and I hope he has a happy rest of his life. I think he will. He's going to get to be with other greyhounds now, and with people who have more time, energy, and resources to take care of him. I bet he won't even pee in his new house. Much.
P.S. Most of Floyd's stuff is not in any shape to be used again and we're just trashing it, but we do have a couple of dog toys that are mostly untouched, food and water bowls that can be cleaned and reused, some bandages, and some nail trimming equipment, so let me know if you're interested!
P.P.S. Oh, and also pee pads, of course!
P.P.P.S. Also also, a large bin on wheels for holding pet food. Has a capacity of over 50 pounds, so good if you have a large dog or lots of cats.
P.P.P.P.S. Also also also, that damn song is really stuck in my head now. |
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