Once upon a time there was the sweetest little puppy named Poppy Mae.
The kids have been begging for a dog for years. I did the same as a kid. But it never felt right. The last several years have been full and adding a puppy just never felt like the right decision.
But over the years, I have joined the kids in asking for a puppy. Mark was never very interested though. And I totally got it. But then in January, I found this dog and we fell in love. I had looked into different breeds (casually, nothing too seriously) for years, and bernedoodles fit all of the things we were looking for. They are known to be great for families (including those with special needs), calm, affectionate, smart – perfect!
I showed a picture to Mark and he was hooked! For the first time, it seemed perfect!
We dove in very quickly. We reached out to a breeder and there was a litter of puppies waiting for their forever homes. We looked at them all but immediately fell in love with our Poppy.
The weeks leading up to her coming home were filled with deciding on her name, buying all of the things, and spending HOURS watching and listening to puppy training videos. We felt so prepared!
And the day finally arrived! And Poppy was perfection.
She truly was the sweetest little puppy. Her face and eyes. The sweetest! And don’t even get me started on how smart she was. I could count on one hand how many accidents she had in the house. And she slept 9+ hours in her crate by the third night! She was already pretty consistent with sitting. She would wait until you called her to come out of her pen area. She would go to her bed when you asked her. She gave lots of kisses. She loved to nip at our sleeves. She loved to chew bark chips and play in the snow. She was so fluffy. She was the best.
But by the time we had her seven days, I was not in a great place. There was definitely overwhelm (which I think was to be expected with a puppy). But there was something more. I had been praying for help. You see, the morning after we got Poppy, I woke up with a really bad headache. I just ignored it the best I could and assumed it was from being tired and stressed.
But the headache continued. Day after day it raged. I didn’t know what to do or why it was happening. Finally, one morning, I thought to look up dog allergies. And the last symptom that was listed was sinus headaches. All of a sudden things started to click. My headache was exactly as these were described. And I had been congested but I just assumed it was from the cold taking Poppy out to go potty.
Mark was working so I barely had a chance to talk with him. But he was worried.
So I called my Mom. I called her because I knew if there was anyone in the world that would know exactly how I was feeling, it was my Mom. You see, when I was six, our family got a beagle named Junior. And we loved him – for ten days. Because my Mom was allergic and we had to give him back. I cried and cried as I spoke with my Mom and she was so kind and understanding as I shared how sad I was.
Mark and I spoke about what to do. We didn’t know what the right choice was. And then I added several bloody noses to my list of symptoms. I was pretty miserable. My never relenting headache was really impacting me. My body was just not coping well.
So we made the horrible decision to give her back. It broke our hearts to do it. There were a lot of tears by everyone. I knew exactly how the kids were feeling because I had the same experience as a kid. Poppy truly was perfection. We couldn’t have asked for a better puppy. Giving her back was so hard. And we hope and pray she will find a forever family that will love her as we did.
So for ten days (yes, it ended up being exactly the same amount of time as it was for me when I was a kid), we were a family of seven. And we are so grateful for that time.
We love you, Poppy Mae. Thank you for loving us and letting us love you – even for only a short time.
