Jun. 17: Oliver

Today we had to give up our little dog, Oliver. It was heartbreaking.

A couple weeks ago he chased three adorable neighbor girls away from our house and bit one of them (that they were adorable is really beside the point, but let’s be honest: society roots for the cute). Oliver has shown aggression toward strangers before, but never to this degree. In a neighborhood like ours, with our kids and their friends in and out of our house all the time, we absolutely can NOT have a bite-y dog.

Not being able to conquer Oliver’s fear of strangers makes us feel like we failed as pet owners—we did our best, and loved him like crazy, but we couldn’t turn him into a well-adjusted, trusting dog. We suck, and it sucks so much that we suck. Suuuuuuck.

The good news is that the breeder seems to know exactly how to bring Oliver back into his original pack (she still has his momma and two sisters). We left him at her house nine hours ago, and she just called to tell us how it’s going so far—not perfectly, of course, but there is hope. Vic and I are impressed at her techniques for very gradually showing him his new home. We all feel that Ollie will eventually be happy there.

At our house, he only really adored five people—us and my mom—so it wasn’t obvious what a loving and devoted companion he was. To most people, Oliver was snarly and timid, but to us, he was a wiggly bundle of sweet. Always happy to welcome us home, with a tail constantly wagging, Oliver was a very fun addition to our family. He was a good napping buddy, and such a cuddly boy. He loved having Lucy as a playmate; they smartly teamed up to torment Millie (the kitty) every time she walked through the door flap.

Tonight, Lucy is confused and bored. The house is a little less hairy and a lot quieter. While we’re sure we did what needed to be done, it was an incredibly hard thing to let Oliver go. We miss our little dude.