Saying goodbye, Part Yi.

On May 1, 2014 our beloved English Mastiffs left our home.

This was not an easy task, as you can imagine.  Saying goodbye to our dogs took months.  Dinner conversations, walks in the neighborhood, and long hugging sessions were all devoted to preparing ourselves to say goodbye to two of the sweetest, most loving animals on the planet.  These two provided unconditional love and no matter how heavy the child was that decided to ride them or how many halloween costumes were put on them, these two loved us through every one of those moments.  Despite how mad we got at them for chewing up our socks or eating all the bananas off the counter, they would  gleefully prance over to where you were sitting and give you a kiss to let you know that it was all going to be okay.

We received, and ultimately surrendered, our dogs to an amazingly wonderful organization in the Denver area called "Big Dogs Huge Paws" (www.bigdogshugepaws.com).  This is a non-profit organization that cares for big dogs through the process of fostering to adoption.  They make sure that every household (and the humans therein) are qualified to care for large breed dogs.  They send out a representative that interviews candidates and ultimately makes the final decision on qualification.  We went through this process almost five years ago prior to adopting Karl.  Karl, as some of you know, was named after a book called "Good Dog Carl" which was my dad's favorite book to read to the girls.  Karl was a joyful memory of my dad and will always hold a special place in my heart.

We made the decision that early May was the time that we needed to say goodbye to our buddies so we called BDHP.  A short time later, Karl & Toby's foster family arrived to pick them up.  Their new foster mother stated that she was given a list of 18 dogs to chose from and chose ours.  Since their leaving, regular text messages and pictures from the foster family gives us solace in knowing that they are being completely loved and cared for.

While we are completely excited for the adventure that awaits we know that hard times are before us.  We are learning that when you emerge into something new you must first go through hard, difficult times.

Favorite doggie memories expressed by some of the B5's:

 Mya: "My favorite memories are: When they come running towards me. When I got to meet them before anyone else in the family. When I got to hold them when they were little. When I got to ride on their backs when I was little. When I got to snuggle with them in my bed. When they came into my room when I had a nightmares. When I got to go to the park and play with them. When I saw the smiles on other peoples faces when I walked them both. When I got to see them grow. Most of all seeing that they loved me."

Lise: "My favorite memories: When we go to school and come back home and Toby gets really exited to see us. He jumps up and down and it seems like he's laughing. When Karl and I are at the park and I throw the ball and he goes to get it and brings it back the look on his face is adorable. It looks like he is smiling and having so much fun."

**Update: It took us a few days to complete this post.  In the interim, our doggies have been adopted, TOGETHER! They were on the website for less than three days.  They've been adopted by a wonderful family with two children and an English Bulldog.  The kiddos are in 4H and they always travel with their dogs.  They also live on a huge plot of land with lots of opportunities for running and goofing around.  Finding a wonderful family like this is all we hoped for!