In just a little over a year, we’ve had to say goodbye to three dogs. First, we lost our precious Sasha to cancer. Then, we were fostering Russ through his heartworm treatment, and we lost him to distemper.

This past Thursday, we said goodbye to the third, but under a much different set of circumstances. Our foster dog Bailey found a new home up in New Jersey, so we went down to Little Rock to see him off on the P.E.T.S. transport that will deliver him and about a hundred other dogs from the South to their new homes in the Northeast, which they do every week. (They currently have an 8-week show on Animal Planet, airing on Saturday nights.)

It was hard to say goodbye and we will miss him greatly, but fostering all the way through to the send-off is rewarding as well. He arrived today, and his new mom wrote how much they adore him and how much sweeter he is than they ever could have imagined. She thanked us for loving him and taking care of him until he could be theirs. They have been counting down the days until he would arrive! Fostering definitely fills a need in the animal rescue world. We are honored to have been a part of Bailey’s story, and we hope to do it again in the future (after we have our own dog(s), according to David—he says he can’t do this again unless he has a dog to come home to!)

Here are few pics from send-off day:

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We are planning to move in on Saturday! It took a little longer than we first thought to get all the work done, but there was a lot that needed to be done. The house was formerly owned by a smoker, so it needed new carpet and new paint, floor to ceiling. In fact, we had the ceilings scraped and retextured, and they look great. The paint is finished except for a few touch-ups, and the carpet should be installed today and tomorrow. I used to wonder why anyone would pay people to paint the inside of their house, but since the entire thing needed to be done before we moved in, and David has to work, and I’m pregnant and have a toddler to take care of, it would have been impossible for us to do it ourselves in a timely manner. I really like the drywall guys who did the ceiling texturing, as well as the painters, who painted all the walls, ceilings, and trim, so if you need a recommendation for either of those, let me know.

David took some “before” pictures a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll try to get some “after” pictures and get them posted. Honestly, though, moving in has priority over picture-taking, so don’t hold your breath!

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Bailey has been adopted! After 6+ months with us as our foster dog through All About Labs, he is going to join a couple in Hoboken, NJ who want to make him part of their family. He’ll head off on the doggie bus on June 24 and arrive two days later. The woman owns her own business and will take Bailey to work with her. They also live close to a dog park, so he should get the chance to play with some other dogs.

We have mixed feelings about this, of course, but I suppose all foster parents do. We’ve loved him, taken care of him, and integrated him into our family, all the while knowing that we would be sending him off when the time is right. Anna loves him, and I know she’ll be asking about him for a while, but I think she’s young enough that she’ll transition fine to another dog when we foster or adopt again.

So we’ve got another week and a half to love on him, play with him, and get ourselves ready for the big day.

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