Sometimes life throws you little curve balls that aren’t so fun to tackle; and by this, I am not referring to the current pandemic. I’m also not referring to sometimes- realistically it feels like they are a constant, one after the other, set of challenges that you have to climb over and can’t get around.

Craig and I have contemplated re-homing our pups multiple times over the past two years, for one reason or another, and have always managed to talk ourselves out of it or try to be more patient and understanding of different behavior. Going from a family of two to an instant family of five required a life transition for our pets (the two dogs more than the two cats), who didn’t ask for this change but had no choice but to grow and accept it (I guess that’s the same for us too, except we understood what was going on!).

This week we made the difficult decision to re-home our beautiful, brindle greyhound Kalli, for several thought out reasons that are too big to overlook anymore.

First off, Kalli doesn’t mind the kiddos when they are at arms length, but get easily overwhelmed with all three coming at her at once. Her favorite interaction with the girls each day was coming into their room and saying good morning, rubbing up against each crib as they patted her back enthusiastically. Once they were freely roaming? Not a chance.

Secondly, we know her life dramatically changed when three babies came home from the NICU. We no longer went on multiple walks and hikes per week, to the dog park or local lake for swimming, and became around-the-clock focused on the three tiny babies. This also meant that while we were constantly home, she didn’t get near the attention she used to and had to deal with sleep deprived, sometimes less than patient, owners. This change in focus onset extreme boredom, especially for a dog that loves to run and explore and not be cooped up all day. Hiring a dog walker to come twice a week certainly helped over the winter, but didn’t solve all her boredom.

The past few months Kalli and our other dog, Koda, have gotten into a couple unfriendly rough housing matches, one that ended with Koda getting stitches on her head. Last year one ended with Kalli getting stitches under her eye. Now that may convey that they fight all the time, but honestly it is only occasional and usually over in ten seconds. The problem is some of these tiffs happen in close proximity to the girls and that’s not okay. Even the thought of those possibilities gives me major anxiety. So with this consideration, we decided to grasp the adult, parental choice and find another family to love and cherish her for the few years she has left; and to keep Koda, who is fantastic with the girls as they climb, jump and snuggle with her or constantly steal toys/balls out of her mouth to play fetch with her.

The girls watched out the window yesterday as she was picked up, repeating Kalli! and it nearly broke our hearts. We hope to be able to follow up on how she is doing and maybe do a doggy date later this summer, but it’s still very hard saying goodbye. For those of you that have them, fur babies are certainly part of the family; loved in a different way than the children, but still resting in a special place in your heart. I anticipate the girls will bounce back from this life change pretty quick, since they are so young, but for Craig and i, the house definitely feels different without her.

It’s a tough decision for sure, but definitely the best in the long run, both for Kalli and for Harper, Emerie and Reagan. Being a parent isn’t always fun; some choices just have to happen and here we are.

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.

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❤