Feel-good Friday: Furry Friends

I would like to introduce you to our new little furry female family member,  a one-year-old sheltie named LAYLA.

Big brother Jia Jia is thrilled to have her and considers Layla his dog.

She brings some sunshine to our days following the one month anniversary of Don’s passing.  We are still grieving and Jia Jia was very depressed and moping around.  Now he has come back to life.  Layla too for that matter.  It’s a bittersweet story of how we got her.

Don was the instigator because he started sourcing breeders when we were last in Palm Springs.  He located a breeder in the Kootenays (British Columbia) and asked me to make the call.  It was a husband/wife team. They were expecting a litter in May but I told them we would be fine with an older female for our male sheltie.  They had a female who they were planning to breed and would be happy to let her go after she had a litter.  We decided to take a trip in June to see her.  Believe it or not, Don drove most of the way there and all of the way back. The dog was Layla.  Jia Jia and she immediately hit it off.  We saw the puppies too, which as you can imagine, were totally adorable.  They were not ready to let her go as she was coming into heat at that time.  So we went on our way and said we’d be in touch.

We got the call early August that she did not get pregnant as planned, so they were going to have her spayed so that she’d be available for pick up. I asked Don what to do as his health had deteriorated to the point of not being able to look after himself at that time.

He said “go for it.”  He met her and loved her.  Said she’d be great company for Jia Jia and good for me too.  So I said okay.  I made plans to pick her up in Summerland early September where they were headed to a dog show.  It was also half the driving distance to where she lived.

Then about a week after Don passed away the breeder called and told me that Layla was very sick.  She had been spayed but didn’t come out of it so well.  She stopped eating for several days and seemed to have a possible problem with her esophagus.   They would not be able to sell her and they thought they might have to put her down.  I was doubly devastated now.  This was the dog that Don, Jia Jia and I made the trip out to see and now not only can we not have her, but she might not even make it.  I asked them to please keep me posted on her progress nonetheless.  Hoping that they would at least be able to keep  her should she survive.

Fast forward two more weeks.  I received an e-mail that Layla was eating again and x-ray showed that all was fine. Clean bill of health from a terrible scare.  It was just an alarm and she had a bad reaction to the anesthesia.  She was available once again.  So I made a quick decision to pick her up the very next day in Summerland where the breeders were showing one of their dogs.  They were not even planning to take her.  And I was lucky to get a hotel room because everything was booked for either the dog show or a classic car show.

She’s a very sweet, smart, playful little girl.  It took her all of one day to get settled. My only disappointment is that Don not be here to witness how well the two of them get along together.  But he is responsible for finding her and he did meet her (above photo).  I’m very thankful for this gift from Don.  At least this story has a happy ending.  I absolutely adore her!

Have a Happy Weekend!