Karina’s Last Hurrah

It’s Karina’s last night with us, and I’d be lying if I told you I’m not sad. Don’t get me wrong—I’m so pleased that she found such a wonderful home. But the selfish part of me wants to wrap my arms around this dog and not let her go.

She’s been such a constant and stable force in what has been a stressful few months. I had originally planned on not fostering during the semester—thinking that running from work to school and back home to take care of a dog would just be too much. It was just the opposite. We were able to work out our schedules to make sure we were home when we needed to be. (And my better human half picked up a lot of my slack.) No matter how crazy/stressful/tiring a day was, there was something comforting about knowing Karina would be at the front door, wagging her tail and flopping over for a belly rub. 

But it’s time to let go. Her upgrade is here, and she’ll give Karina so much love and attention for the rest of her life. That’s all that matters.

So we’ve spent the last week celebrating just that and enjoying our time together. We took her to the park for a Memorial Day picnic. She was so well behaved, sitting under our picnic table. We treated her to a celebratory Frosty Paws. (This seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm not sure I would recommend them because they didn’t seem to sit well with her.)

We’ve let her run around the house like crazy with Jonathan’s soccer ball. We used to stop her when we thought she might puncture it. But this week our philosophy has been, “Go ahead, pooch, have a ball.”

And tonight, we’ll probably let her sleep on the bed, even if it means getting a horrible night’s sleep because that bed is not nearly big enough for the three of us. We’ll cuddle and tell her we love her and will miss her, but much better things are waiting for her. And, with those big brown eyes, she’ll remind us that other dogs are waiting for us.