Good Bye Dallas (the dog)

I (Vanessa) have never really been an animal person... No I take that back I had a pig that I loved when I was 8, and 2 horses when I was 13 so I was an animal person only as a kid I guess. We have had a dog before and I thought I would grow to love it but I never did. He ended up biting one of our friends kids so we had to get rid of him. I never really planned on having any more dogs because it just never seemed to work out but a good friend of ours needed to find homes for his dogs and he needed to do it quick. We saw the email and still didn't do anything because I just didn't really like animals. After a few weeks though Jason and I were kinda regretting our decision because we kept hearing our friends talk about how good the dogs were. No matter who we were with if we brought up those two dogs they RAVED about how amazing they were.

We decided to take them in just to see if we liked them. Bailey is a Golden Retriever and Dallas is a Black lab. After a few days we knew we couldn't keep both dogs because they were big and our house just wasn't big enough for two large dogs. We knew we couldn't keep Bailey because she was a little hyper and liked to put her paw on our arms to get out attention. For us that was fine but we knew she would hurt Baby A if she did this to him. We decided we wanted to keep Dallas though because somehow he won us over. He was so sweet and so calm. He never jumped on us, barked or played rough. He was the dog for us for sure.

After a few months of having him here we got an email from a friend who was concerned about us having such a big dog and getting Baby A. We really felt like Dallas was a good match for our family and for Baby A but after reading her email Jason and I talked about it and we both decided it would be best to give Dallas away. He is a great dog and I don't think he would ever hurt Baby A but he sheds a TON and of course gets the floors dirty all the time. With EB one of the biggest risks is infection so we want to do everything we can to keep Baby A healthy and so we knew what we needed to do.

We were planning on giving him to my Mom but when we went to Eastern Europe she dog sat for us and Dallas hated it there. My Mom has 3 little dogs and Dallas is a big chicken. I think he was scared the whole time because he stayed in the garage and wouldn't come in her house. She had a heater and blankets out there for him though so even though he wouldn't come inside he was being taken care of :)

One of Patrice's best friends Jen moved to Texas about a year ago and we have been trying to get together this whole time but it had never worked out until a month ago. She came over and over the course of our conversation she started telling me about a dog they use to have that was a black lab. She was telling me how sweet he was and how much they loved him but they had to give him away (a while ago) and they really wanted to get a new dog. Then in walks Dallas... she instantly fell in love with him and he put on the charm. He went and laid right by her and didn't move the whole time. Her 3 year old son loved him too but her one year old son wasn't too sure about him. I told her we were going to give him away and she told me love would love to have him if it didn't work out for my Mom to take him. Once we realized Dallas was scared of my Mom's dogs I asked Jen if they wanted him and they said yes. We were so excited he was going to a home that would love him and a place where we will still get to see him.

It was so hard to tell Kenya. She was devastated! Dallas slept in her room and he was her dog. She is doing a lot better now and is excited to go see him soon. So now here are a few pictures of us with Dallas.

Jason and Kenya giving Dallas a bath a few days before he left.

Kenya does not like to get wet so that's her idea of helping... just standing back and watching. She isn't wearing shorts but she sure pulled her pants up to make sure she would stay dry ha.

And here is Judah's idea of helping.

Just because I think my nephews are cute here is a picture of them swinging with Judah.

Kenya and Dallas the day before he left.

Judah getting in some snuggle time.

We took Dallas to the park to make some memories with him but it was FREEZING outside so we didn't stay long.

I have no idea how Kenya got that tank top on Dallas but we died laughing when this poor MALE dog came out of the room sporting a hot pink tank top.

Dallas is spoiled and drinks out of water fountains :)

It was really sad to see Dallas go but we will do whatever we can to make sure Baby A is taken care of. I just wanted to give you all an update for those of you wonder if we still had him. 

I hope y'all had a great Christmas!