Kicked to the Curb

He literally got kicked to the curb. My husband and I were headed on a cruise and we had worked it out with a young couple that they would take Carl for the week. Our flight was very early Sunday morning, so we dropped him off on Saturday afternoon thinking all was good.

The house was perfect for Carl. It had a huge back yard where he could frolic around and two other dogs for him to play with. The couple even sent us a picture of Carl hunting for food under a piece of furniture with a caption stating that he was doing well.

So when I got the long text Sunday morning after arriving in Miami, that the arrangement was not going to work, we were in shock and disbelief. Apparently, Carl had spent all night doing what he does best. Howling.  And when I say the word howling, I mean it in the most literal term possible.

The text read that they had tried almost every room in the house to pacify the little dog but nothing worked. They even allowed Carl to take up residence in their own bed but he would have nothing to do with it. His howl persisted throughout the night until the early morning.

And it was in the early break of day that the text was clearly written that Carl could not stay. Once we read the text, we began to brainstorm what we were going to do before getting on the ship and sailing out of cell phone range.

Our first thought was calling Leo’s parents to see if they could return the favor of keeping Carl since we kept Leo for over six weeks. But when my husband called Leo’s human father, he was met with a situation that wouldn’t work. His mother had been taken to the hospital and he was needed to assist in her care.

Our next thought was sending our little dog to our next door neighbors. But Carl had already burned that bridge after scratching their young child.  To make the situation even more challenging, they recently brought home a cat that our little dog felt the strong impulse to pursue throughout their house. Even though our neighbors love Carl, they had made it clear that he was just not welcome.

We were running out of options and time. Our bus was going to pull up in minutes and we would soon be taken one step further from resolving our situation. The couple had already packed up all of Carl’s belongings and driven him back to our house where he was greeted by the sound of silence.

Out of desperation, we made the call that we didn’t want to make. We knew it would be a major interruption in their lives but we just didn’t have a choice.

Our daughter and her family live over two hours away. They have four small children and a cat to boot but we had no option but to try. So we were pleasantly surprised when my son in law, who has made it clear in the past that Carl is not his favorite canine, agreed to make the inconvenient drive to pick up our abandoned pooch.

As clear as it is that my son in law doesn’t care for Carl, the opposite can be stated about my granddaughter. Ellie loves to pamper our little dog whenever she has the chance.  If she could have her way, Carl would be welcome at their house on a permanent basis. So she was absolutely elated to make the long drive to retrieve her little canine friend.

Thankfully, once we were on the ship we received the picture that calmed our fears and let us know that our little dog was going to be okay. There perched in his own seat, among the four little children, Carl was making the ride down interstate 40 to his temporary home.

Throughout the first night on the ship we couldn’t help but wonder how our little guy was doing. So the next morning after paying the extra money needed to make an international call, we telephoned our son in law to check on how the night had gone. Fearing that Carl may have repeated the howling episode we were elated to hear that all went well.

For Carl and Ellie it went better than just well. Ellie was allowed to let Carl sleep with her in her bed. A blanket had been placed on the end of the bed for the little dog. But when my son in law checked on the twosome, Carl was found in a deep sleep with his head on the pillow and his body tucked securely under the covers. And as for Ellie, a big grin was plastered across her face as her arm rested across Carl’s belly.

Bon Voyage!