Animal Planet Rescue Expo

:( :( :( :( :( :( :(
I am so devastated. I just spent the day with Bailey waiting for his new owner to come pick him up. When I saw the guy get there, he told me he was just there to volunteer and his lanlord wouldn't let him take Bailey.

To make matters worse, I cant be anywhere in the kennel area or Bailey goes insane trying to get out of his kennel and come to me. When I was pulling up behind the building when I first got there, a volunteer happened to have Bailey out a long ways off. HE RECOGNIZED MY CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got away from her and when I was pulling into a spot, he jumped on the hood of my car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then he started digging at my windshield. I opened my door and he jumped in my lap :(

I'm so upset. Its not good for either of us to be this bonded but I thought he was going home today and I just didn't want to leave him. Ugh ugh ugh. This is one of the worse parts of shelter work. I think I'll be crying at least a month about this one.

Aly,
How very disappointing!!! Well if the guy is going to be working there,at least you
could maybe get this guy more involved with
Bailey on the days he volunteers..Sort of
shift or share the bond with Bailey??
WOW, so sorry this didn't go the way you
had expected...

I'm so sorry aly. I'm not sure I could handle that. I would be a mess...it would probably take me longer than a month to recover...you are a much stronger person than I am. I'm sure though things will work out. I am beginning to be a strong believer that all things happen for a reason. You must be who Bailey needs right now and when his forever owner shows up he will love them just as much. At least you can put down on his profile that he is a real lover and bonds strongly to his human. I hope you feel better soon and Bailey finds his forever home. Mike found a dog yesterday running loose and we have him until we find his owner...who supposedly lives nearby, but I already love him to death and it will be hard to give him back, so I can imagine how you feel. Hang in there, I'll be thinking about you and I'm sure it work out for the best very soon.

Oh Aly, I'm sorry! But a cutie like him won't have to wait too long. He'll find someone else to take him in and love him, just you wait!

:( Thanks guys. I hope I can get him adopted this weekend. I don't plan on leaving until I see him going to a safe, qualified, loving home.

I know I shouldn't let him bond to me anymore. But what am I going to do tomorrow when the big boy starts whining pathetically when he sees me? :(

We sit on the couch together and he puts his paws on my shoulders and kisses me :( :(

Good luck!

No luck on finding Bailey a home yet. I have 2 people checking on him on Monday. The shelter is closed on Tues and Thurs and I have 1 person checking on his adoption status on Wednesday. Then I'll be there full time Fri/Sat/Sun to look out for him. I'm starting Friday working there again. I'll still volunteer during the week though :) The adoption supervisor said she felt bad that I was there helping so much and not getting paid.. and she had an opening, so I'm back on board, hehe.

My baby boy Bailey got adopted today :) :( Mixed emotions as usual. I am so beat after working a hard day that I'll have to come back tomorrow and give the details. I just wanted to let you guys who were following this thread know that Bailey is no longer in an awful cage. He's where he's supposed to be :)

I'll have more time tomorrow to catch up and respond to all the posts I've missed this weekend.

Hooray for Bailey!! That is terrific news! We'll wait for the details when you are rested. :)

Another happy ending!! You do such good work aly. The world needs more people like you. I'm so happy for Bailey. You're right he definitely deserved to be out of that cage. Now he has a forever home.

Every morning for 3 hours before the shelter opens, the staff is assigned to clean various parts of the shelter, but since I have the most dog experience and am the only staff/volunteer person, I get to walk dogs instead of clean. Anyway I had been avoiding Bailey for over a week because he was breaking my heart with his whimpers when I would walk by. But yesterday I just walked to his kennel and took him outside and spent extra time with him. I guess somewhere in my heart I knew I had to say goodbye.

I made a complete dork of myself when he got adopted because I couldn't stop crying. I sat in on their counseling session so I could get a feel of what kind of people they were. They were really nice. They had just had to have their old Boxer put to sleep.

Then Jill who had been helping them let me do the adoption process. I kept trying to tell them things but would have to cut myself short to try to hold back the tears. They said for me not to worry because they would take really good care of him. I had the woman in tears too by the time they left. I went back and took him out of his kennel and kissed him goodbye and he went out the door with his new family. Oh geez, I can't stop the tears right now just talking about it.

Bailey was my dream dog. I really hope he's happy and I'm so glad he's out of that awful cage. I vow to one day I will have a Boxer who will be as perfect as him and I'm going to name him Bailey in his honor.

Oh Aly, you've made me cry too...I think that's a great idea. One day, your own Bailey to love! In the meantime, this Bailey has, it sounds, gone to a very special home, and people who will love him!

HURRAY FOR BAILEY! I love happy endings :)

Just think about how glad Bailey is to have a forever home. Perhaps the new owners will let you visit.

Oh, Aly. You have gotten me all teary eyed too....you have the biggest, most wonderful, heart of anyone I know. Since you can't have them all yourself (your hands are pretty full with three already), you're doing the next best thing. You're spending time with them, loving them, and helping them off to a new, loving home.

I missed most of this post for weeks, I'm afraid, and didn't open it until this morning, and saw Bailey's wonderful face. I think it would be a great honor for your future boxer to be named Bailey in his honor.

Chin up, girl. You are already nominated for sainthood! :)