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| Tucker as a puppy |
For several months now we have been considering finding a
new home for our dog, Tucker. Although,
we love him dearly and brought him all the way down to Mexico with us he had a
difficult time adjusting to having two kids in the house. There were no longer enough laps for our
little lap-loving fur-ball, and although he adjusted well to having a baby in
the house, having a two year old in the house is a whole different story. Eli and Tucker had a love/hate relationship
and fought like naughty siblings. Tucker
would chase Eli around if there was any
food in sight and make his best effort to steal it (often successfully) and Eli
in turn would chase and taunt Tucker at whim.
Although Tucker was basically our first child, and a precious companion
to the family for six years, we finally decided that it was in everyone’s best
interest to try to find him a new home sans toddlers and with plenty of lap
space.
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| Our little hiking companion |
In addition, Tucker is probably one of the world’s most
allergy ridden dogs. We got our first
taste of this when he was less than a year old and was stung by a bee in our
front yard. Within seconds he had gone
into anaphylactic shock - keeled over, throwing up, almost completely rigid,
pupils dilated and tongue white. I
sobbed as we rushed him off to the vet, sure that my first “baby” was about to
die. At the vet they hooked him up to an
IV and put him on an oxygen mask. If you
have never seen a dog this way, it is a both sad and somewhat humorous
sight. (I pray I never have to see either
of my kids this way – there will be no humor in that situation.) Tucker stayed at the vet over night and the
next day we were provided with a prescription for an EpiPen that we were
supposed to keep on hand at all times for the dog. That was only our first taste of Tucker’s
allergies…
Later he would develop stomach issues, rashes, and ear
infections that eventually led to allergy testing and allergy shots that we had
to give him regularly at home. He’s
allergic to poultry, cotton, most types of grass and trees, soy, brewer’s yeast
(found in practically all dog food), and sage just to name a few. With a strict diet, change of bedding, lots
of bathing, and the shots we kept his allergies fairly under control in the
states. Then we moved to Mexico, found a
dog food and shampoo that worked for him, and he became miraculously
healthier. No more shots and practically
no health issues at all. Before we had
our second son we had already determined that Tucker was better off in Mexico
and should stay here whenever we move back to the states.
All of this is to say that Tucker has a new home.
Another teacher at Dave’s school has taken him in and
seemingly fallen in love with him.
Students at school often come and tell Dave about all of the pictures
she has shown them of him.
Three weeks later Eli still prays for Tucker when he goes to bed and asks about him periodically. Tucker was certainly part of the family, but this new situation is the best for all of us. Perhaps it seems silly to write such a long post about a dog, but he was a part of our lives for six years and I though he deserved proper goodbye. After all, he’s already had two previous posts on the blog:
Goodbye, Tucker.
Thanks for being part of the family and helping to prepare us for
parenthood.
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