Heavy hearts are turning happy. Sippy's story.

This is a hard post. I've been putting it off.... 

Back in November, our Sippy dog told Logan to "stop" in her own way... 

Unfortunately, that way ended up with Logan's nose bleeding. It wasn't an aggressive move, but it was a bit much.  After this happened, we sat all the kids down and retold them how we expected them to treat Sippy.  After that,  Logan really did improve the way he played with her.  Nearly a month later,  Sippy was lying on the floor when Kailey jumped over and gave her what must have been an extremely affectionate hug. We didn't hear anything else except Kailey crying... no bark, and certainly no growl ever came from Sippy.  It was not aggressive in any way but it was again another bite. I hate saying bite, because it sounds so awful to me.  The marks on Kailey's face were basically the same as Logan's.  It was right around the nose..... and the moment that happened all the kids started crying in slow succession as we all knew what it meant.  

"We cannot have a dog, even a dog we love so much, biting our kids" was our decision if this should ever happen again... the heartbreaking thing is that it did happen again. 

I think Sippy was overwhelmed at times with 4 young crazy kids-- she loves to play and run, but after awhile she found a way, the only way she could to say "stop". This doesn't mean she was a bad dog.... I think it just means we need to wait a little longer before a dog can survive properly in our home. 

 We all went through a grieving process.  

Denial.

Tears.

"It was my fault..."

What if's....

"It could have been worse..."

This was our dog... our family dog we love and intended to keep forever.

We went back and forth with what to do... in the end, we just couldn't swallow risking our kids faces.

The blessing in all of this is that we have a friend who lives here in Liberty who loves sharpeis as much as we do, and she was willing to see how Sippy would do in her home.  Sippy warmed up fairly quickly and seems to be loving her new home. (Thank you so much friend! We love you for your willingness to open your home and for your new love for Sippy!) 

It is an odd feeling to feel so extremely grateful she is doing well and is happy, but also feel the sting of missing her. 

On the bright, beautiful side of things... the side you see only after the grieving, tears, and sadness is the memories and acknowledgment of blessings. 

We spent nearly a year with this awesome dog! She is a part of our lives that we cherish. We got to hang out with the cutest puppy ever, take her to park, play around the house with her as she grew, dance with her, take her on a couple road trips... the list goes on and on. Despite how this ended for us, these are the parts we wouldn't change. One day when our kids are older, we will try again. We have many thanks to Sippy for a fun, memorable year. One day looking at pictures and videos of her will bring only smiles with not a bit of sadness.

                                                 Our heavy hearts are turning happy.