Leona tells about saying goodbye to the rest of her litter.

 

6-16-2013 after saying goodbye to her littermates Leona knows her life has changed

 

When we started having visitors come and see us I did not know it would mean I would be saying goodbye to my littermates. Even when those people were here I did not know what goodbye was really going to mean. My sister Ellie was the first one I that we said goodbye to. The people that came to get her showed up just a couple minutes after Lucy had her last puppy.

At the time it was fun to get to come out and play with my sister. I was having so much fun, but I could tell The Man was acting really sad. After the people left our house with her I saw my man cry for the first time. I was so young then that I did not understand that Ellie had left us forever. She was a good sister and I hope that someday I get to see her again. We had so much fun wrestling, and she was a really good dancer too. I heard The Woman last night talking to The Man about visiting Ellie. Humans must have really good noises to be able to find her since I cannot smell her scent any more.

The rest of us soon learned that if someone was getting a bath that meant they were leaving. I remember that one morning there was only Whidbey, Linus (Little Lee) and myself left. Both of them got baths that morning. We decided to have a lot of fun after they had their bath.

Linus had his bath first and The Man put him back in the pen with me. Well I wanted Linus to remember that I was his special sister, Devil Dog, before he said goodbye. So I jumped on him and we wrestled.

Leona saying goodbye to Linus

Linus said goodbye soon after we got done wrestling and that only left me and my sister Whidbey. I am a lucky puppy and I had two great sisters. Whidbey and I had a lot of fun that morning, but all too soon her people showed up for her goodbye. We were able to go play in the backyard with each other before she said goodbye.

Whidbey and Leona playing before their goodbye

            When Whidbey left I was sad. All of my brothers and sisters had said goodbye, and I was all by myself now. It was scary for me and a lot of new things happened after they left. The Man took me and let me play with my dad in the backyard. Leroy did not take a bath, so I knew we were not going to be saying goodbye. I decided I needed to be a really good puppy so The Man would keep me forever. I do not want to say goodbye to my home.

During the day The Man had me get in my crate. This was not the same crate that my whole litter had stayed in, but there was bedding that had their smell on it. He had me stay inside for a while. I did cry a little bit, but not too much. I am a brave puppy so I can stay here and not say goodbye.

When night time came The Man took the crate to a room I had never been in before. He gave me a treat and I jumped in. I am a good puppy and obey my man so he will want to keep me forever. The Man and The Woman laid down on something close to me that kept them off the floor. This is their bed I figured out. The Man was so close to me and if I ever started to cry he would reach out and touch me. After saying goodbye to all of my littermates having The Man close helped me be brave.

Now my crate stays out with the big dogs and I sleep near them at night, not in The Man and Woman’s bedroom. It has been so different here after I said goodbye to my littermates. We were such good friends and they helped me learn how to wrestle good. I still can wrestle with the big dogs, but not all of them think it is fun. We do so many new things now that the others have said goodbye, but I hope that The Man and The Woman have good noises so we can find them someday. I want to show them all I am still a little Devil Dog and can beat any of them wrestling.