“Service Dog Fridays” are long days for Levi and I, with six hours of driving, three hours of training, and they’re exhausting.
Last Friday, however, I was out of bed before the alarm. This long trek wasn’t really a trek at all — I was three hours from seeing Schooner, the big Great Dane I’d turned in a month earlier.
It had been a long month, full of mixed feelings and transitions.
I didn’t miss the trail of slime and slobber he left wherever he went. I didn’t miss his bed-hogging ways or his snoring. But man, did I miss his silly, sweet, goofy self. I missed his singing, his groaning, his laid-backness. I missed him a bunch.
Thankfully, I had a new service pup in-training, Levi, to occupy my time and to fill my days with ridiculously cute moments that lifted me out of the doldrums from missing Schoons.
It was all I could do to walk calmly into the training center, focusing on Levi and his people-greeting skills, and not running directly to Schooner. I could hear him singing his “woo-woos” and my insides felt like they were vibrating from the excitement of seeing him again.
The reunion was splendid.
Everything a girl could hope for. I may have cried. He was as excited as I was, as you can see from the video. I was so very happy to see him, but I was also a little sad because seeing him again reminded me of just how much I missed him…
I’m counting the days until I can see him again.
Talk to me: have you been reunited with a dog you fostered? What was the reunion like? Please share in the comments below, I’d love to hear your story.