I put a lot of effort in making matches for our puppies, and even more effort into raising empowered puppies, that have a strong foundation to start out with. And yet, despite my best efforts, sometimes a placement doesn’t work out.

It’s in our contract that our babies must be returned to us, but up until now, that had never happened.

But the day came, when I received the text a week after placement, that it wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t her fault, they just weren’t ready, they felt terrible, and it was a hard choice to make. But they did the absolute right thing, and chose to do what was best for this baby. And I didn’t ask why, I just said I understand and made arrangements to get our baby back.

Of course, I loved and snuggled her, and did some behavioral observation and knew in my heart that sometimes things just aren’t meant to be, and there are no reasons why.

We went through our wait list and found a family we felt would be a great placement and reached out to them. Since this is her second placement, I wanted to make absolutely certain they are comfortable with their choice, so I chose a family in our area so that we can be an in person resource if needed, and I can be there for her a little bit faster if things don’t work out.

Our first step was a meet and greet, and then a planned 5-day sleep over, with the expectation that we will pick her up any time before if things aren’t working out.

This girl immediately clicked with her new person, followed him at his heel almost from the moment I put her down. He has been patiently waiting 40 years to get a basset hound, and I have to believe that the stars aligned and God knew this was supposed to be his girl.

Sometimes things don’t work out, and that’s okay, because there is usually something better on the other side.