..thank goodness.
When our plane landed in SD I looked out the window to see if we could see Baloo getting taken out of cargo...and we did! The first thing I looked for was movement--and thankfully I saw some. He was alive!
I can say that bringing him here was soooo exhausting. But now that we are all settled, I can write about it.
In HI, we had to have Baloo ride in in crate to the airport. Kelly drove us, so we had to put the seats down and have me sit in the back, packed in with all of our stuff and Baloo, to calm him down. I wish I took a picture of that, now that I think about it, because it was a pretty funny sight.I seem to have a calming effect on Baloo, which I figure is because I am his mamma! He gets all worked up in cars, so it made things a little worse.
We didn't have any problems checking Baloo in at the airport. I was totally prepared with all of the documents and crate preparation. Some lady tried to tell me that we wouldn't be able to fly him to SD due to the heat and I wanted to kick her---You don't think I've done a ton of research on this, lady? We got it all settled though, and checked him in. We even gave him some extra water before we got on the plane and had our fingers crossed that he would be ok because at this point he was breathing really hard and was really worked up.
Our flight was pretty turbulent, which had me worried the whole time. When we landed, like I said, I saw movement in his cage, so I at least knew he was alive! We quickly made it to the baggage claim to evaluate the damage.
It was honestly the saddest sight I have ever seen. Baloo was a mess! I had laid a sheet on the bottom of his cage earlier and now it was all ripped and pushed on the side. It was wet too, because his water had spilled onto it and the floor because of all of the movement. He looked terrible; tired and wheezing like I had never heard before. He looked pretty sick. His paw was bleeding too. So Seth and I took him to a part of the airport where no one really was and let him out. I don't think I was supposed to, but I let him pee in the plants outside. The poor guy drank water like it was the last time he could ever drink.
He was like this all the way to Seth's house. He was so tired! We cleaned up his paw, gave him more food and water, and had him sleep in our room in his crate. For those of you who have never heard Baloo when he is breathing hard, it sounds like a pig oinking over and over again. He wasn't able to stop breathing like that until about 4 am, which kept us awake. Then he snores when he is asleep, so that's not any better. I felt horrible putting him back in his crate and sending him on another drive up to my house. I sat in the back with him though, which calmed him down a little.
We were prepared for the worst; meeting 5 new people and 3 wiener dogs after a stressful trip didn't sound good, but it actually went WAYYYYY better than we thought. Baloo loves my family and has so much fun playing with them. The wiener dogs were really cautious and scared of him at first, but they are starting to come around. I think Baloo's breathing scared them. Hammy (the oldest) was the weirdest. He was scared of Baloo, and would only approach him from behind when Baloo was lying on the ground. He would hide behind the furniture and poke his head out and stare at him. Like this: (Look at the tiny face by the couch)
He's getting better though. Baloo seems to be very comfortable here. He's all rested and fed now and everyone just adores him. I think he will be just fine over here!
No matter what room Seth and I are in, he flops down in the doorway or next to me.
And here he is getting used to the dog door to come in and out of the house:
Sorry this is so long, but Baloo's my fatty baby!! Just glad to see that he's OK and comfortable in his new home. Sending him on this trip was really hard for us because we knew how hard it was for fatty, but now its over--thank goodness.
Oh, and my phone broke. Luckily T mobile is sending me one for free, but I won't have it for a few days, just FYI.
