So we made it as long as we could without a dog. After leaving Portland and having to leave behind Ono because of all the quarantine issues we just thought we would wait awhile and let the wounds heal. It was harder then any of us let on and for Jon and Logan it seem to hit hardest.. I constantly heard " I miss Ono" or Jon's famous line of " you made me leave my dog behind." As if I had any say in the matter or Hawaii state laws and their dog quarantines.. which is a nightmare! That all said we started just looking for dogs sometime around Christmas last year to see that because of all the quarantine laws dogs here at a hot commodity..A pure bred Lab with papers starts at 1200 and can go as high as 1800. Now for us who have had 3 pure breed labs and never spent more than 500 that was just ridiculous.. Even a mixed lab can go as high as 1000 and people pay for it. It made my stomach churn and the thought of a dog seemed out of reach as neither Jon or I were willing to spend that much money on a dog. Months passed and several dogs came upon us that were the last in the litter and owners were willing to pretty much give them away to move on, but it never seemed right. We always had something going on, or were saving money for other things, so we passed on them. We both agreed to drop the search as it was really heartbreaking to us to get excited then just not be able to "pull the Plug" per say. In July our friends the Cargiles moved here from Tigard and brought their dog.. Chloe is a golden retriever and adorable, and Logan seemed to love her..and that's when the constant naggying, crying and heartbroken 9yr old sold us.. We watched "Where the Red Fern Grows" one night and towards the end where the dog dies we heard sniffles coming from the floor.. we looked down to find Logan buried under the blanket bawling his eyes out. Not your normal sad cry, but crocodile tears, huge bug eyes and the most pathetic face I have ever seen. Jon and I both talked to him and he explained how much he wanted a dog and how much he missed ours. From that moment on we knew he needed a friend.
Many of you know and many do not, but Logan started as twin. I miscarried around 7.5 weeks and I am always telling Jon I often feel like Logan is "missing" something.. as in his partner. I know twins have that innate sense of "twinness" and long for one another and he does not have that but I seriously feel like sometimes he's a lost soul looking for his missing half. He is so going to be that guy that marries his first love and he will fall hard!! After Logan's display of emotion we literally began looking again the next day, only again to find ridiculous prices for dogs. We even considered golden retrievers and boxers. We looked at craigslist daily for any new litters or leads on litters. Then one day we happened upon chocolate labs on Kauai.. Still asking 1200 and we knew we just couldnt spend that for a dog, so we waited a few weeks and the price dropped to 1000, then 800, then 600.. At this point Jon called to see how the process would work. There is no quarantine for dogs born within the state, so that was good, but there was the issue of getting the dog to Oahu.. The breeder (whom is the Chief of Police on Kauai) was not willing to budge at that time to ship and only take 600.. so then we would have had to either fly over and get him or freight him over.. another 200 at least. We just could not stomach it. we waited another week and Magic.. He still had 2 left and one was the one we really wanted. At this point they were 9 weeks and he was ready to be done with the litter. He was willing to take our offer of 500 and he had a friend coming to Oahu so the dog flew with him. Problem solved and we had our new dog..
this poor ball will never see a practice or game again.. it drags it around like a rag doll
Favorite spot is the kitchen floor where it is nice and cool..
We had kept this a secret from the kids and T was off with friends when Hurley arrived so we took the boys to the airport and pretended Daddy had a package arriving. To see my boys faces light up when daddy walked out with a puppy in his hands was priceless. That is when the journey really began.. Poor Hurley came infested with TICKS!! I had never seen one before and it is really common here in Hawaii, but gross.. We went 2 full days without noticing and then bam.. I went to put him in his crate to take the kids to school and I saw 5 large nasty ticks crawling up my dining room wall. I wanted to run and hide.. I called my neighbor Josie since where they used to live in California they have ticks.. she gave me the 411 and bam I was on it. Vacuumed up those suckers, Sterilized the vacuum, bombed the house, carpets, washed all bedding, cleaned floors with pure pinesol, sprayed the wall with tick crap, sprayed our yard and then began removing at least 25 from my poor dog. It was as if I was dealing with Lice again. YUCK!! Needless to say when we went to the vet they blew it off as normal, WTF?? and gave us his medicine to keep them away. We do a daily tick check and Have been tick free since, but man it was nasty and terrifying all at the same time.. but with all that I would not trade him for the world. He reminds us so much of our first dog Bailey. He is mellow, sweet and loves to play soccer with the kids. They have all been troopers and shown they were ready for a dog.. They each walk him daily or all go together. They all pick up dog poop and take turns feeding him. We lucked out in that he was pretty much potty trained when we got him and only had 3 accidents in the house. With them all loving him we would still say Logan is the best with him and they definitely have a little bond. I love to see my kids happy with their new friend.. I love that we live in a place he can come with us everywhere and it is so nice out no one fights over walking him. We love our little Hurley..
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