January 24, 2008--Goodbye to Pippin

Today we gave Pippin, our dog, away. We've had him since he was a puppy, and he's grown into a big, strapping dog. He's been a good dog, most of the time, but he had a habit of getting loose and getting into the chicken pen. There's another dog in town that just runs loose, and they would get into all sorts of mischief together. Pippin never actually killed any chickens, but he did like to trap them and not let them go, and occasionally chew on their necks. If we get the church in Hymera, we'd be able to take pets, but we've talked about letting our chickens free range. It wouldn't be a good idea to do that if we still had Pippin. We'd talked about what to do with him, though. It's difficult to find someone to take a big dog, especially a mixed breed. We don't have an animal shelter in our area, so that wasn't really an option, either. I posted him on Freecycle yesterday, on the off chance that someone might want him. Here's what I posted: OFFER: Canine recreation and nutrition center * I have a dog house to give away, plus a chain and anchor, a dog bowl, a leash, a collar, a bottle of dog shampoo, and a partial bag of dry dog food to give away. * dog included (Husky mix, 2 years old.) I thought it would be funny, anyway. I wasn't really holding my breath for any replies. The week before I had posted a laptop, and had a ton of replies. I was beginning to think I should have posted them together as a lot. (Free laptop. Comes with dog.) Amazingly enough, someone actually replied to it, and an elderly gentleman came and picked him up today. He lives out in the country and can let Pippin run free if he wants. I'm so glad. I think Pippin will really enjoy being able to run around. We couldn't let him do that here. In a way, it reminded me of how when God called us to move to Missouri so Erick could to to Bible College and we had a pregnant cat. We knew we wouldn't be able to take the cat, and we mentioned to each other that God was going to have to find a way for us to give away the cat if we were going to go. We were able to find a home for the pregnant cat, too. God doesn't overlook even the smallest details in our lives.