Safe and Sound

My baby made the journey across the country safe and sound! It was a rough day for the family. My mom called crying at 1:30 MST telling me that she had dropped the Camster off. I felt so terrible for having my parent ship my dog out to me. I know how wonderful they are with her, and I felt so selfish for having wanting her with me. I told my mom to go back and ask for Camden back, and that she and my pops could keep her. I would have done anything to reach through the phone to help my mom from crying. Although, it was apparent that Camden wasn't my mom's favorite from day one, she grew on her. My mom and dad too, fell in love with Camden.

Apparently the airline people took pity on her since she was crying and let her go back and hold Camden for a few more minutes. My mom gave her a few more treats and a little water (against my wishes, but grandma's will do what grandmas want to do). Camden also had a star bandana on enough ID tags to last a lifetime. God love my mom, she had bought Camden two new tags before she made the journey west. One was the typical ID tag, with her name and my phone number...the other was one was in the shape of a heart that read "Camden misses and loves her Gram and Gramps." I about died laughing when Swallow read the tag to me.

For the past few days, my mom has stressed the importance of bringing my ID, the secret identification number, and the new vet information. I show up at the United Cargo pick up, and the lady asks for absolutely nothing. She stated my mom's name out loud as the shipper and asked if that was the correct dog. Any person could have easily walked in with a leash and said yes that is the shipper...bingo free dog for them! After agreeing that my mother was indeed the shipper she points me over to set of stair cases. I walk up the stair cases (excited beyond belief) into a little room and the guys says who sent your dog? I repeated the same the name that the other woman told me to, and he gave me a document to sign that had my name and my mother's name on it. Never did anyone ask for my ID, the secret identification number or the new vet information. One signature and date and the dog was mine.

I signed the paperwork and he took me around the corner to get my little Camden. I was a little concerned as the first two dogs I saw, were obviously not her. I made that well known to the man, that this was not my dog. He said he knew, those dogs had been this since early afternoon (their owners had missed their flights so they were hanging out with the United Cargo Crew for the evening). He pointed over to Camden's creight, who was none to happy to see me. I opened the door and she was kosher but not lovely or friendly. I put a leash on her and we went outside to pee. Swallow got the pleasure of carrying the kennel to the car and I let Camden pee what little grass they had near the building.

All week, I tried to share with Swallow and Hungry how wonderful of a dog Camden really was. I don't think they believed me until tonight, when they saw her interact and actually listen to what I was saying. It is absolutely fantastic to have Camden be my shadow as I move through the house. I missed her so much! She got up from laying on the couch with me and stood by the door (like hello mom, I need to go out!) We haven't been together in 6 months, but it seems as though we didn't miss a beat. It is nice to be posting a blog with her laying at my feet. It is also nice to not have her bandana on (sorry mom, no bandana for the Camster). She looks good her in her new red harness! I'll even keep the red heart id tag on her so there is a little part of her always thinking about my parents.