You all know what a sucker I am for dogs. I have this love for large dogs...Alley is short, but still falls into the large dog category. I have always owned a large dog especially since I live by myself. Being outside the city limits of Longview on 3 acres, I feel more secure having an animal that will at least intimidate unwanted visitors. I recently gave Boone away ( my wolf dog that Uncle Robert gave me) because I was concerned about how he acted around Blake, Carter, and Dawson.About 6 weeks ago, I began looking for a German Shepherd puppy. I had a difficult time finding any in this area. S
o, I got on the internet, as I have done numerous times, to continue my search. I happened across some German Shepherd puppies in Jefferson about 45 miles from here. So, I hopped in the car after lunch one day and headed to Jefferson. I came home that day with Hummer, even though he was not exactly what I wanted. (Yet another example of my impatience.) I continued to look for my dream puppy and found him at a kennel in Colorado. After a couple of weeks of pondering about whether or not to get him, I
thought..."what the heck". I made arrangements to have him shipped to me after I got home from a school trip to Savannah, Georgia. There was some sort of confusion about the the exact date that the puppy was going to be shipped, so I did not get him on December 12th as I thought. You can 
imagine my disappointment. I immediately contacted the kennel in Colorado and they rescheduled the puppy's flight for Thursday, December 21. Okay...Great!!! I would at least have my new puppy before Christmas.....I thought!!!! Not!!!! There came a hellacious blizzard in Colorado the very day my puppy was to fly from the airport in Denver. All of the airports closed indefinitely due to all the snow. Again...I could not hardly stand it. But...Mother Nature hasn't ever considered my needs or wants and obviously wasn't about to start. My patience was gone, but there was nothing for me to do except wait, wait, wait. Finally, the kennel called with tentative plans to ship my puppy to me on December 27th (missed Christmas, but oh well...) Okay, swell...I will at least get my puppy before the first 
of the year if I'm lucky...which I have not been so far....
I wonder if he will still be a puppy when he finally arrives!!! On December 26, the day before I am supposed to get my puppy, the kennel calls to give me the travel plans which must be approved by me prior to shipment. First off, let me say that most if not all airlines restrict the shipment of animals if the outside temperature is above or below a certain temperature. I had not even considered the possibility that it may be too cold for the puppy to travel. The original travel plans were for the puppy to fly from Denver to DFW to Longview. Great for me because I hate DFW and because it is a 3 hour drive from the DFW airport to my house. With that in mind you can imagine my reaction when the lady said, "Okay, the puppy will be flying on United Airlines i
n the morning at 10:00am, fly to Houston, change planes and fly on to DFW airport. The flight to DFW will arrive at 8:30pm. You can pick up the puppy at about 9:00pm. Is that acceptable?" The nicest thing I could think of at the moment was, "HELL, DAMN NO"! 
I was not about to go to an airport that I hate, pick up a dog that was supposed to fly to Longview, and drive another 3 hours home with a dog that has been cooped up in a kennel for 12 hours. Let me repeat, "HELL, DAMN NO"! She said very nicely, "We are having a hard time finding an airline that is shipping animals in the cold weather". I said to the lady in my nicest voice, "I would prefer to pick up the dog in Longview if that is possible
. That narrows down the choices considerably since American Airlines is the only airline that stops in Longview. Would you please check with them to see if they are still transporting animals?" ... I went to the Longview airport last night at 9:00 and saw Hemi for the first time. He is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Now, I am trying to decide whether or not I will keep Hummer, too. I love them both...
o, I got on the internet, as I have done numerous times, to continue my search. I happened across some German Shepherd puppies in Jefferson about 45 miles from here. So, I hopped in the car after lunch one day and headed to Jefferson. I came home that day with Hummer, even though he was not exactly what I wanted. (Yet another example of my impatience.) I continued to look for my dream puppy and found him at a kennel in Colorado. After a couple of weeks of pondering about whether or not to get him, I
thought..."what the heck". I made arrangements to have him shipped to me after I got home from a school trip to Savannah, Georgia. There was some sort of confusion about the the exact date that the puppy was going to be shipped, so I did not get him on December 12th as I thought. You can 
imagine my disappointment. I immediately contacted the kennel in Colorado and they rescheduled the puppy's flight for Thursday, December 21. Okay...Great!!! I would at least have my new puppy before Christmas.....I thought!!!! Not!!!! There came a hellacious blizzard in Colorado the very day my puppy was to fly from the airport in Denver. All of the airports closed indefinitely due to all the snow. Again...I could not hardly stand it. But...Mother Nature hasn't ever considered my needs or wants and obviously wasn't about to start. My patience was gone, but there was nothing for me to do except wait, wait, wait. Finally, the kennel called with tentative plans to ship my puppy to me on December 27th (missed Christmas, but oh well...) Okay, swell...I will at least get my puppy before the first 
of the year if I'm lucky...which I have not been so far....
I wonder if he will still be a puppy when he finally arrives!!! On December 26, the day before I am supposed to get my puppy, the kennel calls to give me the travel plans which must be approved by me prior to shipment. First off, let me say that most if not all airlines restrict the shipment of animals if the outside temperature is above or below a certain temperature. I had not even considered the possibility that it may be too cold for the puppy to travel. The original travel plans were for the puppy to fly from Denver to DFW to Longview. Great for me because I hate DFW and because it is a 3 hour drive from the DFW airport to my house. With that in mind you can imagine my reaction when the lady said, "Okay, the puppy will be flying on United Airlines i
n the morning at 10:00am, fly to Houston, change planes and fly on to DFW airport. The flight to DFW will arrive at 8:30pm. You can pick up the puppy at about 9:00pm. Is that acceptable?" The nicest thing I could think of at the moment was, "HELL, DAMN NO"! 
I was not about to go to an airport that I hate, pick up a dog that was supposed to fly to Longview, and drive another 3 hours home with a dog that has been cooped up in a kennel for 12 hours. Let me repeat, "HELL, DAMN NO"! She said very nicely, "We are having a hard time finding an airline that is shipping animals in the cold weather". I said to the lady in my nicest voice, "I would prefer to pick up the dog in Longview if that is possible
. That narrows down the choices considerably since American Airlines is the only airline that stops in Longview. Would you please check with them to see if they are still transporting animals?" ... I went to the Longview airport last night at 9:00 and saw Hemi for the first time. He is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Now, I am trying to decide whether or not I will keep Hummer, too. I love them both...
5 comments:
"Hell Damn No" sounds a lot like what I said when it decided to repeat last week's weather again today. I'm glad you got Hemi when you did, because another storm has cancelled more flights in and out of Denver.
I really like Hemi, he is big. I think you should keep them both but if not I want Hummer but you will have to keep him until we finish our fence.
glad you got your puppy, despite the bad weather in CO....and you didn't have to drive to DFW.
I'm glad you finally got your dog. That sounds like it was an ordeal.
And, by the way, I don't like going to DFW either, and I live over here. :)
I like the new look!!! Isn't it so much easier than before?? But, you were right when you said, "think about all the things we learned before" now we know some things about HTML code! We aren't complete dummies!
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