I don't have the energy to rehash this whole story, so short version. Rescue lady responds to my email with "less than 24 hours is not enough time for a dog to settle in", but then responds again, saying we should "just bring her back". A conclusion we had already come to after she wouldn't pee outdoors in the morning. How on earth does a dog go all night without peeing and then go outside and not pee? And yes, she had a full water bowl that was empty after dinner last night.
The rescue lady said she couldn't meet us half way until Saturday, so we prepared ourselves to do the whole drive up and back today, about 320 miles round trip...the day before Christmas Eve. We packed up the stuff that came with the dog and added the new bed and toy we got her...we have no use for it, yes, we could return it for a refund but we chose to send it on with her.
I had also asked about a refund of the $400 adoption fee and the rescue lady respond with we "could discuss that when get to her place." We felt that 50/50 was fair. $200 would cover gas and her day off from work to drive the dog halfway to us. But when we got into the area of her house, we revised our thoughts. As we drove through the local area, the neighborhood was sobering, the houses we were passing were run down, some seemingly uninhabitable. Dave and I looked at each other with somber faces. We passed people lingering around a gas station area, they seemed a bit disheveled and unkept, "tweekers" Dave nods solemly.
We arrive at the rescue lady's address, windows covered, gate to the side of the house covered...I see someone peering out of the window curtain, I realize it's likely one of her many big dogs since this lady lives alone. We get out and I hand the dog leash to the lady, trying not to cry...again. I crouch down and give the sweet little doggy one last hug before stepping back. A cat runs by and the dog goes lunging wildly after it tangling up the rescue lady. She looks very anxious and uncomfortable. Dave hands her the bag of goodies. the lady asks if all the paperwork is in it, we confirm it is. He also hands her the new doggy bed. She looks confused, why are we giving her a new bed? "We bought it for her, so..." my voice trailed off. She nodded "I can always use these." she responds. We don't mention the refund.
Dave and get in the car and drive off.
With all the pre-Christmas traffic it took us more than 4 hours to get there, now we faced the drive home. We stopped at a major rest stop area off the freeway and hit up Popeye's to grab some dinner, still about 2 hours away from home. I sat in the car munching on my chicken fingers watching all the people getting out of their cars with their dogs, walking them over the bush/grass areas to do their business. There was no freaking out, just lots of dogs squatting and lifting their legs to pee, some pooped. They'd sniff around and bound happily around glad to be out the car and outside. It wasn't lost on me that these were the kind of dogs we were looking for, confident being outdoors, happy to pee on the grass, not alarmed by the life going on around them. I nodded to myself; we did the right thing.