bye-bye, Scout

[dragonlady7]

I sat in the passenger's seat of the PT Cruiser with a subdued and confused small warm dog in my lap as we drove through the 5:30 am patchy fog down to the Albany Airport. Scout was more interested in pressing her head against my chest than in looking out the window, and so I kept my arms around her and let her settle down. She was a little curious about our surroundings, but not very; mostly, she leaned on me hard and let me pet her.
She shivered a little when we took her out on the grass by the cargo terminal so she could pee, and was terribly frightened of the open-grille metal stairs up to the office, but she bravely followed Dad up them, with me holding her leash.

Once inside the terminal, she was ecstatic: there was a man there, a new person, and she greeted him enthusiastically, dancing around and wagging her whole body and of course giving him a few nibbles. He was a dog person, who had recently lost a family dog of fifteen years, so he was happy to bend down and play with her for a little while. Dad took care of paperwork and set up the crate, and she was happy to dance and sniff with the man until he had to resume the paperwork he'd been doing. I sat in a chair by the door and she came and sat under my legs, peering out from under the chair and looking out the glass door while Dad went through the paperwork and answered all the required questions.

Finally the man behind the counter came out to inspect the crate and the dog. Scout was ecstatic again-- another new person. He got right down on his knees, and she gave him kisses and wiggled all over and crawled under his legs to come out behind him and sit on his feet. She likes sitting on people who are sitting on the floor, as I've discovered on several occasions. The man laughed at her.

When it came time to put her in the crate, Dad picked her up and I took her leash off. She struggled a little, silently, but subsided when we shut the door, and I put my face to the ventilation slots at the sides and spoke to her a little while. She sat looking confused, mournful, and subdued, watching us as we did more paperwork and arranged the items to be taped to the crate (food, a bottle of water [though they had told us there was no need, as they had water], her leash). Finally two men came and took the crate into the terminal area, and we waved goodbye and called her name. She watched us through the ventilation holes, but was soon occupied watching the rest of the terminal. We took care of the rest of the papers, paid for her flight, and left. As we left, we waved goodbye to her again. I could see that she was lying down in the crate, and she looked out through the ventilation slots as we left.

Her flight goes from Albany to Atlanta, and then there's another short flight to Savannah/Hilton Head. Adam got back from Louisiana last night at 10:30, so he'll pick her up at 1 in Savannah. Katy doesn't arrive back from Louisiana until Sunday.
She's over ten pounds bigger than she was when she arrived. (She was 16 pounds six weeks ago, now she's over 25.) She can jump a lot higher, is a lot more coordinated, and has learned a great many new skills. She also has much more powerful jaws. So, we think Adam is going to be in for a bit of a shock-- their 15-pound-puppy-proofed house is most definitely NOT a 25-pound-puppy-proof house. She's just getting big enough now to destroy things.
She is a good dog, but she is just a dog, not an angel. I feel so sorry that they had to miss so much of her development-- she's learned to bark, she's learned to growl, she's learned to fetch, she's learned to come to her name, she's learned to use a leash properly, she's learned to jump onto things and not miss quite so badly, she's learned all kinds of games, and of course she's learned to beg shamelessly--, but they're better off than many military types, who must go through the same thing with a human child instead of a puppy. (One of Katy's colleagues missed her daughter's entire fourth year of life, leaving just before the 4th birthday and not coming home until well after the 5th birthday, with no contact in between whatsoever.)
They deploy for Iraq in December or January, and then they won't see her for a year.

In the meantime, Dad's unit is finally deploying for Iraq. They went up to Ft. Drum in May, and have been training there for months. They were supposed to go to The Sand as late as December, but it's been moved up; they're going the 20th of October, apparently. Dad won't be allowed to go (he will be 60 on the 29th), but Mom is still heavily involved in the family-support network, and the whole network is traumatized and shaken to have the real parting be so imminent. (They've been gone for months, but there have been weekend passes and some have been making the 4-hour drive to Ft. Drum on a regular basis to visit their husbands/fathers. Once gone, obviously there will be no more of that.)
Dad says good, the sooner they leave the sooner they come back, but of course for the National Guard there are no concrete end dates. The Regular Army, they have to keep to a schedule more or less, but the Nat'l Guard has no such rules, and so some of them have been there eighteen months, missing the birth of children, watching their small businesses fold without them, missing childrens' birthdays.

It's just so hard, and it's not fair. I didn't watch the debates and I don't know what's going on, but I just can't help pouting that it's not fair. Those poor people.

But anyway. There's no dog here anymore, though it still smells faintly of wet excited dog and chew toys. She may come back for Thanksgiving (Katy and Adam are coming up here for that, as they're not sure when they'll be deployed and it might be before Christmas). This house feels empty without a dog to greet you at the door and tear around excitedly as you come in; I felt that way for years after Chocolate died, and I imagine it will feel strange for a while without Scout.

I hope she has a good trip. She wasn't too traumatized last time-- she's happiest in a routine, and doesn't like departures from it, but she likes new people so much that makes up for it a bit. I'm sure she'll be happy to be home in Ellabell, with the neighborhood children and her Mom and Dad.