Allergy Heartbreak

 

We'd been waiting for this moment.  Now, our daughter was old enough and we were finally ready to get a dog.  I grew up with a family dog.  You can see a picture of her on my Diabolical Baby Brigade blog as the infamous Puppy.  My husband also grew up with a dog, so we thought nothing of it when we started searching for available dogs.  

The local humane shelter recently took in some puppies.  They knew from the mother that the puppies were part Husky, which meant I was instantly sold.  I love Huskies.  LOVE!

With a prayer beforehand that it be obvious which dog we should bring home, we set off to try our luck at picking out a family dog.  We'd narrowed it down to two options.  The Husky, Julia, and a Great Dane mix.

We met the Great Dane first.  Danedy was sweet, but had absolutely no interest in us.  For someone who has always viewed herself as an animal person, it was interesting watching a dog running away from us like we had the plague.  

Then, came Julia.  To say she showed interest in us would be a major understatement.  This girl, at ten weeks old, was jumping on us, giving us kisses, was wagging her tail like she was going to turn into a helicopter and take off.  

Needless to say, we adopted her.

From the moment we brought her home, we were ecstatic.  This is a farm, we have chickens and goats.  Julia, even though she would perk her ears and raise her head like she wanted to play with them, sat down as soon as I gave the command and touched the tips of my fingers to her back.  (This without any prior training)  And there she stayed!  Patiently sitting and watching the chickens cluck like a bunch of ninnies gossiping about the new member of the family.

House training was something we had to keep on top of, but guess what!  

She was so wonderful that she was house trained within twenty-four hours.  24!  That's unheard of for a puppy.

Julia was perfect!

Then, it happened...

The first night I felt like I was struggling to breathe, but that had happened to me before.  I was nervous, we hadn't taken care of a puppy before.  Nothing but nerves.  Right?

RIGHT?

The second day my eyes itched, then they burned.  By that evening, I was having trouble swallowing and my tongue had swollen so much so that I couldn't even talk properly.

Somehow, between when I was growing up and now, I developed dog allergies.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Nothing helped and, finally, we decided we had to bring her back to the shelter.  They were so understanding and were able to find Julia another home quickly, where she is still happy and enjoying herself.  

I've only ever made my husband cry twice in all of our marriage.  The first time he saw our daughter on the ultrasound and now.  Our daughter cried until she ran out of tears.  We all cried.  

How did this happen?  How did I develop dog allergies?