I hope you are ready for a story! We were expecting a new puppy on Wednesday. We were pretty excited about this. Little did we know about the weather in Chicago. Our puppy was coming to us from a breeder in Missouri. There were no direct flights into Toledo from Missouri so she was suppose to stop there. The weather was pretty bad at O'hare Airport so her flight was canceled for Wednesday due to Thunderstorms. The breeder had to go back to get her. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip each way. She told me the soonest we could get her would be Saturday and we had a very busy day scheduled for Sunday with my nephew Kade's 3rd birthday and Mike's dad's birthday that night, but we wanted our baby girl. Needless to say we were pretty bummed.

In the meantime, Friday night to be precise Alli decided to make it an opportune time to have a injury. She pulled the baby gate down on her head and split it open pretty good. We tried to use a butterfly bandage but knew it wasn't going to hold and keep infection out so Mike stayed home and I took her to St Luke ER. She got 2 staples. She was a trooper. She talked to the doctor and me while he put the needle to numb it right into the wound and she didn't flinch even a smidge. While we were waiting to be released she yelled across to the boy that broke his arm across the hall and from listening to their conversation she knew everything about him. She yelled hey Zac are you ok. You arm hurt? She wanted me to walk her over there. We got back at about 11:00. We were ready for bed.

Saturday morning I was so excited our little puppy would be here by 6:15pm. She was going to arrive through Chicago again to Toledo. I went to work came home and checked the flights and realized already there was a change of plans. There was a delay on the first flight to Chicago so it will make her late for the second flight so they changed the flight and now she will be landing in Detroit at 7:30. So we would still be leaving about the time we would have before because it is about an hour drive. An hour before that flight was to take off it was cancelled. The breeder told me if she wasn't on that flight they would move her to the following flight coming into Detroit at 8:40, but she told me just check the tracking on American Air Cargo. At that point there was no tracking. They didn't update the system probably because of all the switching and delays and everything well I thought for sure that they had lost her. The airline wasn't even comforting. The lady had me on hold for so long and kept coming back and saying they are looking for her and it didn't appear that she was on the list of the cargo for that plane but there were two more flights for the evening and she would probably be on one of them. There was a delay on the 8:40 flight and now it was estimated that it wouldn't be in til 9:50 bumping the next flight to 12:15 arrival. So not knowing for sure we headed to the airport an hour before the 9:50 arrival once I knew that it left the ground in Chicago. I was so worried for my baby at this time. I was like PLEASE somebody better be taking care of her. Nervously we marched to the lower level of Smyth terminal to baggage claim for America Air, I was following Mike with the older girls he was carrying Alli. Mike was showing the other girls and I the way since he flies out of there all the time. We got to the counter as the plane was unloading it's passengers, the lady in the office at baggage claims said that she is the one to deliver live cargo and if she was on that flight she will be back with her. She went through the door and came out VERY quickly with a little cage. It had my name on it I was in tears and the girls were soooo excited. I had to take the cage apart to get this little frightened baby girl out. She was in there for a while so she was wet she didn't poop in there or if she did they cleaned that up. When I finally saw her face she was the most precious puppy that I have ever seen, besides Dezzie and Dixon of coarse. I had to show proof of id and sign a few papers and she was mine. Mike wrapped her in a blanket and carried her out. Everyone was eyeballing her. We were asked what breed is she, she is sooo sweet. We piled into the van. I sat by Alli and the two older girls sat in the way back and held FERGIE! I finally got her so Alli could see her. I was inspecting her and the more I looked at her I thought she must have changed a lot from her pictures. Her ears seemed bigger and her nose wasn't as smooshed in. Her wrinkles were perfect her temperment impeccable, but maybe that was because she was so frightened. I saw she had a id band on her neck and the breeders name was on it and the new owners name. Only the name was Rebecca from New York. The puppies were switched in the cargo area of the plane is all I can imagine. My dog's breeder had more than one pup to deliver and these two shared the same plane as far as Chicago. I at this point was already in love with this little girl. I called the breeder when we got home and she was so upset apologizing up and down. I explained to her that I love this little one and she is soo sweet I wasn't upset at all that this happened thank goodness she had every quality that I wanted. She did everything to make it right for the other person. They were looking for some money back but still wanted to keep the puppy. At this point that would be the much cheaper route for the breeder and would make me happy. I wasn't about to put this poor baby back on a plane. This little girl will end up a little bigger than my original pup but only by like 5 lbs. Now she is eating well and still the perfect puppy. She is pottying on potty pads and hasn't had one accident. I might start doing the outside thing here soon. She doesn't like being alone. We are crate training her and might take awhile to keep her from whining slightly at night. Check out my pictures of the pup and I included the picture of Alli's head before the put the staples in.